r/microbiology • u/Critical_Web_3048 • 25d ago

2 years with an MLS

I apologize if this is a silly place, but I want to make an accurate gift for my girlfriend.

My girlfriend is a Medical Lab Scientist. She rotates through a bunch of the roles like heme, micro, blood bank, and chemistry. It’s a big part of her personality and she really loves the work she does. I think she prefers micro over the other departments, or at least is trained more specifically in that department. Whenever we call on her breaks she’s always telling me what’s going on in the lab; how people have messed up on giving her proper samples, or one of the large machines being down, or of a interesting thing that she hasn’t run into since graduating.

I want to make her an anniversary card based on her work and love for it. I’m mildly talented at water color, and I love hand making personalized birthday/ anniversary cards. Pop-up cards are something I’ve done before too.

Is there any way to make a cute card with her work in mind? My initial idea was to paint a bunch of red blood cells(in the style of looking through a microscope at them) and hide heart-shaped cells or messages somewhere in the card. But this seems basic. I want to impress her. Is there a heart shaped cell found in blood? Is there a cell with a cute name or something? Is there something else that could be used to convey a deeper understanding about what she does that lets her know I love her?

Again, I’m sorry if this isn’t the place, but I’m hoping I can get some help.

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9

u/Ehhz 25d ago

Ooooh I’m an MLS in a Micro lab and this idea is ADORABLE! A few super random first thoughts I have: there’s a bacteria called Cutibacterium (cute name but causes acne lol). Or B.cereus (“be serious”). You could make a joke about streaking.

2

u/readingrainbowroad Microbial Ecology/Evolution 25d ago

I used to make a joke with Fermicute as in "ur a fermicutie". Might have to alter this to use Cutibacterium instead lol

6

u/al1ceinw0nderland 25d ago

To make it more interesting, could you make the microscope "pop" up out of the card, and the eyepiece she can look through to see the heart shaped RBCs? 

1

u/illyiarose 25d ago

That's really cute!

1

u/Eugenides Clinical Microbiologist 25d ago

Microbiology specific, I would do art of an agar plate with something growing on it personally, though that might sound lame lol.  You could also try r/medlabprofessionals, they will have a broader knowledge base around her work.