Peter Beltramo- Furst Lab Group: Lab Best Practices and Procedures Peter Beltramo Updated: 08/01/12

Peter Beltramo- Starting in the lab Maintaining a lab notebook Lab safety Outline 1

Peter Beltramo- Complete safety training – Chemical hygiene (mandatory) – Right-to-know (mandatory) – Laser (if necessary) Pick up a lab notebook (shelf in 017) – Daily account of lab activities Buy a three-ring binder – Documentation of compiled research updates and summaries Starting in the lab 2

Peter Beltramo- Safety Chief- Kathy – Scheduling safety training – MSDS sheets Chemical inventory – Maintained online ( see wiki for log-in info) – Update when receiving new material – Label containers clearly, in english (NO abbrevs or chemical formulas) – Chemical waste bags MUST have a tag on it listing the contents Laboratory Safety 3

Peter Beltramo- No matter how awesome your experiment is, you will not remember the complete details – It will be your primary source of information when compiling papers, your thesis, or a patent Your notebook is a legal document in case of disputes Your notebook is the property of the lab and will be used by future students who carry on your research! Writing in your notebook also helps plan and think through experimental procedures! Why is a lab notebook necessary? 4

Peter Beltramo- “Reflect its own integrity Corroborate information independent of the person doing the research” *From document originally prepared by SWIFFT at Cornell Goals of a Lab Notebook 5

Peter Beltramo- Fill in your contact information and be sure to number your lab notebooks sequentially Date each entry – Keep in chronological order Record each entry in legible, permanent ink immediately Sign each page NEVER- leave blank space – Instead: draw lines and sign over any blank area NEVER- erase/white-out/remove/tear out/rip pages or any content in your lab notebook – Instead: Strikeout mistakes with a single line How to properly keep a lab notebook 6

Peter Beltramo- Date every entry Enough account of experiment that a fellow scientist “skilled in the art” can follow and reproduce – Keep in mind that what you might think is a “trivial” detail at the time might not be obvious to others – Can cross reference clearly to the page/notebook where a procedure is located Include catalogue/lot/batch numbers for every chemical used Start and end times (e.g. 2pm – 4pm) rather than “for 2 hours” Can reference older page numbers Entries- level of detail 7

Peter Beltramo- The significance and motivation for your experiment The location of electronic files (especially useful for particle tracking info) Related calculations (including even unit conversions) The weather (especially if it’s unusually hot/cold or humid in the lab, these things matter) Personal comments – If you are angry/having a bad day, it might effect your lab skills and is worth noting (and more positively if you’re happy you can write that too…) “SUCCESS” “FAIL” Other initial interpretations/suggestions regarding the results since it usually wont be so black and white. Things you might not think to add but are appropriate for an entry 8

Peter Beltramo- Supplementary material must be affixed permanently to the lab notebook – Keep in chronological order – Use tape/glue stick to attach – Sign and date over the edge of the page Material that may be added: – Photographs – Charts or graphs – Preprinted tables for common procedures that you do (i.e. if you’re working on a synthesis and changing the amounts of things) Adding supplementary information to your lab notebook 9

Peter Beltramo- Examples 10

Peter Beltramo- Examples 11

Peter Beltramo- Fill in TOC – Much easier to go back and look over previous results Make photocopies of your lab notebook – Notebook is property of the lab, might need to make copies when you are leaving if you haven’t finished writing something up Archival system – Make sure people know where your lab notebooks are when you leave Useful Procedures 12

Peter Beltramo- tebooks tebooks 2/ 2/ Additional Resources 13

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