I just got done editing 11 pages of a manuscript we are writing. My brain hurts. This paper will describe all of our JNK experiments as well as a few others to complete the story. I think it is a pretty strong paper and we are going to send it to the Journal of Biological Chemistry. JBC is one of the big journals in the biomedical sciences so we really have our fingers crossed.
The initial MRIs were completed yesterday and the real work of treating the 24 mice on a daily basis for 3 months will begin shortly. This will be one of those things that I will just have to grin and bear. It isn't particularly difficult (I've done this once before with far fewer mice) but it is time consuming.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Rant for the day
Perhaps the bane of my existence in the lab is bureaucracy. It comes in many forms but primarily it exists in the form of the the Animal Care Office and the Health Protection Office. Both offices perform an important function but for heaven's sake, could there be any more hoops to jump through. For any experiment we perform involving animals, we must have an approved protocol that covers everything from my anesthesia method to the type of suture material I am using to the frequency of post operative observation. Now don't get me wrong, I am not against oversight. Actually, I believe oversight of animal care is vitally important. However, it can get a little ridiculous. Research is an evolving process which means that I have to continually amend our animal care protocols as things change. Paper work is a pain.
The Health Protection Office is even worse. They are continually changing the rules regarding chemical storage and so forth. Don't store acids and bases together, chemicals can't be on a shelf without a lip, certain chemicals must be in secondary containers, and so forth. There are also a number of online tests that we must take each year. I am supposed to ensure that everyone in my lab is up to date but they won't give me access to their database so I am unable to see who needs to take which test.
The saving grace in all of this is that the people who come in to audit all the labs are easy to work with and easy to get along with.
The Health Protection Office is even worse. They are continually changing the rules regarding chemical storage and so forth. Don't store acids and bases together, chemicals can't be on a shelf without a lip, certain chemicals must be in secondary containers, and so forth. There are also a number of online tests that we must take each year. I am supposed to ensure that everyone in my lab is up to date but they won't give me access to their database so I am unable to see who needs to take which test.
The saving grace in all of this is that the people who come in to audit all the labs are easy to work with and easy to get along with.
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