Now, i return to a start-up environment. A squad of scientific adventurers tossing and bobbing about this uncertain economy in a world that has seemingly gone sideways.
Starting down a new path is always a rather odd experience. One feels a certain need to prove oneself to be valuable and capable. One feels a certain need to demonstrate that the choice in the hire was not a mistaken one. To that need to prove worth, i have added upon myself the absolute need to prove that i am worthy of the title i was hired in as. Traditionally, to hold a title of "Scientist", an advanced degree is viewed as a requirement. One of the benefits in working at a small start-up, however, is that the requirement of higher degrees is less set in stone. That being said, to make it to a post of "scientist" without an advanced degree in a start-up is still something of an rarity and something that speaks to the perceived skill and abilities of the "scientist" in question.
So it was with this need to prove myself gnawing at the back of my mind when i suddenly find myself unable to perform a simple Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay. ELISAs are one of the most basic of biology research techniques. It is something that is taught to high school students in biotechnology classes and something that is expected to be able to be effectively performed by the most junior of research assistants.
The ELISA i was failing to perform was not complex nor was it a first attempt at making it work. i had been performing it perfectly, generating reams and reams of data with it, for the past three weeks. Suddenly, with the introduction of a new lot of ELISA plates, the assay went dead. It didn't fade out. It just went from working to absolutely dead in the water.
Why is it? Why is it always the most simple things?
So it was. A week of systematic trouble shooting. New buffers, every day, tweaking the components just a little bit to isolate individual bits of the assay to assure that it was still working. Checking through all the steps. Poisoning various steps to try to reproduce the catastrophic failure. A week of tinkering at the cost of a week of data generation is not only frustrating, it is a massive waste of time for a start-up running on limited venture funding.
The most simple things. The most simple, simple, simple things.
Finally, today, Sunday, result. The general conclusion that could be reached was that there was something a bit off with the new lot of plates i am working with. With a bit of levity, i coated a large number of plates to prepare for a week of catch up beginning tomorrow. However, as i coat the plates, a little nagging worry gnaws at me. What if i didn't pin point the culprit? i did coat a different set/type of plates. Plates i know without a doubt to work well in ELISA type assays and with proven consistency between lots. Yet, the gnawing "what if" keeps nudging at me.
The most simple things. The most simple things.
So it was with this need to prove myself gnawing at the back of my mind when i suddenly find myself unable to perform a simple Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay. ELISAs are one of the most basic of biology research techniques. It is something that is taught to high school students in biotechnology classes and something that is expected to be able to be effectively performed by the most junior of research assistants.
The ELISA i was failing to perform was not complex nor was it a first attempt at making it work. i had been performing it perfectly, generating reams and reams of data with it, for the past three weeks. Suddenly, with the introduction of a new lot of ELISA plates, the assay went dead. It didn't fade out. It just went from working to absolutely dead in the water.
Why is it? Why is it always the most simple things?
So it was. A week of systematic trouble shooting. New buffers, every day, tweaking the components just a little bit to isolate individual bits of the assay to assure that it was still working. Checking through all the steps. Poisoning various steps to try to reproduce the catastrophic failure. A week of tinkering at the cost of a week of data generation is not only frustrating, it is a massive waste of time for a start-up running on limited venture funding.
The most simple things. The most simple, simple, simple things.
Finally, today, Sunday, result. The general conclusion that could be reached was that there was something a bit off with the new lot of plates i am working with. With a bit of levity, i coated a large number of plates to prepare for a week of catch up beginning tomorrow. However, as i coat the plates, a little nagging worry gnaws at me. What if i didn't pin point the culprit? i did coat a different set/type of plates. Plates i know without a doubt to work well in ELISA type assays and with proven consistency between lots. Yet, the gnawing "what if" keeps nudging at me.
The most simple things. The most simple things.
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