Laboratory Maps
MULTIPLE
In the third Biotales workshop, participants drew interesting maps of their laboratories. People used varied interpretations of the prompt “Draw a map of your laboratory space in a way that depicts how you experience the space”. Here are a few interesting laboratory maps made by the participants!
Subhiksha
Illustration by Subhiksha
Every day I step into this space, hoping to make progress, fingers crossed that I can troubleshoot yesterday's challenges. Some days, I can’t wait to leave. The doors I once eagerly entered now feel like barriers, each step heavier with doubt. At times, I feel joy, but more often, frustration and distrust take over. No one cares for you, until it affects their work. I do wonder at times, will my prolonged absence go unnoticed, until I fail to show any progress. That makes me wonder, where I draw the fine line with my colleagues (or friends), with whom I spent more than 16 hours.
But with my cells and overnight bacterial plates in the incubator to tend to, I clock in every day of the week, like a round-the-clock-mom at home with care and caution. No matter how careful I am with those few microlitres, I inevitably find errors to troubleshoot. Ever so often, I traverse every inch of the lab, while at other times, I’m glued to my chair, diving deep into the literature. I’ve turned my desk space into my den, decorating to feel like home,as it witnessed my laughs, tears and slumbers.
At times, I feel lost, seeking guidance, occasionally guilty of beginner mistakes. At times I feel like an outsider; other times, a child simmering with a spectrum of emotions.
It is an eternal strife – navigating relationships with labmates, troubleshooting experiments, and learning new things. But, at the end of the day, this space has evolved from a mere workspace to a home—a place of growth, failure, and discovery. The walls of this lab have heard the echoes of our laughter, as well as words of correction and advice. It has been witness to the science as well as our stories,
It has become a space where I belong.
Prabhleen
Illustration by Prabhleen
I was in deep thought, trying to find the best way to be able to explain about my laboratory to my family. Standing in the kitchen with my mother and looking at her measuring different ingredients to prepare a dish, it came to my mind how similar a laboratory is to a kitchen.
Each experiment/dish requires an appropriate amount of different chemicals/ingredients to obtain the best possible end product. There is also the importance of using the right equipment/measuring tools to obtain the same. In both the kitchen and the laboratory, it is equally important to attend to safety measures by using either gloves, goggles, hot hands, lab coats (in the lab), or aprons, hair nets, and oven mitts (in the kitchen).
Just like washing utensils after every meal, washing and autoclaving the glassware after each experiment is a must. Very similar to how my father goes grocery shopping every weekend after taking stock of the provisions, we log the chemical usage and place new orders for the reagents. Therefore, my laboratory layout depicts me as a chef in the kitchen.
Harshit
A map of my laboratory wing, not-to-scale
Illustration by Harshit
The right side door faces the central area of the building. The left side is the periphery and the door is the emergency exit to the flight of stairs (not shown) exposed to outside.
The wing is divided into the left side even numbered rooms, right side odd numbered rooms separated by the corridor and the terminal instrument room. The initial two rooms W201 and W202 (not shown) are gents and ladies lavatories respectively, which are more part of the central structure rather than the wing. W203 is the electrical panel room supplying the ordinary electricity to the wing. Just outside the room is the laboratory grade water purification system for distilled water and ultrapure deionised water (MilliQ). W204 is the sanitation and sterilisation room fitted with two large metallic wash basins for labware washing, a fume hood, an autoclave, and a hot air oven. However, the room also has a water cooler for potable water.
All the rooms explained above and the instrument room are shared among all labs in the wing. W205, W206, W207 and W208 are the principal investigator (PI) cabins. Among them, W207 is the cabin of my PI. W209 and W210 are the experimental rooms which belong to other lab groups. W211 and W212 are student sitting rooms common for all the lab groups in the wing; however, distal half of W212 is used for experimental purposes by my lab. W213 and W214 are again experimental rooms out of which W214 belongs to my lab group. W215 is a wide instrument room installed with large equipments. It has two ancillary rooms on the left and an air handling unit room and a cold room on the right.
Dhirendra
My favourite part of the work in this space is preparation of sample, reagent and microscopic examination and looking outside laboratory.
Illustration by Dhirendra
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About Subhiksha
Subhiksha Duraisamy is a first-year PhD student at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics. Fascinated by the intricacies of the molecular and genetic world, she is pursuing her research on understanding transcriptional repressors in cell fate decisions. Although she often feels frustrated and lost on her journey, you can find her immersed in her books or untangling yarn for crocheting, disappearing into her own world.
About Prabhleen
Prabhleen Kaur is a biology enthusiast currently pursuing her PhD in Dr. Sauvik Maiti's lab at CSIR-IGIB. Her focus largely covers the fields of CRISPR and RNA biology. In her free time, she loves to swim laps in the pool and try out new restaurants.
About Harshit
Harshit has been a nerd about biology, indie drama movies, pop songs, romance novels, but one at a time. She deeply cares about climate change and implements it in her life by using resources sustainably. He is also a conservation and urban design enthusiast aligned to the same greater goal.
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About Dhirendra
Dhirendra Pal Singh belongs to Pali, Rajasthan and is currently pursuing a Masters in Clinical Embryology, with the long term goal to become a Genetic Counsellor.
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