I think I'll provide a companion to Doug's lab story with one of my own. Today was a fun-with-chemicals day. In my attempts to get phases so that I can solve my structure, I'm trying to generate various heavy atom derivatives. Today I worked with the lanthanides, which have whimsical names like "Promethium", "Dysprosium", and "Europium". The best thing about working with heavy metals (OK, the only good thing about working with them) is the incredible colors. Now I just need them to STAY IN THE FUCKING METAL BINDING SITE, YOU BASTARD!.
Good god man, lanthanides? Aren't those all radioactive? If the dichloromethane from O-chem hasn't doomed you already, I predict that these lanthanides will surely give you hand cancer.
Posted by: Doug on June 20, 2003 10:05 AMOnly promethium is naturally radioactive, and I'm not working with that one. I will be doing band shift and filter binding assays with hot DNA sometime in the future, but since that's only 32P, I won't need to resort to anything above plexiglass for shielding.
Posted by: Jacob on June 20, 2003 10:56 AM