Lab Manager Magazine^®

Skills to Master

In our Fifth Annual Salary & Employee Satisfaction Survey, the majority of you told us again that you were happy in your current work situations and had no plans to change careers. However, 13 percent fewer of you than in 2010 answered in the affir

Top 10 Management Skills You Need

To progress in their careers, lab managers, particularly those in their first management assignment, need to develop new skills. Often they had little opportunity to do this while working full time at the laboratory bench. Yet these skills are cri

The Fifth Annual Salary & Employee Satisfaction Survey

What has been true over the past four years of conducting this survey remains true: Those working in the scientific research field like what they do and have no plans to change careers. Although the number was down 2% from last year, those who sa

The Psychobarbarian Manager

There are managers who have learned to use psychological techniques to confuse, contort, and control members of their staff. You may never encounter one of these characters, if you are lucky. However, it’s amazing how many people immediately...

Science Matters: The Sciences Require "Soft Skills" Too

We all know that scientists who pursue advanced degrees like a Ph.D. are smart. They are driven. And they are no doubt passionate about their work. But can they cut it in the real world? Recent national media reports that debate the value of adva

Ask the Expert: Overcoming the Challenges of Sample Preparation

Q: What does sample prep typically involve, and what are the common challenges encountered? A: Sample prep is problematic on many levels. Typically there is always the need to manipulate the sample in some way prior to the analysis. Usually there

Making ChIP-Sequencing User-Friendly

Chromatin states can influence transcription directly by altering the packaging of DNA to allow or prevent access to DNA-binding proteins, or they can modify the nucleosome surface to enhance or impede recruitment of effector protein complexes. Genom

Moving Molecular Diagnostics from Bench to Clinic

The function of molecular diagnostics is to analyze the composition of a patient’s genetic makeup in order to reveal any potential predispositions of that individual to specific diseases. Identifying these biomarkers can allow treatment options

Stay Interviews

For decades, labs have struggled to find clear solutions to better engage and retain their best employees. At some point, doesn’t it make sense to say, “Why don’t we just ask them?” Well, we do ask them. We ask them through engagement surveys,

Sustainability Meets Flexibility

What does “high-quality” mean in terms of laboratory design? The lab owner may think of cost-effectiveness or the attractiveness of the lab to potential top recruits as quality issues, while the facilities manager may think of durability,

Don’t Forget the Green

It’s really not optional anymore. Sustainable design must be a part of the holistic approach to building a lab. A few tips and techniques can help create synergy among the various design elements, yielding an optimized interior that is cost-effect

Microplate Readers: Evolutionary Changes Bring Greater Function, Flexibility

Although a mature product category, microplate readers are evolving towards greater functionality, flexibility, and throughput. All top instrument makers are focusing at least some efforts on multiplexing.

Lab Washers: To Centralize or Not To Centralize?

The question of limited access or general access to laboratory goods and services applies to a range of instruments, utilities, and competencies. These questions take on added significance for midsized or larger labs.

Particle Sizing: It's Not All About Size

Whether your business is pharmaceuticals, mining, paints, or foods, you are probably working with smaller particles than you were a decade ago.

Pipettes: Making the Most of Maintenance Options

Best practices dictate that pipettes undergo preventive maintenance and calibration at least once per year. Calibration involves dispensing set volumes of a liquid, usually water, into the weighing pan of a calibrated balance.

10 Tips to Improve Your Pipetting Technique

Of all the factors contributing to the performance of a pipette, the most critical are the skill and expertise of the operator. 1. Prewet the pipette tip Aspirate and fully expel an amount of the liquid at least 3 times before aspirating

Raman Analyzers: Out of the Lab, Into the Field

Raman spectroscopy has undergone a revolution during the last seven to 10 years, largely as a result of massive investment in the telecommunications industry. Improvements have come through what Eric Bergles, VP of sales and marketing at Bayspec (San

Cut to the Bone

If you examine your recent accident and injury reports, we bet that the most frequent type of injury will be cuts or lacerations. Given the volume of glassware used, the frequency of daily use, and the diverse types of glassware in many laborator

Maintain a Centrally Located Departmental Safety Library

One of the characteristics of an effective safety program is the availability of reference and resource materials. Employees need to have easy access to this information. Your chemical hygiene plan, your material safety data sheets, and other refe

Perspective On: An Environmental Research Lab

Michael Glavanovich receives calls with all kinds of strange requests. Once, a woman phoned to ask him if a piece of meat tossed into her yard for her dog contained poison. Although he couldn’t help the woman, Glavanovich was able to direct he

One Step Ahead

When starting a business, an up-front investment is necessary to hire the talented personnel, acquire the appropriate equipment and instrumentation, and secure the space required to operate the new business successfully. Typically those initial a

Easing Regulatory Compliance

Depending on your perspective, you may view regulatory compliance as a necessary but unwelcome expense, a hurdle in the race to market, a vital measure to protect public health and safety, or perhaps all three. Whatever your views, you probably d

Evolution of Water Baths and Chillers

There are a number of standard laboratory procedures and processes that need to be conducted at specific and stable temperatures. As this temperature may be either above or below room temperature,

Are You in the Market for Ion Chromatography?

Ion chromatography (IC) is an instrumental technique used extensively in the environmental, pharmaceutical, life sciences, biotechnology, chemical, petrochemical, food and beverage, power generation, and electronics industries. Applications include a

Are You in The Market For a Microplate Reader? See The Survey Results

Microplate readers are widely used in research, drug discovery, bioassay validation, QC, and manufacturing processes for the detection of biological, chemical, or physical processes in samples contained in microtiter plates. There are a wide variet

Are You in the Market For a pH Meter?

The pH meter is an essential piece of equipment in most laboratories, vital for many analytical and synthetic processes. Typical pH meters consist of a glass electrode connected to an electronic meter. The electrode produces a small voltage, which is

Are You in the Market for qPCR?

Within a decade of its discovery in 1983, Real-Time PCR—also called quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)— evolved into one of the most powerful and sensitive gene analysis techniques available. Real-time PCR measures PCR amplification a

The Right Choice For Analytical Balances

Analytical balances are used to measure mass with a high degree of precision. These electronic instruments have the ability to record the mass of an object to 0.0001 grams

Technology News - October 2011

Analytical Nano Particle Analyzer SZ-100 Analyzes key particle physical properties including size and zeta potential Capable of performing size measurements at both right angle (90°) and backscatter (173°) Allows p

Comparing Microvolume and Cuvette Based Measurements of Microbial Cell Cultures

Abstract Microvolume assessment of bacterial culture growth was found to facilitate measurement of undiluted cultures. Comparison between microvolume and cuvette-based data requires the use of a conversion factor, which can be simply determined.

Robotic Personal Workstations

Problem: With the rapid pace and high demands of research that dominate today’s research laboratories, scientists require faster, more dependable, and safer means of accomplishing detail-oriented and potentially tedious liquid handling tasks, w

Micro-Volume Quantification

Problem: Highly concentrated nucleic acid and protein samples must be diluted before they can be read on most absorbance-based spectrophotometers, and conversely, diluted samples must be concentrated

An Energy Efficient Laboratory Oven

Problem: The global energy crisis is growing and is driving the costs of energy higher, making energy consciousness not only a necessity in terms of the environment, but also important for cost savings.