Welcome to the lab.

Starting in a new lab means a lot of small questions at once — where to go, how to get here, who to ask. This page collects the answers we give every new student, so you can spend your first weeks on the science.

General

Your first weeks.

Nobody expects you to know how things work on day one. Ask early and ask often — every person in this group was new here once.

Day one

Meet your supervisor — agree on your project, your first experiments and how often you meet
Access — staff or student ID card, keys and transponder for Haus 89
Accounts — university e-mail, IT login and access to the lab's shared drive
A tour — labs, imaging rooms, where things live and where waste goes

Safety first

Safety briefings — general laboratory safety, fire safety and hazardous substances, before any bench work
Biosafety — instruction for our class 1 and class 2 laboratories before you work in them
Equipment — get trained by an experienced member before using a microscope or instrument on your own
Every year — safety instructions are renewed annually
Video courses — complete the core JoVE courses and their quizzes

Lab life

Lab meeting — the whole group, regularly; you will present your own data too
Lab notebook — document every experiment on the day you do it
Data — raw data belongs on the lab's shared storage, not only on your laptop
Outside the lab — see our group activities

Mensa

On campus — the staff canteen of the Universitätsklinikum, on the same campus as Haus 89
First lunch — ask someone from the group to take you along on your first day
Main campuses — the Studierendenwerk Frankfurt runs the Mensas at Westend, Bockenheim and Riedberg

Training

Watch, then pass the quiz.

Every new member works through our JoVE video courses. Each link opens a module in JoVE: sign in with your institutional account, watch the videos and complete the quiz at the end. Finish the core courses before you start working at the bench, then the track that matches your project.

Basics — core courses

For everyone, before any bench work.

C1 Laboratory safety — 9 videos, quiz
C2 Biosafety — biosafety level 1 and 2 laboratories · 16 videos, quiz
C3 Basic laboratory techniques — pipetting and more · 17 videos, quiz
C4 Ethical use of laboratory animals — 3Rs and humane endpoints · 10 videos, quiz
C5 Good scientific practice and data management — laboratory notebooks · 15 videos, quiz
K1 Study design and statistics — 18 videos, quiz
K2 Literature searching and scientific writing — 10 videos, quiz

Cell and molecular biology

For projects with cell culture, PCR, flow cytometry or tissue work.

M1 Cell culture — 12 videos, quiz
M2 Nucleic acids and qPCR — 14 videos, quiz
M3 Tissue dissociation and cell isolation — mechanical and enzymatic dissociation · 10 videos, quiz
M4 Flow cytometry and FACS — 10 videos, quiz
M5 Immunostaining and microscopy — 16 videos, quiz

In vivo techniques and imaging

For projects with animal surgery or intravital imaging — in addition to the legally required animal science course.

Module 1 — videos and quiz
Module 2 — videos and quiz
Module 3 — videos and quiz
Module 4 — videos and quiz

Getting here

By tram, by car, by bike.

We are in the Neuroscience Center, Haus 89, on the campus of the Universitätsklinikum in Sachsenhausen. The address, a map and a route planner are in the contact section.

Public transport (RMV)

Closest stop — Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße / Blutspendedienst, trams 12, 15, 19 and 21
From Hauptbahnhof — tram 12 or 21
From Südbahnhof — tram 15 or 19
Tickets — Goethe University students travel on their semester ticket; employees should ask about the job ticket
Planning — timetables and live departures on rmv.de or in the RMVgo app

Parking

Main entrance — paid multi-storey car park directly behind the barrier
Sandhofstraße — paid car park, entered from Deutschordenstraße behind the blood donation service; the closest to Haus 89
Weekday mornings — spaces fill up early; the tram is often faster

Directions to the lab

Address — Neuroscience Center, Haus 89, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße 7, 60528 Frankfurt am Main
Map and route — in the contact section on the home page
First visit — let us know when you arrive and someone will meet you at the entrance

Responsibility

Ethical animal practice.

Part of our work depends on animal experiments. That is a privilege granted under strict conditions, and we expect everyone in the group to treat it that way — whether or not you work with animals yourself.

The 3Rs

Replace — use cells, tissue or computational models wherever they can answer the question
Reduce — plan sample sizes properly and get the most information from every animal
Refine — minimise pain and distress through anaesthesia, analgesia, handling and housing

Rules and approval

Legal basis — the German Animal Welfare Act (TierSchG), the animal experimentation ordinance (TierSchVersV) and EU Directive 2010/63/EU
Approval — every procedure needs a licence from the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt before it starts
Only what is approved — no procedure, animal number or endpoint outside the licence

Education on animal welfare

Training first — a certified laboratory animal science course (FELASA-accredited) before you handle animals
Supervised practice — hands-on training with an experienced member until you are signed off
Animal welfare officer — the institutional animal welfare officer advises on any question
Video courses — the in vivo and imaging modules on JoVE, with quizzes

Daily practice

Score sheets — monitor and record every animal's condition as the licence requires
Humane endpoints — know them before the experiment, and act on them without delay
Reporting — we report animal studies following the ARRIVE guidelines
Speak up — if something looks wrong, say so; raising a concern is always the right call

Questions?

Ask us.

For anything not on this page, ask your supervisor or any member of the team, or write to broggini@med.uni-frankfurt.de.