Myth #2: If you follow the directions, it will work
So I’m starting to see a trend with my lab work…
The past week, I’ve had a LOT of really awesome stuff to do. Sequences, DNA extractions, gels, PCRs, nanodrop machines…tons of cool things to try out. Except for the fact that nothing really seems to work out for me.
I’ll admit, I’m not exactly the amazingly perfect scientist I’d hoped I would be (yet). I don’t really have a natural-born talent to repeatedly pipet single microliters of liquid without fail, and apparently I have some trouble reading directions from a protocol. Like when the book clearly says “add 4 microliters of buffer” and I somehow decide to add 5 microliters. Or when I fail to notice that the vial of DNA-grade water is actually ethanol. Oops. [A note to my lab: don’t worry, I caught my mistakes. Eventually.]
Anyways, I’ve discovered that frequently (and in my case, more often than not) things don’t work out. And sometimes, it’s not because I forgot a step or added the wrong buffer. Thank God.
For example: yesterday, I did a whole-genome amplification on some DNA samples. I managed to follow every single one of the directions, which I thought was a pretty big improvement from my previous week’s performance in the lab. Except that today, I ran out the amplified samples on a gel to gage my success….and I was sorely disappointed. There was almost NOTHING to be seen on that gel.
Luckily, not everything has to be blamed on the scientist (and in this case, that would be me). There is a possibility that it is actually not my wrongdoing at all, and really the horrible amplification is the fault of the company that made the whole-genome amplification kit. At first I thought everyone in the lab was lying and just trying to make me feel better about screwing up so many procedures…but apparently it’s somewhat common for things to just not work out. Unfortunate, but common.
In any case, I’m still crossing my fingers for the shift-blame-from-Sam-to-the-company deal.