SAME14 conference Uppsala

Second conference on Aquatic Microbial Ecology, was held last in Uppsala this week.
It was my first opportunity to present my science so far and reap the fruits of my hard lab work these past three weeks.

Most of the presented work during the conference was in the form of oral presentations in front of all participants. Most of it was very interesting, but since the conference wasn't exclusively marine, then some freshwater work was a bit hard to relate to.
As a whole, the conference was heavy on metagenomics and genome sequence approaches, which is super cool, but also difficult to follow sometimes. I will most likely do some genomics of my own further down the road, so I tried to stay focused during all talks. One of the most interesting talks on the topic however, was actually one with hard criticism against how the massive data derived from metagenomics is handled and the lack of consistency between studies. Most often what is presented and compared in a metagenomics study are the different OTU's (Operational Taxonomic Unit) acquired from the data. Part of the criticism against the use of OTU's was that they are difficult to define and usually pre-determined by the researchers of each individual study, meaning that the term OTU can have a wide variety of meanings. They are therefore impossible to compare in a larger context between studies. It is also difficult to assess what the massive dataset from metagenomics actually tell us, where OTU's hardly help.

As of now, I have no idea how to approach this issue, but I'm sure things will be more clear down the road. There was also a metagenomics study presented during the conference where they actually didn't use OUT's.

The other big part of the work presented at the conference was in the form of four poster sessions. It was here that I presented my work. It is a very limited format, much more so than oral presentations even though they had to be no more than 12 min long.
Imagine squeezing in your research on 140x100 cm, knowing that most people won't read a single line of what you've written. This calls for some serious presentation skills where the pictures, graphics and plotted statistics have to tell most, if not all, of your story all by themselves.
In addition to the poster I also had two shots at a speed talk (30 sec) in front of a limited crowd. This was probably among the hardest kind of oral presentation I've ever done. 30 seconds is an extremely short time when you have so much to say. Even though I wrote and practiced my talk, nervousness got the better of me the first time around, but I quickly got to redo the talk and redeem myself.
All in all I was very satisfied with my poster presentation and I really loved to communicate my research and answer a lot of questions from other curious scientists.

I also attended a workshop on communication and outreach during our "day off", which turned out to be a lot more informative and interesting than I thought.
The whole point was to further our skills in reaching out with our research to the broader public. Try to make science a topic of discussion and an interest, not just among scientists of respective fields. Some fields like astronomy have already come a long way with their outreach, but biology has a long way to go.
I was mostly interested in deepening my knowledge on online outreach as to reach as much people as possible. Internet is a powerful tool if you know how to use it, and the take home message I got is that it is mostly about finding and using several channels (of the right topic) to convey my message down the line.
By that said I have now done something I told myself I would never do: I got myself a Twitter account. #MStenegren #MarineBiology.

A student's guide to increased lab work efficiency

Laboratory work has started in earnest and it can sometimes be intimidating business, especially if previous experience is rather insufficient. It can also be horribly messy if taken too lightly. However, it should also be fun and rewarding, considering that you do it for most of the workday. Below follow some of my thoughts and guidelines on the subject in my new molecular lab.

1. Use your PPE

Photo credit: UCSF

This should be the first thing on your mind before starting your work in a lab, regardless of what kind of methodology you will use. What personal protection equipment do you need? Gloves, labcoat, safety glasses? What material should they be? If you reach the conclusion that no PPE is needed for your protection then consider if your samples need protection from you, which is another function of PPE. Finally, if you don't have your own PPE, go and get it. Now. As in right now!

2. Keep it tidy

No one likes working in a chaotic environment where things are randomly lying around everywhere, obstructing workplaces and posing a risk, not only to the quality of your science, but to your safety. This is your responsibility. Everything should have its place. Put it back and take out the garbage. And for the love of science, don't fill the place up with stuff you don't really need at this time.

3. Plan ahead

Image credit: Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig

What are you going to do, how will you do it and what do you need? I find following a protocol the best way of staying organized in the lab. Unless you're awesome at remembering details or you have plenty of experience with a certain method, then going
through a protocol on the method of the day will save you a lot of unwanted surprises, tediously running back and forth and most importantly, time. Assemble your lab bench with what you need before you start. The smoother your work goes the better for both your schedule, your samples and your sanity.

4. Change gloves

Just because you're wearing gloves it doesn't mean that you're sterile or even clean. If you work with sensitive samples or methods, change your gloves regularly. In general, have you left your lab with gloves on (for some good reason), change when you get back. Did you have to rummage around in a dark corner of your lab to help a colleague find a certain something, change your gloves. It could also help to actually write "Change gloves" as a strategic bullet point in a lab protocol, i.e. when working with standards.
If you work with hazardous chemicals or materials then just switching your workplace within your own lab is call enough for a change of gloves. Wiping down a lab contaminated with radioactivity because someone forgot to change gloves when switching benches is no fun. No fun at all.
Be mindful. In the end it is your health on the line. Also, it is rather embarrassing to explain why you got gut bacteria in your cultures, because then you're obviously not washing your hands either.

5. No food, drinks or mobile phones

This might seem obvious to most people, but I've actually run across more than one coffee machine happily sitting on a random bench in a lab. In the end I guess it's up to each and every researcher responsible for the lab in particular, whether or not their science or health will be affected by preparing and consuming hot beverages in the lab. In my opinion you do science in the lab and drink coffee in the lunch room. Period.
When it comes to mobile phones, unless you're expecting an important call, leave it in your office. One slide of thought and you'll find yourself grasping your frantically vibrating mobile phone with your gloved hand, possibly contaminating your gloves and/or your mobile phone. Hopefully, this will never be the case, but then you will likely either interrupt your work or be distracted wondering who called, for the rest of the day.

6. Use alcohol

It's a great chemical to keep things clean and decrease the risk of contaminants. Wipe down not just your benches but also your instruments and other equipment that you can't put in an autoclave. On a side note; please refrain from drinking molecular grade alcohol during work hours, it gets you drunk to boot and you'll make a fool out of yourself. It's not really for drinking, but you know, scientists all have their stories.

7. Relax

When stepping into your lab you should feel at ease. Don't stress out. It will affect your performance and ultimately your science negatively. We all make mistakes, but mistakes tend to be more frequent when you're stressed. Plan ahead, ask for help, put on some music, do whatever you need to make your lab work a somewhat relaxing endeavour.

8. Be a mad scientist

Image credit: CKEC

Most people enjoy field work the most and that is usually what a personal scientific story is about. There's not much fun or interesting in describing your late "pipetting-nights" in the lab for neither colleagues or friends outside of academia.
However, lab work is a major part of what most science is, and considering that you will spend most of your work hours in the lab, it should be fun. Spice it up a little and you'll even have a decent story to tell. As long as you're doing good science and staying safe, make things smoke, pop, bubble, change color or glow. It's more fun than it sounds and usually the chemistry/science behind it is really interesting.

9. Take a break

Too much of the good stuff will make even the most passionate of researchers tired. Just like reading a book for too long, your brain will ultimately switch to autopilot. The problem in the lab though is that it's not as easy as flipping the previous page if you missed to register the last few lines. If you lose your focus you could also lose the last hour of work, or worse, precious samples.
When you start feeling tired, have a coffee break and some fresh air, go for a walk or just switch your current task for a while. If you can't just leave your work like that, then plan ahead. I usually hit the gym halfway through the day.

10. Take notes

It doesn't matter how good a memory you have, you will never remember every little detail that comes up while you are working on your different methods. It might just be numbers for your samples or deviations in your protocol which at the time might feel trivial. However, further down the road when you want to look up what you actually did or there are some funny oddities in your results that you need to interpret, your lab notes will be gold. Keep a laboratory journal. One of the best investments you'll ever make.

11. Know your field of action

Fundamentally it's not much practical work in this point. It is more about reading literature and science papers until your eyes roll out of their sockets and your brain melts. Which won't happen anytime soon so keep reading. So when you've plowed
through a decent amount of text, directly or indirectly related to your subject, you will have an easier time navigating and understanding any methodology that comes your way. Because it is important that you know what you're doing, but it is equally important to know why you're doing it. So if you find yourself not knowing enough, ask questions and look it up. Once you're the expert on what you're doing you can perhaps start tweaking and improving your work and approach a problem or hypothesis in a whole new way.

12. Practice makes perfect

There's no such thing as perfect science. There will always be known and unknown biases constraining your research. The only thing you can do is try to mitigate them as best you can with the various tools available to you. Either way, you can still become a jedi master of pipetting and thereby rule out one possible source of bias. The more you practice those nimble hands the better, and that goes for all your work in the lab, regardless of what it is. Embrace your passion but be aware of the dark side of bias.

13. Sort and recycle your waste

After a long day in the lab this is for no other reason than to lighten your bad conscious over the mountain of plastic waste you just accumulated for no other reason than extracting a tiny amount of DNA. This is certainly a conflict of interest for environmental scientists and biologists where furthering the research of understanding and better protecting our environment you produce so much waste, not just plastics. Hazardous chemicals for example, need to be properly disposed of as not to leak out in the environment. Pat yourself on the back, our planet would too if it could.

14. Put on some epic music

Everything you do in the lab will feel soo much cooler with some epic music filling the room. There's a possible major scientific discovery every day when listening to epic music, and it feels good. Get inspired and progress with style. Even pipetting feels epic when listening to a pompous orchestral piece.

Back to work

Vacation is officially over for this summer, if you can even call it a summer after experiencing the coldest month of July since I can't even remember. At least it was nice to be home with my family.

Now it's time for me to get organized in the new building, my new office and my new lab after the move (or merge) of the institution into a newly built, but not yet finished, building on Stockholm University campus.

I have loads to do, specially in the lab, and most people are still on vacation, which is crappy cause I need some assistance of the techs. I don't even have a key to my office yet! My new computer is breaking down on me too! Great timing. I guess I'm calling the tech support NOW!