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    Home > Nature: avoid becoming a "bear child" in the lab

    Nature: avoid becoming a "bear child" in the lab

    • Last Update: 2017-09-04
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Virologist Alice Huang had a "nightmare": when he returned to the lab, all the equipment was destroyed, and no one was willing to admit the mistake Fortunately, in reality, when Alice Huang returned to her lab at Caltech in Pasadena, everything was working In fact, a long time ago, she made the rules of the laboratory clear to each member, "break something, say something", so that at least the damaged equipment can be repaired in time, and the experiment can continue to run normally Of course, bad things in the laboratory are not only in dreams, but also in reality For example, the odor of β - mercaptoethanol, an antioxidant, and the roar of large machinery It's really upsetting, and it's also affecting the morale of lab members The more trouble comes from the disordered test-bed, unauthorized misappropriation of other people's pipette guns, or along with other people's marker pens, timers and so on Karen Peterson, an inspector at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said that all these "bad habits" seem to be small things, but their cumulative effect cannot be ignored; moreover, sometimes these small things can affect the progress of the research team's Day experiment These difficulties are not without solutions Through an agreement, lab members can define the "space" of each researcher so that they do not interfere with each other The agreement may involve a lab schedule, or a lab calendar where members can note the time on the shared device More importantly, based on some basic rules and mutual respect, a harmonious laboratory relationship can be established, which can help the laboratory run smoothly and reduce unnecessary friction Make no reply to the problem I knew I should buy more reagents (source: Nature) I make complaints about the materials One of the most commonly heard tuckas is that some "bear children" quietly use up the key materials in the experiment without reordering them Lucie Etienne is a biologist at the International Centre for the study of infectious diseases in Lyon, France Her lab often uses milk powder (for Western blotting), but people often run out of milk powder without replenishment One Friday night, a freshman had to walk to the local shopping center to buy infant formula to complete his experiment Since then, every member of the laboratory has begun to check the stock of milk powder carefully Coincidentally, Sophie Arthur, a stem cell biologist at the University of Southampton in the UK, is most worried about the lack of replenishment after the reagent is used up Mingming planned the experiment for a whole week, but the experiment had to stop in the first process before the arrival of new reagents because the electrophoresis buffer was not supplemented after use To avoid this kind of trouble, Arthur's laboratory tries to store two bottles of each reagent Anyone who runs out of the first bottle has to prepare or book a new reagent The laboratory of Jaime fox, a biochemist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has a similar system to ensure that the laboratory has sufficient supplies such as pipette tips and plastic microcentrifuge tubes Lab members will use red tape to identify the next to last box of consumables Whoever uses this box will book a new batch of consumables Reagents are most likely to "disappear" (source: nature) don't tamper with other people's items Another common problem in the laboratory is that some personal items often disappear Dr Suzanne hangx of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands was unable to carry out his work because a specially customized non-standard hexagon wrench was misappropriated Without the special spanner, the old sample could not be taken down and the new one could not be installed It took him a whole day to find the spanner - in the pocket of a colleague's lab suit who was not working Now, hangx's lab uses color to identify the tools and toolkits corresponding to each device, so as to track the ownership of each tool One of his students put forward another plan: organize and publish the "lost tools" list of the whole laboratory in real time; if someone "borrows" the items in the list, they have the opportunity to return them anonymously Communication is always good, although many researchers are used to living in their own world, it is difficult to really consider the impact on colleagues So, when problems arise, the simplest solution may be to raise your concerns directly It's OK to talk alone or in a team meeting without a name The purpose is to reach a mutually acceptable agreement If none of these methods work, the head of the laboratory needs to take more stringent measures Howard young, an immunologist at the National Cancer Institute, has a "food office" system If any member of the lab interferes with others' research, the researcher will either seek another job or make compensation in a more popular way, such as inviting people to enjoy delicious food Young said that a system does have some effect, at least to make people realize that they are part of the team and their behavior will affect others Golden rules of the laboratory: • if you are a new person in the laboratory, please understand the laboratory specifications and procedures in detail; • clean up the laboratory after work and put the items back in place; • remember to borrow and return them; • if the last batch of consumables is used, please prepare or order new ones; • please do not pour back the excess liquid to avoid pollution; • don't hide your fault, spill dangerous goods or damage the instrument, please report in time so that the problem can be handled in time; • don't touch others or their instruments and articles when wearing gloves; • don't monopolize the shared equipment; • don't disturb others when they are focused on doing things; • please answer the phone outside the laboratory; Follow the golden rule: don't do what you don't want Original author: Amber dance original link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v547/n7664/full/nj7664-481a.html
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