
{"id":2643,"date":"2019-05-20T10:11:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T10:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lab-truths-everything-i-knew-about-laboratories-was-wrong\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:35:16","slug":"lab-truths-everything-i-knew-about-laboratories-was-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lab-truths-everything-i-knew-about-laboratories-was-wrong","title":{"rendered":"Lab truths: Everything I knew about laboratories was wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Default Alt text\" class=\"responsive\" data-file_info=\"%7B%22fid%22:%228253%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Default%20Alt%20text%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Default%20Title%20Text%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Btextfield%5D%22:%22%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Bvalue_field%5D%22:%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D\" src=\"http:\/\/insights.cactusglobal.com\/sites\/default\/files\/Lab%20truths%201.jpg\" style=\"border-width: 3px; border-style: solid;\" title=\"Default Title Text\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">When I was younger, I thought research happened in white rooms. White walls, white floors, white benches, white coats. I imagined that everything in these rooms would be spotless and practically sparkling, like a scene from a skin care commercial. In my final year of high school, I said I didn\u2019t want to be a researcher, mainly because I couldn\u2019t picture myself working in such a sterile and sober place.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">How wrong I was.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">The pigeon shed has a concrete floor and a corrugated iron roof. It\u2019s a 15-minute walk from clean drinking water and a toilet. There are always cobwebs and dirt, no matter how much time we spend cleaning. Every trace of food needs to be kept in a steel box, to avoid attracting rats.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">And this was before we even added the pigeons. Pigeons are incredible creatures. As far as I can tell, their greatest joy in life is to splash water onto their food, then stamp on their food, and then poo on it. Meanwhile, they shed huge amounts of dander, a white powder like dandruff, which somehow travels upwards and outwards so that it covers everything in the room \u2013 like snowflakes, but made of skin.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">For four months, this place was my research facility. And I loved it. Sure, I couldn\u2019t collect data when it rained (too noisy), but it was convenient (except when I needed to go to the toilet), and the pigeons didn\u2019t seem to mind living there (except for maybe Anxious Pigeon, but she doesn\u2019t really like anything). I would have happily continued to work there, if I could.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Unfortunately, I could not. Two days after Christmas, I received a call to say that the air-conditioning had broken, and we that should probably panic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">It was the peak of summer in Melbourne. The temperature outside was often over 35\u00b0C. I half-heartedly tried to convince the animal facility team that pigeons are actually desert birds, incredibly well-suited to heat (see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/0300962988916106\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">reference<\/a>). Not surprisingly, I was unsuccessful. A van was hired, a date was set, and we began the painful process of moving 10 aviaries, 10 pigeons, 18 lamps, 16 cameras, countless cables, and everything else that had slowly been gathering dander over the past five months.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">My new research facility was, thankfully, only a few minutes away by van. I will refer to it here as \u201cThe Asbestos Building,\u201d for no particular reason. I was told that it had functioning air-conditioning, a little room that I could use as an office, and a toilet. All excellent features.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">The first things I saw when I entered The Asbestos Building were 1) a dead cockroach; 2) a cluster of buckets, half-filled, collecting the water that was leaking from the roof; and 3) another dead cockroach. A passing animal technician must have noticed my expression. She apologised for the mess and explained that they hadn\u2019t had time to clean properly since the flood. I assured her it was fine, adding \u2013 with a laugh \u2013 that the dead cockroaches weren\u2019t the best first impression.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">\u201cOh no,\u201d she said, with no hint of sarcasm, \u201cthose are normal.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">At this point, maybe I should emphasise that cockroaches and rats don\u2019t usually have access to labs. Still, in my experience, labs are rarely, if ever, the sparkling white, silent, serious places that I once imagined.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">There are unpleasant, permanent stains on my bench. Unidentifiable broken objects on the windowsill. Special waiting-for-the-centrifuge dance moves. Tie-dyed lab coats. Professors who hoard huge boxes of \u2013 as far as anyone can tell \u2013 dirty containers, dead worms and sand, which nobody is allowed to throw away.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Even as I write this, there is a yellow \u201cCAUTION: WET FLOOR\u201d sign outside my supervisor\u2019s jellyfish lab. My supervisor just cheerfully informed me that, when he arrived this morning, there was more than 100 litres of water on the floor. The water from the leaking jellyfish tank made it halfway across the room next door, which happens to be my supervisor\u2019s office, and now his carpet will forever smell of shrimp.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Maybe all of this is only true for zoologists. Maybe other labs are filled with shiny, flawless, expensive equipment. But in my experience, labs are more often filled with things that a postgrad made from masking tape and takeaway containers. We associate the word \u201claboratory\u201d with beakers and test tubes filled with pretty, colourful liquids. I think a more appropriate symbol would be a handwritten note saying something like \u201cOUT OF ORDER,\u201d \u201cDO NOT TOUCH ON PAIN OF DEATH\u201d or \u201cA PIGEON HAS ESCAPED. I AM TRYING TO CATCH IT. PLEASE DON\u2019T OPEN THE DOOR.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">But in the end, all of this just becomes a way of life. Despite my misgivings, the pigeons and I settled into The Asbestos Building without too many problems. Sure, I need to dodge buckets of water each morning (they\u2019re still trying to find the problem in the roof), and I\u2019ve lost count of how many cockroaches I\u2019ve caught (my record was 6 in 10 minutes). And I don\u2019t get the office entirely to myself, since other people sometimes need to make use of it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"My lab office. Be envious.\" class=\"responsive\" data-file_info=\"%7B%22fid%22:%228254%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22My%20lab%20office.%20Be%20envious.%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22My%20lab%20office.%20Be%20envious.%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Btextfield%5D%22:%22%22,%22field_image_tags%5Bund%5D%5Bvalue_field%5D%22:%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%5C%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D\" src=\"http:\/\/insights.cactusglobal.com\/sites\/default\/files\/Lab%20truths%202.jpg\" style=\"\" title=\"My lab office. Be envious.\" \/><br \/><em><strong>My\u00a0lab office. Be envious.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">I mean, I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s perfect. But at least there IS a toilet, right?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">I sometimes wish I could show all of this to my high-school self.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">\u201cThere \u2013 see?\u201d I would say, \u201cThink you\u2019d be bored? I DREAM of boredom. Boredom would be amazing! It would mean that things are ACTUALLY WORKING.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">Maybe I should be kept out of high schools.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0cm 0cm 10pt\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"line-height:115%\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\">An additional note: A number of\u00a0friends and strangers\u00a0gave up their time to help me with The Great Pigeon Move to The Asbestos Building, and they are very much appreciated. Thank you.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Anne Aulsebrook (<u><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnneAulsebrook\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@AnneAulsebrook<\/a><\/u>) is a PhD Candidate (Zoology). This story was published on February 14, 2017, on Anne\u2019s blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/myresearchandotherfailures.com\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">My Research and Other Failures<\/a> (available <a href=\"https:\/\/myresearchandotherfailures.com\/2017\/02\/14\/lab-truths\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">here<\/a>), and has been republished here with her permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was younger, I thought research happened in white rooms. White walls, white floors, white benches, white coats. I imagined that everything in these rooms would be spotless and practically sparkling, like a scene from a skin care commercial. In my final year of high school, I said I didn\u2019t want to be a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1465,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2666,2454,2669],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-phd-life","tag-researcher-stories","tag-stories-of-struggle"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lab truths: Everything I knew about laboratories was wrong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anne Aulsebrook is a PhD Candidate. 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