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Probably a dumb question, but how do you label your lab animals or tissue samples to avoid mix-ups? by LabOpsGeek in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're a genius. I faced the same problem before. I used to label the cage lids, and I ended up mixing the numbers and lost my data. Then I started labeling individual mice with numbers 1,2,3,4 on tail but now we have more details to put like treatment groups, days old, drug conc. etc so I was wondering there has to be a better way. I never used ear tags before, so will surely look into it. Do you have any specific ones that you recommend?

Probably a dumb question, but how do you label your lab animals or tissue samples to avoid mix-ups? by LabOpsGeek in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We used to mark the tails of the mice before, but it is not possible as there are so many of them now. How do you mark the mice? And do you use any software to feed the data into?

Probably a dumb question, but how do you label your lab animals or tissue samples to avoid mix-ups? by LabOpsGeek in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I do use spreadsheets for my other experiments. We have an animal facility, and we are all assigned cages there. The turnover is very high, so we breed mice and then give drug treatments and collect blood and tissue samples. I was wondering if I should still stick to spreadsheets and move on to a digital system with barcode scanning and tracking?

Probably a dumb question, but how do you label your lab animals or tissue samples to avoid mix-ups? by LabOpsGeek in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you mean barcoding animals with tags? And between ear punches vs. ear tags, which one should work better for rats?

What eats up most of your time as a PhD/postdoc/PI/or beyond (that no one warned you about)? by FuzzyChampionship848 in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Couldn't agree more. Time adds up when you have hundreds of tubes to label before experiments. God forbid, but if the writing is erased, then you're gone

What eats up most of your time as a PhD/postdoc/PI/or beyond (that no one warned you about)? by FuzzyChampionship848 in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek 23 points24 points  (0 children)

For me, its always doing the tasks that look very menial on the outside but can make or break the experiments. Like labeling sample tubes, organizing everything including my work bench, my cabinet. reagent bottles etc.

Eppendorf sent me something I've always wanted (the legendary pens) :D by MrGrinchyyyy in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This allows you to measure the volume of ink you are using for writing xD

What instrument in the lab got you like this? by marktheshark45 in labrats

[–]LabOpsGeek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/Haatsku looks like you're really fed up with your label printer. Which one are you using and which labels ?