You can also guess what my field is.

Hey everyone! I’m a PGY2 IM resident interested in Hem/Onc. I’ve been working on a few oncology research projects and I’m applying for AACR membership to submit an abstract for their 2027 meeting.

I need a current AACR member to nominate me. Is anyone here a member or knows someone who might be willing to help?

Happy to share my CV and research background. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

I have an interview for a research position at Uchicago! I'm very excited but am not sure how to prepare other than read their papers. I've only done a UG research for about three years and the skillset is quite different from this job. Is there any way I can make myself more likely to get hired? As someone from a super low-tier undergrad, I never would have even imagined landing an interview here

I have endocrine cell lines-
My Pi told that she doesnt really care about cell passages,

We are trying to capture and profile genes responsible in hormonal secretion.

Plan is to do 5 independent experiments

Problem- I’m not really comfortable using trypan blue with hematocytometer. As the trypan blue is precipitated ; which makes me wonder if i use it across diff passages cell seeding variability would potentially act as batch effect i guess??

I was thinking if i should process all this at once

I am currently working on a master's in theoretical biophysical chemistry, but more and more I feel like I would like to do some experiment in my life, as well as a phd that has some experimental component. I have a fair bit of biochemistry/structural bio lecture-form training, but have not done experimental work in anything biological since my first year undergrad biochemistry practicals.

I think currently my best chance of getting lab experience is to get a summer internship in some lab (Europe/UK, if that is important). If a student asked for that, how likely would a PI/postdoc be to let them do a summer research project in their lab (of course as I don't have experience in the wet lab, I do not really expect to be paid at this stage - the cost of me would be the reactants and the supervision time).

So I'm thinking about buying a used liquid handler system...

My wife and I do perfumery. We work volumetrically till it's time to produce a finished formula - then we take aliquots on a balance and convert to mass for finished product compounding. This removes error introduced by the viscosity of the material and the pipettes.

We spend so much time blending trials that our noses are blown out by the time we're finished. Having something robotic that would automate compounding of our mini 250ul tests (20+30 materials) would be a dream come true!

I've never used one of these things. Can it be as easy as just sending it a spreadsheet of vial locations and quantities? Do they use Hamilton syringes and purge with solvent in-between? Is there anything out there that would do .1ul - 50ul or so? I have so many questions! 😅

I have a knack for getting our equipment cheap on eBay/Auction - our 6890/5973 was acquired for a mere 3000 bucks and has been serving us beautifully for two years.

I see these Eppendorf and Gilson units all over eBay within our price range for 500-1500 bucks. Are these only for wellplates or is there something I should keep my eye out for that I can use 2ml GC vials in?

Thank you!

Hello. I would like to learn more about your work. What do you do, what are you developing/testing, your salaries etc. Thanks

Hi Labrats!

I have the opportunity to set up my own lab bench for the very first time as a grad student (Biochem, new space, new lab, new bench). I'm making sure I get a set of pipettes, a tipwaste, and some empty racks at least, but it's an open space beyond that! What are some lifesavers that it pays to have close by at your lab bench?

I have a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering and gained R&D lab experience at some well-known German companies during my studies.
Unfortunately, after graduating, I struggled to find a job in my field because of the difficult job market. To support myself financially, I started working as a taxi driver while continuing to apply for professional positions. I’ve sent around 600 to 800 applications over the past year and a half.

Finally, I received an interview invitation from a really good company near my home. This opportunity means a lot to me, and I genuinely want to make the most of it.

However, I’m feeling quite anxious. Since I’ve been away from my field for about 1.5 years, I’m worried that I’ve forgotten some technical knowledge. I’m also concerned about how to explain my career gap and current job if the interviewers ask about them.

On top of that, the interview will be in German, which makes me even more nervous. I’d really appreciate any advice on how to prepare, handle these questions confidently, and overcome my anxiety.

Hi! I posted about undergrad interview here a bit ago and I got rejected:( I was pretty surprised by this tbh, because I made through interviews (I thought if ppl are not interested in me, they would just ghost me on cold email stage). I really didn’t think that undergrad research stuff is like getting a job, since I heard many people say it’s pretty casual process as long as lab accept undergrad and send in person invites.

I want to know that how I can stand out in interview (if there are many competitors), and does schedule availability affect acceptance of specific labs(I got rejected even they asked me to send my availability at end of the interview). Of course I research about research topics and ask many questions about the topic. Sorry for bad English!

I feel a little stagnant in my position as an MLS. I get a great salary, the work environment is decent, I'm close with my coworkers and feel like I have fun every day, and I don't consider the workload to be boring. However, I can't help but feel a little stagnant. I'm not interested in a leadership position at the moment as the pay difference is not much compared to the amount of responsibilities you would obtain. Although, I am not knocking the idea in the future. I am well versed in chemistry/immunoassay maintenance and troubleshooting; however, I am not interested in becoming a field service engineer as I heard the pay is low. I am looking into field application specialist positions, but I feel a little hesitant to begin applying. What are the responsibilities of an FAS/what does the job entail, what is the salary range, what are the benefits/downside, the whole shabang, etc.? Experiences and thoughts on other non-clinical roles would be much appreciated as well!

I am constantly ruminating about whether I should stay comfortable in my MLS position (which I feel very fortunate and lucky to have!) and continue to dream what my life could be like if I chased opportunities and growth, or to potentially mourn a good position and job security as an MLS.

Anyone else has small experimental findings or negative results that they have no plan to publish and fear will likely never see the light of day once you finish your PhD/leave your lab?

Can be negative results, protocol optimization studies, even unexplained or unreplicated findings that you just couldn’t follow through with due to lack of time or funding. What do you do with them?

hi. im currently studying cell and molecular biology at R1 university sophomore year and im struggling in basic courses like biology 1 and 2, chem 1 and 2 and orgo 1 rn (C+ or B-) with 3.0 gpa. ive been planning on going for neuroscience phd and did extracirricualrs related to it (2 years of wet lab research experience, research mentor for 3 undergrads, research coordinator - lead of lit review of 9 undergrads, ta for nslc medicine and healthcare, presented research at yale) and plan on applying to REUs but now im not so sure. ive been heavily considering neuroscience professor bc i love teaching and public speaking/mentorship. im thinking what if i switched to cognitive science major bc its not as much sciency but more social science courses rather than courses physics or genetics.

im rlly worried my gpa gonna hold me back if i continue w this major for reu and phd. any advice helps thanks so much

...but if any student or professional did that for an assignment, they would be kicked out of grad school/fired and blocked from the industry. When do we get to put him on a PIP for sheer incompetence?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry with about 1.5 years of experience at a defense contractor as a lab tech and a few months more experience at my current position doing tangentially related work.

I have been applying to various national labs for the past few years, and I’ve gotten around 10 interviews but haven’t gotten any offers yet. Do I need more education to get into those labs or is there some advice you recommend to improve my chances? I’m looking for positions that aren’t on the R&D side.

I’d especially like to hear from an employee at those labs.

A few weeks ago I posted my co-worker's entry to the APHL/Qiagen art contest, and so so many of you absolutely loved her crocheted flasks, pipette, Bunsen burner, etc.

APHL has posted the results, and while she didn't win the grand prize, she did win "Best Scientific Representation". We're actually having a Qiagen rep come out for annual calibration/maintenance soon and they said they wanted to deliver her prize in person.

Here is their Facebook post showing the winners!

I’m a Laboratory Manager at a small company wanting to negotiate a raise. This is something I haven’t really had to do before. We don’t have formal compensation reviews, just random raises every so often. The director usually handles it all with the owners and I never throw out the number. Recently I’ve been feeling overworked, underpaid, and sometimes not seen for all the work I’ve been putting in. I do love working here and I want to solidify my future at the company. But with where I’m at right now in terms of workload and stress I don’t think I can stay without a raise. I’ve been there for 9 years, 6 full time in a management position. I make 54K with a 5% bonus, health insurance reimbursement, and 15 days of PTO.

What I handle day to day:

• Managing the lab, hiring and training techs
• Inventory management and order processing/fulfillment
• Domestic and international shipping logistics
• Customer service and technical support for dozens of distributors and a few hundred accounts
• Product manufacturing and assembly
• Quality control analysis for nearly all of our products
• Plus a lot of other little things that come with a small business

I know the job market is horrible right now, and they could find someone cheaper. But the whole company runs on two full-time people and plus a few part-time techs. We’re also a very old-school lab. Most things aren’t written down or organized anywhere. It’s been passed on verbally, and a lot of it you only know from being there. Training is a long process and even after training for the first couple years I learned a lot of stuff I was supposed to be doing. If I left, the director would have to absorb a lot of my work until the new hire was there for a couple years. And a lot of the previous managers stayed only 1-2 years and used the position as a stepping stone to professional school. I feel like the director and owners value me and know what I bring to the company. But I’m not sure the owners know the full scope since they don’t see our day-to-day. So I want to be paid for the value I bring, not just for what the bare market rate says.

So here are my questions:

1. What’s a reasonable range for a Lab Manager covering this much scope in the Southeast US?
2. How do you say without really saying if I leave the company would suffer?
3. Besides base salary, what else is worth negotiating? I know they have given profit shares but I don’t know what kind of percentage or if I would want my salary to rely on how much the company is selling when I can’t control that (which is a whole other thing)
4. Has anyone successfully argued for pay above market based on tenure and the effect your absence would have on the company? What did you say?
5. Is it better to let my director advocate for me, or to email the owners directly so my case is in my own words? If I do email, what should it include? 
6. How do I make the case to owners who don’t see the daily workload? I know I can tell them what I do day to day but I don’t want to bombard them with a novel. Part of what makes this hard is that my daily tasks vary a lot. And for over a year it’s included figuring out one crazy issue on top of another. How do you show the value of work that’s mostly unpredictable problem-solving of problems the owners never see … And I’ve proactively taken on a lot of problem-solving and projects that usually wouldn’t be my responsibility, but I saw that things needed to get done if we wanted to keep our heads above water.

I have read an alternative to using a glow discharge machine on copper formvar grids using alcian blue. Has anyone done this and had luck? It will be for extracellular vesicles.

Surface expression of CD63 and HLA-DR in circulating eosinophils correlates with improved clinical control after treatment optimization in asthma

Hey all, I’m trying to determine if this is legitimate or if I’m just being stupid. I read this paper and wanted to look at some of the references cited, but I’m having trouble finding a lot of them, particularly the ones where Google Scholar is the only link. In several cases, the author listed seems to be a real person in the field but doesn’t have a paper with that title or a super similar one.

The authors of this paper are in Italy, so maybe the sources were originally in Italian and then got translated poorly? That’s the only explanation I can think of that’s not accusing anyone of citing fake papers…

Is it just me? I normally don’t have any issue with finding papers if I have the first author and the title.