A lot of time and money goes into developing new scientific protocols in the laboratory, so it’s often frustrating to learn that you or your colleagues have also been spending time and money to optimise and validate the same technique. As well as supporting other scientists, sharing your protocols and practical bench experience via the web can also help to boost your research profile. In this blog, we explore how, why and there to share your practical laboratory experiences online.
As a researcher, you’re usually tackling unanswered scientific questions that expand the knowledge of your field. To address these questions, you often need to conduct new experiments, as well as devise and optimise new protocols (often creating new reagents and other scientific tools in the process). We’re sure that many scientists would agree that to do all of this and not share the knowledge you’ve developed during the experimental design and optimisation phases would be a great waste. In fact, you probably already share these procedures with the rest of your laboratory team, and maybe even with others across your department.
Based on this rationale, it makes sense to utilise the new tools provided by the internet and share your expertise with other researchers across the world. Not only will this help them to save time and money and progress their research, but it will also help you to develop a position of authority in the field. By setting this precedent, it is likely that other scientists will then be more likely to share their resources and protocols, creating a virtuous circle that everyone will benefit from.
Why share scientific protocols and reagent details online?
Clear, step-by-step protocols have a lot of value in the laboratory. For example, they are great for teaching others how to carry out a technique, as well as an effective process for recording standard laboratory procedures ahead of describing them in an upcoming paper (e.g. for submission to a peer-reviewed publication). Well-defined protocols are also easy for others to follow, making them perfect for sharing with other labs.
The internet has fundamentally changed how people find, share and access information. In this regard, the scientific community is no different, and a significant number of web portals and tools are now available to facilitate this process. As well as providing online repositories of information that are easy to access, maintain and grow, some of the tools even offer simple, standardised recording processes. For example, they can track changes to protocols made over time, allowing users to view the evolution of a given protocol and effectively collate incoming information as others use the protocol for their own experiments and report back on their experiences.
Creating new protocols and sharing them online is a great way to hone your experimental knowledge while also contributing to the scientific community as a whole. The process will:
- Encourage you to better consider and test the components of your protocol
- Improve your attention to procedural details
- Allow you to obtain feedback on your protocol and optimise it for future use
- Encourage collaboration and discussion around your field of interest
- Enhance the quality of scientific protocols in general by promoting better laboratory and institutional memory
- Provide instructors and teachers with guidance and evaluation tools
What experimental protocol information should you share?
There are two main things to consider when sharing your scientific protocol online: what information would you find useful if you wanted to repeat the experiment (or even extend it to other applications), and do you have permission to share the information with the wider world? When unsure of the latter, we recommend checking with your university technology transfer office, collaborators and/or supervisor.
If you’ve decided to share your information, consider the following to make sure the protocols you provide can be used to produce reliable and accurate data:
- Include reaction conditions (e.g. temperature, time and reagents)
- Specify the applications tested (e.g. “works well for immunoprecipitation but not western hybridisation”)
- Cite the sources of your reagents (i.e. where did you find your antibodies, plasmids, cell lines, mouse models, ELISA reagents and other research tools?)
- Suggest optimisation steps (e.g. “these steps that can be altered for different tissues as follows…”)
- Provide a troubleshooting guide covering any common pitfalls you have discovered while developing the protocol
Where can you share and find new scientific protocols?
If you want to start benefiting from online protocol repositories, there are a number of reputable sites available. We’ve compiled a handy list below for you to start exploring. If you would like to suggest other well-respected sites for us to add to this list, please leave a note in the comments below.
- Benchfly – Video protocols and video platform for scientists.
- Benchling – Life science data management and collaboration platform, where you can create, find, and discuss protocols.
- Bio-Protocol – protocols by BioOnline (submission to Bio-protocol is by invitation only)
- BioTechniques Benchtalk – An online community for sharing methods and techniques to enhance life at the lab bench.
- net – an online life science pharma marketplace and platform for products and services with a life science protocol repository.
- Cell & Molecular Biology Online – links to a variety of protocols from specific research laboratories.
- EuroMAbNet – the first European network of laboratories.
- JoVE – publishes peer-reviewed, scientific video protocols to accelerate biological, medical, chemical and physical research.
- Kudos – This is a web-based service that helps researchers and their institutions and funders to maximize the visibility and impact of their published articles.
- LabGuru – an online tool for laboratories to set up protocol workflows, manage inventory, and communicate results.
- LabTube – videos describing the latest scientific research and products.
- Nature Protocol Exchange – an open resource where scientists pool their experimental know-how to help accelerate research.
- OpenWetWare – an online forum where researchers can share information, know-how, wisdom, and protocols.
- Protocols – Crowdsourced universal protocol repository.
- Protocol online – A curator of protocols and contributed to by researchers around the world.
- Scientific Protocols– Share scientific protocols using the GitHub platform.
Please remember – the clearer and more useful the protocol information you provide, the more likely the researchers that use it will be successful. It’ll also encourage them to see you as a valuable and trusted peer. In turn, this might help you to attract new collaborators and solidify your position as an expert in your field, all while helping to speed up scientific progress.