All sorts of different ones, but most of them involve collecting lots of data by looking at lots of fossils or measuring them, and then the main part of the experiment is analysing the data in lots of different ways to see what I can find out.
I build statistical models which shows me how one thing (like temperature) influences the number of people that get a disease. Then I can use this model to predict the number of people with the disease in areas where I have never even been, so I don’t know what is going on there! It helps us to find places where we might need to go and treat people.
My experiments enable me to extract cells from a fluid and concentrate those cells onto a microscope slide. I then add special stains and dyes so that we can see them under the microscope.
So there loads of different stains, and they show up different hings, depending on what we are looking for or how we have pre treated the cells.
We can use a Periodic Acid Schiffs to look for the presence of gylcogen. And
Gram stain for bacteria
Wade Fite – leprosy
Ziehl Neelsen – Tuberculosis
Giemsa – Rocky Mountain Spotted fever
Von Kossa – Calcium
Grocott – fungi
We probably do around 50 different special stains on slides
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