LABORATORies DURING COVID
by Chris Hassel
As a prominent aspect of Duke’s academic reputation, laboratory research forms an important part of the broader picture of Academic Life at Duke.
A series of interviews form the basis of this page. Julie is a pseudonym for a research analyst in a Duke life sciences lab. She provided a perspective of a professional non-faculty researcher. Rak, an undergraduate student who has taken lab courses during COVID, provides a perspective of a student doing non-research lab work. Thomas, an undergraduate student who works as a research assistant in a neuroscience lab, provides a perspective of a student-researcher.
The content of the interviews with Julie and Rak informed the prompts that I wrote to guide Thomas’ photography. Thomas took the photographs below in the lab where he works. Then, I used the photographs as the basis of a photo-elicitation interview with Thomas. During the interview, Thomas was presented with one image at a time, and was asked a few questions inspired by the image to understand its context and the memories and thoughts it evoked.
The photos are displayed in three iterations: on the left, a lightly edited version of the original; in the middle, a color-inverted version of the original; and on the right, a sepia version of the original. The quotes under the original photos present a particular narrative about lab work during COVID. The quotes under the inverted photos present a “response” to the quotes in the left-hand column. Each column is not intended to be the “opposite” of the other. Instead, the middle column provides different nuances or perspectives from the one on the left. The quotes are juxtaposed in an attempt to put different perspectives from separate interviews in conversation with each other, and in conversation with the photographs, to explore questions relating to lab work during COVID.
The text under the sepia photographs provides brief reflections and analysis.
"Arms Intertwined": Shifting Physicalities of Lab Work
This cozy corner is where Thomas does much of his lab work. During the past two years, he assisted a postdoctoral fellow in designing and assembling the light-heat microscope (in the large box on the right), and uses it for imaging in the lab. What does a small, collaborative workspace look like during COVID?
“Often, we’d both be working on the microscope. I’d be holding something and he’d be screwing something in. Before coronavirus, we would often be in very close contact with each other, arms intertwined in this microscope.” -Thomas
“The reality is that some of these parts are so expensive that they’re virtually irreplaceable. So he has to be looking over my shoulder for some of these things.” -Thomas
“For some parts of the work it would be unusual to do it without having a second person look over your shoulder.” -Julie
“We was given data to analyze so it’s not the same as actually completing a lab yourself. You get more out of learning it and doing the work yourself than if you do if someone else did the work and you analyze some numbers.” -Rak
“You’re always trying to get around people without breathing on them, like, ‘Oh, sorry, sorry!'” -Julie
Even in a field with great technical resources and expertise, the paradigm of two or more humans working in close contact has remained a widely utilized, trusted, and comforting method of performing complex tasks, teaching and learning new skills, and ensuring high-quality work.
COVID-era health risks and safety protocols highlight the deep dependence on physical closeness in the lab. Collaboration is still seen as a reliable, comfortable way to perform complex tasks, but it is also a source of awkwardness and difficult decisions about how to work safely and effectively.
The Kitchen: Shifting Socialities in the Lab
A sink, a microwave, a couch, and a couple of work stations furnish the kitchen in Thomas’ lab. In typical times, the kitchen is the hot spot for chatting during breaks from lab work. What does laboratory social life look like during COVID?
“If anyone wanted to take a break from their work for a second, they would come into the kitchen and get tea or something.” -Thomas
“We’re like siblings. We’re all very close… We all used to hang out at least once a week.” -Julie
“If you’re spending that much time with somebody, especially doing something that difficult and stressful that often involves late nights, it’s impossible not to become close to them.” -Thomas
“It was a big commitment from all of us that was in the class to continue with the course… but I knew it wasn’t as strenuous because it was a consistent commitment for everyone.” -Rak
“Now there’s hardly ever anyone here because people are working from home as much as possible.” -Thomas
“We talk about the weather a lot [laughs]. It’s such a cliché thing. Every time it’s a nice day it’s like, ‘Oh, have you been outside? What did you do?’ And they’ll say, ‘Yeah, I went kayaking over the weekend,’ or something. Very typical watercooler-type conversations.” -Thomas
“We’re still equally as frustrated with stuff. [laughs] So in the lab we just get to, you know, talk crap with each other all the time.” -Julie
“For the new people who joined the lab during coronavirus, it would feel kind of unnatural for them to just come into lab and work on their computer. People would be like, ‘Why are you here?’ Or they would feel out of place. But for the people who have been coming in person since the beginning, people are used to seeing them around. So those people do come into lab more often.” -Thomas
In typical times, lab workers and students form strong social bonds through long hours in the lab and shared pressures to produce quality work. Even when the daily conversations seem simple, they reveal shared interests and make the laboratory a comfortable place to work. Laboratory work is a source of relationships spanning warm acquaintance, mentor-mentee dynamics, and close friendships.
The incorporation of new lab members into the social dynamic is threatened by new paradigms of in-person/remote work balance.
In-person lab work causes health anxiety for some workers. But in-person work also provides space for important conversations about shared difficulties–in the form of “talking crap” about the individuals, situations, and institutions that are perceived as responsible for unnecessary stress and risk during the pandemic.
While in-person work during COVID creates stress and resentment, lab researchers also use that time to vent and commiserate (see section “The Kitchen”). Because out-of-lab socializing has declined, in-person work time is key for casually establishing solidarity between lab researchers who are going through similar difficulties.
"Fed to the Wolves": Choosing Between Safety and Deadlines
Boxes of masks and face shields have appeared on this side table in Thomas’ lab (pictured on the left). The thin plastic sheet (pictured on the right) forms a barrier that limits virus particle spread between rooms. What precautions are lab workers taking, and who makes those decisions?
“The maximum lab capacity is determined by the number of rooms [based on department policy]. In order for something to count as a different room, you have to have a closed door between them. So somebody put up this plastic barrier so that these two rooms could have people working in them at the same time.” -Thomas
“I’m crazy paranoid about catching it. Masks all the time, never closing doors so you won’t have to touch doorknobs, really rigorous cleaning protocols.” -Julie
“The face shields—that was something that the Neuro department decided on at one point. I’ve never seen anybody use them.” -Thomas
“I think there’s a huge disconnect, as far as what Duke wants safety-wise, but what we have to do to produce the work to stay on top of our grants, stay on top of our papers, make money for Duke…” -Julie
“We have to be there all the time. It’s impossible to meet those safety standards when you’re constantly having to work. It’s scary.” -Julie
Scientific researchers at Duke feel a great deal of pressure to produce impactful work. Consistently publishing research in highly respected journals requires skilled work on an extremely time-intensive basis.
During COVID, personal health anxiety and Duke safety protocols pressure lab workers to limit their risk of exposure to COVID at work. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, Duke lab workers perceive the same pressure from Duke to produce top-quality research.
Because research requires physical presence in the lab, some lab workers feel forced to make a choice between Duke’s safety protocols and Duke’s research expectations. The latter typically takes precedence, resulting in heightened anxiety, resentment, and health risks.
Working from Home: New Frontiers, New Boundaries
This work station in Thomas’ apartment is a where he completes a large chunk of his lab work this semester. How do increased out-of-lab hours affect researchers’ experiences?
“The most difficult thing to simulate are casual, spontaneous interactions. It’s easy to set up formal, structured interactions with Zoom and things. But it’s those little interactions that you’re used to having dozens of times per day, that are just gone.” -Thomas
“Our lab tried to replicate that with this software called GatherTown. The idea is that whenever anybody would be working on something lab-related, they would open up the Gather. And whenever you wanted to talk to somebody—to ask a quick question, or ask how they were doing—you could kind of “walk” up to them in Gather and have that kind of casual, spontaneous interaction.” -Thomas
“The problem is, nobody likes having their webcam and microphone on all the time. So, we didn’t end up continuing with [GatherTown]. I still think it would be a good idea, but people are already so exhausted with Zoom meetings.” -Thomas
“When you are the point person for everything in your lab, if you work nights [in person], you’re still answering your phone in the day, so it’s a constant work situation.” -Julie
“I put some limits to myself—I took my email off my phone, I disabled my Slack notifications on my phone. And then tried not to look at my computer.” -Julie
“What ended up changing for it to be more of a typical workday is everyone just started going at the same time. Which sucks, but we just had to. We were doing revisions for two papers. And there’s no way you can get everything done without just being there constantly.” -Julie
Important aspects of the interviewees’ lab work involves reading the literature of their field, performing data analysis, and monitoring long-term experiments. Technologies have increased researchers’ ability to perform this work from home. Still, convenience and the opportunity to socialize used to encourage some researchers to do a portion of their dry lab work in the physical lab space.
COVID safety concerns and protocols have pushed researchers to do more dry lab work from home. During remote work, researchers miss the social interaction of physical lab work–from small talk to the ease of asking coworkers substantive questions. As in many spheres of university life, technologies–from email to Zoom to GatherTown–have simulated all kinds of social connectivity during remote work.
But constantly being available to chat remotely is as exhausting as it is helpful. That exhaustion necessitates setting personal boundaries or discontinuing certain forms of remote social connectivity.
COVID-Era Lab Work: "Very Exciting" or "Worked to Death"?
In this photo, Thomas’ light-heat microscope is working its magic–or rather, its science. This dark yet colorful photo illuminates different perspectives on lab work during COVID.
“I think this kind of thing is very fun and rewarding. I love how cool it looks with the lights and the lasers and the sounds it makes and everything.”-Thomas
“When you’re imaging and you can take your hands off of [the microscope] and let it work, that’s a very satisfying, very fun, very exciting moment.” -Thomas
“I think that I’ll probably forget the frustrating things faster than I forget the cool and fun things.” -Thomas
“Part of me hates [the microscope] because it has caused so much stress and agony.” -Thomas
“In the beginning, our boss was not allowed to come in because she was not actively doing the experiments. So she thought things were going one way, and things were really like: ‘Oh, we really all have to work in this one room together.’ There was a disconnect in that sense.” -Julie
“We all felt like we were being worked to death, like absolutely. Seven days a week, in person. Not at the beginning but in the middle of the pandemic. So we all felt a little… mistreated.” -Julie
Aesthetically and socially, and in terms of the work product, lab work can be an appealing and fulfilling undertaking. There are also frustrations and anxieties associated with long-term, high-stakes lab research.
COVID exacerbates those frustrations. Safety precautions limit the social aspects of working in a lab. COVID-era policies and tensions heighten lab researchers’ awareness of a disconnect between themselves and their employers, and between their lab and Duke administration.
Conclusions
It is impossible to separate the above themes from each other. Safety measures alter the physicality of lab work. Working from home has expanded as a result of safety measures. The physical closeness of working in the same room shapes the social relationships between researchers and between students. And the aesthetics and satisfying nature of lab work are, for some people, dampened by COVID-era changes.
Because of the interrelation of all these categories, the interviewees confront contradictory priorities during COVID: Health, or in-person productivity and social connectivity? Abiding by Duke’s safety guidelines, or producing high-quality research in Duke’s name? Staying connected during remote work, or saving oneself the exhaustion of constant video-calling?
Each person involved with a lab may have their own personal approach to these priorities, or shifting approaches throughout the pandemic. Ultimately, students, research assistants, and analysts have some choice in how they balance these needs. But for some, especially Julie and Rak, it seemed that much of the choice was in the hands of a boss, a professor, or a Duke administrator.
For Julie, the fact that those difficult choices lie in the hands of her professional superiors creates both great stress and great resentment. The solidarity between lab workers crystallized during in-person conversations at work seems to be helpful psychologically and socially, but Duke must make an effort to listen in on those conversations, considering the incongruency of its stringent safety regulations and its hefty research output expectations.
Rak was interviewed by Maurice MacIntyre. Julie and Thomas were interviewed by Chris Hassel. All the photographs were taken by Thomas Barlow, and edited by Chris Hassel. This subpage was created and written by Chris Hassel.
