The lab is full today, with five lab members spread about the lab, some sitting at their desks, some working at their benches.
Navya is back in her bay, sitting at her desk, typing away at her computer. Directly behind her, sitting back to back with her, is Chris, wearing a blue t-shirt, currently scrolling through his iPhone.
“Did you hear what Trump posted?” Chris asks. “Such a jackass.”
“I really don’t want want to know.” Navya responds.
“He called the Pope weak on crime! I mean, for christ’s sake…literally!”
“He just talks. I don’t know why you even pay attention anymore,” Navya responds.
“Well, you know what they say about train crashes,” Chris says, still scrolling. “Except in this case, we’re all the passengers, and he’s the conductor.”
Navya pulls up a powerpoint presentation on her computer.
“Hey, did you get that script working?” Navya asks.
“Oh yeah. ChatGPT baby. It runs like a charm now.”
“Great,” Navya exclaims. “What were the results?”
“Nothing significant.” Chris shrugs, closing the current app on his phone and opening another.
“Damnit. Are you sure? What was the exact analysis you ran? Maybe…”
At that moment, Ling steps into the bay wearing a labcoat. She’s followed close behind by a young man who is also wearing a labcoat…although he seems much less comfortable in the labcoat compared to Lin.
“Navi, Chris, I’d like to introduce you to Marcus.”
Navya looks up from her computer. Chris keeps staring at his phone.
“Hi Marcus, nice to meet you,” says Navya.
“Yeah, good meeting you,” Chris chimes in.
“Marcus is the undergrad that Dr. Fein mentioned in lab meeting. I’m showing him around today, but we’re still figuring out who he should work with. Do you guys need help with anything?”
“How do you feel about mousework?” Navya asks.
“Me?” Marcus replies shyly. “I guess that’s ok. Like living mice?”
Chris finally looks up from his phone. “Yeah, that’s the idea. Well, living right now. Less so once it’s time to collect their brains.”
“Their brains?” asks Marcus.
“Yeah, that is how you study Alzheimer’s disease,” replies Chris. “You kinda have to look at the brain.”
“Oh,” replies Marcus nervously. “That makes sense.”
There’s a pause. Marcus is thinking, and Chris is happy to let him process the situation.
“Do I have to, like, touch them?” asks Marcus.
“Not with your hands, but we will need to use your teeth to get their heads off.”
“Chris!!” shouts Navya. “That really isn’t funny.”
Navya gets up and approaches Marcus.
“I assure you, we follow all of our animal protocols to the letter. You can join me this afternoon. Don’t worry…I’ll do all the mouse handling. You can just watch for now. If you feel comfortable later, you can help with some of the procedures.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. My mom is gonna flip when I tell her I worked with mice.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty interesting. And I’m really sorry about Chris. He’s a little off.”
“Welcome to the lab, Marcus!” shouts Chris.
“Um, thanks…” replies Marcus, as him and Ling walk over to the next bay.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Navya chastises Chris, as she sits back down at her desk.
“Sorry,” Chris responds. “I couldn’t resist.”