It’s taken me a few goes to get this post written. I’ve tried to get to the core of last week’s issues without pointing the finger at anyone else. I may have failed, but I promise I did try.
Human lab rats are a special kind of researcher; by lab rat I mean those of us who spend our time working in the lab, pipetting, centrifuging, and checking facebook. Within our ecology field group, we largely share interests and research subjects. But a lab group can comprise of a wide array of students. I generally stick out as a sore thumb, the ecologist who turns up every now and then to run genetics work.
In the genetics laboratory we have to work with people from all sorts of research backgrounds. We’re all working on different topics, even if we use the same techniques, and we have to find a way to co-exist and get our research done. I see it as similar to flatting. You move in with a bunch of people, you’ve all got different interests and priorities, and you need to find a way to co-habit. You can be the flatmate who never replaces the toilet paper, leaves dirty dishes in the sink, and uses up all the hot water. Or you can pick up after yourself, be responsible and courteous. I’ve lived with all sorts, and now I live alone. There’s a reason for that…
Since my last post I’ve encountered a major issue in our lab. A problematic chemical was left sitting out on the bench where I was blithely using it and consequently messing up my results. It seems everyone else knew of the problem except me. No finger pointing, but the situation did remind me of the flatmate who leaves the empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom for the next person to deal with.
Luckily this is a case of all’s well that ends well; because I’d been anally retentive about saving my samples it only took about a day and a half to re-run said samples with good results. But it’s still frustrating, and I’ve been trying to work out what to do to avoid the situation coming up again.
It’s a little sad that it probably comes down to looking out for yourself. In my experience, the bad flatmate doesn’t change their colours very quickly so instead you have to adapt.
I’ve been thinking pretty hard lately about why the lab work seems to be such a sticking point for me, and I think it was highlighted this week. When I’m working on my own – in the field, writing, reading, data analysis – I get to control all the aspects of my research. If something goes wrong, it’s my fault and it’s easy enough to back-track and work out what happened. The same is not necessarily true within the laboratory, with this particular issue I had already gone back and checked everything only to find out the problem was something else entirely.
In this situation, I’m the more senior person in the lab. So I’m doing my best to lead by example, being responsible, tidy and courteous. I’m also not above a little bit of bossing around. But I think it comes down to having to look after myself. I can’t assume things have been left the way I expect it. A shame, but probably a lesson better learnt than unknown.
I like to believe there’s a silver lining if you’re willing to look, and in this case I have vastly improved some of my lab techniques. So I found it interesting when I stumbled across the same sentiment in a Glamour article on scientist Felisa Wolfe-Simon. (Wolfe-Simon is the first author on the eyebrow-raising research claiming to have found an arsenic-based life form). I decline to comment on the arsenic thing, but one of Wolfe-Simon’s four tips was: “Ask yourself: what’s the part of my job I like the least, and why? If it’s because you’re not good at it, practice”. I’d already been doing that, by checking and improving my lab methods. Now I’m seeing the results and once again I’m enjoying being a lab rat.
Squeak.
