When experiments fail, eat gummy bears ??

Hi everyone!

You know that disappointing feeling when your experiment fails due to an oversight? It hit me hard a while back, when I was working on a transfection experiment.?

The experiment itself lasted 2 days, and had required weeks of prep. I was on the last leg, and so far, everything had gone swimmingly. I was feeling super chilled out. I even let my mind drift to thoughts of going home, and having a cheese toastie to reward myself for my efforts.?

Sadly, my moment of daydreaming was fleeting.

As I was watching our Hamilton robot gracefully stain cells in preparation for flow cytometry, a painful realization pulled me back to reality—the cells weren’t being resuspended.

While optimizing this experiment iteration, I hadn’t noticed that the incorrect liquid class had been selected for cell handling.

Overlooking this detail meant that the results were null and void… cue that horrible, heart-sinking feeling, and my relaxing evening ahead was ruined.?

With no time machine to let me go back and change things, I wrapped everything up, went to the kitchen, and shared my woes with a colleague, while sullenly munching on a packet of gummy bears.

I’d learned the hard way that when it comes to automating biological experiments, no detail is inconsequential. And that while unexpected outcomes are part of the scientific process, we don’t really talk about how disheartening it can be to have one tiny oversight end in experimental failure.

We just have to pick ourselves up, and have another go.?

That can feel difficult when you’re still in self-soothing mode and mourning your flopped experiment—so here’s my advice for the interim:

After your experiment fails, eat some gummy bears, and talk about it. It won’t stop that heart-sinking feeling, but the temporary sugar high and friendship take the edge off.

Catch you next time,

—Fatima, Associate Scientist, Synthace

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