I'm a medical laboratory scientist and I work in an microbiology reference lab. So, while I do have to deal with gross stuff, I have a really cool job I really enjoy. I get to help people, without having to interact with them face to face, and get to use my brain all day every day to figure things out and make decisions. Things I get to do:
- Read cultures on everything from stool (Got Salmonella?), to wounds (and abscesses and every other infected pustule your doctor might swab because it hurts and is full of pus), to blood (sepsis is bad kids), and urine (I read 190 urine cultures today, that's a lot of pee). I determine if the bacteria that grows is significant, identify it by using biochemical reactions, and provide the doctor with the information needed to treat the infection. This is the bulk of my work - reading cultures, making decisions, providing answers. I love it. So, meet Escherichia coli, a guy I encounter every day, who likes to make you sick if it gets in the wrong places, but is in every single one of you already!:
- Look for and identify parasites - this is a gross one but is fun okay. Sure, I have to look at poop (and sometimes blood if we're looking for malaria and similar) through a microscope, but who wouldn't want to find this guy staring back at you? (Though trust me, as a patient, you don't want him there; Giardia).
- Perform high tech molecular/PCR tests that detect the DNA of pathogens such as Trichomonas, Gardnerella vaginalis, Candida albicans, Clostridium difficile (toxigenic strain), Staphylococcus aureus/MRSA, Influenza, etc.
- I also do stuff with other viruses! We have viral cultures for herpes woo! We literally take a small glass coverslip with a layer of mouse kidney cells on it, inoculate it with our patient's sample and infect those little cells, and then stain it! We get to look at it fluorescently, so it glooows.
There's a lot more I do, but that's some of the things I love. As a MLS, I'm trained in everything from hematology, immunohematology (transfusion medicine), clinical chemistry, body fluid and urinalysis, molecular diagnostics, and of course, microbiology. I also do plenty of other things, that are more paper-worky to stay busy when I'm not reading a bench (aka doing the things above), and I love my job.
- Read cultures on everything from stool (Got Salmonella?), to wounds (and abscesses and every other infected pustule your doctor might swab because it hurts and is full of pus), to blood (sepsis is bad kids), and urine (I read 190 urine cultures today, that's a lot of pee). I determine if the bacteria that grows is significant, identify it by using biochemical reactions, and provide the doctor with the information needed to treat the infection. This is the bulk of my work - reading cultures, making decisions, providing answers. I love it. So, meet Escherichia coli, a guy I encounter every day, who likes to make you sick if it gets in the wrong places, but is in every single one of you already!:
- Look for and identify parasites - this is a gross one but is fun okay. Sure, I have to look at poop (and sometimes blood if we're looking for malaria and similar) through a microscope, but who wouldn't want to find this guy staring back at you? (Though trust me, as a patient, you don't want him there; Giardia).
- Perform high tech molecular/PCR tests that detect the DNA of pathogens such as Trichomonas, Gardnerella vaginalis, Candida albicans, Clostridium difficile (toxigenic strain), Staphylococcus aureus/MRSA, Influenza, etc.
- I also do stuff with other viruses! We have viral cultures for herpes woo! We literally take a small glass coverslip with a layer of mouse kidney cells on it, inoculate it with our patient's sample and infect those little cells, and then stain it! We get to look at it fluorescently, so it glooows.
There's a lot more I do, but that's some of the things I love. As a MLS, I'm trained in everything from hematology, immunohematology (transfusion medicine), clinical chemistry, body fluid and urinalysis, molecular diagnostics, and of course, microbiology. I also do plenty of other things, that are more paper-worky to stay busy when I'm not reading a bench (aka doing the things above), and I love my job.