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"Think Like a Cockroach" or "Live like a Cockroach"?

National Institute of Health (NIH) grants are getting more and more difficult to get. Here at my institution, even seasoned scientists who had been getting grants for 10 years continuously are now faced with difficulty of getting funding.

I recently read an article on "The Scientist" magazine that I started subscribing when I joined my current lab. (It was free back then but they started charging couple years ago. I some how still manage to get free subscription by replying to the renewal notice.) The article titled "Think Like a Cockroach" is a very practical yet none humiliating advice. The key is to be creative and accept changes to get funded. There is nothing wrong to think like a cockroach as long as you don't live like one.

I have been taking some business related classes for the last couple of years and realized how much easier life would be if we (scientists) think a little bit more like business people.
For instance, when a project goes wrong we tend to stick on the course and tries to get somewhere by dumping more resources and time into that bad project.
In business world, when a project goes wrong and you realize it is going no where, you simply STOP and change course. Whatever is gone is gone (so called "sunk cost"). You do not make decision based on how much money and time you have already invested, but rather you determine what the out come will be.

I know grants are intended for specific projects and should be spent on those projects, but that does not mean we should waste more good money into projects.

Maybe it's time we start thinking about how we spend money?

Some people just can't serve

As a lab tech, I have opportunities to talk to so many people over the phone since I have to place orders, renew service contracts, and coordinate research with other labs etc ( you get the idea).

Through out these phone calls, at least once a month I would come across to a customer service or a sales personnel who just don't give a Sh*@t about anything you say. It does not matter how polite or sincere you are, they would just treat you like a crap.

I used to get angry at these people but recently, I started using this "re-frame" technique that helps me to calm down. Here is an example on how to use it.

For instance, your colleague asks you to do a favor for him/her right before 5PM when you are getting ready to leave. You feel furious, it's Friday and you have so much in your mind about what you are going to do once you get home. Then, here comes this request that will requires you to stay back for another 30 minutes.

What you do is to re-frame, think about why your colleague asked you to do something for him/her. Maybe your colleague has to go pick up his/her kids? Maybe your colleague is not feeling well and has been trying to hung in there all day? Maybe they know you could finish the task in 30 minute but it would take them hours to do?
The best way is to communicate and find out. You may ended up not only helping them and feeling good about it, but also you make them owe you one!!

Now, when it comes to phone conversation with a stranger, it is impossible to ask what is wrong with them. In this case you would try to understand why they do what they do. Maybe they don't get paid well enough? Maybe they had a fight with their significant other or kids? Maybe it is just the way they are and they need some help?

You know if they keep doing what they do they will probably loss their job anyways (they record the conversation remember?) so maybe we should feel sorry for those rude, unkind, unfriendly people on the other end of the phone.

In any case, why should we get angry and potentially get stomach ulcer for someone we don't even know?

Life is too short for that.

Training new lab members

Having worked in labs for sometime, I came to realize that a lot of people read a resume, hire a new lab personnel, and assume the new member can perform without almost any training because the new member's resume indicated he/she had done it before.
A lot of time hiring decision is done solely by a primary investigator (PI) and for some reason they tend to think

"This person has a MS degree and some experience in research so he/she should know how to do XYZ protocol"

or

" This person has done this protocol/experiment before, he/she should be able to do what we do here".

What these PIs tend to forget is that every lab do the same experiment differently and every person has his/her way of doing things. It is wrong to assume the new lab member will do exactly the way the PI wanted without any proper training.

This is also true for experienced lab members. I have seen so many times, existing lab members assume a new lab member can complete an experiment the second day he/she joined the lab just because the new member has a MS degree.

So what is a good way to train a new lab member?

1)Explain and demonstrate the procedure.
Just let the new members to watch and point out what is important as well as to remind them to take notes.

2)Let the new member to carry out the procedure once with your supervision.
This will give the new members a chance to feel what it feels like to actually do it.

3)Let the new member to carry out the procedure without your supervision, BUT be sure to stay near by in case they have questions.
This will make the new members to really think about what they are doing. Be prepare to answer a lot of questions. If there is no questions, be sure to peak and check on what is going on because most of the time they are doing something wrong.
Additionally, This step will also give the new member an impression that you trust him/her and think he/she is capable enough to carry out the procedure by themselves.

Note: If you feel the new member is not ready for step 3), make sure to repeat step 2) several times. This happens commonly when training volunteers because they may not have science background.

Jammed film developers

"Not again. It just happens too often"

The lab tech who works next to my lab was complaining to me about the film developer in the darkroom.

Ever since I joined the current lab, it has been an issue about how often the developer breaks down, or maybe I should say "get jammed". There are only two developers in the building and one of them located on our floor is an antique. The lab tech next door is in charge of taking care the antique so no wonder she gets so frustrated.

"Did you know the one downstairs is also jammed?"

The one downstairs is a more modern model and as you can imagine most people use that one instead of the one on our floor. Now if that one gets jammed and no body fixes it, we may all just call it a day and go home. That is how vital the film developer is for everyone's research.

"No way" I said.

"They were both jammed with a cardboard paper" she said.

This must be someone new I thought because I had a student who I supervised last summer almost made the same mistake. It is a common mistake if no body tells you what a film looks and feels like because films are sandwiched by two cardboard papers in the film box.

We decided to talk to administrators of the building and see if they can do something about it. It tuned out they have tried many ways to fix this problem (put the jammed film and notes on the wall, send out emails to all the Primary investigators, spread the words etc) but none of these worked.

"We are spending so much money getting maintenance to fix the film developers" one the administrator told us. "It is happening way too often and I used to get so mad every time it happened" I could see how mad she used to get by her facial expression.

So in the end we decided that doing something is better than doing nothing. We put up signs right next to the dark room and posted the cardboard that was jammed inside the machine.

We shall see what will happen.