Behind the Scenes: Life in the Lab

When our course participants arrive to learn with us, they are seamlessly welcomed into a meticulously planned training environment, ensuring a safe and enriching experience throughout their time with us. This is thanks to a team of fabulous training professionals, who deliver excellence throughout the planning and delivery stages of our courses. Recognising that every detail contributes to an inclusive and successful experience for our participants, they take pride in every aspect of the process – from ordering supplies and cleaning the facilities to preparing and maintaining the equipment.

Below are perspectives from our Laboratory Manager, Cassandra Soo, along with members of our lab team: Christopher Adamson, Laboratory Operations Officer, and Aaron Dean, Laboratory Technical Officer, providing insights into the world of laboratory training development.

Before any training course can commence, there are several months of planning, beginning with an audit of essential laboratory equipment. Everything has to be ordered, delivered, and set up for use well ahead of our participants’ arrival, so we can navigate any supply chain issues or other surprises.

Flagship facilities and equipment preparation 

Our teaching facilities in the Wellcome Sanger Institute are close to the science happening around us, and we are fortunate to have access to cutting edge equipment to develop research skills. Our team is responsible for ensuring the equipment is cleaned, maintained, and fully functional, prior to each course, to ensure that we provide a high standard of learning experience.

For our popular Next Generation Sequencing course, we use the Illumina MiSeq sequencer for teaching short-read sequencing, and the Oxford Nanopore MinION device for long-read sequencing. Each machine has to be carefully cleaned between each course, to ensure it runs efficiently the next time it’s used. For the MiSeq sequencer, this involves several wash runs, before we load DNA reference genomes, to compare against the DNA our participants prepare as part of their practical sessions. The Oxford Nanopore MinION machine requires flow cell quality checks ahead of time, to test the number of active nanopores the DNA will travel through during the training. This involves several protocols, including running heating and cooling cycles on a thermocycler. We then pre-programme the machine to ensure a smooth introduction to our participants.

With our key equipment fully tested and ready to go, on arrival participants can dive into an uninterrupted introduction to using the different technologies and methods available to support their research in the real-world.

Setting up for success

We ensure our lab benches are arranged with the necessary equipment, including mini centrifuges, vortexes, tubes, racks, pipettes and tips, and importantly personal protective clothing (PPE). All reagents are labelled and aliquoted into tubes, and stored at the appropriate temperatures.

Our digital training infrastructure is then tested to ensure the microphone, TV monitors, and live-feed camera are working as expected. These enable our trainees to more easily follow along with minute details and techniques during the course, so checking their function ahead of time is critical. We continue to troubleshoot technical issues throughout the training, and provide additional support so no one is left behind.

Sustainable practices are at the heart of our learning and training activities, so in line with our paper-free approach, we download the protocols for each experiment onto tablets, and these are made available for all our participants.

Everyone is given a full safety briefing at the start of the course; and we also run through the safety guidelines before participants arrive, so that new staff and visiting instructors are up to date with our policies, waste routes, personal protective equipment (PPE), and emergency procedures.

Months of preparation culminate into an exciting phase of discovery for a new cohort of participants when they finally arrive to train with us. 

This year our Next Generation Sequencing course instructor team consisted of our colleagues from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK: Michael Quail, Kim Judge, Victoria Offord, Joana Pereira Dias, Bailey Francis, Nicholas Redshaw, Robin Moll, and Diana Rajan. They were joined by Thomas Keane, EMBL-EBI, UK, and Jacqueline Keane, University of Cambridge, UK. Along with members of our own team, they contributed to teaching ambitious students how to perform end-to-end sequencing of bacterial DNA from a variety of species. 

This included providing insights on how to select the right sequencing approaches for their investigation, preparing sequence libraries, performing quality checks, and processing the data using the latest bioinformatics tools and analysis. 

Participants were given the opportunity to practice fundamental techniques like pipetting and PCR, while also learning new skills like bead-based DNA clean up, and long-read sequencing protocols using rapid barcoding technology.

At the end of the week, participants were tasked with a project to determine if they could incorporate the use of new technology and equipment in their imaginary laboratories, using what they had learned throughout the course.

We want our training experiences to offer more than just skills development in a specific technical area. So we develop immersive programmes that combine learning, problem-solving, hands-on implementation, and industry networking, to empower researchers with a toolkit for translating their new skills and knowledge into impactful scientific solutions. 

For this year’s Next Generation Sequencing course we arranged for our attendees to visit the Illumina Centre, based in Cambridge; where they got some hands-on time with the new MiSeq i100 device. 

We also organised guest lectures delivered by industry experts including, Josie Bryant and Adrian Cazares, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK and Matthew Young, Quotient, UK. 

A technical demonstration and Run QC session were given by our guest Mark Gibbs, Illumina, UK, providing participants with the opportunity to ask specific questions about Illumina’s sequencing technologies and methods.

Throughout the week participants notably grew in confidence, and it was heart-warming to see friendships develop. Knowing that we deliver memorable experiences that participants can take back to their own institutions, is what makes all the months of hard work worthwhile. 

The course was outstanding, and this is not just a statement—I have facts to back it up: high-quality training, a well-balanced mix of work and breaks, a well-structured timetable, practical application alongside theory, clear instructions, a safe and supportive learning environment, and an opportunity to grow. For me, it was a truly unique experience, difficult to replace with anything else.

******

I attended a related course with the programme more than 10 years ago, so my expectations were already high. However, the quality of the material, the dedication and expertise of the instructors and educators, as well as the outstanding organisation of both the course and the logistics (meals, accommodation, etc.), made this course extremely valuable — I truly made the most of it — and an incredibly enriching experience.

*****

I thought the course would be useful for my research skills, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much and learn about such a diverse range of experiences. For me as a PhD student, it’s also very useful for me to keep aware of alternate career pathways if I do not progress into academia.

*****

Aaron and Chris provided all that was necessary for wet labs and everything was well organised. Instructors were knowledgeable, very accessible and eager to answer questions.

*****

I would like to thank all the amazing teachers, presenters, helpers, and organisers for their hard work. This was the best course I’ve ever taken!

Our laboratory training team is responsible for developing, preparing and delivering our courses programme at our flagship facilities on the Wellcome Genome Campus, UK, and in training hubs across the globe in partnership with host institutions based in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. To learn more about the courses we develop, and to find opportunities to support your learning and career aspirations, sign up to receive monthly updates from our programme. 

Article photo credits: Wellcome Connecting Science