What would you do if a magical lab fairy showed up and granted you an extra $40,000? Would you spend it on…
• 155,159 new 200µL pipette tips?
• 68,965 glass microscope slides to replace the ones the freshmen will inevitably shatter?
• 58,224 K-Cups to keep your grad students sufficiently caffeinated?
• 3,636 large cheese pizzas from Dominos for your lab meetings? (Keep in mind you’ll have to pay tip out of pocket for this option.)
• 334 years of Spotify Premium so you don’t have to listen to endless ads on Jeremy’s already unbearable “Lab jamzz!” Pandora station?
• 870 conference posters so your undergrads can take a stab at explaining your life’s work in 60 seconds?
• 1 grad student?
As ludicrous as it may sound, this lab fairy DOES exist! Her name is JoVE and she recently visited researchers at the Giachelli Lab at the University of Washington. By watching a JoVE video about collecting cerebrospinal fluid from the cisterna magna in mice, Dr. Mary Wallingford was able to successfully bring the technique into the lab. This new-found knowledge saved the lab from having to hire extra help in the lab, a position that would have been salaried at $40,000. You can read the entire case study here.
How would your lab spend an extra $40,000? Leave us a comment below!
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