Hidden Costs of Science

There is a push in the scientific community that data should be freely accessible and not hidden behind a paywall. I believe in this strongly. Many scientists I know got into the field because they feel a strong affinity for learning and being able to share what they've learned with everyone. As I'm juggling several things in life regarding science and lab work one thing has increasingly become quite apparent: There is an invisible cost bar to citizen science and citizen self study. As I'm trying to start my own lab (whooo, big post I've been avoiding making for reasons), dealing with current lab's recent audit (can't say much due to privacy and NDA), I've really been digging into the nitty gritty details of what it takes to run a certified, private laboratory. The initial costs that you expect (equipment, consumables, space) is understandable to some extent and can be mitigated by hunting for deals on used equipment and government auction sites of equipment they no longer need. But then there's the protocols that are industry standards and accepted as the way to have consistent results from lab to lab and person to person. In my current field there are two standards agencies that we pull methods from: ASTM and ISO. A single pdf copy of an ASTM method can be purchased for a little less than $50 USD. (So far that I've seen, there might be price variants that I haven't discovered). That copy is authorized for ONE user. To technically be in compliance with the copyright, my lab should be purchasing the rights for every person who uses the SOP. But instead we just copy off the one and pass it around. To acquire every single ASTM standard, for the current year, would be just over $10,000 USD for a digital copy, single user copyright. When it comes to an ISO standard they get trickier. We are currently working on an audit for an agency that requires us to follow ISO 12345* *not the actual # Several of the deficiencies cite laboratory failure to follow protocols, including details on holding time between sampling and testing, and quality control of an in house component made for the test. If you look up in ISO 12345 the details regarding what is required, the SOP just states to refer to ISO 12333 and ISO 1223. I went to an online store that sells access to these digital copies and added them to my cart to see what the total would be if I purchased all six (12345 + the 5 referenced) and the total came out to $943 USD. So now, as a citizen trying to start a lab, I need to add in a budget to purchase my SOP sources because they are not available in any reasonable manner. No wonder science, as a business, is out of reach for the average person, even one with a relevant degree. Not to mention the costs associated with achieving certification. Before you can even apply to have a lab certified with some agencies, you have to pay them for access to their audit standards to be prepared. Then you pay their employees to come to your lab for the audit. So if I want to achieve certification for my lab, I can't even tell if it's worth doing and preparing from the start without being out money. Because I can't take clients on until I can offer them the guarantee that the certification provides.

Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

Work has just been ridiculous lately. I've been effectively working full time hours to try and help the lab stay on track with all of the sample submissions since our supervisor left for a new job at the end of June. We FINALLY hired someone who started at the beginning of September to be our boss but training her has been a trick and a half.

Because this blog is public I really don't want to go into a lot of detail, but it is very frustrating on a professional level to have to train your boss in microbiological basics. And in Excel. And how to save. And the rules of how to name the files so everyone knows where and what everything is.

I've also been adding new skills to my repertoire including taking point on running a proficiency test that is required for the company to maintain certain certifications. We passed. Oh yeah, I'm amazing.

I started my October birthday month shenanigans on September 30 when I volunteered for the Metropark Express. Remember, going to ride in it, but I knew Gwyn and I would not be fit and that wasn't fair to either of us. So I volunteered to be the timer and that was plenty enjoyable! Not necessarily stress free, but it's a fun kind of stress when you're juggling riders coming in and riders going out. It's something I'm good at.

The start in the fog.

Kaylee and I decorated our mini pumpkins that we grew ourselves

On October 6 the Kindergarten and First grade classes all went to the zoo. I took the day off and chaperoned because why the fuck not? I was in charge of Kaylee and one other little girl from her class, A. We had a blast together.

On Saturday we finally relented and let Kaylee set up my old tent in the back yard. She was ADAMANT that she was going to sleep in it that night.

It provided great entertainment for both kids!

We went to the Enchanted Woodland at Seven Ponds Nature Center. In retrospect I picked too late of a time slot (reservation only) but both kids had fun, even if they were ready to crash by the end of the night.

Meeting the coyote

True to her word, Kaylee went to sleep in the tent all by herself. But then we had a tornado warning for the county and we grabbed her and brought her back inside for safety. She never woke up through the whole relocation. Thankfully she understood when she woke up in her bed the next morning and we explained what had happened.

That led to her saying we had a tomato warning. :'D

Hazel being mischevous at my work. I had to work both Saturday and Sunday. But I didn't let it stop me from my plans!

I wore Kaylee out.

I had the Hunter Pace on Sunday (I opted to skip the Hunter Trials on October 1st and go get hay instead since my wasp problem was finally cleaned out).  This upcoming weekend I'm going camping with Gwyn. I'll ride unoffically and volunteer for the endurance ride. I can't wait!

Test Protocol for Legionella: Science Sunday

At our lab we are certified for two different methods for identifying and quantifying Legionella in samples. One is the general CDC method and the other is a method that is WAY more involved and only required by the State of New York.  Why the state of New York has to be extra special is beyond me, but we have been audited by them and found to do everything properly so we can do New York samples.

In the following post, I actually am doing both methods simultaneously because one client is from not New York, and one client is from New York. Many of the steps are similar. Here we go!

Here is nearly everything I need to test for both methods of Legionella. From left to right:  vacuum pump, 100ml sterilized tips, pipetter, erlenmeyer flask with rubber fitting, vortexer, sharpie, chlorine test strips, samples, skinny tubes, glass tubes, black agar plates, blue large tubes, Page's Saline, saline, NY acid, Legionella acid, cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Legionella pneumoniae, sterile water, 2um disposable filters.

Not pictured: 1 ml glass pipettes, pipette bulb, forceps, ethanol, lighter

First step, required for NY, optional for CDC.  Test the chlorine content of the water.

Good result! You can proceed with testing of the sample.

BAD RESULT.

Add sodium thiosulfate until result is good. In this case it was 100 ml of sample, so I added 100 ul at a time.

Fill large tubes with 10 ml of saline (Pages for NY, general for CDC)

Filter 100 ml of sample.

Dip the forceps into ethanol and SET THEM ON FIRE! (to sterilize) Once cool, use the forceps to transfer the filter paper to the blue eppendorf tubes.

VORTEX!  Just... generally for CDC, for 2 VERY LONG MINUTES for NY.

Yay!

Forceps and ethanol

For NY, you have to run positive and negative controls. Using the McFarland standards, you can guesstimate your concentration of bacteria in liquid by comparing the cloudiness.  Pseudomonas is the negative control, Legionella is duh, the positive.

To save time, vortex multiple tubes at once and cut vortexing time in half!

CDC:  Use bi plates with two similar agars on each side. Pipette 0.1 ml onto each side.

Spread that sample around. You can use the same spread from side 1 to 2, but not 2 to 1 and obviously not from one sample to the next.

NY samples go on a single type of agar (Side 2 but poured onto a whole plate). You plate 0.5 ml and spread.

Not pictured:  Each method has an acid treatment stage. This is pretty neat. The acid will kill amoebas that can hide Legionella. Yay! CDC has a 15 minute acid treatment.  NY has a 5 minute acid treatment in a different acid.

NY also has a 30 minute 50deg C heat treatment.

Each treatment also gets plated onto it's own plate.

In the end, CDC method uses 4 plates (regular and 3 acid) per sample, NY uses 3 plates per sample (regular, heat, acid) plus the controls.

All of those plates go into anaerobic jars.  You light the candle and tighten the lid, the candle burns all the oxygen. Those jars get incubated for 5 days (CDC) or up to 10 days (NY) at 35 deg C.

How we identify legionella coming up next!

BONUS SCIENCE

A picture of the product my company manufactures. It's a two sided dip stick. You dip it in a limited volume of water and bacteria or fungi stick to the agar. You can enumerate how much bacteria is in your volume of water.

Kid Pic Spam plus other stuff

An addendum to my previous post about Thinx, I'm also planning to try sea sponge tampons to see if they're more comfortable for riding (and pair with the thinx)  compared to my cup or disposable tampons.  The sponges are reusable for 3-6 months so you're still spending less and the product is somewhat renewable.

Anyway, I'll have the sponges in time for my next cycle, so I'll update then with how it all goes.


Hazel is making significant developmental progress. She can now easily crawl with her belly off the ground, is cruising around the house like a pro (when they walk but always hang on to stuff for balance) and has taken a single solo step on a few occassions.

She gets super  excited when she sees me pull out my carrier and loves being worn while I do stuff outside or go to the store. In general, she loves being the center of attention. Her favorite thing to say right now is Dada!  Which of course makes Eric very happy. I'm still getting her to work on Mama.

She loves Gwyn, Saffron and the cats and will screech excitedly/chase them.

She loves sitting in the high chair up above everyone. I think she likes watching them all.

Thinking about walking

We had a bout of sickness and she was diagnosed with RSV and had to have some breathing treatments. She's all better now though!

Sick baby passed out in the car. 

Using her toy to walk.

Two bottom teeth!

We did her 9 month photos a few days late.

Kaylee of course always wants to be in the pictures too.

Fun with colors at my job

The iridescent colors separate, it's really neat.

Kaylee insisted on riding in the snow.

Hazel is the center of attention while Kaylee is in gymnastics.

Kaylee is doing really well for her age group and she enjoys her once a week activity.

Eric is encumbered.

Side carred crib is also for cats!

A frequent sight.

Kisses for the kitty.

Sunrise on wednesday, my super busy day

I toured a school that I want Kaylee to attend for Kindergarten. It's a charter school that only accepts 40 students. Open enrollment ends Friday. This is the upper school (2nd through 8th grade)

Gym

Lower school (K-1)

Lower school recess. They are outside every day, regardless of weather.

Happy upside down baby.

Poking at Eric's moles.