Labconscious scientists focus on sustainable lab work as a means to conserving resources and protecting nature, but the term sustainability can also be defined as” the capacity to endure”. Biotechnology is considered by the U.N. to be a frontier technology, alongside robotics, and artificial intelligence. The challenge is how to make life science methodologies accessible. Part of the answer can be found in affordable, portable, laboratory instruments. In that spirit, today’s post shares a list of frugal laboratory instruments by the Prakash Lab at Stanford University.
Read More
Photo Credit: U of Toronto Trash Team
Home Waste Audit designed by ecologists helps to reduce plastic pollution
In this interview with Susan Debreceni, learn how ecologists from the University of Toronto Trash Team developed a science-based Home Waste Audit to help people find ways to reduce plastic pollution in ecosystems.
Read More
How a Sanofi vaccine research group revamped their lab freezer system: Interview with EHS Head Partha Krishnan Ph.D.
Scientists rely on efficient laboratory conditions to be able to focus on discovery. Learn the steps a Sanofi Pasteur vaccine research group took to radically transform their cold storage organization in this interview with Partha Krishnan, Ph.D.
Read More
Strategies for lab plastic shortages
Ironically, after many years of concern about how to reduce single-use lab plastic usage and divert this waste from landfills - we now face shortages. This post explores current events and ways that life science labs are dealing with pipette tips, plates, and tube shortages, as well as a few high-tech options to conserve these resources and improve the reliability of assay results.
Read More
Sustainable vaccine cold storage
The triumph of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines resulted in a universal sigh of relief - followed by dismay at the lack of cold storage capacities to put these vaccines into use. With science in progress to develop mRNA vaccines for other diseases like Zika virus, metastatic cancers, and multiple sclerosis, what is the long view for sustainable cold storage infrastructure?
Read More
Going Green in a Wet Lab: Symbolic vs High-Impact Actions
After the spread of the Coronavirus, the absence of ‘business as usual’ forced us to live and think differently – and it made most (if not all) of us realize how human activities put incredible pressure on our planet. Now that many scientists are returning to the labs, maybe it’s time to put lab sustainability on the agenda in research? As a biochemist and environmentalist, I understand how essential labs are to experimental research and education within fields such as biology, medicine, and biotechnology, but I am also very much aware of the
Read More
The University of Bristol is building on its success with LEAF to achieve 100% green laboratories
A group of U.K. research universities is quantifying carbon and cost-saving and targeting scientific reproducibility to reduce waste using The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF). Excitingly, the University of Bristol plans to expand LEAF institution-wide and certify every lab green! This endeavor is an exceptional opportunity for early-career scientists to gain lab optimization skills and become more competitive for industry jobs and research grants.
Read More
The Digesterponic System from the University of California San Diego can recycle food waste for an urban Garden Oasis
Truly, community gardens are beautiful, peaceful places that allow us to connect with nature and contribute to our neighborhoods. That’s part of the reason why the BioEnergy project presentation for the ISC Research Symposium at UCSD caught my eye. I wanted to learn how Agrobiology technology can support food security.
Read More