Petrey Lab Expectations - 2025
Preface:
This document is intended to lay out my expectations for people working in our research team. In the spirit of good communication, it reflects an ongoing discussion and is constantly evolving.
Please take your time to read it carefully. If there is anything that doesn’t make sense or that you think is in any way not the right expectation, then let me know – I am happy to discuss any aspect in whatever setting makes you most comfortable.
Nothing is unchangeable but I ask you to respect the process and abide by the expectations as written here unless we have had an explicit conversation that agrees to some change.
Finding a Project:
Two brains are better than one and this is especially true in research. My hope is that everyone will engage in a period of intense and collaborative thinking when they join the lab (a month or two of intense reading when you are first starting is not only acceptable but encouraged) and periodically thereafter to conceive of a project that is:
Original
Important
Interesting
Complements other projects in the lab
Builds on your existing strengths
Meshes with the overall direction of the lab and its funding base
Balances risk appropriately, such that you can expect to successfully complete your training in a timely manner
For postdocs and senior scientists, I will help shape the project to meet these goals but expect you to be the driving force behind your project and to make creative, original contributions.
For graduate students, I will provide more guidance as necessary. I will get you started with a project, but expect that you will ultimately be the one to lead the transformation of that project into a successful thesis. Your independence should increase with your time in graduate school.
Technicians and undergraduates will generally work on projects led by graduate students or postdocs. However, you should strive to make intellectual contributions to the projects you work on and may embark on independent projects as well on an ad hoc basis once you’ve become familiar with the lab.
Individual meetings:
We will meet one-on-one each week to make certain our projects are on track, discuss opportunities, and plan future experiments.
Each Friday, every member of the lab will send me their plan of experiments and work plans (writing, TA duties, meetings, etc) for the next week broken out by day – this is so we start each week on the same page so we can organize group experiments (mouse processing, patient samples, etc) and identify hurdles to progress.
I expect there will often be items that are not complete for various reasons. The purpose of these lists is for planning, organization, and time management.
You can always also feel free to meet with me impromptu, if my office door is open, I am available to talk. If it is closed I am unavailable except in case of emergency.
Individual Development Plans:
Once each year (or 6 months if needed, during our weekly meeting time), we will go over your individual development plan. This is a chance for us to get on the same page about your progress and goals.
At your first IDP meeting, we will discuss your career goals and set 6-month milestones for you to achieve. From then on, we will go over the previous meeting’s milestones to see if you have met them, re-calibrate as necessary, and set new milestones.
Milestones for completing the PhD are historically unclear, and defined by the “mastery of specific knowledge and skills” as assessed by research advisors. The national academy of sciences, engineering, and medicine outlined core competencies for STEM PhD education, and while this is part of a broader conversation between us, the below examples are a helpful guide to assess personal progress:
Lab Meetings & Journal Club:
I expect that all lab members will plan to attend every lab meeting for our group whenever possible. We will still continue to meet as a larger group with the Rondina, Middleton and Yost labs on alternating weeks (1st and 3rd week of each month). Occasional absences are acceptable and ongoing commitments (vacation, childcare, doctors appointments, etc) take priority.
These meetings are a time to receive feedback and refine our work and thinking as projects grow. Active participation leads to greater creativity and improves problem solving. Don’t be afraid to share “stupid” ideas: you don’t have to make a perfect or brilliant comment in order to spark an important discussion or to learn something. Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions throughout the presentation if you don’t understand something that the speaker is saying. It is also important to me that everyone have the chance to speak in lab meeting.
In our own small group meetings, we will alternate between formal presentations (powerpoint) and short round-table lab meetings where everyone discusses what they’ve done for the past two weeks and their next steps. These discussions do not require slides.
Behavior in the lab:
I expect all lab members to be supportive of one another and professional in all interactions with everyone in the lab and in all professional encounters.
Professionalism doesn’t mean you can’t be friends with your labmates or must be friends, but it does mean treating everyone with respect.
This includes being a good “lab citizen” and taking care of our workspaces, replacing and reordering reagents, assisting your coworkers in their work, and many other things that help maintain a positive, enjoyable place to work. Our goal is to work together as a team, and that means everyone sharing the positive, the negative, and the workload equitably.
Humor is great and encouraged, but please remember that it can be a matter of taste and culture. Be sensitive about swearing and “off-color” jokes, especially those that might be interpreted as sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. It is crucial that the work environment be safe and free from all harassment or discrimination. I will do my best to address any issues that arise as quickly as possible.
If another lab member makes you uncomfortable or there are conflicts in lab, it is your responsibility to please let me know immediately.
If your presence in the lab makes it an unwelcoming place for others to work, you may be asked to leave the lab.
Training and Education:
Science is a profession where we are always learning new things and developing new skills. It is important when you are being trained that you are focused and respectful of the time and effort of whoever is teaching/training you – even if it is an online or virtual workshop. When learning a new technique, it is important you are prepared with a written protocol on which to take notes and write down questions that you can refer back to later.
It is also essential that you pay full attention to the method being trained. As such, I expect no use of cell phones, audiobooks, earbuds/music, etc. when you are learning a new technique until you are fully proficient in it and have been able to perform the assay independently without mistake several times.
This philosophy applies equally to lab meetings, seminars, etc. Minimize distraction wherever possible and do your best to make the most of the learning opportunity. At the very least consider this a sign of professional etiquette and respect.
Mistakes:
We all make mistakes. What’s important is that you do your best to identify why mistakes are being made and correct your mistakes so that you learn from them for the future. Take your time with your experiments. Carefully plan out the “process” of performing the experiment to ensure it is successful.
Do not try to cover up or deny a mistake. Honesty and integrity are critical in our work and dishonesty is grounds for dismissal from the lab.
If you’ve injured yourself, seek medical attention, your personal wellbeing always comes first. Then report the incident. If you’ve made an error in experimental execution, make sure to record it in your lab notebook in detail. If you’re not sure what to do, please come speak to me ASAP.
Work Ethic:
I expect you to be self-motivated such that the number of hours worked is not an explicit issue.
A flexible work schedule is one of the great perks of the academic lifestyle. You should work the number of hours necessary to move your project forward, accomplish the tasks and goals set out in our meetings, but you do not need to linger in lab for appearance’s sake.
That said, there is always something to do in the lab from cleaning our areas, preparing for experiments, racking tips, making buffers, analyzing data, and importantly – reading articles to spark new ideas and consider new techniques.
If I feel that you are not making satisfactory progress on your project, I will discuss your work hours with you more specifically. Together, we will determine whether you need to work more hours or whether you may simply need to switch approaches or projects.
Absences:
Please let the lab know if you will be absent for more than one workday. I need to know the duration of and general reason for that absence (e.g., vacation, conference, etc.). As a general rule of thumb, I expect people to take about 2-3 weeks of vacation per year not counting the two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s.
Records and Communication:
In general, you are expected to keep excellent, detailed notes on all your experiments. Your experimental notes are a crucial resource for the lab; they are not “personal.” Your notes must be available upon request and usable for verifying data in any publication, should questions arise. You are welcome to take copies of your personal notebooks with you when you leave but the original notes must be archived for the lab’s general reference before you go.
An experiment is not considered complete until the data is collected, analyzed, figures are made, and stored in your folder on our lab’s shared drive at: \petrey\Your Personal Folder
Failed hard drives, stolen laptops, etc are an unfortunate reality. I expect you to take necessary steps to keep your data backed up and avoid unnecessary losses.
You may use the Petrey Lab server space for this and also Box, or similar services.
Lab Protocols & Procedures:
All of protocols and procedures in the lab are stored on the Petrey shared drive under: petrey\protocols\Current_Protocols\
And uploaded to the Lab Benchling page.
You can and should save copies of these protocols in your lab notebook to refer back to and make notes as needed.
Protocols that are still being optimized can be stored in the Drafts folder. When a technique is optimized, a written protocol should be placed into the Current Protocols folder for future use.
Many of our techniques are tweaked based on the intended assay, but the documents in this folder are considered the standard operating procedure for how we perform our experiments.
Every lab does things differently and exceptions will come up, but these methods are how things are done in our lab to ensure consistency between individuals and over time.
Shared Tools and Reagents:
For common lab needs, lab members are expected to share.
This means that each person is expected to help maintain stocks, buffers, antibodies, chemicals, etc by ordering or the new stock before we run out, typically when the penultimate tube/bottle/box/vial/etc is nearly finished.
Replacing reagents, unpacking boxes, proper storage of orders, and denoting orders have been received in Sienna is a shared responsibility of everyone in the lab.
Never, ever pipette multiple times into a shared reagent or stock. Take a substock for your own use before starting your experiment, return the original stock to its storage location, and work from that substock. This is critical for all shared reagents including antibodies, probes, primers, mastermix, etc.
You may keep reagents or tools specific to your project separate from the lab stocks. However, you must make sure these reagents are clearly labeled with the date received/opened/aliquoted and your name or initials. Keep a catalog of your unique reagents.
Storage and inventory of samples and reagents:
I expect our lab to remain well organized. I do not want to see any unnamed mystery tubes or racks of loose reagents. Store things in a careful, thoughtful, organized manner.
This pertains to shared reagents in freezers and refrigerators as well as samples, cell lines, etc. Each lab member is assigned a rack in the -20 and in the -80 as well as 4C space.
You are responsible for organizing your own samples and keeping these spaces neat. You should also maintain some sort of running inventory about where your precious samples, reagents, cell lines, etc are stored. This can be as simple as a word document describing where they may be found in the event the lab needs to access your materials.
This is very important because it becomes impossible to organize and inventory samples and reagents after storage locations are filled.
A box map for every box is not strictly necessary, but a general list of long-term stored reagents and cells should be added to the -80 Freezer Organization Key excel sheet stored at:
\petrey\Lab Organization Logs\-80 Freezer Organization Key
Creating inventories and worksheets of antibodies, dilutions for flow, westerns, IHC, etc is equally important and will save you work in the future on your own projects. This will also enable others who may need to complete revisions or follow up on your project to do so successfully. These should be kept in your personal folders on the lab drive and a copy stored at:
\petrey\Lab Organization Logs\Reagents\
Shared Workspaces and Equipment:
Tools, workspaces, and equipment should remain well kept and be thoroughly cleaned after use. Your lab bench, workspace, and tissue culture should not look like a
Equipment, tools, etc are to replaced where you found them. Each lab member has their own pipettes which you are responsible for keeping in good working order between annual calibrations. In general, all shared workstations should be treated according to a “leave no trace” principle.
The only exception to this rule is if you are continuing experiments over a long time period and have confirmed with the other lab members that it is ok to leave your equipment setup during this time without interfering with their projects. If you make a mess, it is your responsibility to clean it up. Taking out waste, trash, replacing reagents, autoclaving tools, tubes, tips, etc are shared responsibilities.
Common space is considered shared as well. This pertains to the common benches in the lab as well as the spaces outside our lab including tissue culture, our small break nook adjacent to my office and the Bray’s area as well. Be respectful of your labmates and other labs when using this space. It is on a first-come basis.
Additional space for reading/writing is available outside in the common areas in EIHG and in HSEB.
Safety:
Never compromise safety under any circumstances to get an experiment done.
I expect all lab personnel to adhere to all safety guidelines, both for general lab and chemical safety and for the specific risks associated with handling chemicals, pathogens, lasers, sharps or other lab equipment. All training required by the EHS is mandatory and should be prioritized.
Make sure you personally understand the risks inherent in the research you do as well as the appropriate measures to mitigate those risks. Talk to me and/or other lab safety personnel and/or your doctor if you have any questions.
If you aren’t sure of how to handle or dispose of some material ASK, DO NOT GUESS. Anyone with special safety requirements, e.g. due to disability, allergy, or pregnancy, should talk to me to make sure that arrangements are in place to accommodate your needs.
I will keep all personal health information revealed to me confidential unless your safety is at risk. Safety violations may result in re-training requirements or suspensions from lab work. Repeated violations will result in my asking you to leave the lab.
Use of cell phones when working at the bench is a safety risk, as is handling of cell phones while wearing gloves. There are several reagents which could potentially be hazardous that may inadvertently contaminate personal devices. Feel free to listen to music, podcasts, audiobooks if you are able to execute your work successfully, but please do so at low volume or in one ear for safety purposes.
Animals:
Our research necessitates the use of model organisms, primarily mice.
To respect the dignity of their life, ensure that you plan experiments to minimize the number of animals necessary as well as the pain and suffering inflicted. Treating your animals well is not only ethical it ensures the reliability of your data.
All animal work requires approval, in advance, from the relevant panels at the University of Utah. It is required that all aspects of the approved protocols be followed exactly and that anyone working with animals has completed all the required training and been added to the protocols they will use.
Each lab member is responsible for reading the protocols, knowing what is in them, and making sure all experiments performed follow our approvals.
Violations of our animal protocol put the entire lab and its mission at risk and are unacceptable. Violations may result in re-training requirements, suspensions from lab work, or in my asking you to leave the lab.
All IACUC protocols are available on the shared lab drive found at:
\\petrey\Protocols\Animal Use\Approved Protocols
All records of experiments, storage of samples, etc are to be stored at:
All records for colony management are shared on the lab OneDrive excel sheet.
Grant and Fellowship applications:
I expect all graduate students and postdocs to apply for individual fellowships. Individual fellowships buoy the lab financially and also are very good for your individual career development. We will discuss the timing and content of your applications in your individual meetings.
Conference Attendance:
If you have your own travel funds (e.g. from an individual fellowship), you may attend whatever conferences you would like. However, make sure to get approval from me on any work you’ll be submitting or presenting. If you do not have your own travel funds, I will pay for you to go to selected conferences (1-2 per year), prioritizing those at which you will be presenting your work and taking cost into consideration.
We can discuss specific conferences and their training value to you in individual meetings. Be sure to consult with our administrative team in charge of your funding prior to arranging travel (M&I for T32 awardees and departmental funds, U2M2 for NIH-funds).
You must discuss travel with our administrative staff to be sure you are reimbursed for appropriate expenses.
Outside presentations of your research:
When you give a presentation about your research outside the lab, even for a departmental seminar, you are not only representing yourself, you are representing the lab as a whole.
Considerable effort should be devoted towards putting your best self forward. You will be expected to prepare for outside presentations by practicing with me and other lab members.
Talks & Presentations:
Unless you have given essentially the same talk before, please plan to practice for the lab.
All lab members are expected to make time to attend a practice talk and give input. These practice talks will be a learning experience for everyone since learning to give constructive criticism to others may also allow you to improve your own presentation skills. Depending on the context, it may also be wise to invite an outsider to your practice talk to catch the omission of things that we all take as “given” but others don’t (e.g., use of lab-specific jargon etc.).
Once your talk is finalized, please provide me with an electronic copy of your slides, posted to the lab server These are invaluable summations of your work and a nice complement to more detailed lab meeting presentations. I may also draw on these slides to assemble my own talks. I will give you full credit for your work in all of my presentations.
Posters:
For poster presentations, it is important that you consider graphic design. Make sure your poster fits in the space provided by the conference and is easy to follow. You may need to adjust the amount of text depending on the format of the conference. I like to review posters to help provide input and to be sure that I know what we are saying/showing publicly. Please provide me with a proof of your poster before printing.
Like talks, you should plan to practice your poster presentations. It is very important to be able to give a short (~5 min) punchy overview of your research for poster goers. Remember they can always follow up with more detailed questions.
Please archive all posters as with talks on our lab drive under the appropriate folders:
Papers:
As your project comes together I will work with you to outline the manuscript of a paper.
This outlining process will help define for you what the key experiments are to round out the manuscript. Once we have mutually determined that we are ready to write a paper, I will create a dedicated Box or Dropbox folder to share with you so that we can collaborate on its writing.
I expect that you as the first author will write the first draft. This is an important step in scientific growth and education, and it often will take more time than anticipated.
Once we have gone back and forth on several drafts and are happy with the manuscript, we will send it out to the rest of the lab and any external co-authors for comments. You will work to incorporate these comments. Always track changes when editing and I will do the same. I will write cover letters, finalize and submit all manuscripts, and keep you informed during the review process.
Writing a paper for the first time can be an intimidating task! I still expect you will give it a shot (based on an outline we create together).
For excellent advice on writing papers, I recommend “Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers” by Mimi Zeiger and I have a copy in my office you may borrow. I can help you substantially with the writing if it’s your first time, but if you are a PhD student or Fellow, the expectation is that you writing is an essential part of your training and education. You must learn from the process and be able to do it independently the second time around.
Authorship:
I expect each graduate student, postdoc, and senior scientist and in my lab to have a project they are leading.
They will be the first author of any resulting publications from this project. The first author is expected to assemble all the data and write at least the first draft of the publication. The first author is also expected to lead the revision efforts, should they be required.
I strongly prefer that you ensure the publication of your work before leaving the lab. If you do leave the lab prior to publication and another lab member then does substantial revisions on your manuscript (especially if those revisions involve re-writing), you may lose first authorship.
All those who make targeted material, experimental, and intellectual contributions to a manuscript should be included as authors. All authors should review the entire manuscript and be comfortable with its contents before submission. I will be the last and corresponding author, unless we decide on a specific exception.
Leaving the lab and finding your next position:
In general, it is best to plan your career as far in advance as possible. That way you can pursue extracurriculars, grant applications, networking opportunities etc. that fit your personal goals.
I recognize that not all members of my lab will choose to pursue careers in academia. I am supportive of alternative career options and I hope that you will discuss your goals with me honestly so that I can determine the best way to mentor you.
When you leave the lab, I expect you to clean out your space of old possessions and expired reagents and leave organized lab notebooks and clearly labeled reagents for others to use. I may ask you to train a successor before you leave the lab. Help to ensure a smooth transition by letting me know as soon as possible when you will be moving on.
I expect that all non-postdoctoral trainees will leave their projects in the lab for others to carry forward. For postdocs who are moving on to establish their own independent academic laboratories, the situation is different. I expect that you will have begun a line of research in my lab that will be yours to carry forward. The research project you take with you should be one for which you provided the initial creative spark.
What I expect of myself:
I aim to be the best mentor I can be to each of my team members and trainees. It is my goal that we all come to work inspired, feel safe and able to grow, and end the day fulfilled by the work that we do.
My goals include:
· Providing each trainee with a solid grounding in experimental design, scientific thinking, and a well-rounded knowledge of our field
· Making sure every team member is continually learning while in my lab
· Providing each trainee with guidance, recommendation letters, networking opportunities, etc based on their personal career goals (not mine)
· Treating everyone fairly and making sure they are included in the culture of the lab
· Making sure everyone gets credit for the work they have done and promoting those who are on the job market in my public talks
· Encouraging every trainee to publish their work and ensuring that manuscripts are submitted and published in a timely manner. I don’t ever want to be the one slowing down your career and a solid record of publication is the key to success
· Listening and improving based on your suggestions. Let me know if you have other expectations of me as a mentor. I am always happy to receive constructive feedback
· I will work as hard for you as you will work for our team