My Firsts with Laboratories
SHALINI
Every day, on my way to school, I crossed “Prince Phenyl Company/ Chemical Laboratory” painted on a high-rise compound wall. The wall had an equally big gate. I never understood why such a big place was needed to make these commonly used small "brown phenyl bottles". And somehow, I made a special association for “laboratories” with chemistry. “Laboratory/ Laboratories” are gigantic and important chemical factories, I thought.
Many years later, I walked tepidly towards the research institute’s reception. Everything about this place was different compared to all my previous lab experiences in school, college and university. The entire place was quiet, clean, cold, and had the distinct smell of hospitals in the air. But serious life science labs have that aura to them, I knew that before.
Then, I walked from the reception towards the RESEARCH LAB on the third floor. An A4 page stuck on the lab’s door said, “Please leave your footwear outside”. I could feel my microbiology instincts wake up when I read this. “Reducing contaminations, very serious science,” I thought.
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How do I hide my normally 'loud' voice here?" I thought.
Illustration by Ipshita
When I entered the lab, much to my surprise, my mother’s kitchen and my school’s chemistry lab flashed in my mind. This lab was also a long hall with shiny black marble slabs instead. Slabs had the usual shelves pattern lined up with colored bottles/flasks, taps, sinks, burners, etc. There were, of course, other special devices too, like fluorescence microscopes, agar petri plates, cylinders, centrifuges, PCR machines, liquid nitrogen, etc. There were computers along with a printer as well! Comforting and needed infrastructure to do research, I thought.
In high school, we started having “labs” for biology, physics, chemistry and computers. All labs were classroom-sized halls with long tables and stools around them, and not much happened in them. But the chemistry lab was different. It was a relatively large hall with six long white ceramic slabs fitted with burners, racks, and sinks. The racks held test tubes, chemicals, bottles, etc. Chemistry lab was a serious matter. Multiple strict rules, attention to detail, immense focus, disciplined timing, and seriousness needed to be followed there. But we also got to see spectacular reactions while mixing these chemicals.
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My mother's kitchen shared a similar design and rules, I thought."
My chemistry teacher taught us that “lab” is an abbreviation for “laboratory”! This new information was a clear mismatch with the meaning I had framed earlier, as an oversized chemical factory alone. Different things are done in different labs, and a lab can be a regular room or even a big space, I thought. What a “laboratory/ lab” means for me has since changed several times.
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A girl stormed past me with a big plastic tray full of things like flasks, wash bottles, pipettes, etc. Something about her reminded me of the rabbit in Alice's Wonderland saying, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late". It felt like I was hearing this in her footsteps. Time is important here, I thought."
Illustration by Ipshita
The research lab was about genetic manipulations that allow fluorescent tagging of proteins in neurons. This helps visualise and map their locations in neurons. I had a lot of fun watching some of these fluorescent proteins moving in neurons, some microscopes allow us to do that. Sometimes genes for normal proteins were mutated instead, to increase, decrease, truncate or even remove a protein in neurons. These manipulations helped test their effects on cell shape, size, connectivity with other neurons or ultimately behaviours in organisms. The mundane parts of this awesome research were analysing, plotting results, presenting data, reading and writing. But indeed, these arduous parts help prove the point I want to make better, I thought, eventually!
I saw many new labs, of all kinds, thereafter. I never stopped marvelling at the scientific advances and research in each lab. I have never since left these labs again, constantly challenging yet attractively inviting.
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I enjoy being this sort of Sherlock in "life" sciences, unravelling the secrets that constitute life. I dream of scintillating labs around, opening windows for all minds to abound."
Illustration by Ipshita
About Shalini
I am Shalini Mahadev, and I recently submitted my PhD thesis. My research is on insect nervous systems and behaviour. Currently I'm enjoying being relaxed and looking forward to newer experiences.
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