Lab-book

During a casual conversation, I was amazed to find LS and PS - two friends of mine who are clinicians - did not know what a lab-book is.

My memory went back to 12 or 13 years ago, when I was planning to go for overseas training. In short, it was supposed to be a whole year of laboratory work on an animal model of an immunological disease. The problem was, of course, I had no experience in any bench work. In theory, one could learn everything during the training, but it would seem more fruitful to be able to handle some basic techniques (as elementary as using a pipette or making phosphate-buffered saline myself) before I set off to Bristol.

I told the man who still had a moustache, "May I join the laboratory for a short period before I go for the overseas ? I know it needs a full time effort. Maybe I could take my three weeks of annual leave this year and do the attachment ?"

And that's fixed. In the first morning when I went to the laboratory, I was introduced to JL - the scientific officer of my mentor, and later turned out to be an excellent teacher. He looked at me through his glasses, and, after a while, gave me a black hard-cover A4 size notebook:

"Well, this is your lab-book. From today onwards, write down everything you do, and put down all raw data that you find. This is the routine for everyone who does serious scientific research."

I duly complied.

PS. I had one lab-book for that three weeks, which unfortunately I lost when I moved my office, and another for my year in Bristol, which I left for my boss there for his reference. It is in fact a pity I do not have a chance to have another one after I was back Hong Kong.