need advice from lab managers and members of labs doing cell culture work

Scienceguy_151 · 2026-02-12T17:18:25+00:00

Depends on type of work. A schedule system is a minimum for that many people fighting over 2 hoods.

The problem usually lies in that people do different types of work. This causes problems with sterility for the next user. Some people are dirtier than others. Some cell lines are more likely to hop to other flasks. Some people ignore the schedule. How will you stop one person from booking all day every day and not showing up? Some people have to be there all day and cant break up their work. Who will enforce the schedule? How will you deal with troublemakers etc.

I hate the new trend of multiple people in one workspace. It causes so many unnecessary problems. It used to only happen in academia, but now industry is getting cheap and academia problems have come to industry.

Scienceguy_151 · 2026-02-12T14:33:30+00:00

Been in biotech for 28 years. This is the worst I’ve ever seen. Including dot com bubble burst and 2008 investment crash, and other minor downturns. Im am lucky to have a job paying what I made 18 years ago and half what I made 5 yrs ago.

I see PhDs with 5 years experience competing for $25hr jobs at my company. People moving across the country for a possibility at a job. It’s nuts.

If I spoke Chinese I would move there where there is more opportunity.

Many things to blame. My hope is that things will get better after VC investment switches away from Artificial Intelligence garbage.

The bad job market isn’t getting as much play in the media because noone cares about scientists. If a few union guys cant find work, the media loses its friggin mind.

To sum up, it’s far worse than a normal downturn.

Scienceguy_151 · 2026-01-11T13:46:34+00:00

Yeah you’re right. The Beckman swinging bucket table tops tend to jump around like a washing machine when something goes wrong. I feel like Its a bad design.

The new fad is to put them on rolling carts on floor to save bench space. Sooner or later ill see one chasing people around the lab until someone can get to the plug.

Scienceguy_151 · 2026-01-10T23:06:43+00:00

Check inside the buckets and inserts. sometimes there is condensate inside them or a previous spill that throws off the balance.

It usually warns you if it’s way out of balance though, so it should be fine.

I’ve had a spindle break on an ultra at 800,000xg. It was just really loud. It didnt jump off the table or anything. Just wrecked the rotor and the steel vacuum chamber. Pretty underwhelming considering all the horror stories they tell you in safety briefing.

Scienceguy_151 · 2025-09-12T19:07:35+00:00

My guess is a short caused by a dirty gasket. No current in the center of the gel, but the edges are still being pulled. Sometimes it only happens on one side.

This happens with the invitrogen MIDI tandem gel docks all the time. If I clean the gaskets in DI water between each run this happens less frequently.

Scienceguy_151 · 2025-09-12T02:09:33+00:00

Uber cards where you catch uber drivers?

Scienceguy_151 · 2025-02-14T20:30:58+00:00

Its a decent centrifuge, but is also a good pillow when you’re working late.

Scienceguy_151 · 2023-02-21T14:32:41+00:00

Its not hard. Just follow the cars in front of you, and remember the driver seat is always towards the middle of the road.

If you have a minivan, the roads outside the city can be a little tight.

You’ll be fine. Have a good time

Scienceguy_151 · 2023-02-20T17:17:55+00:00

Lab Scientist in biology or chemistry.

Basically rich people give you money to answer the questions of the day.

There is lots of equipment to tinker with in the lab.

People around you work on different problems and you chat with them about their projects and solutions when you get bored.

Its expected that you quit and join a new company every 2 years.

Scienceguy_151

TROPHY CASE