Be a good labmate

"When a supply is low, tell the person who needs to know."

Whenever we ask researchers to share their pet peeves with us, discovering that a regent or supply was empty and had not been reordered was near the top of the list--for everyone.

Many supplies take a few days or longer to arrive at the lab—they can’t be picked up locally in a pinch. A labmate, for example, can’t run out to Target to in the middle of the night to purchase ligase and complete their cloning reaction.

If you're taking a break from your research experience, or won't be returning when the next semester begins, there are some specific tasks you'll need to do before saying goodbye to your labmates.

One task that is easy to overlook, but is so important, is reminding your mentor about any living stocks you worked with during the semester.

If this or next week includes an official academic holiday at your institution, we hope you're able to spend spend a little of that time out of the lab doing a little bit of nothing.

But before you wrap up at the lab, make sure that you've washed your dishes (if part of your weekly responsibilities), and completed any chores that are regularly assigned to you. You might be planning a few days of Netflix, catching up on sleep, and seeing old friends, but many of your labmates will spend the academic break (or part of it) in the lab.

There are numerous chores that need to be done in a research lab, and it's tempting to rush through them just to get done.

Instead, adopt the philosophy that everything you do in the lab is important, and deserves careful attention to the correct procedure.