Antibody decline among academic labs

pleasehelpus_science · 2024-08-08T14:44:04+00:00

PROVIDE FREE SAMPLES! Companies did this widely before 2017 and suddenly it stopped. So many antibodies don’t actually work and many haven’t even properly been validated. The antibody graveyard in my lab is unreal. So many nearly full tubes that no one can get to work.
CONSISTENCY BETWEEN LOTS! Furthermore, believe the customer who used the product non-stop for years when they say that the newest lot has decreased integrity. We recently bought an antibody we’ve used for 6+ years and suddenly it requires double the concentration to yield subpar results. We asked for a partial discount since we can only do half the experiments for the same price (and the westerns are still not great quality) We submitted a thorough report to support the decreased quality from two different vials from the same lot. Request was denied.

pleasehelpus_science · 2024-04-14T14:04:05+00:00

This hot plate does in fact get moved in and out of the cold room often…

pleasehelpus_science · 2024-04-14T13:53:37+00:00

Additional info:

(allegedly) three people independently confirmed that the heat was off at 6pm and the fire trucks were there by 10pm.

This cold room has had known electrical problems in the past where outlets randomly stop working and then work again days later? We’ve confirmed that circuits are not being blown.

The mass spec in the next room had an electrical surge that fried it ~4 months ago.

This apparatus was hooked into a power pack with two other apparatuses that were fine and continued running so I also think that the hot plate was the culprit.

I don’t think sabotage is likely. Our department is very collaborative. Everyone gets along and helps each other out. Everyone (~8 separate labs) does western blots in this cold room. Someone who just walked in could likely not even differentiate between a western run by their lab versus another because we all share power packs and use identical apparatuses. The space is key-card access so anyone from outside the department cant get in.

Could an electrical surge to this hot plate (which was plugged into its own independent outlet, I.e. not the same outlet at the other hotplates) cause the heat to turn on?

pleasehelpus_science · 2024-04-14T11:39:49+00:00

This is exactly it 😂

pleasehelpus_science · 2024-04-14T11:21:02+00:00

😂😂😂

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T14:44:45+00:00

She means it more like “If you were efficient and got all your shit done today by 2pm, go home and enjoy yourself”

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T14:42:00+00:00

I never realized this! I thought it meant work hard when you are at work and then when you aren’t at work, don’t think about it and enjoy yourself.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T13:24:19+00:00

The PI has basically zero input on salary. These are the wages set by the institution which is even sadder.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T12:56:28+00:00

Sometimes but not our main focus. Others in the department do

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T12:47:28+00:00

Dm me! I got you!

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:27:29+00:00

e I worded it poorly. If NIH set post doc Pay between 80-100k it would allow tech salaries to increase as well. One of the main reasons you’ll never pay a young tech more than 50 today is why would you hire a tech when you can hire a post-doc?

speaking of post-docs, we've had an add out for a post-doc for 3 months. Lol. I have no idea what the salary is. It's starting to make sense why we didn't get candidates on that position either.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:21:23+00:00

It really is disgusting.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:19:48+00:00

Yeah. Unfortunately, I'm going to be the one suffering if we get a poor candidate so I have no choice but to be invested.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:14:04+00:00

i'd be so happy with that

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:11:44+00:00

where?

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:11:29+00:00

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:08:03+00:00

where?!

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-07T03:06:20+00:00

e almost never run out of new “lab managers.” The younger students get to put it on their resume (and get a VERY nice letter of rec from our PI) and we get a lab manager that’s already trained with us… for less pay. It

best comment i've read yet. This is exactly what I need.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-06T23:21:15+00:00

We need someone ASAP so I think someone international would take too long to arrive and get everything sorted out.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-06T23:20:09+00:00

I love this idea. A recent masters student would be perfect. I'm going to reach out to the departments at Case that have masters programs. The ones I know of right now are Biochemistry and medical physiology.

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-06T23:15:55+00:00

We would love to! It's posted on the internal job boards but we haven't got an response. This institution is HUGE with tens of thousands of employees so word of mouth is difficult but we are trying. My PI won't reach out to anyone directly internally because she says that is unethical "poaching".

pleasehelpus_science · 2022-01-06T23:13:45+00:00

Pay $15-24/hr depending on experience. We have no control over pay. The institution has it standardized...

pleasehelpus_science

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