403: Igor (Igor)
403 ([personal profile] 403) wrote2009-10-29 02:50 pm
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Life in the Lab: How many years of work are in that waste jar?

This morning, my employer discovered that her deep freezer had died, and the alarm didn't go off. The device is in the freezer room, where we don't often happen to walk past it, so we have no idea how long it's been nonfunctional - except that some of the samples had started growing mold.

So what I'm doing today? Disposing of spoiled samples, and cleaning dozens of test tubes and litle vials. And keeping my inhaler handy, since I'm allergic to mold spores.
solarbird: (Default)

[personal profile] solarbird 2009-10-29 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
oh, shit. oh shit.

how bad is it? oh god.

this was always one of the biggest nightmares of everyone when I was doing research. everyone. grace lost 15 years of work on a side project (fortunately only a side project and not a direct grant but oh. my. god.) when somebody moved one of her drosophila breeding tanks without her permission and put it opposite a giant-ass magfield generator in the lab next door. it was so bad.
ext_366168: (Default)

[identity profile] zeightyfiv.livejournal.com 2009-10-30 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
Ergh! (Makes net-connected remote sensors all the more attractive... then at least you can usually tell when the sensor fails. I wonder if you can find ones appropriate for cryo-freezers...)