Cells
Today I am a slave to my cells, although I'm lucky to have a lot of help from one of my students. Yes, we grow e. coli, and we make lots and lots of the buggers. They aren't the stuff of grocery store infamy. In fact they're almost the opposite - these genetically engineered wonders - we have to coddle them, keep them alive, and talk very nicely to them and tell them that they are good e. coli. And so this evening I've been running back and forth into lab, checking on them, adding nutrients at the right times and finally spinning them down into a truly unpalatable, pasty pellet for safekeeping.
Once started, the e. coli growth process can't be stopped and takes on, well, a life of its own. You must keep to their schedule no matter what, and sometimes they want to eat in the middle of the night. Sometimes they feel like growing more slowly or more quickly and you find yourself sneaking out during an awesome dinner with friends to feed the dang bugs and then sneaking back in (sorry guys!).
What's the payoff? Well, sometimes I wonder.... But the bottom line is that these e. coli work like billions of miniature factories, making protein for our lab to study. And there are really no better ways to get highly pure protein in large quantities except from these bacterial industrialists. All of us do this for our work. And so it's ironic and beautiful all at the same time that these rudimentary bacteria are the key to virtually all life sciences research today.