Open AccessTen simple rules for increased lab resilience
Author(s) -
Matthias C. Rillig,
Miloš Bielčik,
V. Bala Chaudhary,
Leonie Grünfeld,
Stefanie Maaß,
India Mansour,
Masahiro Ryo,
Stavros D. Veresoglou
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos computational biology/plos computational biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.628
H-Index - 182
eISSN - 1553-7358
pISSN - 1553-734X
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008313
Subject(s) - globe , covid-19 , resilience (materials science) , plan (archaeology) , simple (philosophy) , face (sociological concept) , pandemic , computer science , psychological resilience , psychology , sociology , history , medicine , social science , virology , social psychology , philosophy , physics , disease , archaeology , epistemology , pathology , neuroscience , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , thermodynamics
When running a lab we do not think about calamities, since they are rare events for which we cannot plan while we are busy with the day-to-day management and intellectual challenges of a research lab. No lab team can be prepared for something like a pandemic such as COVID-19, which has led to shuttered labs around the globe. But many other types of crises can also arise that labs may have to weather during their lifetime. What can researchers do to make a lab more resilient in the face of such exterior forces? What systems or behaviors could we adjust in ‘normal’ times that promote lab success, and increase the chances that the lab will stay on its trajectory? We offer 10 rules, based on our current experiences as a lab group adapting to crisis.