r/labrats 12h ago

I've Yet to see a Science Career Ladder that works - Have you?

0 Upvotes

I’ve been working in science for many years, over four different industries, but I have never once seen a science career ladder that actually works.

The deal is always the same: stay at the bench and plateau or move into people management to keep climbing.  I have yet to see the lane that lets you stay a scientist and still grow.

But that might be just me.  So, I am asking.  Does anyone know of a science career ladder that actually works?  And does it survive the moment an actual promotion committee sits down in a room?


r/labrats 11h ago

Will boiling an autoclavable automatic micropipette in water damage it?

1 Upvotes

Asking since our autoclave is busy and boiling would be perfectly fine for decontamination in our case.

EDIT: Thank you everyone! I've got my answer.


r/labrats 6h ago

How to deal with smear campaign in the lab

14 Upvotes

I’m not sure if this is the right place to do this but I need some advice. I had a falling out with 2 friends during my third year. It wasn’t really a falling out I left to focus on my severe mental health issue at the time but they hated that even though I told them a million times that I needed space. During my masters year they went around the entire lab including professors and supervisors, postgrads, everyone, and would tell them my private matters and how evil and horrible person I am, calling me names like rat and bitch. People would glare at me when I walked down the hallways while I was still recovering.

I’m not sure what to do about this. Should I report it? Where would I even report this? The main perpetrator is doing her PhD there now so it’s still a relevant case.
I have 2 people that can vouch for me and say it was in fact happening (as they were the ones to tell me)


r/labrats 22h ago

How would you evaluate a company's analytical documentation?

1 Upvotes

I was reviewing the documentation published by Elev-8 Labs and wanted to get a laboratory perspective.

When a company publishes COAs, HPLC chromatograms, or MS data, what do you typically look for to determine whether the documentation is technically meaningful and trustworthy? Are there common issues or red flags that stand out to experienced lab professionals?

I'm interested in learning how to critically interpret this type of documentation, not looking for purchasing advice.


r/labrats 21h ago

help why is my ponceau stain not working

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26 Upvotes

help please 😭 i did a protein dot blot (native) and i wanted to stain for total protein on my blot with ponceau stain and my whole membrane (PVDF) turned red after incubating for 10 minutes at RT… i know for a fact theres protein on my blot as my primary antibody stain demonstrated signal.

i tried it the first time by following the instructions on the bottle (rinse w water, then incubate w the stain, then rinse till you see bands/dots) and that didnt work…

tried a second time by soaking my membrane in 100% methanol and quick tbst wash, then ponceau, did not work either and resulted in the blot pictured here…

what am i doing wrong ahh

note: this is after stripping the membrane! i did ponceau before blocking :)


r/labrats 10h ago

Wtf is wrong w my gel?

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9 Upvotes

samples on left side wells moved with a curve. what may be the reasons? (ps. i know that gel is broken since we it fell down the floor, however the look was the same before it fell down)


r/labrats 1h ago

Stage M2 help

Upvotes

Guys. Vous faites quoi quand vos maîtres de stage vous suppriment plein de trucs de votre stage (expériences, résultats..), que vous avez 40 pages à rédiger mais que vous pouvez résumer votre stage par "coloriage et 5 PCA" ?

C'est-à-dire que je fais un stage en biologie (segmentation, comparaison morphologique via nuages de points, recherche de signaux phylogénétiques et écologiques, biomécha etc), le sujet étant la chaîne ossiculaire de certains rongeurs.

On va poser les bases: j'ai fait un bac L et je ne suis pas biologiste + mes soucis de santé ont un peu f*ckedup le stage et j'ai perdu beaucoup de temps en labo à cause de ça.

On me donne des scans, on me dit "faut segmenter". J'ai segmenté. Les osselets, c'est minuscules et c'était majoritairement tout cassé et dégueu, la qualité des scans étaient plutôt foireux et le PC ramait tellement que j'attendais 10 à 20 secondes entre chaque petit trait/pixel de segmentation + j'ai souvent eu du mal à charger les scans du premier coup et il y a un jour où ça m'a pris une heure pour ouvrir un scan, il m'a fermé 8 fois le logiciel (pour ceux qui ne savent pas, la segmentation consiste à prendre image par image le scan d'un individu et colorier les zones ciblées, ici, les osselets et j'ai fait ça - au - PIXEL - par moment).

Je préviens plusieurs fois que les scans sont caca et que je ne sais pas comment on va sortir des datas viables mais on me dit "fait au mieux"... ok.. bon... bah.. j'ai fait tellement au mieux que tout le monde était émerveillé devant ma segmentation, donc je me dis ok, j'ai bien fait mon truc.

Bref, ensuite je pose mes landmarks (des points qu'on pose sur des parties précises et choisit de l'os). Là arrive un premier problème : j'ai des osselets gauche et des osselets droits mais il me les faut tous tu même côté.

J'explique à un de mes maîtres de stage qui me dit qu'il me fait un programme pour les mirrorer. Je me dis "super". Je lui explique que j'ai posé mes points sur 6 individus de référence et majoritairement, ils ont les osselets gauches (je n'ai pris qu'un côté des osselets par individu, par manque crucial de temps). Il me fait un programme qui modifie les osselet gauches pour en faire des osselets droits......... j'avais 4 gauches et 2 droits..... et ça n'a pas fonctionné tout de suite... J'ai bidouillé son programme pendant DEUX semaines pour réussir à obtenir correctement mes trucs, je n'ai pas réussi et j'ai fini par tout refaire à la mains (la pose des points, le lissage de la segmentation etc parce que son programme a foutu la merde pas possible).

Comme vous voyez, pour ce qui concerne la partie programmation, ce n'est pas possible pour moi, j'ai eu beau prendre des cours particuliers, avoir appris mes cours etc, ça ne passe pas, ça ne rentre pas. On me dit "tkt pour ça c'est nous qui nous en chargeons ! " (vous le sentez venir ? ).

Je ne parlerai pas de la partie ALPACA avec toute la progra qui n'a pas fonctionné correctement (encore une fois hein) et que c'est une personne du labo qui ne sait pas correctement programmer non plus qui m'a pris par la main pour m'aider à obtenir des résultats.... Bref, encore plusieurs jours plus tard je finis par y arriver et je retouche les points pas correctement posés.

Vient la partie analyse PROCRUSTE : mon maître de stage me fait un programme qui ne fonctionne pas, lol. Après encore des jours à galérer, j'appelle à l'aide un ami, que dis-je, un messie ! Il travaille dans la progra et à l'habitude de faire ce genre de choses pour des ingé, des scientifiques etc. En 30 mn il me règle le soucis ce dieu. On passe cependant tout un w-e pour réparer toutes les erreurs que je n'avais pas vu dans les programmes précédents, qui ont donc complètement bousillés mes données et qui m'ont fait faire du travail pour rien.

On finit par sortir 6 PCA (sur tous les individus, 1 pca du malleus, 1 pca de l'incus, 1 pca du stapes, 1 pca de l'anneau tympanique, 1 pca de la chaîne de tous les osselets de tous les individus dans leur états d'origine [un état merdique donc] et 1 pca superblock où on sépare tous les osselets, on casse leur chaîne et on met les incus sur les incus, les malleus sur les malleus etc.)

C'est beau, c'est magnifique, je vais enfin pouvoir passer à la bioméchanique. Bon, je sais que je vais devoir demander à mon ami de regarder le code de mon maître de stage mais bon... mon ami est prêt, il est chaud à m'aider. Ce que je n'avais pas vu venir, c'est l'abandon de cette partie par mes professeurs. Parce que trop compliqué et pas le temps. Ah. Bon. Bah. C'est tout mdr.

Bref, je rédige un premier brouillon de mon rapport, avec la moitié de la discussion, la description des résultats etc, j'arrive à ~27 pages. Je me dis "dommage, avec la partie biomecha, j'aurai eu 40 pages intéressantes et là j'ai pas grand chose... ca me fait chier, je sais pas comment je vais reussir a avoir mes 40 pages..." en plus je galère un peu car, comme dit plus haut, je ne suis pas biologiste et on me demande un vocabulaire que je n'ai pas forcément réussi à acquérir.

Mes maîtres de stage corrigent et là, c'est le drame. On me supprime la PCA superblock dans les résultats et on hésite à me retirer la PCA chain et le diagramme des axes de variations des PC + on me supprime des figurés et des choses écrites plus hauts qui ont été validés des mois en avance..........

Je me retrouve avec une vingtaine de pages, seulement 4 figurés de résultats de sûr et 2 figurés en sursit et 20 pages à rédigés de discussion, sachant que la partie sur les limites rencontrées au cours du stage, elles me l'ont fait déplacer dans matériel et méthode, donc je n'ai plus rien ou alors je me répète. On m'a donné ce stage car il y a un manque de l'espèce ciblée dans la littérature donc la partie de la discussion où je compare avec la littérature euuh..... je vais comparer avec une espèce proche mais bon...... et voilà....

Donc là je me retrouve à ne pas savoir quoi faire, ne pas savoir où je vais vraiment, j'ai absolument rien à mettre dans mon rapport, il est vide.. Je ne vois pas comment je vais gratter 40 pages même en mettant de très belles images et de beaux tableaux, au bout d'un moment, c'est pas un livre pour enfant que j'écris (même si je pense me reconvertir en artiste après ça, quitte à finir de toute façon au chômage..) .

Est-ce que vous avez des conseils ? est-ce que vous vous êtes déjà retrouvés dans cette situation ? Quoi que je dois faire ? Je dois rendre dans 1 mois le rapport.... j'ai pas le temps de faire de nouvelles analyses etc et surtout, j'ai l'impression que mes maîtres de stages sont tellement débordés par leur travail à courir à gauche et à droite qu'ils ont abandonné en fait....


r/labrats 16h ago

Need help with motivation

0 Upvotes

I am a PhD student in the 3rd year of a 5-year PhD Program. Despite having great ideas and some clarity, I am still confused about how things will proceed. A little backstory: I was working on a topic in 1st yr, my guide didn't like the data, asked me to switch topics, and I didn't get good data. I was able to bridge topics 1 and 2 and started working on it in my 3rd yr. The hypothesis from the 2nd-year topic isn't working, so we're reverting to the initial plan. went on a one-month summer school abroad, and now, when I am back, I feel paralysed even to start experiments again because I am not able to bring my full heart to do it.

This is mostly for rant, and I know I should not seek external validation, but I am at that point where I feel like my inner motivation is dying. A few kind words would be of great help


r/labrats 6h ago

Any advice for thesis structure or writing process

0 Upvotes

Hi, y’all!

I’m wrapping up the first year of my Biology Masters. I’m hoping to be graduated by this time next year! However, I feel like I’m making negative progress on putting together my thesis. I’ve still got some lab work to do but I’ve made relatively good progress. My problem is a severe lack of motivation when it comes to writing along with always feeling like there’s more to add. I feel like every time I get in the groove, I find more information that could/should be included and then fall down a rabbit hole about what I may need to add/take away/reconsider/etc. I guess I’m looking for advice on how to best make effective progress.

I have similar issues when trying to write the review articles I want to get finished by the end of this year. I swear I’ve got like six bibliographies with way too much info 😅.

How long should I be shooting for when it comes to writing a thesis? What are some of the best outlining tips? How do you keep focused and not fall into the trap of new papers 😂

Really I’d appreciate any advice that you guys found to be helpful while working through your programs! I love this sub so much, the supportive atmosphere is everything, and I appreciate any advice anyone has. Thank you!!


r/labrats 4h ago

Starting a Lab with University Equipment Funds

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0 Upvotes

I’m starting an assistant professor position fresh out of a PhD and need to start up my lab. What are some must have equipments that I should list to my department to fund to get my lab started?

Field: organismal biologist with an emphasis in fish and attempting to pivot to shrimp/crawfish. Focus on immunology and nutrition but want to expand to disease ecology and environmental physiology.


r/labrats 1h ago

How to cope with lack of data on summer project

Upvotes

Title. I am a rising junior in college that was lucky enough to secure a research opportunity at a prestigious national lab. However, even though I have a good relationship with my mentor/coworkers and I have good technique, one very important experiment I did ended up giving surprising null data, thus almost invalidating my entire summer project. Worse, I don’t have time to repeat this experiment as it involves multiple week-long incubations.

I was promised authorship on a paper, but now I’m worried that is jeopardized. My mentor was supportive and told me that it is normal for science to fail especially with the new setup and bacterial strain we were working with (it’s known to have strange behavior), but I cannot help but be bummed out. She specifically mentioned how none of it is my fault, but I’m worried that it really could be my mistake and I just never noticed.

Was really looking forward to have my name on a publication :(. I haven’t talked to my mentor exclusively about authorship status. I still was productive and conducted multiple other analyses, it’s just this most important one gave no readings. Was also looking forward to a rec letter and a potential return offer but now I’m worried none of that will come because of this failure.

Gonna go and actively troubleshoot now! Whats a good way to cope with results like these?


r/labrats 4h ago

How do I understand research as a freshman undergrad?

1 Upvotes

I’m trying to read research papers from various professors in my field at my university to hopefully reach out to them but like I’m really getting lost in trying to understand what the research paper is all about. Im reading applied physics and neuro research papers and it just seems way too complex.


r/labrats 3h ago

Some sorting hilarity

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0 Upvotes

I know it's an ad, but gave me a chuckle


r/labrats 20h ago

Using human sera to perform immunofluorescence staining

5 Upvotes

We study an autoimmune disease and have to use human sera to perform immunofluorescence staining on mouse tissues to confirm reactivity. Because sera contain thousands of unwanted IgGs, besides the desired pathogenic IgGs, the noise is obscene. We have tried pretreating the sera with guinea pig liver power to absorb nonspecific IgGs, as suggested by the literature, but the improvement is zero to minimal. Any ideas? TIA!


r/labrats 21h ago

Long term lab grade laptop keyboard cover suggestions

5 Upvotes

I’m in a BSL-2 lab where we want to stop bringing in our office laptops, but the disposable plastic sleeves we bought are a joke.

Any experience on longer term solution such as a TFU or silicone keyboard covers that can be cleaned every day? Need to fit snug and be totally usable (trackpad and keyboard) if we need to edit dilution schemes on the fly. Thanks!


r/labrats 4h ago

Any Jimothy fans in the house?

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117 Upvotes

r/labrats 18h ago

Cheap thermocycler that works?

18 Upvotes

Alright nerds, I love me an expensive fully featured thermocycler with a touchscreen and attached massage chair but I’m trying to build a lab space cheaply. Whats a quality gradient compatible 96well thermocycler that works without breaking the bank?


r/labrats 21h ago

How to keep up with PhD while dealing with depression?

22 Upvotes

So, I just had a rough day and after hours of self reflection I’ve realized I’m depressed… again. To be clear, I’m not say that I’m depressed after having one bad day. It’s been going on for a while and today just made me accept it. Years ago I had a therapist tell me to make a list of warning signs for how I respond to being depressed and I’m hitting all of them.

I’m going to do the responsible thing and start therapy again (really don’t want to but I should). However, I still have due dates to meet. I have a conference in a week and still haven’t finished the poster. I don’t have time to be depressed, I have data to analyze (half-joke).

Does anyone have any tips on how to stay motivated?


r/labrats 2h ago

White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants

182 Upvotes

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


r/labrats 4h ago

Someone forget to check what temperature their plastic melts at

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193 Upvotes

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


r/labrats 4h ago

Footage from the time I kept recording Collotheca at home. They are microscopic animals, a genus of rotifers, who function as a microscopic venus flytrap, attracting microbes using its own stomach content as bait, then eating them when they enter its mouth.

82 Upvotes

r/labrats 22h ago

Designed a fixture for ACC Pyroplates to make well identification easier

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354 Upvotes

I designed this fixture after getting frustrated pipetting into clear ACC Pyroplates. Since the row and column labels are only on the edges, I found myself constantly tracing over to make sure I was in the correct well.

This stand aligns a full A1–H12 grid beneath the plate so every well is labeled directly underneath. I also angled it to improve ergonomics and help keep hands away from the wells during pipetting.

Curious if anyone else using clear 96-well plates has run into the same issue or found a different solution


r/labrats 14h ago

Orgs/journals related to "silly" science?

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3 Upvotes

I'm a PhD materials scientist with a strong analytical chemistry background, hoping folks here maybe know of places where these more light-hearted efforts inspired by curiosity and humor might fit...? Here's the text from my original post:

I'm an independent scientist looking to do some research* because of silly reasons** and wanted to see if there are organizations of researchers out there doing similar things in materials science or related fields...? I love the idea of applying my expertise towards solving a seemingly unimportant question and treating it like a full-fledged scientific endeavor. Thanks!

* chemical and structural characterization of a standard cookie formulation as prepared in the oven and microwave + a possible subsequent recipe/process optimization study of a microwave-based cookie

** I was sad to discover that the Hot Pocket crisping sleeve was discontinued 2 years ago and went down a rabbit hole to learn more about how and why microwave susceptors work with crusty doughs


r/labrats 13h ago

Where can I buy pipette tip ejector attachment for this model?

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4 Upvotes

Does anyone know who I can contact or where I can buy a pipette tip ejector attachment for a Cleaver Scientific Omnipette automatic pipette (20–200 µL)?
I badly need help because the tip ejector attachment is missing. If I can’t replace it, I might have to pay for the entire pipette. 🥹

I’m from the Philippines, so I hope I can find something that can be shipped internationally.
Any leads or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much! 💗


r/labrats 18h ago

Could I get help identifying this old fume hood? I felt like people here may have used this unit before.

2 Upvotes

A local high school is clearing out old equipment and has offered it to me as a gift (for free). I have already communicated with a staff member through my personal account on Facebook and will be picking it up with their permission in a couple days. Could someone help me identify this unit? When I asked them they said they didn't know because it has been in storage for so long. I have tried narrowing it down being one of the older ductless smaller units. I estimated it to be around between ~22 inches to ~24 inches. They told me it weighed around 7 pounds which I seriously doubt because it looks built like a tank. I will be able to check it out in a couple days, but I'd rather know ahead of time to prepare as I'd like to take it apart to fit in my car and remove the filters.

If it works, amazing because I bet this would do way better than those solder extractors from amazon. If its junk I plan on using it for a DIY project for my electronics lab by converting it to a ducted unit, taking advantage of its chemically sturdy hull. Plus, if I do that, I bet I could use it for simple electroplating. Advice on that also appreciated. I especially need to know so I can take advantage of the electronics and maybe reverse engineer it as a learning opportunity.