Lab Troubles
ALKA & NISHTHA
Photo by Wholesun from Pexels
In the short posts below, Alka and Nisththa through their light hearted narratives on travails with lab equipments and reagents, talk about how laboratory life impacts the personal life of a researcher.
Ethanol and Me
ALKA KUMARI
In this longer piece, Alka writes about the origins of her OCD, how it helped her adapt to her laboratory life, but proved detrimental for her personal life. A quote from the piece which also speaks to her meme:
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“Before becoming a cancer bioengineer, I trained as a microbiologist. I caught tuberculosis at that time, and I began fearing the outside world for my illness, leading to me developing severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as a self-defence mechanism. I believe that it is this OCD that assisted me in handling the cells in a highly efficient manner when I first began working in tissue culture labs. I began exercising my controlling behaviour more confidently because I was proud that it made me efficient.”
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Ethanol and Me, meme by Alka
Cracking Under Pressure
NISHTHA BHARGAVA
A humorous take on the dark realities of life in the lab
The plastic tubes were put in a centrifuge that spins the liquid samples at a high speed to separate any solids floating in it. But instead of getting the sediment deposit at the bottom of the tubes, I got broken tubes and spilled sample at the end of the run. The tubes couldn't take the pressure and cracked under the high speed, which is a satire on the pressures a PhD student feels.
In a letter that Nishtha writes to younger people, as well this piece, she talks about her relationship with the laboratory space, and the need to take good care of one’s physical and mental health.
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See also Anjana Hegde’s humorous take on failed PCRs and her experiences with the deep freezer. This piece also highlights the tedious nature of experiments that biologists have to undertake in laboratory spaces and its impact on the body.
About Alka
Alka Kumari (they/them), a non-binary, queer individual on the spectrum, finds joy in the kitchen and exploring the world on foot. They are currently pursuing a PhD at IISc.
About Nishtha
Nishtha Bhargava is a life science researcher exploring ways to communicate science to the public. She left a permanent job in a public sector bank to pursue a doctorate in life science. Through the course of her PhD it became clear to her that she has a knack for making scientific concepts easy to understand, which she put to use in outreach activities on campus, and then, in writing. She supports equal rights, inclusivity, diversity and good mental health practices, believing that empathy-driven rigorous science has the power to change the world.
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