Arrive at ca.9:00am… Team coffee and breakfast followed by checking emails, planning experiments and agreeing targets for the week. The majority of emails consist of organising duties between laboratory team members for the scheduled experiments. This may also include ensuring the laboratory contains the correct reagents and other materials needed for the week’s experiments.

10:00am Into the laboratory… On Monday, a “deep clean” of the lab takes place (the entire department, including senior members!)

Assay kits (e.g. ELISAs) are prepped and samples are thawed. Up next is creating a calibration curve and controls followed by preparing biological samples (e.g. sputum, serum, plasma) and loading them onto the assay kits and incubating – Incubation times vary but usually last between 4-5 hours per experiment.

*Experienced scientists repeat this process and set up an additional experiment which requires exceptional timing/organisational skills!

12/1:00pm Lunch… Get lunch in the cafeteria and indulge in some table football/tennis, pool and board games.

Return to the office until ca.3:00/4:00pm… Check emails. Review data collected from previous days’ assays and import onto LIMS system – this involves a lot of QC checking and regressing batches using statistical analyses. Data is sent off to a senior member, often the Study Director, for approval and to be signed off.

4:00pm onwards, return to laboratory… Review assays to see if they have worked and record data. The samples are then checked to see if they need, or can be used, in repeat experiments.

Employees perspective

I love the flexibility of my job and the autonomy to manage my own time – we’re able to start/ finish at any time providing we complete our contracted hours. It’s also an incredibly friendly and social company, which has been particularly great for me having moved to the area with no previous connections – after a few months I already have a really good group of friends!