The estimated disposable plastic associated with each COVID-19 RT-PCR test performed is 822 grams - including necessary PPE. This speaks to a sustainability goal shared by healthcare and life science alike - reducing biohazardous waste. Clinicians and researchers point to achievable steps to take now and achievements to strive for. Life science should listen in.
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Lab equipment that isn't lab equipment
A few years back, the hilarious Science Twitter conversation #reviewforscience made it into the news. A recent Science Twitter thread shows how this creative mindset persists - only the focus moved to lab bench work.
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How did the University of Bristol achieve 100% Green Labs?
Valuing the “technicians voice” and providing best practice resources to labs synergistically leads to sustainability improvements. Check out three technicians’ experiences going green.
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The Pipette Repair Shop
Do you have a pipette graveyard drawer in your lab? Learn from University of Bristol’s Clara Brigitta how circular economy principles can be applied in laboratories to reduce their environmental impact.
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Inexpensive biotechnology lab devices- featuring the Prakash Laboratory
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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
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