Lab Communism

It's always scary starting in a new lab. But I've never been as scared as unsure as in this one.

I'm split between two labs, two floors, and two supervisors, and as a result I don't belong to anything or anyone. I'm shared, communal goods.

I started a trial experiment yesterday. Just some immunohistochemistry (or if you like, staining of proteins using fluorescent chemicals). Apparently an easy to achieve protocol. I haven't finished yet to see if it worked, but I used the wrong serum and broke two of the six coverslips containing my precious cells, so we'll see next week how 'easy' it really was!

I feel like I need someone to hold my hand. When I was an Honours student, and a Research Assistant, my supervisor was good at going through the protocol with me, showing me where everything was, stopping me before I made embarrassing mistakes. But now I'm a PhD student I think I'm supposed to think for myself. (A rather circular sentence, perhaps?)

"Here's the lab, here's the protocol, off you go!'

There's a new summer student in one of my labs and he's getting so much help and being included in experiments. I have to admit, I'm envious. 'Hello!!! I'm over here! Help me!'

The problem for me is that I hate asking other people for help. I hate having to interrupt other people, who I don't know, to ask them how to do some basic technique or which equipment I'm allowed to use.

Which brings me back (again, in a circular fashion) to where I started. Lab communism. Shared, communal goods. Rules! There are multiple labs working in the same area all using different equipment. No one has their own bench space or equipment. So for a new person like me, there's no safe haven. Everything is just a blur of random people, lab coats, and endless bottles of chemicals, and somehow I'm supposed to somehow which belongs to my lab.

I accidentally used permanent marker to write my name on the whiteboard. Talk about advertising my own mistakes to the masses.