The first mouse study of the Ishaq Lab (in conjunction with the Zhang and Li labs at Husson University) has concluded phase 1, which means that over a few short days, an incredible number of samples needed to be collected, preserved, and processed for further laboratory work (phase 2) which will take through the summer to complete.

Sample collection was made more challenging by the pandemic, because we needed to distance as much as possible, disinfect objects and surfaces, wear masks, and increase the amount of ventilation in a space. Luckily, this type of work lends itself to these types of precautions – not only did we already need to wear a significant amount of protective gear to work with mice or handle their feces, but biosafety work like this requires higher than usual ventilation and frequent sanitation of objects and spaces. Since some of this work could be performed simultaneously in different rooms, we were able to use both Ishaq lab spaces and the ‘mouse house’ to keep people distanced.

During the 40-day mouse study, ‘Team Broccoli’ collected:

• 640 mouse body weight data measurements
• 433 fecal samples, which were archived for possible culturing and/or sequencing
• 400 additional samples collected over two days:
  • 40 blood samples for immune factor identification
  • 360 gut samples
    • Of which, 200 were PMA treated within 12 hours of collection for use in DNA sequencing
    • 160 of which will be cultured to isolate bacteria. This will create 1 ~ 8 isolates per sample that will need to be grown on its own plate, transferred to broth media, and then frozen with glycerol at -80C until they can be revived and studied later this year.