BioData

     Uri Alon, a PI in the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, recently published an article in Molecular Cell where he discusses how to build a motivated research group.

     Motivation in a research group is very important as that is the way that work actually gets done. Its not enough to go uninspired through the motions and conduct experiments because if it doesn’t work out – what is going to push you to keep trying? I personally have spoken to many involved in research asking what it takes to be successful in science and research, particularly for those in the academic field. The two words I have heard over and over again are perseverance and motivation. Now that we have established that motivation is important in the laboratory, how can we instill motivation in our students, lab members, and maybe more importantly – ourselves?

     John Bochardt recently posted tips for editing laboratory reports in the Lab Manager blog. In the article he quite correctly points out that many laboratory professionals have difficulty in writing reports and that the process often takes longer than it should with the result being a poorly written report.

      I recently saw this PhD comic and thought I’d share this with you. For those of you that are working or have ever worked on a thesis, you are bound to have one (or two or three) of these days.

Cecilia’s Adventures in Thesisland, Pt. 1

     Laboratory notebooks are essential for reproducing experiments. For years we have been raised in our labs knowing that every action must be written down in our lab notebook.

     Take a look at this picture of a lab space, which I’m sure looks familiar to most of you. Side note: I strongly suggest you check out this image titled “A well-organised mess” on Flickr. It was posted by easternblot who commented on each item in the picture in great detail.

     Notice those notebooks on the shelf at the top right of the picture? Those are the accumulation of three years of hard work. THREE. YEARS. All the work of this researcher is sitting on a top shelf in a room off the lab. What happened if there was a fire? There goes three years of research. How can we guarantee the survivability and security of that data? When that researcher eventually leaves the lab, what insures that the data won’t leave with him?

     During the time I spent researching with Professor Zach Adam at Hebrew University, I visited Dr. Ralph Bock’s lab at the Max Planck Institute in Germany to learn how to transform plastids (see plastid transformation protocol). It was a relatively new method, and I was eager to learn all that I could. My main concern was that I would miss something and upon my return to Israel, I would be unable to recreate what I had learned. I remember the surprise of my German colleagues when I pulled out my camera, and began to take photos of every step of the procedure. Visiting the Institute was a great learning experience, and when I returned my fellow lab members had a step-by-step photographed protocol depicting how plastids can be transformed.

     Labor day has come and gone, and while summer doesn’t officially leave us until September 21st, we can agree, for all practical purposes, that the season has in fact come to an end. Just in time for the beginning of the academic year, I enlisted the help of my fellow researchers and scientists on twitter to share their advice with new students in the science field. The following is a short compilation of their words of wisdom.

Results and Analysis of BioData’s Laboratory Management Survey.

     In a survey commissioned by BioData, 94 researchers from 74 institutions worldwide were asked a series of questions regarding their management of research data. The survey’s purpose was to learn about and prove the need for knowledge management systems in academic research. 80% of the researchers surveyed believe their labs are not run efficiently.

      Organization in a laboratory is necessary for it to succeed and be productive. We don’t become academic or industrial researchers to spend portions of our day looking for the tube we ‘thought was in that refrigerator, but maybe is in the other one.’ Nor do we want to have to spend time deciphering what a tube actually contains. Researchers want to focus on their research – not the trivial and petty parts of laboratory management.

Whether we admit it or not, we all practice some form of hoarding. The fact is that science today generates too much data and samples to the point where it is nearly impossible to manage.