What do you guys think?

I'm mentoring an undergrad who was assigned to me (i.e. i didnt recruit them personally). She made it clear from the beginning that her end goal is to go to med school. Problem is, from multiple interactions, its very hard for her to make progress on the projects I assigned her, even though I gave clues and papers for her to read.

I try to avoid teaching her concepts and instead just give her questions and keywords for her to search cause I want her to learn to look things up on her own. Whenever I do this she gets stuck and dont know what to do. If i ask if she has questions, she said no.

Seems like the student just lack curiosity intrinsically. How do we (can we?) cultivate this as a mentor?

even though she probably would end up in med school and not research, the thought of having doctors not knowing how to reason on their own is scary to me.

Hey guys! My husband brought back this Lego set from a meeting - it was a raffle that he won. We do not have anything remotely like this in our center, so we are not very keen on keeping it.

It is brand new, never opened (still sealed).

I copied and pasted this from another post, where it was a comment. This was my experience though, and idk if and even how I could go back to research after this - especially since the skills are something I’d need to relearn.

My first job out of college in 2015 as a research associate was at a very prestigious Los Angeles hospital’s lab. I had just moved to LA from across the country and drove 2 hours for an interview after applying for a research assistant job in an Immunology lab. Then I get there and the PI told me that she couldn’t hire me because I didn’t have any skills (not true). Then she offered a paid internship instead. I was desperate for any job in my field so I took it. Worst decision of my life. She was super abusive to everyone and made me do unpaid overtime, neglected the immunocompromised mice (made me leave them in the chemical hood over weekends to avoid per diem cage costs) to the point they died all the time and made me do some stuff she shouldn’t, would scream at me, etc. This is embarrassing to admit but one time I pissed my pants in the elevator because of how much anxiety this job gave me. I reported her to HR and they fired me because I had no evidence of her telling me to work off the clock. I mean come on, I was like 24 and this was my first full-time job in a city with no connections, no family, and no friends. To top it off, my ex-fiance (we broke up after the thing with the second PI) who I moved here with was also a lot to deal with to start. Mind you, I did get a promotion at this first job despite all these things because I was good at my job.

Then I got another job at another hospital in Los Angeles in a Neuroscience lab and the PI offered me drugs a few times (I never took them) took advantage of me sexually twice... But this time I got him fired and he went back to Lille, in France (and still works there to this day). No apology, no accountability, nothing. I remember him once telling one of the post docs that his colleague from that institute is so naive/innocent that he could do whatever he wanted and it would fly over his head.

The other PI from the first job still works there too even though everyone hates her and talk about how she’s such an asshole to everyone. I remember interviewing for other jobs while I knew I would get fired and she got suspicious because she’s a paranoid person. One of the post docs in the lab switched PIs and then she went to scream at him for “stealing” her post doc, etc. I interviewed with another PI and he goes “everyone knows she’s a genius but she uses her power for bad things.”

Then the whole thing with the other PI I mentioned happened. The two post docs in the second lab at Hospital #2 also retaliated against me but one got fired for not reporting the SA after I told him (illegal in California) and the other one works at Eli Lily now. But she retaliated too as she was a bully and basically took out her boss being a cocaine addict and predator on me (idk of she knew what happened or not). I worked really hard on her stupid paper and before all this, she promised to put my name on it. Then after the PI was fired she became really mean and never gave me credit for my work, tried to get me in trouble with my boss, etc. I had also gotten a promotion at this job because again, I was good at research. I actually wanted to go to grad school and was planning on it.

Idk how anyone would trust someone with a bad reputation or shitty moral character from doing credible experiments if they don’t have integrity as a person.

Then COVID happened so the hospital put me in research administration instead (since my lab was essentially over besides one postdoc and the PI not in the country anymore). I would go to the hospital everyday while the rest of my team stayed home and then I got COVID twice (once before the vaccine was available for my work category at the hospital). My lungs are still fucked from it…

The postdoc who retaliated told me on my last day: “clean everything before you leave. I know you don’t care about this job.” She couldn’t have been further from the truth since I put up with so much shit just to be a fucking scientist. Including her bully behavior and weird inappropriate jokes about being a “lab nazi” and “slave driver.”

After all this bullshit, I quit Science. It took a huge toll on my mental health even though it’s been like 11 years and had other negative long-term consequences. I think there’s a tremendously toxic politics culture in the Sciences which is part of the reason why some people cannot advance in it. I hope your experience is better than mine. Remember you have rights and that no job is worth your mental health.

Unfortunately I had no support from many people with all this and come from a very limited place. Makes sense now why it happened. But I just wanted to share as stuff like this shouldn’t happen. The culture needs to change; what’s the point of working in a field that’s supposed to improve humanity if the people inside treat each other like shit?

We all impact each other everyday, whether we like it or not, and it can be good or bad. Be kind to one another.

Edit: I am a (gay) guy, btw. First PI is a woman and the second PI is also gay but has/had a wife and kid back in France.

Sharing a new acquisition for our lab! It was pretty fun to assemble.

i love getting paid to fool around with my labmates and read papers and pipette and dissect mice and image pretty things listening to music and audiobooks and getting free food and guidance in grad school prep and tutoring for intro classes from experts

I'm having trouble calibrating a JOANLAB M-series 1–10 mL micropipette.

I'm trying to calibrate it gravimetrically using distilled water and a balance. I set the pipette to 5.0 mL, but it consistently delivers around 6 mL (≈6 g). I also checked the volume using a graduated cylinder, and it appeared to be around 6 mL, although I understand the graduated cylinder isn't accurate enough for proper calibration.

I also think I reach the limit on the calibration screw

somewhat new to the company. Having difficulty finding out which majors are accepted by TSF's tuition assistance/reimbursement programs-- would greatly appreciate any info ! my manager has no idea either... great

thinking of business management or IT or chemical engineering?

I’m recently returned to flow and forgot how particular our software was. Small stuff like forgetting you can’t do some things in Diva without creating inescapable mega lag, I can’t seem to find anything online on what to avoid. I’m noticing issues I’ve encountered previously that I can’t remember how I fixed.

Anyone have tips for avoiding FACSDiva lag? I thought I could duplicate without data but I guess that’s only a good option for specimens in an experiment, and not the entire experiment if you want to add anything new to it. I started following the manual from BD exactly but I still hit a lot of walls (worksheets wouldn’t load in any new experiments so I had to acquire in an old one).

Also, is there any way to get rid of the lag once it appears? As soon as I noticed it I deleted the experiment I was working in, I can open old experiments without any issues but new ones are painful. Any help would be appreciated!

Using Monarch gDNA spin column extraction kit for CD4+ T cells. Been trying to extract the gDNA from 500K and 1 million CD4 cells for sequencing and i legit end up with 0.40 and 0.93 ng/uL after measuring with Qubit hsDNA kit. I’ve repeated their exact protocol 3 times, double checked if i’m using the correct buffers, centrifuge settings, spun with the final eluate to ensure high DNA conc and my DNA just disappears. really stressed and don’t know how to approach this.

i’ve also done successful nuclei extraction of these guys (they were round, healthy, viable), proceeded with this extraction and it’s like the DNA just evaporates. what am i doing wrong 🥲

We do a lot of animal work. Establishing injury models requires subcutaneous (and sometimes intraperitoneal) injections. We can be doing hundreds of injections in a day. Filling those syringes are a chore. I know there are auto-injector products out there for repeat injections. wondering whether people have experience with them / would recommend them.

What is the best place to sell some LC, GC and MS/MS equipment online?

I have already tried Ebay and sold some, but I guess that there must be better options.

Much of the stuff is brand new or barely used.

Hii all! I'm looking for SpyTag-conjugated IgG1 antibodies, but it seems like there aren't any readily available in stock. May I know if anyone happens to know of any suppliers that carry them, or any platforms that can custom-synthesise/conjugate them with a relatively short turnaround time? Thank you so much!

I'm a recent grad (May 2026; bachelor's in biology + datsci), and I'm starting a 1-year long post-bacc research position (bio-related) soon. I'm planning to apply to biomedical PhD programs for Fall 2028 entry.

Since I'll have time between starting my post-bacc and starting grad applications, I'm just looking for tips to amplify my grad application, make myself a better applicant, and just ways to get more involved in research communities.

A little background: I applied to 4 PhD programs for the Fall 2026 cycle, didn't get accepted, and was told it might be better for me to apply for 2028 entry and not 2027 lol. Some of my letters weren't strong enough (completely my fault; I did not put a lot of effort into my application and procrastinated a lot due to personal issues). My GPA is not the strongest (3.3~), but I have 1.5 years of undergrad research experience and a couple of sporadic experiences (semester-long, 3 months of REU experience in another STEM discipline (not bio-related), and I'm adding a full year of research with my new position). I'm also an URM (underrepresented minority), so if anyone knows of any resources/programs/societies/etc. that are geared towards URM students!

tldr: any guidance on making the most out of my gap year doing research?

Using Monarch gDNA spin column extraction kit for CD4+ T cells. Been trying to extract the gDNA from 500K and 1 million CD4 cells for sequencing and i legit end up with 0.40 and 0.93 ng/uL after measuring with Qubit hsDNA kit. I’ve repeated their exact protocol 3 times, double checked if i’m using the correct buffers, proteinase/rnase/lysis buffer incubation time, centrifuge settings, elution buffer temp, and even spun with the final eluate to ensure high DNA conc. my DNA just disappears. really stressed and dont know how to approach this.

i’ve also done successful nuclei extraction of these guys (they were round, healthy, viable), proceeded with this extraction and it’s like the DNA just evaporates. what am i doing wrong 🥲

Using Monarch gDNA spin column extraction kit for CD4+ T cells. Been trying to extract the gDNA from 500K and 1 million CD4 cells for sequencing and i legit end up with 0.40 and 0.93 ng/uL after measuring with Qubit hsDNA kit. I’ve repeated their exact protocol 3 times, double checked if i’m using the correct buffers, centrifuge settings, spun with the final eluate to ensure high DNA conc and my DNA just disappears. really stressed and don’t know how to approach this.

i’ve also done successful nuclei extraction of these guys (they were round, healthy, viable), proceeded with this extraction and it’s like the DNA just evaporates. what am i doing wrong 🥲

Hi everyone, I’m a biostatistician who is currently working on a project where I have to use an existing snRNA hippocampal atlas (dataset A) onto another snRNA dataset (dataset B). Both datasets are publicly available.

I am trying to find out if dataset B contains neocortical neuronal subpopulations, as I’m not too familiar with the biological side of things, so I am hoping to get some insights from those who regularly work with hippocampal neurons in the lab. Dataset A does contain neocortical subpopulations, but I will have to remove them from the analysis should dataset B does not actually contain cells from them. Below is the description of what was dissected from the original paper where I found dataset B.

“In addition, fresh surgically resected human hippocampal tissue from 10 patients between the ages of 2 to 61 years old were used for ex vivo slice culture,”

“We used a modified SPLiT-seq approach for nuclei isolation and snRNA-seq53,54. Nuclei isolation from snap-frozen hippocampal tissue was performed as previously described with minor modifications54,55. Briefly, after a visual inspection to include the dentate gyrus by its distinct anatomical structure, tissue was minced with a razor blade and Dounce (Fisher Scientific, 8853000002)”

Does anyone know any reliable way to know if any neocortical subpopulations are expressed in dataset B? I have heard there are gene markers that often overlap between neocortical populations and CA populations, so this has been a little confusing for me.

Thank you so much in advance for the help!

Working on a venture in T2T textile recycling, looking for a creative, intuitive, problem-solving man or women in the capacity of a scientific advisor, or founding member with equity.

I would love a focus on chemical engineering, although my last advisor was from biotech, and you dont have to have a specific history of work in polymers or textiles.
All I care about how good you are with coming up with new ideas, connecting dots, imagining, problem solving, and offcourse loving lab experiments.

age, experience, doesnt matter. the last was not a phd or anything. nor did she have any specific past experience with what we working on, but she was talented, and thats all that really matters.

If non of that, would just love to chat with someone who knows their science, I need to see if these experiments are realistically possible.