McClean:Lab Chores

Glassware

We decided at the first McClean Lab group meeting (8/20/2015) that everyone will be responsible for washing glassware one day a week. This means that once a week you will 1) unload the dry glassware from the drying rack and prepare it for the autoclave (put in autoclave trays, put autoclave tape on top, put spatulas and stir bars into metal trays, etc) 2) wash enough glassware to refill the drying rack.

Please sign up for your chosen day below. If you can't make your day on a given week (midterms, absence, etc) it is YOUR responsibility to negotiate with another lab member to trade.

Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday/Sunday: Megan

Draft List of Wisconsin Lab Chores

• Washing glassware
• Autoclaving glassware
• Receiving orders and updating quartzy
• Weekly stockroom trips
• Weekly eyewash checks
• Chemical hygiene protocol updates

Old Notes from Princeton ( a lot still applies)

I am in the process of compiling a list of the basic chores that need to get done around the lab. If there are things you are regularly doing, please add them to this list!

Common Stocks

These are the items there should always be a reserve stock of in the lab. If you notice them running low please make or order more. If you don't know what to do, talk to Megan. Please don't leave your fellow labmates in a lurch by using the last of something without letting anyone know!

• Sterile 30% glycercol (for freezing down yeast strains)
• YPD2 (stored on shelf above microwave, order from the media facility when you use the 2nd to last bottle)
• YPD4 (stored on shelf above microwave, order from the media facility when you use the 2nd to last bottle)
• Amino acid powders (stored on media shelf)
• Sterile toothpicks (stored on metal shelf by cubicle, autoclave more on dry cycle when there is only 1 container left)
• Sterile sticks (stored on metal shelf by cubicle, autoclave more on dry cycle when there is only 1 container left)
• Sterile autoclaved MiliQ water (stored on shelf next to microwave, autoclave MiliQ water on 15 min liquid cycle when there is only 1 bottle left)
• Sterile velvets for replica plating (store dirty velvets in the plastic box on bottom shelf of cart, Megan will wash and dry them when the box is full, then autoclave)
• Drug stocks for media (stored in 4C and -80C, talk to Megan when the stocks are running low)
• Pipette tips (talk to Megan when you notice the stocks running low)
• PCR Reagents (stored in the PCR cold box in -20C Freezer #1, keep your own reagents in your own personal cold box, if you take the last tube of something from the main cold box, let Megan know because it can take a while for the order to come in!)
• 95% EtOH (stored in the flammables cabinet, if you use it up, get more from the stock room)
• Autoclaved sterile eppendorfs (when the white containers are all empty, refill with eppendorfs which you can buy in the stockroom, autoclave on dry cycle with the lids LOOSE or they will suction on forever, put back on the metal shelf next to the toothpicks)

Lab Chores

Please do these chores as you have time and as you notice they need to be done. If they aren't getting done we will need to make official assignments. If you feel like you are the only person doing something, please let Megan know.

• Replace the biohazard box (When the box is about 2/3 full, tape it closed, label it and put the box outside the lab. Replace the box from the stores by Deborah's desk downstairs. If you don't know what to do, talk to Megan. Don't let the box overflow!)
• Replace paper towels (trays by sink and by gel box)
• Empty the drip catch in the large 4°C fridge (the glass dish on the top shelf, if it overflows it floods everything below, so keep an eye on it!)
• Tidy the gel box area (keep lid on gel box closed, wipe up spills, empty tip container)
• Make more 1% agarose (See protocol in protocols section, don't overfill the bottle..no more than 400mls or so)
• Keep large 4°C fridge clean (keep your shelf tidy, clean out old plates, don't store yeast on plates for more than MAXIMUM two weeks)
• Put clean glassware away daily (put glassware away daily in the cabinet, please don't out glass cylinders in the plastic crate, stand them up)
• Put away sterile spatulas and stir bars (dump sterile instruments from the cart container into the sterile metal container in the drawer full of balance stuff)
• Maintain the strain database and stocks (enter your strains accurately, let Megan know immediately if something is wrong with the database or with any of the strain stocks, don't use stocks from the backup freezer, only use stocks from our freezer)
• Tidy the balance area (ideally this should be done every time you use the balance--brush away dust, wipe down the counter, no one else knows what that white powder is so clean it up when you are done weighing stuff out!)

Basic Lab Hygiene

Please keep your bench and personal spaces clean. Some specific tips:

• Yeast plates with mold or other nasty stuff--wrap with parafilm or put in a ziploc back before your throw them away so your don't spread your contaminant around.
• Yeast at 4°C --these don't last forever! If it's important, freeze it down as soon as possible in glycerol stock at -80°C. After no more than two weeks, restreak from -80°C and throw the old plate away. If you absolutely want to keep something longer than two weeks, and there may be reason for this (ie, keeping original transformation plates until you are super-sure you got the strain you wanted) put them back in a plastic sleeve, tape them closed and label them well. Throw them away as soon as you are super-sure you have what you need frozen down at -80°C.
• Store everything in the 4°C and -20°C in boxes with lids. I know it is tempting to store tubes in open racks (just for a *little* while) but this is almost guaranteed to end with someone accidentally knocking your rack out of the freezer and spilling your tubes everywhere. Trust me. There are copious numbers of extra freezer boxes under Anjali's bench.
• Clean up your boxes at -20°C and 4°C--we have limited fridge and freezer space, so periodically go back and throw away things you don't need anymore. (Megan is the current major culprit and needs to clean her GEV boxes out of the -20°C)