Each lab is like a tribe, it has its own particular traditions and rituals. X is stored here, Y is stored there and Z is made up fresh. We share reagent A, we make our own reagent B, we buy a kit for reagent C. It's hard when you enter the tribe, you have to learn all of these unwritten rules.
- A good friend (who just started working in a new lab).
- Log in to post comments
It is funny how lab standards get set. I've watched it develop in my own group and it is funny how some things quickly become status quo for no apparent good reason. I've even found that trying to input some rationality into the choices tends to make some thing worse. The worst part of this process is that some things become default and people will do things they have no idea why except that it is in the protocol. I guess that is the nature of the business.
My strategy is to become alpha-postdoc as soon as possible, so that I can enforce my rules on the tribe.
It's working so far.
Also each lab has its own lingo and set of biases and standards.
When my lab started using coverslip-bottom MatTek dishes for live cell GFP experiments these were dubbed "NWO"s as they represented a "new world order" for live cell imaging in the lab.
Years later, we all say NWOs instead of MatTeks and new lab members are always amused to learn the meaning behind the acronym they have been using for months.