Lab My Life | An Internet Entrepreneur Wannabe

The blog has been moved

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:01:00 +0000

The blog has been moved to www.iamtonyhsieh.com

How to not work in a lab yet stay in the Science field and not working for someone but for yourself?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:22:00 +0000

Fund ScienceI know, I know. Whenever scientists talk about this, it is always something like "work for a bio-tech and become a sales manager" or "become a field engineer and show how protein purification is done" or "become a technical support at some chemical company" etc etc etc

If you notice the sub-title of this blog (I don't know how long it will stay this way, so I am going to write it here in case it changes in the future

Lab My Life | An Internet Entrepreneur Wannabe

Yes, it's all about being an entrepreneur. So, here is a story about someone I know and how he is (was) working on eventually stop working in a lab.

I have known him for quite long time and we met occasionally at parties here and there. So it was a nice surprise to meet him one day I was on my way to school last year (I was still finishing up part-time MBA classes). He had no idea I was pursuing MBA and the conversation lead to an interesting topic.

"Yea, I got accepted into MBA program too but I decided not to go for it and instead started a non-profit organization" he told me

"What kind of organization is that?" I asked

"It's little bit like Kiva but for Science. The idea is to fund young scientists (with interesting ideas) by connecting them with the general public" he replied.

"Wow" I thought that was a great idea.

he continued to explain about what the organization does and who is on board so far at that stage.

"So why did you start it" I asked.

"You know, the idea is to be able to travel around the world and have a great job and still getting paid" he answered.

He had figured out a perfect solution!!

1) The idea helps people to solve a problem
2) Still relevant to what he does (Science)
3) Becoming an entrepreneur
4) Be where he wants and do what he wants
5) Doing all these and still get paid

So who is this guy? He is David Vitrant founder of FundScience.org

At the time he started the organization, he was still a PhD student. You have all my respect David.

What is a "Startup" all about?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Christmas season is here and it is also the time a lot of “Love and Sweet” movies are released around this season.

One of my favorite “Love and Sweet” movies had always been “Pretty Woman”. Even though it has nothing to do with Christmas, I personally liked the story because it some how made me think “oh yea, this is the way love should be” and it gives me the “Love and Sweet” feeling. (I was still in my teens by the way)

One day, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about love relationship and I brought up about “Pretty Woman” movie and said
“I would love to be in a story like that”.

My friend looked at me and replied coolly
“so you are telling me, you want to find a prostitute, fall in love with her, then marry her?”

Since then, I stopped getting the “Love and Sweet” feeling whenever I watched reruns of the movie.

It’s funny that Start Up is quite similar to this. You read all these success stories about how those people who made it enjoy their success and many of them tell you money was never the major motivator. Then many of us tell ourselves that money should not be the biggest motivator.

Come on, be real and wake up.

It is true that “Pretty Woman” is a story about love but when you look at it carefully, isn’t it just a story about a prostitute fall in love and gets lucky?

It is true that starting your own company is about doing what you love and feel passionate about it but isn’t it all about making money after all (in fact, a lot of money preferably)?

What’s the message here?

It is good to dream about what your company can do for the world.
It is good to dream about at last you can leave the shit dead end job and do something you feel passionate about.
It is good to dream about how much freedom you will get once you start your own company.

But don’t forget, if your company does not make money, it doesn’t matter how big or good your vision is all about.

I know it sounds dirty and depressing, but the bottom line is, money should always be in the picture.

Otherwise, you are not realizing what you are dreaming about is falling in love with a prostitute.

You will get so bored when you are rich......or will you?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:55:00 +0000

A lot of time, in a magazine, TV, radio, or book that talks about being rich and how boring it is, one of the most used example is "You will get so bored after playing golf for 3 days and wonder what to do next". I disagree. In fact it makes me wonder if indeed people who say these kind of things are actually rich themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I am not rich, in fact far from it. But if you think logically, there is no way you will get bored being rich. In fact, it is the opposite.

Imagine that you don't have to be at your office at 8 or 9 AM everyday and be able to do WHATEVER YOU WANT when you wake up. There are millions of things you can do and don't even get me started about traveling around the world. Trust me, it is fun to travel around the world and it is even more fun to move to a new country and experience a new culture (I have lived in 4 different countries so far and still counting so you got to believe me on this one).

A lot of time, people like the social interaction and social approval. In fact, these two factors are probably the main factors that deter people from getting rich. Being rich is like being a black sheep in the family. Friends will get jealous of you and no one will approve the way you live no matter what you do.

The lesson here is not to believe in what people say. If you have never tried a vanilla ice cream, how would you know what it tastes like? Go and get one, taste it yourself and you be the judge.

What it means to be a boss

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:45:00 +0000

After starting the internet venture, this is one of the critical questions that I have been asking myself constantly.
When you are working for someone, it is very easy to just follow instruction, get it done well, then get paid. On the other hand, when you are a boss, you have to come up with the instruction, no body is telling you what to do, and you have to pay everybody first and hope there will be little left for you...... to pay the remaining bills.

I must admin it is not fun being a boss. I have a team of developer and a part time helper and sometimes it is just too much effort to explain the task. Partially because they are working for someone (me) and when you are working for someone, unless there is an incentive tight to performance, most employee would just do the minimum and call it done.

This means as a boss, I will have to constantly monitor the quality of their work.
I did try to implement performance based payments but since I have a limited budget, this is more easily said than done.

As for developer, I tried to structure the milestone payments in a way that if everything is done according to plan AND ON TIME, the payments will be made. Perhaps I should add AND QUALITY WORK from now on……

As for the part-time helper, I am lucky enough to find someone who is self motivated and easy to work with. I have no complaint so far but to be fail our relationship just started and it may change dramatically as time pass by (she may demand higher pay after 6 more months…. Who knows).

So, this is just one aspect of being a boss; try to figure out how to deal with people who work for you.

Why are people afraid of money?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Let me ask you a question. Would you like to be super rich, let's say 200 million dollars rich?
I bet you would probably say "YES" without hesitating. What I am about to tell you may change your mind.

Imagine your best friend comes up to you and ask for $100,000 investment because she wants to start a company. You say yes without even setting any interest payment or a written contract for repayment since you think she is your best friend you want to help unconditionally. Then she comes back to you and ask for another $200,000. This time you say no and she starts screaming at you and call you cheap, not supportive, and a worst friend she has ever had.

Let's say you want to share your fortune with your family members and give them 5 million dollar each. Guess, what. They call you cheap and they think 20 millions would be more appropriate instead. Imagine what they would say or do if you refuse? Would they still love you then? Would they call you a bastard or a bitch because you have 200 million and only share 2.5% of your fortune to each of them?

Now, imagien you do a donation to the organization that you have been donating for years and years. You decided to increase the donation to 50 time more than what you used to donate (for argument sake let's say 500,000). Then one day you hear a rumor that the head of the organization calls you cheap condiering you have 200 millions in your bank.

What do you think now? I think "What the F@$#" would be a correct answer.

It doesn't matter how nice you try to be, probably at least one of these episode will happen.

Do you still want to be rich?

You may wonder what I would do? I would make new friends, start a new family, and find a new organization to donate. F$#% them. There are at least 3 other English countries you can go to (USA, UK, Canada, Australia) so move and make new friends and start a new life. Who cares, you have 200 million dollars in your bank.

Depressed and Scared

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Not good news. I should have known better.......

I thought I did a good job doing market research to start this venture but as it turned out, the market research was not good enough

I just found out there are zillions of competitors in the industry that I am in….even though my idea is unique, in order to make it work, I need to put more time and capital. Otherwise, the website will simply just look the same as those other zillions of websites.

The industry that I am in is restaurant industry. The product I am providing is a marketing platform. I am not going to provide details at this point and I am sure the details will be revealed by itself eventually.

So, I have already sunk in 1 year of time and plenty of money. Even though I am doing this part-time, the venture has substantially ate away countless weekends and sleep time.

Yes, I am doing this part-time. I have a full time job working in the lab and I am depressed and scared. I am not sure if I am doing the right thing, even though I have been doing this for almost a year.

My scientific career is pretty much stacked. Without a PhD, there is no hope (or should I say "improbable but not impossible") for me to have my own lab, or getting a grant to do whatever research I want to do.

so, here I am. Trying to be an Internet entrepreneur....depressed and scared.

Sell, Sell, Sell, Sell

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:42:00 +0000

As I approach to finish the part time MBA program, it becomes clearer that running a lab is not much difference than running a small business. It requires substantial entrepreneurial skills and mentalities to become successful in running a lab.

For example, there are 4 key skills that anyone who wants to start a business needs to have. You don’t need to born with them, but rather acquiring these skills and/or knowing how to get the same results without having these skills will be the key to success.

1) be able to sell
2) be able to push to sell
3) be able to innovate / create product to sell
4) be able to organize

We can apply these skills to Science.

1) No matter what your research topic is, communicating to audiences is a key. You need to be able to sell your research ideas, results, grant proposals etc.
Selling good presentation = more recognition
Selling research ideas, results = more papers = easier to get grants
Selling grant proposals = more money

2) You need to be the driver to achieve the sales.
What do you need to do to be able to make the sales? That is the key question.

3) Now that you have sold the research idea, find ways to get more research ideas.

4) Once 1)-3) is in motions, you need to organize and keep track on all these activities.

This is just an example. You can modify/apply in anyways you like.
The backbone is
1) Sell,
2) Push to Sell
3) Make more product
4) Organize

In other words, Selling = More Money = More research

Science Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:48:00 +0000

I came across to epMotion the other day. Apparently it is an automated pipetting machine made by Eppendorf. I guess it was inevitable fate for any industry to have some kind of revolution. Just like Industrial revolution, eventually “Science Revolution” will be here to replace Lab techs like me. We will need to get a completely new set of training to manage all these machines instead of pieptting 1ul samples ourselves.
Should we embrace the revolution? or reject it? I guess we don’t have a choice but rather need to prepare and accept the fact.

How to dissolve a high molar urea without getting precipitation? part 2

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:12:00 +0000

At last I figured out how to dissolve a high molar urea without getting precipitation for a long time.

The reason I need a high molar urea is to strip a nitrocellulose membrane over night but the high concentration urea kept precipitating after couple of hours.

I think the answer was air. As long as the high concentration urea (I tried 9 M) do not get in contact with air, it is ok even in a low temperature for a long time. I left it overnight and there is still no precipitation as I am typing. (Almost 24 hours by now)

Take a look at the picture below. I sealed it in a bag and let it rocking on a platform. No precipitation what so ever!!

How to dissolve a high molar Urea without getting precipitated?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:11:00 +0000

I have been trying different methods to dissolve a high concentration of urea (9M-12M), but keep getting precipitation.

I think I have found a method to make the urea solution that will not precipitate for at least several hours or even couple of days.

1) Warm up H2O (microwave or hot plate) to substantial degree so that whatever amount of urea is added will be dissolved
2) Add urea and dissolve (make sure it is completely dissolved)
3) Let it cool down slowly and gradually to room temperature

I have also tried different combinations without success

Variation1
1) Start with cold water
2) Add urea and dissolve it as the water gets warmed up on hot plate
3) Let it cool down slowly and gradually to room temperature

Comment: Probably the cold water is not a good idea.

Variation2
1) Start with hot water (microwaved)
2) Add urea and stir
3) The water temperature is not hot enough so microwaved the whole thing (did not use hot plate so could not maintain the same water temperature)
4) Dissolve it completely this time and let it cool down slowly and gradually to room temperature

Comment: Probably some urea particles are not dissolved completely the first time and re-warming does not help. Even though it dissolves urea completely, the solution precipitate very fast with 1 hour after cool down.
In other words, you need to dissolve urea completely the first time. For whatever reason (most likely low water temperature), if it does not dissolve the first time it will not work.

Variation3
1) Start with hot water (microwaved or hot plate)
2) Add urea and stir, completely dissolved
3) Cool it down with ice (monitor it so that it does not drop beyond room temperature) then leave it on the bench to cool down to room temperature.

Comment: cooling it down with ice is not a good idea. Even if you take it out from ice around 50 degree C and let it sit on a bench until it cools down to room temperature, it still precipitates pretty fast after complete cool down.

I wonder if someone out there have/had a same/similar problem making high concentration urea solution.

Life goes on....

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:06:00 +0000

So how is everyone surviving in this financial crisis? Anyone got laid off or see someone got laid off? Well, it is happening in real time everywhere even in Science business.

If you are the only lab tech in the lab then you probably already knows you are OK until your boss's grant money runs out. Unfortunately for those Post-Docs, they are the first ones to go. This saddens me as they are probably the ones work harder and longer hours and yet, they are the first ones to go.

I remember someone told me once that Science job is a relatively stable job than other jobs. It probably is true to some degree (since we don’t get paid as much to start with compare to other fields considering the qualifications that we need to get to go into Science field), but I guess this financial crisis have created a once in a life time opportunity for us to witness “No body is safe” situation.

Well, stay warm and let’s hope to hear a good news sooner than later.

Do they do this on purpose or.....?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Take a look at these pictures. What do you think they are?

Don't they look like........ Well, I am going to leave it to your imagination.

Picture source
http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/

IT (Incompetent Technical) support

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:16:00 +0000

This is probably a common problem in any kind of industry. It does not matter what company or organization you work for, for some reason, IT personnel are almost always "the target" of everyone. (at least that's the impression I get from watching TV, talking to people, and hearing stories from other people)
After our previous Mac specialist was fired mysteriously (he was doing a really good job from our perspective but for some reason the IT department fired him anyways), we haven't had a good experience with the IT department.

Here are few of the problems that I can think of right off my head:
1) They have two different numbers, one for the central (entire hospital complex) and the other one for the local (the hospital building that our lab is located). A work number is assigned after calling the IT department and they would forward to the right person. This process alone takes weeks sometimes.

2) Once the person in charge gets the query, he/she sometimes has to search for contact information of the person who requested the problem. Apparently, the operators who answer the phone don't forward that (or forget to ask) sometimes.

3) There is no way for us to check the status of our request. The only way to find out is call the support center, then they check the computer to see if the IT person in charge has left a note or not.

I wonder if this happens everywhere too.......

Are we going "Green" yet...in the lab?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Thanks to global warming and Al Gore?! Everyone is going "Green" these days. Even here at our hospital (our research institution share the hospital building that is split between clinical wing and research wing) is starting to change lighting to more environmental friendly ones and putting up light switches in rooms where there was no light switch before!!

Yes, that's right, the room had no light switch so the light was CONSTANTLY ON!!

On the other hand, recycling in the US has been and I think still is way behind may other developed counties. There still are not as many recycling centers (I lived in the UK for sometime and they had facilities where people can bring stuff to for recycling) and not as many regulations for the waste (I lived in Japan for sometime and they had an excellent waste recycling instruction from the local government/authorities) .

You may wonder what all these have to do with the lab.

I was cleaning our 4 degree fridge today and had to throw away almost 20 bottles of old media. The bottles that I threw away were all plastics and I had no way to recycle them. I also started to notice the amount of plastics that we produce everyday (pipets, plastic bottles, plastic tubes). It is true that some of them are biohazard (contaminated with cells, blood etc) but what if we could at least separate the ones we know that are recyclable? such as the media bottles that I thew away?

I wonder how much hassle it will casue to set up a policy within the hospital to start recycle plastic? It may not be practical and potentially dangerous (due to potential contamination) but it is maybe worth at least bring it up and talk about it?

I wonder........

You can cook your brain with cell phones

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:21:00 +0000

Just watch these video clips........ Scary!!!
Microwaves from cell phones are real!!

Thermolyne Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:17:00 +0000

At last, found a replacement for the Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels that was broken.

It is called "Thermoflask Thermolyne" Benchtop Liquid Nitrogen Transfer Vessels. It comes with a secured lid (there are locks to ensure the lid is closed when transporting liquid nitrogen) and there is a Vent on the top so no worry about building up pressure inside.

So far so good. I am happy with the purchase.

Exploded liquid nitrogen transfer vessel

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Did you know the inner glass of liquid nitrogen transfer vessel can actually explode?!

I was not there when this happened but according to the witnesses (A post-Doc and a Volunteer student), it JUST HAPPENED!!! They were getting ready to get some liquid nitrogen and fortunately they had not even opened the tab of liquid nitrogen tank.

All they did was put the liquid nitrogen transfer vessel on the floor and "BAM" the glassed inside just shattered.

Fortunately they were dressed up with goggles and gloves and were not standing too too close (I assume since they did not get hurt)......

The warning did say "it could shatter unexpectedly".....

Well, time to shop for a new liquid nitrogen transfer vessel.

The smell of Seleno-L-Methionine

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:08:00 +0000

"We need to do this by incorporating Selenium into the protein complex to get the crystal structure of the complex"

My boss was telling me one of the three strategy to incorporate metal into the complex so that we could get a better crystal structure.

"Oh no, not selenium again" I thought. Back in school, I spent two years working in a lab that was dealing with Arsenic and Selenium on daily bases and I cannot say I enjoyed the smell and exposure. I was young and naive.....all I wanted was getting my degree back then.

Since it has been some years from my last encounter with selenium, I decided to do some toxicity check on it. The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) of Seleno-L-Methionine did not say too much, only the obvious "touching, breathing, and swallowing are not good for you" warnings.

What I am concerning the most is the smell. I am not sure if the smell of Seleno-L-Methionine could be considered as "Fume"..... in the case of Hydrochloric acid, if you can smell it then you are breathing in the Hydrochloric acid.
The same goes for Beta-Mercaptoethanol and TEMED (Tetramethylethylenediamine). If you can smell it, you are practically inhaling the chemical.

Some seasoned scientists may tell me the amount that we are getting exposed is so small that it cannot harm.... or is it? Just because nobody has not proven that it is not dangerous yet does not mean it is not!!!

Where do all the collected Hazardous Chemical Waste go?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:42:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered where all the chemical waste goes?

Once a month, we have to bring all the hazardous chemical waste to the loading doc where the Environmental Health and Safety Officer takes them over and mysteriously make them disappear from the building.

One day, I had an opportunity to talk to one of the officer and asked where all the hazardous chemical waste would go to. The answer was Hazardous Waste Incinerators. Apparently they get burned slowly and in a controlled way so that the fumes do not leak from the facility and contaminate the environment. Here are couple video clips about Hazardous Waste Incinerators.

Sounds great!! But does it work that beautifully? Here is another video clip to answer that. Interesting..... Very Interesting.....

More resources links

http://www.ehso.com/cssepa/tsdfincin.php

http://www.etc.org/technologicalandenvironmentalissues/treatmenttechnologies/incineration/

Bio-Rad PCR commercial video clip

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:45:00 +0000

A student in my lab showed me this video clip. I told her that it's a little nerdy to find this video clip to be funny..... Well, now that I watch it again by myself, I find it funny. I guess I am a science nerd too........

"Think Like a Cockroach" or "Live like a Cockroach"?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:00:00 +0000

National Institute of Health (NIH) grants are getting more and more difficult to get. Here at my institution, even seasoned scientists who had been getting grants for 10 years continuously are now faced with difficulty of getting funding.

I recently read an article on "The Scientist" magazine that I started subscribing when I joined my current lab. (It was free back then but they started charging couple years ago. I some how still manage to get free subscription by replying to the renewal notice.) The article titled "Think Like a Cockroach" is a very practical yet none humiliating advice. The key is to be creative and accept changes to get funded. There is nothing wrong to think like a cockroach as long as you don't live like one.

I have been taking some business related classes for the last couple of years and realized how much easier life would be if we (scientists) think a little bit more like business people.
For instance, when a project goes wrong we tend to stick on the course and tries to get somewhere by dumping more resources and time into that bad project.
In business world, when a project goes wrong and you realize it is going no where, you simply STOP and change course. Whatever is gone is gone (so called "sunk cost"). You do not make decision based on how much money and time you have already invested, but rather you determine what the out come will be.

I know grants are intended for specific projects and should be spent on those projects, but that does not mean we should waste more good money into projects.

Maybe it's time we start thinking about how we spend money?

Is "NanoVue" our solution?

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:05:00 +0000

"Dame it!! Not again"

Once again I am shouting in front of our lovely spectrophotometer. It just keeps giving me different measurement no matter how well I pipet the samples. You can imagine how much samples I waste by repeating the measurements.

Other lab members in my lab also experience the same phenomenon. Even if you just take out the cuvette and put it back in, the lovely spectrophotometer gives a different reading from the one before.

So, yesterday one of the senior researcher in my lab found an advertising on "Nature methods" about a new spectrophotometer from GE Healthcare called "NanoVue". Apparently you can accurately assays low volume of samples around 0.5-5 µl!!!

http://promo.gelifesciences.com/na/k7019nawr/

Interesting..... very interesting........
It maybe time for us to say goodbye to our lovely spectrophotometer.......

A solution to sonicate small amount of samples!!

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:51:00 +0000

Have you ever given a task to sonicate a puny tiny amount of cells/samples?

Well, here is a tool that can really help you!! A cup horn made by Sonics & Materials, Inc can sonicate samples in 1.6ml eppendorf tubes.

Here are the links to the product description

http://www.sonics.biz/lp-accessories-large.htm

http://www.sonics.biz/liquid-newsheet/LargeVolAcess/LargevolFlowCells%26CupHorn.pdf

Some people just can't serve

noreply@blogger.com (TH) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:02:00 +0000

As a lab tech, I have opportunities to talk to so many people over the phone since I have to place orders, renew service contracts, and coordinate research with other labs etc ( you get the idea).

Through out these phone calls, at least once a month I would come across to a customer service or a sales personnel who just don't give a Sh*@t about anything you say. It does not matter how polite or sincere you are, they would just treat you like a crap.

I used to get angry at these people but recently, I started using this "re-frame" technique that helps me to calm down. Here is an example on how to use it.

For instance, your colleague asks you to do a favor for him/her right before 5PM when you are getting ready to leave. You feel furious, it's Friday and you have so much in your mind about what you are going to do once you get home. Then, here comes this request that will requires you to stay back for another 30 minutes.

What you do is to re-frame, think about why your colleague asked you to do something for him/her. Maybe your colleague has to go pick up his/her kids? Maybe your colleague is not feeling well and has been trying to hung in there all day? Maybe they know you could finish the task in 30 minute but it would take them hours to do?
The best way is to communicate and find out. You may ended up not only helping them and feeling good about it, but also you make them owe you one!!

Now, when it comes to phone conversation with a stranger, it is impossible to ask what is wrong with them. In this case you would try to understand why they do what they do. Maybe they don't get paid well enough? Maybe they had a fight with their significant other or kids? Maybe it is just the way they are and they need some help?

You know if they keep doing what they do they will probably loss their job anyways (they record the conversation remember?) so maybe we should feel sorry for those rude, unkind, unfriendly people on the other end of the phone.

In any case, why should we get angry and potentially get stomach ulcer for someone we don't even know?

Life is too short for that.