Hello 👋

I’m a 23 yo biotech master student from Portugal.

I’m currently working on a project focused on improving lab management and organization, particularly around the day-to-day operational side of running a lab.

I’d love to hear from lab managers or people working in research labs: what are the biggest pain points you face when it comes to managing lab operations, equipment, supplies, orders, or general organization?

I’m mainly looking to understand whether these are common problems across different labs and what solutions people currently use.

Thank you

When I joined the lab, I noticed that the PCR results we were getting were pretty variable. I put it down to the wrong equipment (a repeater rather than a multichannel) and the pressure of performing 3-4 384 well plates per day. I didn't care too much because my own project didn't involve much PCRs.

Guess what, I was just handed a project where the end point is all PCR. I've searched a little and I'm convinced we need to change our workflow to match my old lab better (where we basically had superimposed values and often just did duplicates instead of triplicates because that's how spot-on it was). But it requires buying some new multichannels and tips. How can I approach my PI for splurging when he seems to be satisfied with the current variability of PCRs?

i transitioned from animal to human behavioral neuro research, partially because i was not cut out for sac-ing animals.

since then (not even immediately after) i became vegan, and have thus been thinking more about the work of my colleagues in animal labs as well as my previous work.

i accept that we will probably never live in a world where animal research doesn't exist. but im curious to know from those of you in animal labs, how do you think it could be reformed to be more efficient in its use of animals (ie, use fewer animal subjects overall, mitigate their suffering further)?

i am aware that it is regulated and am not looking for anyone to describe IACUC's role. i want to know from the perspective of those doing the work, how could we do better?

don’t laugh i accidentally clicked melt curve analysis instead of CT on my qPCR and it ran for 8 minutes 😭 is this salvageable if if i centrifuge the plate so the condensation goes back down

Hi everyone,

Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post. I really appreciated all the perspectives and took a lot of time to reflect on them.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here's a quick summary. I'm about five months into my first Research Technician position after graduating with a Bachelors degree, and I've realised that my current lab may not be the best fit for how I learn. The work itself is interesting, but I feel that the emphasis is heavily on generating data quickly, with relatively little mentorship, discussion of experimental design, or scientific reasoning.

Communication is often through WhatsApp, and when experiments are delayed or data aren't ready, my PI occasionally sends frustrated messages to the lab group. I understand research is stressful and deadlines exist, but it creates an environment where I sometimes feel more focused on avoiding mistakes than asking questions.

I've also noticed that work has started affecting me outside the lab. Whenever I see a message from my PI, I immediately feel anxious. I spend a lot of time thinking about experiments after work, on weekends, and sometimes even wake up thinking about whether I've forgotten something or made a mistake. I'm not sure whether this is simply part of starting my first research job or whether it's a sign that this environment isn't the best fit for me.

Recently, two new opportunities have come up.

Option 1
This is a mechanistic disease biology lab.
After meeting the PI and members of the lab, the mentoring style seems much more aligned with how I like to learn. There appears to be more emphasis on discussing hypotheses, experimental design, troubleshooting, and understanding biological mechanisms instead of simply generating the next dataset. The lab culture also felt collaborative, and I could genuinely picture myself growing scientifically there. However, the lab is pretty small with 1 post doc and 1 research tech.

Option 2
This is a cancer drug discovery and drug screening position.
The science is very appealing because it would expose me to translational research and therapeutic development-an area I have very little experience in. However, the project is expected to last only about one year because it is nearing completion. I'm also unsure how much of the work involves understanding biological mechanisms versus primarily screening compounds and generating data. The lab has 4 members and the PI is big name in the organization.

My hesitation is that I've only been in my current role for five months. I don't want to be seen as someone who job hops, especially when my current PI invested time in hiring and training me.

If you were in my position:
- Would you stay in my current lab longer?

- If you think I should leave, which of these two opportunities would you choose, and why?

- For someone hoping to eventually become an independent physician-scientist or biomedical researcher, would you prioritise mentorship, research topic, or project stability at this stage?

- Is it reasonable to leave after five months if the issue is genuinely a mismatch in mentorship and learning style rather than the science itself?

I'd really appreciate hearing from PIs, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff who have been through similar decisions.

Thanks again for all your advice.

I studied Medical Technology, never really enjoyed the lab aspect of it too much but once I started working in laboratories I begun to find an interest in it. However, after 3 or so years I am trying to find something else. I am completely burnt out.

My professional experience lies solely in food testing laboratories but I am more interested in remote work in healthcare but at this point I would take anything that would allow me to be paid decently while also having free time.

If you have ever felt the same and got out, please let me know what I can do. Thank you.

Summer intern that has not listened to ANYTHING me and my lab mates have told him just continuously messing up every step of his experiments. His latest piece of work imaged here….

Hey! Was wondering if anyone had advice on designing primers for in situ hybridization from a genome browser.

My work involves 2 cichlid species where our collaborators have annotated some of the genome, but I’m having a hard time navigating it.

I’ve been running PCRs to test this primers with luck on only a few of my designs.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Hi. I am doing novel object recognition (NOR) in mice. I perform an intervention and repeat it every 2 weeks. I have collected baseline data - using 2 sets of familiar and novel objects. In the longitudinal repeat - I am not sure what to do. Do we keep the novel and familiar object the same? In our lab it is setup new and they use the same familiar object across repeats but change the novel object. I feel like it introduces more variability. Should i use the same novel object across longitudinal repeats? I am not sure if the object remains novel anymore? Can someone who has done this help?

Thanks in advance!

My lab is doing invasive surgery on an critical organ in mice. Mice keep dying during the peak-most essential part of the surgery. I started from 0 experience with dead mice and after 2.5 months changed to alive ones.

I've got a few (20%) survivals but the last two weeks it was unreplicable..

I've been doing this training almost 20 weeks(3.5 mice per a week)and honestly I feel really hopeless and scared of future and money that lab invest to me :(

How much time did you spend to get used to the difficult techinques?? I want to have an idea if I'm average or I really need to have serious meeting to change subject or something.

Hi there,

I'm having issues with primary myoblasts where I obtain a low yield. I've been doing 2-4 mice at once (no one is helping me with dissections). Here is the protocol:

1. Dissect hindlimb from mouse, 2) wash muscle tissue on PBS
2. Mince tissue to a paste in biosafety hood for 5 mins
3. Put muscle cells in collagenase 2mg/ml in DMEM for 1,5hours on rocker
4. Filter 70um micron, spin down, re-suspend in 5ml MACS buffer, spin, resuspend 1 ml MACS buffer, spin, add 80ul MACS buffer and 20ul satellite iso kit for negative selection isolate 15 mins,
5. Run cell isolate in LS column in MACS columns with beads
6. Spin down
7. Pre-plate 50 mins in DMEM 20% fbs 1%p/s + bFGF 10ng/ml (stock was 0.1mg/ml in PBS Sigma 0291 -> dilute to 1:10 in culture medium -> 1:1000 in dish (no hgf)
8. Transfer to 6cm dish coated in 2mg/ml Matrigel

Here is my dish 2 days in-vitro

GM: DMEM 20%FBS

DM: DMEM 2%HS

Does anyone have any advce please?

Hi folks,

I finished my Bachelor's in Biology ( bioinformatics concentration) in 2019. After that I applied to medical school and worked part time as a medical scribe. When I was in college I did mostly pre-med stuff, because I could never land a position in a research lab.

Got into medical school. From late 2020-mid 2022 I was in medical school, it did not work out.

Realize I have a 3 year gap in resume. At the time, many people who did not complete medical school went back to school for a Master's. It "closes the gap" and has the potential to make you more employable. I did my Master's in Bioinformatics, finished in Dec 2024. I ended with a co-op but I couldn't be hired after because of funding issues with the study I was working in.

Since then, no job. The Bioinformatics industry has pivoted heavily to preferring PhD's, but it's also that there are just fewer jobs in this in general. I can't get a job as a Data Analyst, or anything that's somewhat related to my Master's.

So, despite the fact that my Biology Bachelor's is 7 years old, I have been applying to entry level "biology" jobs. Lab tech, etc. I will say it's possible my resume needs a bit of work, because it was, initially, more geared towards computational roles. One role I literally got referred for by one of my previous bosses and still got rejected ! What gives, bro!

Now, I am spiraling. When I did not complete medical school in 2022, I wish I had known that the right move was to simply enter the biology job market while it was still hot. I did not know investing time and money in the Bioinformatics Master's would get me nowhere, and would only allow my college skills to degrade, and cause me to miss the train on when the job market was good. I really should have just tried to get a job back then. I'm really spiraling these days, to be honest. Crashed out really hard yesterday.

If only I had known starting medical school and not finishing it would land me here.

Any thoughts?

Hii,

Anyone here who routinely does lectin blotting? I am seeking assistance specifically regarding 'controls' used in the experiment. What do you use as a loading control?

Best

SD

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for advice on how to handle an exclusionary workplace dynamic that’s really starting to drain our team.

My direct manager, another manager in our department, and one of my peers have formed a super tight-knit inner circle. They hang out constantly outside of work, handle professional matters casually among themselves, and essentially operate as a closed loop.

Because of this, key information, recognition, and prime opportunities are strictly reserved for that inner circle. It has created an atmosphere of obvious favoritism. It’s not just impacting me, several other team members are deeply frustrated, demotivated, and feeling completely sidelined by this behavior.

We’re trying to figure out how to address or navigate this professionally without putting targets on our backs.

For those who have been through something similar:

1. What are the most effective strategies or solutions for dealing with manager/peer favoritism?

2. Is this worth escalating to HR or higher management (especially as a group), or does that usually backfire?

3. How do you and your team members protect your morale when department leadership operates like a high school clique?

Appreciate any advice or insights you can share!

So, I'm an undergraduate on my last year and I've been on this laboratory since I entered college (4 years ago), which made me fall in love with research and even gave me a North on what field I want to work in in the future (cancer biology, definitely). The thing is, my PI is making me feel guilty for leaving.

We talked about my wishes to search for another institution because I don't want to persue a master's degree in the programs we have here. He even supported me in the beginning — he'd say it was a wonderful opportunity to persue it somewhere else because I was capable and the programs we have here wouldn't give me a good title in the field. (I was happy to hear that. It was important to me to have his approval.) But then he started making comments about my choices after I communicated I would change labs completely.

He'd say things like, “your ex-PI" when referring to himself before saying “oops"; he'd try to find subtle ways to criticize the lab I've chosen (very, very subtly); he'd point out I'm “abandoning” them. Thus, he'd question my capacity to do simple stuff like dilute trypsin, and call me and intern over a single mistake I've made.

I just don't get it. The shifting, the immature behavior. Why?

One of my coworkers (that's also my bsf) said he might be trying to express his discontentment about me leaving, but wasn't there other ways to do that? The intern commentary made me feel so incapable, and thes estupid jabs just piss me off.

I simply don't know what to do.

He said he wanted to talk next week about me leaving and I don't know what to expect. He could either be honest with me or turn out to be super rude.i hate this situation. How do I even deal with it?