Hi all:

I'm polling scientists (mostly grad students) for personal experience -- any comments or insight on the following would be great.

Throughout the grad school process, what do you wish people had just sat down and taught you beforehand?What are some skills that you sort of had to learn on your own ( Read more... )

The title of this post just about sums up everything that I heard yesterday ( Read more... )

So I'm doing long-term fluorescent studies on Hela cells. Well, I used to do them in another lab, ever since we moved nothing is working anymore ( Read more... )

OK, so I decided to play hardball: first author, or take it down. Well, I didn't put it quite that way in the email to the editor, but I did say that nothing except first author would be acceptable at this point, considering that I was kind enough to wait for her (rude) response before dashing off the emails to everybody and their grandmother ( Read more... )

So I finally heard back from the editor (meaning that An finally got back to him, meaning that at least one other co-author has spoken with her about this, or else she's gotten wind of what I've done somehow and is desperate for damage control ( Read more... )

In 2010 I worked at Maastricht University, under Dr. An Moens. During my time there, I wrote a monster review, but we couldn't find a journal that would publish it (at 11,000+ words, I can't blame them). When I left the lab, she was still looking for a publisher. I was aware that it would probably be extensively edited, and if that was the case ( Read more... )

For various reasons, I find myself without my own lab protocols (I'm not currently working in a lab, much as I wish I was). I was hoping folks here would either be willing/able to share their protocols or have online resources they like to use. I'm looking particularly for cell culture, transformation/infection, cloning, immunohistochemistry, and ( Read more... )

It is cold. Those unsung heroes that still make it to the lab are sitting in overcoats and typing in gloves. There are two portable heaters per student, but they don't help very much. The ink in our pens doesn't freeze only because we do not use pens. Lasers and computers are happy, they don't overheat. Other instruments don't really care: they ( Read more... )

Is it my imagination or do sales reps, more often than not, suck?  When you need to talk to them they don't return calls or emails.  When you don't need to talk to them they interrupt whatever you're doing in the lab. 

Why does my RT-PCR suck? Because the RT-extension primer has a nasty hairpin Tm one degree below the protocol's RNA-to-DNA temp. Why didn't I know this? I assumed the previous worker checked the primer design before placing the order. Why didn't using the alternate primers help? Because they were designed by a second person who hadn't checked their ( Read more... )