BioHack Adcademy(BHA) 2022
A Personal Documentation of BHA 2022
Week6: Life in Silico
4/4（Mon) Iwasaki Lab Tour
TWIns, Waseda University
（Abstract of Iwasaki lab. I will write later…)
Comparison between Two Laboratories
Different points
Iwasaki Lab
- It was large above all!
- The space in the lab was comparted to several rooms(including huge incubator rooms).
- Bunch of experimental machines are surrounded in the lab: incubators, freezers, centrifuges, cleanbenches, and autoclaves.
- The lab equipments are highly efficient. I guess these are absolutely super expensive.
- There were many caution statements.
- There were notes on equipments, rooms, and white boards that was written about who uses/used and manages what stuff.
- Their research subjects that they use in the lab is only cyanobacteria.
- High magnification microscope (electronic microscope? I’m not sure this expression right).
- The samples taken decades ago were still stored.
- Water purification system.
- Clean bench with UV light and gas burner.
- Electrical plugs hanging from the ceiling.
(Extra: Their student room was very new and well organized. I envy it…)
Questions
- I was interested in how they use the several experimental machines differently: for what experiments, for what purpose?
- Does lab equipments or environments of labs vary from another labs? I guess it might be different by organisms which they deal with.
- Do everyone in Iwasaki lab grasp where and what are all the stuffs in the lab, despite of that the lab has numberless stuffs?
- How mach is the maintenance fee of Iwasaki lab each year?
（This was the caution Manga on other lab’s door. “Please order reagents and consumables as soon as possible!”）
Clean bench with UV light and gas burner
Room for incubation cyanobacteria
Various Centrifuges
BioLab (DIY Lab)
- It is small compared to Iwasaki lab.
- Basically, all lab machines in our lab are just one, except of the incubators.
- There are few caution statements, notes, and lists for preventing faults or managing lab stuffs.
- We focus on not one organism (such as cyanobacteria) but treat many types of organisms.
- Normal microscopes? (upright microscope and inverted microscope)
- Using distilled water in a box.
- Simple clean bench which doesn’t have UV light and gas burner.
- Using extension cords.
Questions
- What is the difference of and electronic microscope and opitical microscope?
Similarity
- Both are messy…
(Numerous petri dishes were piling up. Why didn’t they threw them away…?)
- The lab was a mess. But I don’t dislike this chaos.
- Taking off shoes and wear slippers(or sandals) at the entrance of lab.
- Biosafety marks on the doors
4/5（Tue) Sampling at a Park
Sigo-yama Park, Meguro-ku, tokyo