Lab Management
Programme overview
We are excited to offer an opportunity for Year 12 students to gain hands-on experience within our Laboratory Management Department. This placement will provide insight into the vital operations that ensure the smooth and efficient running of research laboratories, including equipment maintenance, media preparation, and lab resource management. Students will develop an understanding of how research environments are supported behind the scenes while building key practical skills and awareness of safety protocols.
What you will do
During the placement, students will have the chance to:
- Observe and Participate In:
- Collecting and preparing used glass and plasticware for cleaning, including hand-washing and loading items into laboratory washers under supervision.
- Sorting recycling such as tip boxes, media bottles, and glassware, and safely transporting materials to recycling points.
- Observing and assisting with ice scraping from -80°C freezers to maintain equipment efficiency (with appropriate supervision and safety precautions).
- Transporting cooled solutions from autoclave trolleys to the cold room, learning about stock rotation and inventory management.
- Work Alongside Professionals To Learn About:
- The importance of laboratory organization and how resources are managed to support world-class research.
- Basic principles of sterilisation and safety protocols used for laboratory glassware and solutions.
- Daily planning and preparation of lab solutions, such as Milli-Q water and PBS solutions, and the associated documentation required for quality control.
- Engage In Hands-On Projects, which may include:
- Assisting in preparing small centrifuge tubes and glass Pasteurs for sterilisation, including labeling and batch numbering.
- Supporting the topping up of lab cupboards with clean glass and plasticware to ensure researchers have the resources they need.
- Helping assess stock levels of media solutions and learning how daily priorities are determined for solution preparation.
- Observing and assisting with the completion of media preparation sheets and assigning batch numbers to prepared solutions.
About the Lab Management team
The Laboratory Management team plays a crucial role in supporting the Institute’s ever-evolving research activities. As experienced scientists, the team is responsible for ensuring the smooth operation of laboratories, communal lab equipment, and shared facilities. The team works closely with departments such as Property Services, Health & Safety, and other University facilities to ensure a safe, compliant, and efficient working environment.
Through this placement, students will gain valuable insights into the critical behind-the-scenes operations that enable cutting-edge research to take place.
What students did last year
To give you an idea, some of the tasks included:
- Collecting and washing glass and plastic labware to ensure researchers had access to clean materials.
- Sorting and transporting lab recycling to designated areas.
- Preparing and labeling non-hazardous solutions such as Milli-Q water and PBS for sterilisation.
- Assisting with topping up lab cupboards and stock rotation.
- Observing the operation of autoclave sterilisation runs and learning about safety procedures.
- Removing excess ice from -80°C freezers to help maintain equipment efficiency.
- Comprehensive tour of the building with one of the lab managers, discussing the role in more depth and their career path.
This placement will provide students with a real understanding of laboratory support operations and essential practical, organizational, and safety skills. It is ideal for those interested in careers in scientific research, lab management, or technical support roles.
Risk assessments
| List of task | High risk | Medium risk | Low risk | Control measures |
| Collect used/dirty glass & plasticware from the research laboratories. Trolleys are used to collect items from the laboratories and return to the glass wash facility, all items have been rinsed prior to collection to remove and contaminants. HAZARDS: Manual handling, pushing trolley, loading & unloading trolley | x | Only one trolley taken at a time, do not overload. | ||
| Hand washing glass & Plasticware. Hot water is used to rinse the lab ware, any sticky labels/writing/tape is removed. Ethanol &/or acetone is used to remove any writing on the bottles and commercial label remover is used to remove any glue left by the labels. HAZARDS: Slips & Trips – any spills that are not promptly cleaned up could result in a slip. Risk of water on floor during wash up. | x | Items are rinsed and placed on a trolley to drain before loading into a washer. | ||
| Loading washers. Glass and plastic ware is loaded into laboratory washers, a member of trained staff will start the machines. If detergent or acid rinse requires changing this will be done by a trained member of staff with the student observing at a safe distance. HAZARDS: Slips & Trips – any spills that are not promptly cleaned up could result in a slip. Risk of water on floor during wash up. | x | Items are rinsed and placed on a trolley to drain before loading into a washer. | ||
| Sorting recycling and placing in relevant recycling bins. Empty tip boxes, media bottles (rinsed) and Winchester bottles (bottles) are sorted and taken to recycling bin (on a trolley) in the rear goods in yard. HAZARDS: Traffic in yard. | x | This will be completed late morning when most of the deliveries have taken place the yard is quieter. | ||
| Preparing small centrifuge tubes and Pasteurs for sterilisiation. Decanting small centrifuge tubes into clean boxes and labelling with batch number and sealing with tape. Filling canisters with glass Pasteurs and sealing with tape. HAZARDS: Broken glass from pasteurs. | x | Safety specs and gloves worn | ||
| Topping up cupboards in research labs with clean & sterile glass & plasticware. Trolleys are used to take up required amount of clean lab ware from glass wash facility to the research lab areas. HAZARDS: Manual handling, pushing trolley, loading & unloading trolley. | x | Only one trolley taken at a time, do not overload. | ||
| Scraping/de-icing -80C freezers. Using plastic scrapers and brushes excess ice is removed from the around the door seals on the -80C freezers. HAZARDS: Cold burns, Slips & trips. | x | Thermal gloves provided, absorbant matting on the floor while scraping the ice. | ||
| Move cooled solutions from autoclave trolley to cold room. Transfer bottles from autoclave trolley to smaller media trolleys, transport to cold room. Unload onto the relevant shelving learning about stock rotation. HAZARDS: Manual handling, pushing trolley, loading and unloading trolley. | x | Only one trolley taken at a time, do not overload. | ||
| Assess stock levels and learn how we decide what solutions to make each day. Work with the media technician to assess what solutions need preparing, planning which need making first based on complexity and sterilisation method. | x | |||
| Assist in completion of Media Preparation sheets and assigning batch numbers to solutions made. | x | |||
| Prepare Milli-Q water and/or 1X PBS solution for sterilisation. MilliQ Water – fill glass Duran bottles with MilliQ water from water polisher, print labels with name, date and batch number and apply to each bottle and place autoclave tape on to each bottle cap. PBS – measure 2L of 10X PBS solution into a cylinder and add to a large 20L glass beaker, measure and add 18L MilliQ water and stir. Aliquot into glass Duran bottles, print labels with name, date and batch number and apply to each bottle and place autoclave tape on to each bottle cap. HAZARDS: Minimal, only non hazardous solutions will be prepared. | x | Lab coat, safety specs and gloves worn. | ||
| Assist with the loading of the autoclave trolley. Use small media trolleys to transport prepared solutions from the media prep lab to glass wash and load on to the autoclave trolley. HAZARDS: Manual handling, pushing trolley, loading and unloading trolley. | x | Only one trolley taken at a time, do not overload. | ||
| Observe how to start and autoclave run. Observe media tech load the autoclave and start a sterilisation run. | x | Observation only | ||
| Collect top up figures and replenish research lab cupboards with solutions. Collect data/top up quantities from the labs, collect required items from the cold room and transport to the labs using a small media trolley. HAZARDS: Manual handling, pushing trolley, loading and unloading trolley. | x | Only one trolley taken at a time, do not overload. |