Sunday 29 May 2011

Securing Your Chemicals

My first post will deal with perhaps the most important topic of all in any biology or chemistry lab: the security of your biochemicals. Any scientist knows that the chemicals in her lab are her assets.

Let's start by looking at the price of common molecules. These are actual prices taken from Sigma, one of many biotech companies.

1g of NADH = $395.00
5g of ATP = $540.00
25g of cAMP = $2,835.00

Now if you took science in highschool, you have just realized these are all molecules found in the human body! That's right you are a walking asset worth hundreds upon thousands of dollars. However extracting these chemicals is not easy, and requires millions of dollars worth in laboratories.

As a result scientists though scientists spend a great deal of money to acquire these assets from biotech companies its a fraction of the price it would cost to obtain these chemicals directly from a subject. Thus any university lab holds thousands upon dollars in assets.



However walk into any lab and you will see many chemicals stocked on the shelves. The truth is these chemicals on display are of little value. A good scientist hides the expensive assets from public view safely secured by omission.

Omission is a psychological technique that I intent to delve on further in my next post. To put it simply it's to keep information a need to know basis. It is why professors hide information from their students, and why the Dean doesn't truly know what is within each lab of the universities she oversees. Look forward to it and more on tips on how to insure your biochemicals in case of theft.

Until then bye.

A Fresh New Day For Science

Hi I am Barton Aznable a researcher in an up and coming laboratory dealing with all fields of science. I have made this blog to discuss my thoughts on laboratory safety and an effective approach to elucidating worthwhile research endeavors. Look forward to more posts from me in the coming weeks.