What to do when...

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E'01

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Hey guys - for those of you who work in labs...what do you do when there's downtime?? I wish I could, but I can never relax. I always feel like I have to do something, regardless of what kind of job I'm in. So I'm losing my mind right now :eek:

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I feel guilty when I am not doing anything.
 
Tell me about it! I feel bad enough eating lunch...I feel like my PI is gonna come in and be like, what are you doing???
 
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I just zone out...that way I can't think of what my boss would say....It's like when Homer's brain says "I don't know about you...but I'm outta here!"

:D :D :D :p :p
 
relax guys.... are your PI totally strict or something? maybe I was like that when I started working in the lab though. If there are gaps in the experiment, when i need to wait for something to dry out or something... i;m just hanging out there, studying, what not.
Talk about gaps... i haven't been to lab in weeks b/c our equipment is taking for ever to get constructed. so yeah, now i'm feeling a little bad about no contribution this long... so sometimes i get onto pubmed and look for articles related to what we 're doing. maybe so I can learn more about teh biological mechanisms involved or create new techniques for our next experiments.

Chill out guys. sure, my lab is really small, my PI knows there isn't much for me to do. I'm not paid this semester though... get credit. Sometimes, for a week i don't come in... sometimes i'm in as late as 7 or 8 at night.
 
Um Thanks Scooby - I'll try that one :D

Sonya, no my PI is really nice and she'll check in on me maybe 1-2 per week. This is my first time doing basic research - and it's a full time job at Mount Sinai. When I'm not messing up experiments (I can't seem to do anything right!) I'm on the computer inputting and graphing data (which everyone thankfully thinks I'm a pro at even though I'm using basic basic basic Excel!). I came on the tail-end of a project and hopefully I may work on something new. But, already I'm missing human contact (i.e. clinical research, teaching ...)- not that I don't work with others, but being in the lab 8 hours/day (and I'm sure some of you guys do much much more) tends to get a bit difficult. Particularly when the two researchers I work closely with, go off and talk to one another (I'd love to join in, but I don't speak Mandarin, unless saying "hello" counts).
 
Uhh...when there's down time I come on here :) Or, I browse around on the web somewhere :) With molecular biology you just can't stay busy for long stretches...everything has to sit on ice for a half hour or more at least once :) If my PI cared he'd tell me to do something...but, he understands, and as long as I do good work he could care less with how I spend my time doing it.

Later,

Adam
 
E'01, if you don't mind--whose lab are you at or at least what area (biochem, neuro) are you in? I worked in Sinai this past year, maybe I know you...
 
Originally posted by lady in red:
•what area (biochem, neuro) are you in? I worked in Sinai this past year, maybe I know you...•

I'm in the clinical immunology department - diagnally across from annenburg. Where were you working? How'd you like it? I started in late August.
 
I've always found research to be fairly relaxed...in fact, I'm in the lab right now surfing the web! Everyone who works here works relaxed hours, though sometimes they come in on the weekends, and takes it easy in between experiments. I've heard that it's not the same in the biotech industry where it's strict 8 to 5 with one hour lunch, etc., etc.

Some things I would think of doing - there are seminar series throughout the week here, with professors speaking about research and professional talks, etc. Many people in my lab attend these and they are very informative. Maybe you could attend another lab's lab meeting to see about collaboration or just to see what they're up to. There's always reading of relevant scientific articles. If all else fails, planning experiments around lunch breaks!

E'01 - I'm working on a few experiments around one topic at the moment and not one of them has gone right the first time...it's always been a game of finding out what went wrong and fixing it...even the postdocs/grad students can't get things right on the first try, so try-try again and don't worry about it!
 
Thank you so so much anacapa! I really appreciated reading your response. I feel much better! Today actually perked up: learned about some statistical procedures from the statistician. And yes I think I finally realized why I have been messing up my expts...a very basic and embarrassing reason nonetheless (contamination). I hate thinking how much of my PI's $$ I have wasting
 
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