Zion's big brother, Ryan (from the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program) is a Ph.D student studying spinal cord regeneration at Northwestern. He invited Zion to their new, multi-million dollar biochemical engineering lab for a tour. Of course, scientist mommy wanted to tag along. Wow, what a fascinating place! Zion got to see and handle scientific tools and equipment. Ryan does surgeries on rats for some of his experiments, and it was amazing to see his tiny surgical kit and his sub-zero freezer full of tiny rat brains and spinal cords. We were able to see how cell samples were freeze dried, stained, sliced and stored and we got to look at them under a powerful electron microscope. The most interesting part of our tour was a visit to the animal lab, where we scrubbed and gowned up so that we wouldn't pass on any germs to the special, immune suppressed rats and mice. We also got to peek in at some of the other animals, including cats, chinchillas and monkeys. It was a little hard to see, but I kept reminding myself (and Zion) what these animals are sacrificing to make the world better for humans. (I will remember to say a little prayer of thanksgiving for the lab animals of the world, who are helping to keep us healthy) It was a very cool experience, and Zion asked some great questions. I was proud of him, my scientist boy. Ryan has been a great role model, and I am glad that Zion had the opportunity to see his important work.
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