Recording Your Research (Lab Books, Research Diaries and

Electronic Information)

Dr Richy Hetherington, Prof Rob Pickard and Dr Simon Cockell

Outline

• Recording Research in a Clinical Setting• Recording Lab Work• Research Diaries• Electronic recording• Sharing information – What you should

share and how to share it

Why do you need to keep records?

• For Your Progress Panel and Viva• For Your Supervisory Team• For Anyone Who Continues Your Work• For Academic Integrity• For Intellectual Property• For Your Sponsors• Most of all for you: Writing your thesis and your

publications will be easier the better your records are

Which Standards?

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Medicines/Inspectionandstandards/GoodLaboratoryPractice

University Lab Books

All should be

• Have continuous numbered pages• Have a table of contents• Entries should be made permanently in Pen • No correcting fluid or tipex should be used• A single line should be put through any

errors

When to record

• Record as you go• If you can’t do it as soon

as you can• It is easy to forget• Do not record on scraps

of paper

New Methods

Always describe thoroughly a new procedure For example

“Solution B was made by adding 500µl of water to 1.02mg of substance B, in 1.5ml microfuge tube, the solution was vortexed for 30 minutes to ensure Substance B was dissolved.

Would be better than “A 2mg/ml of Solution B was made from substance B”

Established Methods

Once methods are established it is fine to refer back to them

Eg. “Samples B1-B16 were tested using method A

(see 14th June 2007 RH/B1/ p14)”

Obviously note any deviations, intentional or otherwise

Recording DeviationE.g. (accident)

“Samples B1-B16 were tested using method A (see 14th June 2007 RH/B1/p14). Deviating from the method Samples B13-B16 were centrifuged twice at 14.2g for 5 minutes in stage 2, with a 5 minute interval between spins all other samples were centrifuged once as per method A.”

Or

E.g. (design)“Samples B1-B16 were tested using method A (see 14th June 2007 RH/B1/ p14). Deviating from the method all samples were centrifuged at 14.2g for 10 minutes at stage 2, to ensure a compact pellet formed.

Equipment, Reagents and SamplesEquipment used list

Equipment nameManufacturer

Model Number

Serial number

Date used notes

Centrifuge 1 Sigma 2-16 445332 24 June 2008- Normally fitted with Rotor A, takes 3 minutes to get to top speed at highest ramp rate

Rotor A Sigma 11124 545434 24 June 2008- Fits 24 microfuge tubes

Reagents used list

Lab name Full Name Supplier Catalogue Number

Lotnumber

Dates used notes

PEG600/1

Polyethylene Glycol 600

Polysciences inc.http://www.polysciences.com/

25322-68-3 3454354

2 May 2008to3 July 2008

Went cloudy 8 July 08 ordered new stock

PEG600/2

Polyethylene Glycol 600

Polysciences inc.http://www.polysciences.com/

25322-68-3 3454553

9 July 2008to

Recording the results

Make note of anything anecdotal or unusual.

“The cells appeared to be more irregular in shape, than in previous experiments”

“The interview room was very warm; some of the subjects seemed slightly unconformable”

Seemingly unimportant things may become important later

Eg“Centrifuging for 10 minutes at stage 2 had no

perceivable effect on the compactness of the pellet. When repeating increasing the rotor speed to produce 15g may help compact the pellet”

…later…“Excessive centrifuging of samples B1-16 reduced

enzyme activity, solids in stage 2 must be collected by filtering”

Results from machines

• Annotate Well• Reference page• Number the reverse• Stick in with sticky tape

Intellectual Property (IP) Issues

• Lab books must be signed off (at least fortnightly)

• All experiments will need to be reproducible

• Lab book will become a legal document if a patent is applied for

Faculty Lab books

• For PhD, MD & Mphil student Lab books Should be available through your institute Office

• For MRes students from the Graduate School Office