Showing off my new lego build!!

bad papers galore out there don't just read and blindly trust abstracts everyone lmao

Hi everyone,

I am currently a research assistant trying to cultivate U87 glioblastoma cells. My grad student and I keep noticing this needle-like contamination in our cells and cannot seem to figure out where it's coming from. Does anyone recognize what this is? It's driving us crazy.

Someone just put the pipette back like this for the next person to deal with.

I'm in the lab on weekdays and work on weekends to pay my bills.

One of my relatives is pressuring me to meet up with my cousins and take them sightseeing. I told them I'm busy, but they're acting like I'm free and can just make time whenever they want. It's frustrating because I literally don't have a single day off. I'm financially independent and don't get any support from my family.

Has anyone else dealt with family who don't seem to understand that being in academia doesn't mean you're available all the time? How do you handle it?

Hi I'm a student from India and wanted to share the lab conditions and ppe standards of schools here. Most private schools(including mine) do not offer any ppe to the students, the only thing we're required to bring is a lab coat for covering the upperbody.

Every single work table has two water faucets, a sink and a shelf of chemicals(acids, bases and solutions of salts). The chemicals range from Sodium Hydroxide, Dilute Nitric Acid, Dilute H2SO4 and HCl, potassium ferrocyanide and Potassium Chromate. These are the chemicals any student can handle without asking the teacher or using any other form of ppe. We're advised to directly put the contents of the test tube down the sink and rinse it with water. This has been the case for any product we make during salt analysis too. I was a bit worried about this direct disposing of chromate salts into the drain and asked my teacher but she said the salt form is safe in an aques solution(the bottles). But researching about it more online on safety datasheets and wikipedia contradicts that statement. I'm unsure whether to buy my own personal ppe for any practicals in the future or continue.

Also we use mouth pipettes for collecting oxalic acid and salt solutions which are typically harmless but still a weird experience and not the most sanitary given that there are over 300 Chemistry students.

This thing omits this red light and it scares me everytime I walk to this part of the lab when the lights are out. Feels like Im about to uncover something from stranger things

Hey everyone!

I am having issues with my Western Blots. has any ever seen a gel like this and what would you say is the issue? How should I fix it?

Now do the other grants. California system cannot be the only institution(s) where the grants got terminated like this.

https://apnews.com/article/california-research-grants-terminated-keywords-lawsuit-a0ddb01413ecb68d9668490a20be6207

Hi folks,

I spoke about finishing my Bachelor's in 2019, taking a gap year as a scribe, and then being in medschool for over 1.5 years and it not working out. I got my Master's in Bioinformatics in Dec 2024. Since then.... no job. I am now pivoting to "standard" biology jobs I could have gotten with my bachelor's. When I was pre-med, I did mostly pre-med activities, so I don't have lab experience. I am applying to entry level roles and am really trying to make myself stand out by writing cover letter's for every position, stating what I like about the lab's research and how I would like to be a part of it.

Some research roles literally don't mention a lab or PI. They just say " the Research assistant will ( tasks)." How am I supposed to write a CL then? It makes me not want to apply, I feel like it's a ghost posting.

Anyone else?

edit: I do apply to those jobs by attaching my resume. It's just that I can't write a cover letter when I don't know what research topic the lab entails, and because my resume is not exactly lab oriented, it makes me feel like applying to them is a waste but I do apply.

This is my first time posting here. Submitted my first paper early this year and after one rejection, get into review with a quite nice journal and I was excited. Then three months went by without any word from the journal. Finally got the feedback today. It was bad and my paper was rejected.

The first reviewer questioned the rigorousness of one of the major experiments. Some points are quite valid and I felt like I could explain or improve if given a chance of revision. The second reviewer actually complemented the execution of the experiments, then proceed to say there was no novelty in the research. Everything has, in some way shape or form, been reported, expected, etc, and not good enough for publication. I felt like it was more devastating than reviewer 1, since they are suggesting that we did everything well, and the work was just meaningless. And the worst part is that I kinda agree with them after reading it a second time.

I am in the later stage of my PhD as an international student and was hoping a higher impact paper could boost my chance at the job market. Now that it's not gonna happen, I am worried whether I can find a job or even a postdoc position (not saying having a paper can guarantee any of those) after graduation. Moreover it's hurting my motivation for day-to-day work. Why do all these when it's not gonna provide new insights?

For those who have experienced similar feelings, can you share how you dealt with them?

It’s so cute 🥺

Edit: Guys I actually just thought this was cute teeny glassware, thanks for all the comments(!) I can’t unsee it anymore🤣😭

Snagged 6 for the lab, naturally I took a finders fee.

just pulled this out of the autoclave to make room for my stuff. the top melted just a little bit lmao

I’ll go first- last week, my team and I watched from our van as a young black bear popped out of the woods and investigated the mosquito trap we were about to take down!

**Something (likely the fan) scared the bear and it ran off into the woods. We waited a good 10min before retrieving the trap- all the while making a LOT of noise to keep it from returning to investigate again

Curious people about microfluidics
Look at this
There is an alternative to acrylic microfluidics, it’s resin printing

Hello labrats, this is my first time going though anything like this so I’d like a word of wisdom from more experienced rats.

I’m a Master’s student and my PI requested me to give a lecture and a practical demonstration at the yearly summer course for grad students on lab techniques and experiments. The lecture/ demonstration was about an experiment I do a lot in my routine so I was quite comfortable talking about it and showing it to the grad students.

One of them, however, was absolutely insufferable. He was completely arrogant the whole time, wanted to bring attention to himself by “explaining” to his group how to do the experiment, gave his peers a lot of incorrect suggestions and often tried to talk above me to solve another student’s doubt. It was to the point that I had to raise my voice above his to give the students the correct instructions, because he wouldn’t stop talking. Even the other students were clearly uncomfortable and annoyed by him.

I don’t often give classes and I’ve never encountered a situation like this. I’ll have to keep teaching this class for the rest of the week so I’ll still be in contact with this insufferable guy. What is the best way to deal with students like this?

Doing SDS PAGE for the first time

.. do the colours mean anything? The orange ones are cheaper than white on Thermo Fisher’s website, so I want to buy them. But does it make a difference to anything? I’d be using them for IF. I feel like this is too dumb a question to ask somebody in my lab, lol.

I have an unconventional background-- I graduated with my bachelor's in 2022. I have coursework in research methods, basic lab methods etc though it's been a while. My work experience includes patient care and business analytics, so I do feel that there are transferable skills like data analysis and managing datasets. Recently I joined a research project doing chart review. I believe my skills are best suited for a clinical research position and dry lab work.

I'm currently job seeking and am looking for entry-level positions in research, either as a junior assistant or ACRC. I've been seeing openings at UCSF and Kaiser, but I'm sure there are plenty of applicants who have more formal research experience. So I want to know honestly: is there any angle for me here as an older professional? Is cold emailing PI's effective here or should I just apply via the hiring portal? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.