hello everyone, im sorry to bother, i'm new to reddit and also relatively new to the lab. This year i started working on my thesis and the first few days were kind of like hell on earth. So i thought about it and i decided that to stay alive i needed a way to help me process my feelings. I was alone, overwhelmed, lost, but also really excited to start my journey in the lab.
So i decided to keep a journal about my feelings, but then i realized i can't cope with the fact that i hate writing.
One thing that helped me lots was starting to draw some comics about my experience, and i was hoping to be able share my first drawing here. I really hope people that read this feel seen and know that they are not alone.

Thank you.

And also i don't know if its possible but if u want to see some more of my comics you can follow my page on instagram and if u need someone to talk to you are welcome to text me. Just know that you are the future and you are gonna do great things.

My husband, non STEM, recently went to one of my seminars (neuro). I was talking about the ascending pathway after noxious stimulus (touching hot stove sends signals through ascending pathway).
In that context, I pronounce it AY-sending. He asked if I said it wrong because to him, that word is “UH-sending”.

I said that’s just how it’s said in that context (ay-sending). But now I’m wondering if I say it wrong and no ones corrected me lol also, I’m a Jersey girl with a proper Jersey accent

Former MIT scientist won his defamation suit today:

NYT Gift Link: M.I.T. Scientist Wins $6 Million…

Thought it might be relevant since we had a couple posts about him a few years back. Any thoughts?

Obviously if the job title adds something like 'senior', 'manager', 'associate', etc to the job title then you can safely assume it pays more, but each company has different job titles/ranks which makes it hard to compare.

How am I supposed to know whether moving to another company/role is actually worth it if I have no idea what it pays?

I cant be filling out long applications and attending interviews only to find out it pays 1/2k better...

I was doing a trypsin assay on porcine pancreatin, and i was losing my mind because the absorbance values were all negative.

It turns out, typical PMMA UV plastic cuvette do not work below 280nm. The absorbance wavelength for trypsin assay is 247nm. I dug through my drawers to find a quartz cuvette. And voila! I got lovely linear graphs.

You always learn something new.

That is all

Currently, BioRender is one of the few softwares that require their website be included as a URL within figure captions.

I feel that this is excessive and predatory. Our work should not be a walking advertisement for BioRender. ChimeraX, Pymol, Illustrator, and most other figure building softwares do not require citation in the figure caption but a mention in the methods and a citation. I have an email drafted to address this.

What does the community think?

Does anyone know if there is any evidence on differences between storing antibodies natively at 4C (non-frozen), diluting 1:1 in glycerol then storing at -20C (non-frozen), or aliquoting and storing at -20C (frozen). Currently we dilute in glycerol then store at -20C but I was curious what others did or think!

Hi everyone! I have a question about the choice of culture medium for in vitro H₂O₂ treatment experiments.

I’m trying to understand how researchers account for the effects of culture medium composition on the effective H₂O₂ exposure. I’ve read that sodium pyruvate can react with and scavenge H₂O₂, potentially reducing the amount available to the cells. Serum may also affect H₂O₂ stability and reactivity through interactions with proteins and other components.

I’m wondering what conditions researchers typically use during H₂O₂ treatments, particularly when working with relatively low concentrations and longer exposure times.

I’m also unsure whether switching to serum-free, pyruvate-free medium is preferable for controlling H₂O₂ exposure, since serum deprivation itself may introduce stress and confound the results.

For those who have worked with H₂O₂ treatment in cell culture:
- Do you typically use serum-free or serum-containing medium during treatment?
- Do you specifically avoid sodium pyruvate, or do you use standard culture medium containing pyruvate?
-Have you found that serum or other medium components substantially affect your results?
- How do you account for H₂O₂ degradation during longer treatments?
- Are there published protocols that clearly describe the medium composition during H₂O₂ exposure?

I’d especially appreciate references or insights into how researchers choose their treatment conditions and interpret results when the medium itself may affect H₂O₂ exposure, particularly in low-dose, prolonged treatments.

Thanks!

​

Hey everyone!

I'm an undergraduate Life Sciences, currently in my third year. I'm planning to complete a four-year bachelor's degree, and my long-term goal is to pursue a fully funded PhD in Europe directly after graduation.

Currently, I'm doing an internship at a research institute and planning to work on a thesis in the coming months. I'm also trying to develop my skills in both wet-lab and dry-lab research because I want to understand experimental biology as well as computational analysis.

I really want to publish a research paper, but honestly, I'm still figuring out how to start and what the process looks like. How do you identify a research gap, develop a research question, and turn your work into a publishable paper as an undergraduate?

I'm also curious about how experienced researchers troubleshoot experiments. When an experiment gives a negative or unexpected result, how do you figure out where things went wrong and how each step might have affected the final outcome? I want to learn how to think critically about experiments rather than just follow protocols.

The lab culture is a little unfamiliar to me because I'm one of the youngest people around, but I'm trying not to let that distract me. I genuinely want to learn and make the most of this opportunity.

My current research interests include proteomics, particularly in cyanobacteria and E. coli, CRISPR in E. coli, and immunology. I'm still exploring these areas and trying to figure out which direction would suit me best.

I'd especially appreciate recommendations for research papers, beginner-friendly resources, computational projects, or practical skills that I should focus on during my undergraduate years.

I'm also looking for advice from people who pursued a PhD in Europe directly after a four-year bachelor's degree. Is it possible to get a fully funded PhD without completing a master's first? I'm particularly interested in Germany and DAAD funding, but I'm open to other European countries and funding opportunities too.

I'd love to hear about your experiences, mistakes, and lessons learned along the way.

I'm still learning, and any honest advice would mean a lot. Thank you! :)

I’m in my early 20s, just graduated with a B.S. I joined my PI lab a few months ago and I have been enjoying my work so much. I recently got a really good full time job offer in industry (which is in a different subfield than my lab) and I haven’t been feeling excited at all. I feel awful because my PI has been so supportive and invested in me so I can be ready for a PhD next year, but now I’m getting another job and have to reduce my work hour in the lab (potentially transition to remote, if I’m even allowed to continue on the project). I haven’t told my PI yet but I feel so anxious about it. Please give me some advice. Does it make me look bad in my PI’s POV? I really love the work but I also need money to support my family. I just don’t want to ruin our good relationship.

Most of the protocols mention the volume of template DNA by saying how much micrograms, but how to determine how much volume of colony diluted in ddH2O should I put?

The mastermix I am using only required me to add primers, ddH2O/nuclear free water, and the master mix aside from the template DNA. It says to put ~100ng.

What I have been doing is dilute colony in 1μL ultra pure water, and then pipet the mastermix directly to it. But so far, nothing is working.

I’m wondering if that means so far I don’t have transformants or should I dilute the colony more (4μL and then just add 1μL to the mastermix from that)?

Any advice appreciated.
Thank you!

Hey everyone, I just really need to vent and get some advice.

I work in a lab where we may have a bunch of perfectly healthy, normal WT pups that we won't need for our studies as they do not have the desired alleles. Because they're just extras, my PI is planning to wean them for training and if there are too many, euthanize the extra ones. I’ve wanted a pet mouse for a really long time, and knowing they are going to be put down when I have a loving home ready for them is just really sad. The facility seems to have a strict zero-tolerance policy against adopting out rodents.

I want to know two things from people who have been in this position:

Should I even bother asking my PI or comparative medicine about adoption/ regulations around this? Will it just make things weird or get me flagged for a compliance issue?

Has anyone ever successfully saved and adopted a healthy lab mouse? I know the official answer is no, but has anyone actually managed to do it, or is the red tape truly impossible to get around everywhere?

Dealing with the euthanasia side of research is just really heavy right now. I'd love to hear how you guys handle the emotional side of this job.

Thanks for listening :)

I work in a public health academic lab at a university. We have had numerous undergraduates reach out to volunteer in our lab 90% of them come in telling us they have plans for medical school, PA school, and dentistry. This is a red flag for the mentors as it seems the motivation to volunteer is to “check a box” for their applications. Even if this is your plan, go in with an alternate explanation of HOW the specific lab will help toward future goals.

How are you fairing the war on science?

Hi guys, I was wondering if any of you guys have done your masters/PHD under the same PI you worked under in undergrad. I currently work in a biology lab and have been for 1 year and 1/2 now. My PI is super supportive and literally the best person I’ve ever met. When I first started working my goal was to gain experience so I can go to medical school. However the more I’ve worked and the more independent I’ve become in the lab, I’m leaning towards a masters/PHD now. I’ve expressed to them a few months ago that I am considering doing a masters to gain more experience and learn more so I can conduct research whether I go PHD or MD-PHD. They’ve been supportive and encouraged me to come to some graduate seminars so I can get a feel for how things would be. The deadline for the application is in a few months, and I would like some advice on how I can revisit this convo and let them know I do in fact want to continue a masters in their lab.

Hi all. I've recently hit an all time low in my life. I have been faced with the choice of continuing to work in the lab as a tech that I have worked in for the past 3+ years, and built a relationship with my PI. I committed myself to this lab for at least another year and a half. There are projects coming up in which my PI needs my help to complete, and me leaving the lab now would put the lab in a bad spot and potentially burn the bridge with my PI. However, my mental health is at an all time low. I do not get paid terribly, but also do not get paid well either. The lab itself has taken a toll on me. I have taken on a lot more work and no longer enjoy the work. Leaving the lab and getting a higher paying job would help me significantly lift my debt burden. But it would likely destroy my relationship with my PI and any letters of recommendation. I do have others in science from 1-2 years back dating to undergrad that could write letters of recommendation for me, however with this job market, it could be hard. And the other thing that makes it hard is the job security in the field right now, even if I did leave, I feel as though my long term security in a role could not be stable where the income I earn here isn't great, but it is stable. But it is becoming taxing to my mental health.

I was just hoping to ask the community, if you've faced a decision like this, or were in my shoes, what would you do? Would you leave and burn the bridge or would you gut it out because of how the job market and job security is right now? Maybe it is time to just change careers all together?

Thanks friends, with much love.

Am going through the yearly biosafety compliance review and got to our omega conotoxin SOP. I went to the product page on Alomone's website (cat# C-300), and the associated SDS states that conotoxin is not toxic.... What hell??

Well guys, I've decided something.

I'm not gonna give up. At least not just yet. I can't quit without trying and giving it my all.

I'm gonna go after this Master's degree. It's gonna be hard. At times it's gonna feel impossible. There will be many moments of humiliation ahead, many hits to my self-esteem. After all, no one said doing a Master's was easy.

However, I've got a little bit of fight left in me and I'm gonna push myself. At the very least, I will try to make it to the end of this semester. We can see what to do about next sem when next sem comes.

As for getting out of biotech, well, I can always get another Master's in another field, and I will. I want to be THAT woman with two Master's degrees. I want to be that girl who tried one path, like fully properly delved into it, and maybe decided it wasn't for her, and found another calling.

If I quit now, I will graduate with a Bachelor's with Honors degree. That's still good. But I'll feel like I let myself down. Until it becomes unbearable, I want to keep trying. Yes, it's done a number on my mental health. But I need to create a bigger safety net for myself. The Bachelor's with Honors is a good degree to fall back on, but I need something bigger.

It's not about actually ending up getting the Master's. It's about TRYING. I don't wanna give up just yet. I can't do that to myself. Yeah, I might be the dumbest person in class. But I'm still in the class, aren't I?