Life in the lab is easy-peasy when you are only prepping a handful of tubes. But what if you need to scale up to 10’s or even 100’s of samples?
Scaling up your experiments can have some expected and some not-so-expected, leaving you in a lurch, consequences.
Read through our tips so you aren’t caught with your lab coat open the next time you need to scale up.
Do a pilot
Do a pilot experiment before jumping in and doing a large-scale experiment. This will allow you to work out the quirks, bugs and any surprises that pop-up.
You can even scale up in steps – go from 10 tubes to 50 to 100.
Figure out your rate-limiting step
Check your protocol and determine which step limits the number of samples you can run. Perhaps the rotor you need to use only holds 24 tubes, then limit your batch size to 24.
Prepare all solutions before you start
Make all of your buffers and solutions ahead of time (if you can) and make extra. You don’t want to be caught with your bottles empty in the middle of your protocol.
Schedule in plenty of extra time
Opening and closing tubes, labeling, pipetting – these are all things that only take a few seconds. But when you multiply that time by hundreds of samples, your time is eaten up by the smallest tasks.
Sign up/Let people know
If you are going to hog a piece of equipment or be in the culture hood all day, let people know. There will be a lot less grumbling in the lab and you will have what you need at your disposal.
Order ahead
It’s an all too familiar scene: you are planning your big experiment for next week and you’ve made sure the enzyme you need is in the freezer. Unfortunately you didn’t realize your labmate needs the same enzyme. To avoid the “my experiment is more important than yours battle” make sure you order enough key reagents for your experiment without using up the lab resources.
Look for equipment that can save you time – but make sure you know how to use it
Repeat pipettors, multi-channel pipettors, vacuum assemblies even automated DNA prep machines are all great for handling lots of samples, but take the time to learn how to use them.
I really got into using repeat pipettors when I was scaling up experiments. But the first couple of times I used one, I forgot that you couldn’t count on the first or last squirts being accurate. I soon learned to refill my syringes frequently and squirt the first liquid into a waste container.
Recruit fellow lab mates
If you can, find someone to help you. If your lab has technicians that can be used for various projects, ask if they can work on yours for the day. Or if you are working on an experiment that is likely to be published by your lab, get your co-authors to pitch in.
Scaling up doesn’t have to lead to an enormous disaster. Plan ahead, take your time and you will soon have big results!
How often do you make errors in the lab that ruin a good experiment? Rather than flaws in experimental design, I mean errors like forgetting to add a reagent, pipetting the wrong amount, or following a protocol step wrongly. Especially early on in your career, errors like this can be a real drain on your…
Pop Quiz Time: You get a new bacterial strain from a culture collection, but you’re not quite sure what the genetic notation (i.e., all the letters and symbols) means. Do you: A. Cry? B. Ask around to see what your lab mates think? C. Cross your fingers that your friends at Bitesize Bio can help…
When I first started out in the lab, I used to follow all protocols to the letter. Now, this is fine as long as your reactions run smoothly. However, there came the day when I had a new protocol and I just couldn’t get it to work. My supervisor told me to just “play around”…
Trying a new protocol is always a little daunting, especially if no one else in your lab is doing it. So it’s always good to find a tried and tested protocol from a reputable source before getting your hands dirty. Or at least one that can start you off in the right direction. It is…
Have you ever given thought to how you are disposing of antibiotics in the lab and whether or not it’s correct? Discover the problems associated with improper antibiotic disposal and how to correctly dispose of different antibiotics in the lab.
Contamination in your pipette can mean contamination in your experiments, making cleaning pipettes regularly critical. Here’s an easy guide on how to do it.
10 Things Every Molecular Biologist Should Know
The eBook with top tips from our Researcher community.
