Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
1. New Group Member Checklist: List of trainings to be completed (as deemed
necessary).
1. General Lab Safety (link: http://ehs.unc.edu/manuals/laboratory/)
2. Understanding Biosafety (link: http://ehs.unc.edu/ih/biological/)
3. Chemical
Waste
Handling
and
Disposal
(link:
http://ehs.unc.edu/environmental/disposal.shtml)
4. Biohazard
Waste
Handling
and
Disposal
(link:
http://ehs.unc.edu/ih/biological/infectious_waste.shtml)
5. Radioisotope
Handling
and
Waste
Disposal
(link:http://ehs.unc.edu/training/self_study/rad/ )
6. Animal Handling and Procedures (link: http://research.unc.edu/offices/iacuc/about/)
7. Emergency
Action
Plan
(link:
http://ehs.unc.edu/training/clinic/container.php?page=14&x=11&y=7)
2. In case of safety questions/concerns during daily operation, please contact
appropriate personnel listed below.
1. Chemical Safety: Dr. Marina Sokolsky
2. Radiation Safety: Mr. Matt Haney
3. Biosafety and Biohazard Handling: Mr. Matt Haney
4. Animal Handling and Procedures: Dr. Daria Alakhova (Filonova)
5. General Lab Safety: Mr. Matt Haney
6. Emergency Action Plan: Mr. Matt Haney
3. Instrument managers (‘Responsible user’).
1. Ameritherm RF system: Marina
2. Custom-made RF system: Marina
3. GPC: Marina
4. FPLC: Devika
5. Malvern DLS: Devika/Matt
6. Agilent HPLC: Youngee
7. Shimadzu HPLC: Dongfen
8. FT-IR Spectrometer: Marina
9. Luminometer: Devika/Matt
10. SpectraMax plate reader: Matt
11. Quantech Filter Fluorometer: Devika/Matt
12. UV-VIS Spectrometer: Matt
13. TGA: Marina
14. NanoDrop: Devika/Matt
15. Leico Cryostat: Yuling
16. Stereo Investigator and Nikon microscopes: Yuling
17. FluorChem E imaging system: Matt
18. Goniometer: Nazar
19. ICP-MS: Nazar
20. NanoSight: Nazar
21. Capillary Electrophoresis: Nazar
22. Flash precipitation setup: Marina
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
4. Instrument Handling Procedures and Guidelines.
1. General guidelines
1. You will be allowed to operate the instrument ONLY after completing
training that will be overseen by the instrument manager.
2. You are NOT allowed to share passwords for equipment computers
with non-Kabanov group members – this includes your friends,
acquaintances, etc. from other laboratories at UNC and beyond.
3. Following training and before starting to use, you will sign an equipmentuse contract that will placed in the laboratory personnel file and will be
renewed every year. The contract terms will include the below in addition
to any specific points that the instrument manager may decide to include.
4. This contract will need to be completed by every single person who
works in the lab: research faculty members, postdoctoral research
associates, graduate students, rotating graduate students, professional
PharmD/undergraduate students, visiting research scholars and external
lab users. The length of the renewable contract may vary depending on
the individual but the contract terms apply to all.
5. Before independent use, you will be shadowed by the instrument
manager or a designee to ensure proper operation and cleanup, as
applicable.
6. In case of questions or if not sure of how to proceed, PLEASE SEEK
HELP from the instrument manager. DO NOT fiddle around/change
settings if you are NOT sure about what you are doing!!!
7. It is absolutely mandatory to record every single use (log in/out and
comment if you face any problems during use).
8. It is your DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY to clean up after yourself.
Any sample/reagents that are left behind will be stored in a nearby bench
for a week and will be tossed later. Collect waste/used tips and dispose
appropriately. DO NOT MESS UP the working area around the
instrument.
9. If you violate any of the operating procedures or the above guidelines,
you will be advised/warned (to correct your procedures) by the
instrument manager/designee.
10. If you violate thrice, you will be warned by the PI, Prof. Alexander
Kabanov and will be barred from using the instrument up to a week.
11. After probation, you will be re-trained by the instrument manager to
ensure proper operation and handling.
12. Under extreme situations when someone continues to be a repeat
offender, the PI will seek departmental guidance to take further action.
13. Rules
7-11
also
apply
to
proper
use
of
biosafety/chemical/radiosafety/animal handling hoods and laboratory
benches (both personal and shared bench space).
2. Specific guidelines
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
Refer to instrument manual, look for operating procedure in the Kabanov laboratory
instrument folder or ask instrument manager.
5. Data sharing policies
Our policy is not to share full access to all data resources. This includes access to past
seminars. That has nothing to do with the person involved, but it is being applied to all
visitors including recurrent visitors. This is related to a difference in the legal status of
temporary visitors vs. contracted university employees and students. Certain files may
contain confidential information and proprietary information. Sharing this information
with non-employee visitors may constitute public disclosure under the US law and could
prevent us from retaining certain rights, such as patent rights independently, on whether
you tell it to anyone or not. We share however, on a need to know basis information
related to our visitors work, which notwithstanding of the above the receiving visiting
party should keep confidential.
6. Graduate Students: If you want to graduate on time, please refer and follow guidelines
in this handbook!!! https://pharmacy.unc.edu/divisions/molecular-pharmaceutics/phdprogram/moph-graduate-studies-handbook
7. Animal studies for new lab members
To be able to work with animals one must undergo appropriate training with Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee and either be added to an existing IACUC protocol or
file a new one. You need to be trained either by lab animal coordinator (LAC, Daria
Alakhova), or by IACUC staff to preform necessary animal procedures before you can be
authorized to work with animals.
8. Lab notebook policy
You must keep a hard copy of your lab notebook where you accurately document all
procedures and protocols as well as results of your experiments. Numbered lab notebooks
are available all group members (please contact xxxx to obtain one). In the appendix A
below you can find guidelines for maintaining the lab notebook. You must bring your lab
notebook as well as any raw data (NMR spectra, FACS data sheets, etc.) when you are
discussing your data with your supervisor.
9. Weekly reporting policy
You must submit weekly reports describing and discussing your results with future plans
and description of ongoing experiments. Detailed guidelines for preparation of your
reports are listed in the appendix B below. Please send your reports to your project team,
including other students, postdocs and faculty working on the project, as well as Research
administrator (Daria Alakhova).
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
Appendix A.
GMP/GLP RECORDKEEPING
Good data records are required for patent writing, litigation, and product registration with the
USDA, EPA & FDA. Government requirements are described in Good Manufacturing Practices
(GMP), Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), and Good Laboratory Practice
regulations (GLP) used by these agencies. Your data may have to be explained, defended,
reconstructed or repeated without your assistance, so others must be able to understand what you
did.
1. Complete the title page when the notebook is issued.
 All persons recording in the notebook must also sign the title page and give an
example of initials used.
2. How is the index or table of contents recorded?
 If you have properly linked all pages as required, record only the first page
number of each multi-page experiment.
3. Each recorded experiment should have the following parts:
 The objective or purpose of the experiment
 The plan, outline or a flow diagram of the experiment
 The step-by-step procedure (if you used a protocol from a published
paper/protocol already available in the lab/online references, cite
appropriately and attach a printed copy)
 The raw data produced
 The results, including graphs, tables, figures, photos and/or drawings
 The conclusion, which should include the biological and chemical concepts
involved, whether the objective was met, any problems experienced and
suggestions for further experimentation.
4. When is data recorded?
 Entries should be made as the experiment proceeds but no later than as soon as it
is done or when an idea is conceived.
5. What is data?
 Raw data: original of handwritten information or a printout from equipment, such
as a description of your observations, a description of your procedures, a
description of the events.
 Calculated data: derived from a calculation or statistical evaluation of the raw data
 Transcribed data: copied raw or calculated data.
6. What do you record?
 Objectives, ideas, experimental plans or outlines, preparations, procedures, data,
observations, calculations, discussions, conclusions, future plans and potential
uses
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015











What actually happened
Results
Notes of unexpected results or observations
Deviations to a planned protocol
All measurements and important test conditions (weights, volumes, temperature,
etc.)
All units (μl, g mg, etc.)
Indicate if the numbers are estimated, rather than measured
Indicate if the numbers were calculated and provide the equation.
If using Excel spreadsheets, print out the formula(s).
Indicate if a number has been rounded or truncated.
Decide before you begin what the critical events will be so that you can record
them, i.e., in a table, as proof that an SOP or previous procedure was followed.
7. How do you record the data?
 Directly into your notebook – not on scraps of paper, post-it notes, etc.
 In black indelible ink – although Monsanto now allows blue ink, Pfizer still
requires black.
 Make entries only in the ruled areas of the numbered pages.
 Unnumbered pages can not be used – they are not copied for legal proceedings.
 Only one experiment per page – do not mix different studies on the same page.
 Attach forms or printouts
8. What is the procedure for attaching forms and printouts?
 Attach only to numbered pages within the ruled area only
 Taped on at least 2 sides
 Fully exposed (no folding)
 NOT covering any previously recorded entries
 With hash marks on at least two corners
 Write the notebook and page number on the attachment
 Sign and date along the edge
9. Who generated your data and when?
 Record your data on the same day it is generated, not after the fact.
 A single page can cover events from more than one day, but the dates must be
indicated on each event.
10. What materials and equipment did you use?
Important materials must be noted.
 The importance of a material is related to its impact on the reconstructability
and repeatability of the experiment.
 Variability between batches or lots is often a prime consideration here.
 Do not use simple terms like “the buffer” but write the name of the buffer.
 List the purity, concentration and other pertinent information
 List the source or catalogue number of the product used.
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
 For complex solutions, the recipe or a record of the preparation should be
recorded.
Equipment includes:
 Reactors
 Analytical instruments
 Hardware
 Software and version number
 Unique equipment ID numbers
 Date of last maintenance
 Date of last calibration
 Date of last performance check
11. What routine or repeated procedures did you use?
The following can be referenced, by page number, rather than copying completely:
 A previously run procedure that was correctly recorded in your notebook
 A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
If any deviations were performed, they must be so noted.
12. How do you record your conclusions?
As fact, not as opinion
 Fact: “No reaction was observed.” Opinion: “These two chemicals don’t
react.”
 Fact: “Expected results were not obtained.” Opinion: “No good.”
 Fact: “Under these conditions, the reaction was unsuccessful.” Opinion:
“Failed.”
13. How clear and understandable is your data?
 Is it legible to others, not just to you?
 Is it clear and detailed enough so that a person in the same discipline could
understand it and repeat it?
 Have you included drawings and flowcharts to provide clarity in complicated
experiments, processes and equipment setups?
 Are all abbreviations defined or obvious? A preprinted list of abbreviations
should be kept and attached in the front of your notebook after the table of
contents.
14. What portions of a notebook get X’ed-out?
 Unused portions of > 3 lines
 Unused fields in forms and tables should be lined-out or marked as N/A.
15. How do you fix mistakes?
 NEVER use white-out
 NEVER erase
 NEVER write-over
 NEVER discard or replace attached supplementary data
 ALWAYS record a defensible reason for the correction/edit
 ALWAYS circle the reason
Kabanov Laboratory Memo 2015
 ALWAYS add your dated initials to corrected/edited data after the circled reason
Appendix B
Report guidelines
The report should be structured in the “paper format”, including the following sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Short introduction to provide background
Research goals for the reporting period (in bullet format)
Methods (including statistical analysis)
Results and discussion. This section should include numbered figures and tables with
appropriate references in the text.
a. Include subsections, corresponding to each goal or summarizing logically
related results.
b. Figure and table legends should include a concise title and short description of
experimental design.
c. Proper statistical analysis should be performed and mentioned in the figure
legend (was SD or SEM used, what is the number of data points averaged
(n=?), what is the p value for significance, etc.). Significantly different results
should be accordingly marked. (* p < 0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, etc.)
Overall, figure legend should make the figure completely understandable for
the reader without the need to reference to the text.
d. Make sure the axes on the graphs are properly labeled and the font is not too
small.
e. If you use color-coding for your treatments/groups, keep it throughout all your
figures.
f. Also include any negative results you may have.
g. Discussion: comment on what was achieved on each goal stated above and
discuss the difficulties (if any) you had.
5. Future directions. Describe your future goals and provide alternative
methods/experimental conditions (if necessary).