r/labrats

I'm not sure when this started but now is getting insane.

Today I forgot my badge and therefore I have to flag someone/knock on the door: I spend so much time banging on doors because people cannot hear, chasing people in hallways because they cannot hear when called, alarms ringing like crazy and people just going on like everything is peachy.

Is it just me or someone else noticed that.

I work on the commercial side of a clinical research organisation. We see a lot of applications from people with lab backgrounds and the pattern is consistent: the experience is relevant, the cover letter does not make that clear.

Here is the problem. A CRO hiring manager is reading your cover letter looking for three things: do you understand what this role involves, does your lab experience prepare you for it, and are you detail-oriented enough to work in a regulated environment.
Most cover letters open with a degree or a generic statement about being passionate about advancing medicine. Neither of those answers any of those questions.

What works:

Open with a specific connection between what you have done and what the role requires. Sample processing under SOP, chain of custody documentation, working in an accredited or regulated lab environment, deviation reporting - these are directly relevant to clinical trial operations. Name them.

Example: I am applying for the CRC role because my three years of SOP-governed sample processing and deviation documentation in a regulated laboratory environment maps directly to the source data and compliance requirements of clinical trial site work.

That is a sentence that gets the next one read.
Keep the body focused on one or two specific things. Do not repeat your CV. Explain why your specific experience matters for this specific role.
Three paragraphs maximum. Get to the point.

Happy to answer questions on how specific lab backgrounds translate for different clinical research roles.

I am in Ecology/Evolution field, so if anyone has any recommendations or any journal clubs I can join online, that would be great!

So I realize this is probably a dumb question, but I am a bit paranoid and don't have anyone to ask in person at the moment (all other lab members are out of the lab for the next month and are multiple time zones away).

I am working on Trizol-based RNA extractions, and our protocol calls for using an ice bucket with dry ice at the bottom and wet ice on top to keep samples at a consistent cold temperature throughout the process. However, I keep running into the problem of the wet ice solidifying and making it extremely difficult to place the tubes back into the ice. If I push too hard, I run the risk of another tube flying out. I can place the tubes back into the original hole they came from, but then I am worried they are not fully in contact with the ice.

From what I have already read online, the best solution seems to be either to use a pre-chilled cold block, which, to the best of my knowledge, we don't have, or to just use only wet ice. I am a bit worried that just using wet ice wouldn't be enough to keep my samples cold enough though.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I am probably overthinking this, but I am already having some, albeit minor, purity issues, and don't want to lose more samples due to something silly like solidified ice. Thanks in advance!

hi!!! I just started a research position which involves a lot of western blots and while other members in the lab have tried explaining this to me I just can’t get the hang of orientation.
- so in my lab they used the same volume of ladder on both sides of the sample
- do you all load the samples with the buffer dam facing you and the gel facing away (and do left to right) or the samples face you and load it right to left???
- and then how does this orientation change on the membrane, will the samples still be in the same orientation or will it flip???
- I’m really losing it cause I can’t figure it out but I’d really appreciate any help at all!!!! or any tips or tricks that have helped people figure it out
- someone suggested that I load one side with more ladder than the other but I don’t know how well that will work.
- PLSSSS HELP ME!!

Hi everyone, I'm fairly new in the lab life, I started 8 months ago as an intern. I'd like to ask you for a piece of advice, because three weeks ago my cell cultures, along with the ones of the PhD student who is teaching me and of another intern started being contaminated and growing mold. We suspect everything started from a dish brought in our incubator from another, malfunctioning incubator. Since then we tried everything we could: we threw away every dish, made new media, PBS and trypsin, made new backups from other PhD students, we did not share cells, media or anything anymore, we also use different cell lines (I am using FaDu and the others are primarily using Cal-27), but contamination keeps occurring between us three. Another strange thing is that others in the lab do not have this issue, even people who share the same shelf of the incubator (they use the same shelf but a different area from us three) so it's unlikely this is due to a reagent for common use or due to a general malfunctioning of the incubator. Something else we noticed is that the contamination seems to occur only in dishes, and it didn't seem to appear in flasks or 12/24-well plates. Do you have any idea about what might cause this? And also if you have any pointer about how to improve in recognizing early signs of contamination I'd really appreciate that, I don't know if there are valid guides out there maybe with pictures and stuff like that? Thank you very much, it's been weeks and this delay in my experiments is really worrying me.

Edit: I thank you all for all the advice and suggestions, I didn't expect so many of them and I'm really grateful for your contribution!

I’m trying to understand what’s actually inside commercial glovebox purifier columns.

Everyone says “Pt catalyst” or “Cu catalyst,” but what are the real materials/products.

I’m interested because I’d like to build a DIY circulation/purification system for research use.

Would appreciate any teardown info, maintenance experience, patents, or references.

I'm in a new lab, they don't have animal approval yet are conducting animal experiments regaredless.

Can i report this? I want to switch labs anwyays.

EDIT: This is animal work and it's amajor research univeristy in Canada.

It really pisses me off how I need to use animals in my work and they don't even have approval. it's fucking stupid. Who will get more in trouble the lab who gives us the narcotics or the person doing the injection? Note that i have not done any injections (euthanasia) on the mice but I do use the dead tissue. I currenlty have no choice.

Hello all,

I know that STEM has problems with creating a barrier between who they are and what their science is and that the boundaries often get blurred and people make science their entire personality especially in grad school.

I am a second year graduate student and my cohort is very much this way of wearing their science as their life and im just not. I see this as a job. A job I enjoy, is challenging and fulfilling but nonetheless, still a job.

I find myself asking people about them as a person and what they do outside of work, only for it to circle right back to their research and im just wondering if I am just the odd man out. Ive often wondered why im so different from the rest. Anyone else feel that way?

Title says most of it. I am a PhD candidate over halfway through my program. My advisor is moving labs to a new state at the start of next year. I’m looking for anyone who has experience with this, what you did, and how it went. Thanks all!

I did not relized that the PCR samples I was doing, a fourth of them needed one program and the other 3/4 needed a different program for the thermal cycles so I justed wasted couple of hours and materials because of my mistake, and I'm beating myself over it, please tell me I'm not the only one whose done this and that I should be working in a lab. Ik its not the biggest deal but I still feel like crap

I am supposed to ask questions in seminars, talks etc. but I don’t know what to ask. Sometimes I just don’t know the subject enough to ask anything and sometimes I know enough but the presentation answers all my questions. Sometimes (maybe 25% of the time) I have a question but I think it’s too dumb so I don’t because honestly when someone asks a dumb question I go “are you serious” with them so I don’t want anyone to think that about me. So how do I find a legit real proper reasonable question to ask? Should add that I’m an introvert and very shy and hate public speaking.