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🤣😭

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

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

I am a PhD student in a wet lab, and we have several undergrads, all with varying levels of ability and independence. One is very involved and interested, but extremely slow with experimental stuff. A single reaction start to finish can take a week. I want to help them succeed, but something that takes me 3-4 hours taking them 20 hours is not a recipe for success. My method for mentoring has always been first time hands on, guided assistance/demo, second time hands on but the student does it, and after that they work alone. This student needs their hand held to an extreme amount, and even if I step away to force them to work more alone they will just piddle around, then ask me for help.

I do believe they are capable, and they could really succeed, but I think that it may be my mentorship style or that this student isn't confident. Any tips on how to guide them to more success? And force them to speed up a little? My mentor tossed me in the deep end a little, and often gave "higher stakes" stuff to do that meant messing up actually mattered, but I'm not sure how successful that would be to help.

I have found that tissue culture dishes make perfect little pans for mixing watercolors

Was recently talking with my kid, who is still in school, and the topic of Bunsen Burners came up. I realized I hadn’t used one since I was in school. Curious how many of you still use these in your day to day science?

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?

Edit: Wow, I honestly wasn't expecting this kind of response. Thank you all for the kind words, feedback, and suggestions.

Based on the interest here, I've decided to move forward with producing these. I'm still working through the details, but I've put together a simple waitlist for anyone who would like to be notified when the first production run is available. You will be able to find that link in the monthly bulletin at the top of this subreddit.

Thanks again—I really appreciate all the encouragement.

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

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)

Hey lab rats 🐀! What is everyone’s favorite forceps for dissection? Currently I do Drosophila dissections and use the usual Dumont Size 5 in stainless steel but I’m looking to upgrade if something has better point retention.

Does anybody have any experience with cobalt or titanium forceps? I was looking at the Excelta Ultrafine point in cobalt or titanium.

Disgusting fingers and messed up DNA!

Had a rough day as at lab and would love to know how common royally fucking up is as an undergrad (and stories if you have them lol)

A little bit ago, I was feeling very lazy and did not want to design my 96-well plate by hand, since I wanted 3 replicates in each plate but randomly assorted within the plate (with three replicates of each plate where I had multiple plates at different temps, you get the picture....)

Anyways, after passing that task onto my undergrad, I felt that there had to be an easyish way to make an Excel sheet to do this for us, since I also couldn't find a good online resource that could do this for me (shouldn't there be a website? maybe i just didn't look hard enough).

So I made one! Hope this helps someone out there :)

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)

What could be the reason of these bubbles and patches. I never get them. I have my sponges full wet in transfer buffer and i roll out all the bubbles. This has never happened.

Hi everyone, I’ve been a new student in a lab for a couple months and was wondering how I can best integrate with everyone. There are a couple post-docs, technicians, and a very small number of students including me. I have met everyone by now but I was wondering how I could work on getting to know everyone better in the lab and/or become friends with some of the others?

I’m having a really hard time becoming friends with them too because they all seem so close and while 1:1s go well, groups don’t work at all when i’m there. They often also have side conversations and just don’t include me. Sometimes i’ve noticed them feeling bad and including me in group outings, but I just feel like my presence makes things uncomfortable

Everyone else is also more knowledgeable than me, so I feel so useless too

I just finished a multi-step Gateway cloning workflow (BP then LR clonase) to move my gene of interest into an expression vector. However, I realized a major oversight: when I propagated and prepped my original Gateway destination plasmid from the stock, I only grew it on a single antibiotic (Ampicillin/Kanamycin) rather than using dual selection with Chloramphenicol to keep pressure on the Gateway cassette.

I know that propagating without Chloramphenicol risks spontaneous deletions or loss of the ccdB killer cassette, which usually means the plate gets flooded with empty background.

My question is:

1. Could the BP and LR cloning reaction have worked despite this mistake? Has anyone accidentally done this before and still successfully pulled out their correct clones, or am I completely screening a plate full of empty/mutated backbones?

2. I have miniprepped the final genes after LR reaction and sanger sequenced but I am still confused about what to look for in these gene sequences to tell if they are actually in there and in good shape or not?

Thanks in advance!

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.

Hi everyone,
I’m working on a phylogenetic/population genetics project involving Crataegus and Philadelphus.
I’m using the plant-specific ITS primers from this paper:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.12438
Primers:
ITS-p5
ITS-p4
The PCR conditions are identical for both genera. Tm=55C (as shown in study)
Results:
Crataegus: most samples amplify, but several produce multiple bands (one strong expected-size band plus one or more additional bands).
Philadelphus(between ladders): almost no amplification, despite good DNA quality and successful amplification of chloroplast markers from the same DNA.
I’ve attached the gel (2% agarose gel in 1x TBE buffer : 80v for 1:30).
I’m trying to determine whether the problems are due to:
primer-template mismatches,
nonspecific amplification,
fungal/endophytic DNA,
intra-individual ITS variation (especially in Crataegus),
PCR conditions,
or something else.
Some additional information:
DNA was extracted using a modified CTAB protocol.
Other markers (e.g., chloroplast loci) amplify from the same DNA.
Crataegus species may include hybrids.
Philadelphus samples are from multiple individuals/populations.
My questions are:
Has anyone used ITS-p5/ITS-p4 successfully with Philadelphus?
Is multiple-band amplification common in Crataegus due to paralogous ITS copies or hybridization?
Would you recommend increasing annealing temperature, redesigning primers, or switching to another ITS primer pair?
If you’ve worked with Rosaceae or Hydrangeaceae, what ITS primers have given you the best results?
Any suggestions or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Even the one that was not that into solubility came out pretty well.

Hi everyone! We usually store our MiSeq cartridges in a drum, which is collected and disposed of in a way that is compliant with local EHS rules, because they're considered formamide contaminated waste. We've also been storing the liquid waste after a run/wash in a HDPE container and were wondering the correct way to dispose of this waste, since it's technically also contaminated with formamide. Thank you!!

I got a Thermofisher Aspire “Innovate to Elevate” Insulated White Tumbler back in 2024 through the Aspire member rewards program. I gave it as a gift to my Dad back then and it has been his favorite bottle since. He uses it every single day and even traveled around the world with it. A few days ago, it broke and he has been really heartbroken about it since. Does anyone at all possibly have one they would not mind parting with or know where I can possibly get a new one for him? Thank you so much!

bottle picture from their Instagram site