Thermolyne Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels

At last, found a replacement for the Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels that was broken.

It is called "Thermoflask Thermolyne" Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels. It comes with a secured lid (there are locks to ensure the lid is closed when transporting liquid nitrogen) and there is a Vent on the top so no worry about building up pressure inside.

So far so good. I am happy with the purchase.

Exploded liquid nitrogen transfer vessel

Did you know the inner glass of liquid nitrogen transfer vessel can actually explode?!

I was not there when this happened but according to the witnesses (A post-Doc and a Volunteer student), it JUST HAPPENED!!! They were getting ready to get some liquid nitrogen and fortunately they had not even opened the tab of liquid nitrogen tank.

All they did was put the liquid nitrogen transfer vessel on the floor and "BAM" the glassed inside just shattered.

Fortunately they were dressed up with goggles and gloves and were not standing too too close (I assume since they did not get hurt)......

The warning did say "it could shatter unexpectedly".....

Well, time to shop for a new liquid nitrogen transfer vessel.

The smell of Seleno-L-Methionine

"We need to do this by incorporating Selenium into the protein complex to get the crystal structure of the complex"

My boss was telling me one of the three strategy to incorporate metal into the complex so that we could get a better crystal structure.

"Oh no, not selenium again" I thought. Back in school, I spent two years working in a lab that was dealing with Arsenic and Selenium on daily bases and I cannot say I enjoyed the smell and exposure. I was young and naive.....all I wanted was getting my degree back then.

Since it has been some years from my last encounter with selenium, I decided to do some toxicity check on it. The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) of Seleno-L-Methionine did not say too much, only the obvious "touching, breathing, and swallowing are not good for you" warnings.

What I am concerning the most is the smell. I am not sure if the smell of Seleno-L-Methionine could be considered as "Fume"..... in the case of Hydrochloric acid, if you can smell it then you are breathing in the Hydrochloric acid.
The same goes for Beta-Mercaptoethanol and TEMED (Tetramethylethylenediamine). If you can smell it, you are practically inhaling the chemical.

Some seasoned scientists may tell me the amount that we are getting exposed is so small that it cannot harm.... or is it? Just because nobody has not proven that it is not dangerous yet does not mean it is not!!!

Where do all the collected Hazardous Chemical Waste go?

Have you ever wondered where all the chemical waste goes?

Once a month, we have to bring all the hazardous chemical waste to the loading doc where the Environmental Health and Safety Officer takes them over and mysteriously make them disappear from the building.

One day, I had an opportunity to talk to one of the officer and asked where all the hazardous chemical waste would go to. The answer was Hazardous Waste Incinerators. Apparently they get burned slowly and in a controlled way so that the fumes do not leak from the facility and contaminate the environment. Here are couple video clips about Hazardous Waste Incinerators.






Sounds great!! But does it work that beautifully? Here is another video clip to answer that. Interesting..... Very Interesting.....




More resources links

http://www.ehso.com/cssepa/tsdfincin.php

http://www.etc.org/technologicalandenvironmentalissues/treatmenttechnologies/incineration/

Portable PH meter

After the HCl fume incident, I decided to get a portable PH meter for our research group. After explaining what is going on in the labs to a Primary Investigator, I got a permission to purchase one. (He offered to get one for the entire group!!)

So, here is what it looks like. The pH meter is Denver Instrument UltraBasic Portable Meters.
We found a small box and placed all the calibration buffers as well as manual.

One step closer to a safer laboratory practice!!

Phenol and Chloroform

I have been wondering for years about this but apparently what I have been worrying about has been happening everywhere.

Yet again I came across to someone using PHENOL: CHLOROFORM: ISOAMYL ALCOHOL 25:2 outside the chemical hood. PHENOL: CHLOROFORM: ISOAMYL ALCOHOL is a pretty toxic substance even if you just inhale. I mean mixture of phenol + chloroform is in no way good for you.

So I took a quick survey to people I know and it tuned out A LOT OF THEM deal with it outside the hood. One of them even told me "back then (when he was still a student), we had to purify one of the component and the lab would stunk of phenol and chloroform. I remember it heart our eyes a little bit.

Come on!!!! It's toxic and possibly carcinogenic!!!!

Can you believe this?! I know the amount they use is probably not a big deal but think about people who work around you. If you are planning to spend the rest of your life being a scientist, how much will you breath in?

I hope people who read this will rethink the way they deal with dangerous chemicals.

Labeling water tank

Recently our lab had the annul lab inspection. I still remember the first time I went through it and it was not a very present experience.
One thing I found very interesting was that the inspector wanted us to label the water tank. It was very obvious the water tank was only used for water in our lab (we only had one water tank and it is essential in every lab so if you only have one, for sure it contains water), yet the inspector wanted us to label it.

I understood the importance of labeling everything in the lab because many solutions are clear and there is no way to tell what the solution is by just looking at it.

This incident reminded me of TV programs such as CSI, X-file or any programs that has something to do with labs. If you pay attention, none of the bottle or tubes are labeled in their labs. It is amazing how they can even get results and solve crimes or mysteries.

What makes me mad in the lab

Every time I come across to someone who teaches a bad/unsafe way of doing science, it makes me mad. I am not saying everything I do is right and I am not saying everyone I trained is perfect, but as a science teacher, you need to understand what the consequence of not teaching the right way.

This happened when I was doing my Master degree in Biological Sciences. It was about 8 months after I joined the lab that I deiced to do my thesis project when I developed sun-sensitivity. I just could not go under the sun and if I do I developed red rash and my skin would exfoliate (peel). I had never experienced something like that up till then, and every doctor I saw had no idea why it happened to me.

Now that I reflect the experience, I think it might have been the chemicals I was exposed to in the lab. I was dealing with chemicals like CHAPS, SDS powders without any protective ware. I was weighting these chemicals outside the chemical hood. No body told me to use protective ware except I was told "If you need them, we have them".

We also had projects that required arsenite, arcenate, selenate etc and person who was on the project weighted all these chemical outside the hood.

I still remember my supervisor making his coffee using water from a MilliQ in the lab.
This is what happens when you spend so much time in the lab. You become immune to so many things that are actually/potentially dangerous.

Having said that I still respect my supervisor as a scientist even though he might not have been a really good example as a teacher.

I continued to experience the sun-sensitivity condition even after my graduation. It finally went away after 2 years I left the lab.

HCl (Hydrochloric acid) fume

I had no intention for it to become an argument.

"Will you feel better if I do it myself?" the person shouted at me.

That was not the point I thought, but it was already too late to take my words back by then.

The whole thing started when I walk pass by someone who was making a Tris based buffer. If you have ever made a Tris based buffer, you probably know how much acid is required to adjust the Tris buffer's PH.

This person was instructing a student to add 12M HCl acid (the non diluted HCl acid) to the buffer outside the hood. There were smell of HCl fume within several meters from where they were standing. What made it worse was there was someone's desk near by and that person was exposed to the HCl fume all the time.

"You should do that in the hood. I don't think that is the way to do it!" I said to the person instructing.

That's how it all started. It was my mistake to point it out in the public. The person instructing all the sudden became very defensive. It was obvious that the person knew it was not the right thing to do.

"There is no PH meter in the hood. I am not going to bring the whole PH meter there and back every time I make a buffer, besides everyone do it this way"

"But that's not the right way" I looked at the student, wondering if she even knew the danger of breathing HCl fume

"Do you feel better if I do it myself? What about methanol? Do you go to the chemical hood when you are dealing with that?"

The person is referring to methanol used in Western blotting buffer. It is impossible to do the entire western blotting procedure in the chemical hood but at least I wear mask and eye protection.

"No, but this is more dangerous" I answered, but the instructor did not seem to be convinced.

I decided not to continue with this non sense argument and walked away.

It is frustrating sometimes when you talk to someone who is really experienced in Science. They have already developed their own way of doing things and are not willing to change for the safety sake because it usually takes extra effort.