MANAGEMENT OF AND SCIENTIFIC ACCESS TO DATA
SOURCES:
“ASBMB Today”, September 2008
www.asbmb.org
Barker, K. “At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator”
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
UCSD Office of Technology Transfer
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7036/full/434952a.html
Michelle (Shelley) Barton
Mbarton@mdanderson.org
S9.8116b, MD Anderson
TAKE HOME LESSONS
Your stored data in notebooks and on the computer
are your only record and only defense.
It must be readable and verifiable.
You should get the credit you deserve from your work.
DO THE RIGHT THING…
the consequences of cheating are not worth it!
YOUR NOTEBOOK…
A “permanent” record
> 5 years (some say infinity)
owned by the institution [not you!]
LEGAL documents
questions of ethics
questions of patent rights
questions of authorship
THE FORMAT: YOUR NOTEBOOK…
Bound vs binder vs electronic
Bound vs binder vs electronic
Pro’s and con’s of each format:
Bound - a pain to carry around
but best for legal reasons
legacy of your work in the lab
Looseleaf binder - easiest to use
portability to bench
far too easy to lose sheets or alter
Electronic - best for specific data
has unpredictable problems
lab server may be best back-up
Bound vs binder vs electronic
BACK-UP YOUR DATA!!
ANY FORMAT NEEDS SOME BACK-UP!!
COPIES OF DATA
COPIES OF PROTOCOLS/METHODS
COPIES OF COMPUTER STORED DATA
DISASTERS HAPPEN!!
“…nothing [in the lab] is as valuable as your raw data”
If you can’t produce your data to support your
findings, it’s as if the work was never done.
DISASTERS HAPPEN!! TMC-Tropical storm Allison, 2001
X
IKE
September 13, 2008
THE LAB NOTEBOOK
Nobel laureate’s
WRITE IN PEN NOT PENCIL
Marie Curie’s
notebook
Number the pages
The date
The title of the experiment
Purpose of the experiment
The experimental protocol
data
calculations
pictures, print-outs
Results - one sentence summary
Your LAB NOTEBOOK
Nobel laureate’s
WRITE IN PEN NOT PENCIL
Marie Curie’s
notebook
Number the pages
The date
The title of the experiment
Purpose of the experiment
The experimental protocol
data
calculations
pictures, print-outs
Results - one sentence summary
TABLE OF CONTENTS !!
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Date
title
11-15-10
page
Great organizational
tool!
Endless class 1
YOU WILL BE GLAD
YOU DID IT!
THE FORMAT
WRITE IN PEN NOT PENCIL
YOU NEVER KNOW
WHAT IS CRITICAL!
Keep track of details (e.g.)
serum lot numbers
cell passage number & counts
antibody source
antibody lot
extract date
centrifuge used, speed, rotor
tubes used, source
GOOF - UPS
DELAYS & INTERRUPTIONS
instrumentation used
program version
all the nit-picky details
From: Dr. Denise Lew, Senior Licensing Officer
UCSD Office of Technology Transfer
Keeping Research Notebooks
•
Establish a complete and continuous record that is permanently
fixed in a medium
Evidence of first date you conceived an inventive idea or
made a discovery;
Demonstrate continuous efforts in reducing the idea to
practice;
Validate results you reported;
Illustrate your contributions to inventions or discoveries
Technology Transfer Office
Keeping Research Notebooks
•
Keep a bound notebook with numbered pages - no looseleaf
paper in 3 ring binders!
Make legible entries, consecutively and chronologically;
Cross out blank spaces or pages;
Use indelible ink, avoid using pencil or color codes;
Make corrections by drawing a line through, not erasing;
SIGN and DATE your entries on each page, and have them
COUNTERSIGNED and DATED by a witness not connected to your
invention, but with an ability to understand your entries.
Technology Transfer Office
Keeping Research Notebooks
•
Research records should cover:
Why was work done; what was done; how it was done
Who suggested or came up with the solution or method to do it;
Who did it and when;
All results, both negative and positive; don’t be selective;
Concrete conclusions - use definite terms like “prove,”
“demonstrate,” “show” and if possible, avoid ambivalent terms
like “suggest” or “may mean.”
Technology Transfer Office
Keeping Research Notebooks
•
Most electronic data can be easily altered and their legal
acceptability is highly uncertain
Authenticate electronically generated data by printing hard
copies;
Tape or glue a hard copy to a notebook or bind a collection
together in a permanent volume (stapling is not
recommended);
or convince your PI to invest in electronic storage systems
that cannot be altered.
Technology Transfer Office
DATA MANAGEMENT
Record data on the spot
Stay up to date
Make weekly if not daily back-ups
Attach pictures, films, print-outs, etc.
Fill out the Table of Contents
DATA MANAGEMENT
Record data on the spot
Stay up to date
Make weekly if not daily back-ups
Attach pictures, films, print-outs, etc.
Fill out the Table of Contents
ADDITIONAL HELPFUL PRACTICES
Summarize your work weekly
Make figures as you go!
what is publishable data??
plan every experiment for publication!!
Make a weekly plan of experiments
AN EXPERIMENT IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE CONTROLS
“Omitting a result is falsifying data.”
admitting mistakes is important
note when a data point is dropped
scientific rationale needed to do so
“Your data are your responsibility.”
but your advisor (PI) is ultimately liable
and responsible
Collaborations and credit
your notebooks are essential for credit
establish guidelines as soon as possible
Sharing data
make sure all involved are okay with it
make it clear who did what
don’t snoop, peek, sneak or grab!
the advisor isn’t snooping
but you are
My advisor is pushing me for a specific result
for “publication quality” pictures
to get results NOW
What’s good/bad?
DO NOT SUCCUMB TO PRESSURE,
WHETHER REAL OR PERCEIVED,
BY FALSIFYING DATA
Nature 434, 952-953 (21 April 2005)
Image manipulation: CSI: cell biology
Helen Pearson
“Digital photography and image-manipulation software
allow biologists to tweak their data as never before.
But there's a fine line between acceptable
enhancements and scientific misconduct.”
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7036/full/4349
52a.html
From this article:
“For their part, scientists say that they feel under pressure to
produce faultless images to present convincing experiments
that reviewers and editors want to publish.”
From ASBMB today:
“Tools used to manipulate an image leave behind a unique
fingerprint…” Software programs detect manipulation
What is acceptable?
Global adjustments…but not “blowouts” to obscure data
Cropping… but not to conceal relevant elements
Tooling…must show when separate parts are linked
“…nothing [in the lab] is as valuable as your raw data”
If you can’t produce your data to support your
findings, it’s as if the work was never done.
G - Grab your notebooks!
RACE-
Rescue patients, visitors, self
Alarm
Confine fire by closing doors
Extinguish or Evacuate
“grace under fire”
TAKE HOME LESSONS
Your stored data in notebooks and on the computer
are your only record and only defense.
It must be readable and verifiable.
You should get the credit you deserve from your work.
DO THE RIGHT THING…
the consequences of cheating are not worth it!