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Asked by 727munm33 to Sian, Max, Lizzie, Francis, Ben on 8 Mar 2018.
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Francis Man answered on 8 Mar 2018:
Sometimes I do. Usually it’s when I am growing cells in the lab, they need to be taken care of regularly, for example you need to change the medium (the liquid in which they grow) every 2 days. Unfortunately they don’t know what a weekend is… So I might have to go in on a Saturday or a Sunday to change the liquid (it doesn’t take very long).
Sometimes we want to know what happens in a cell over several days, so we need to do some experiments every single day for a week, even the weekend. When that happens, I take some time off once the experiment is finished. Everyone needs a break, you can’t work efficiently if you overwork yourself and get too tired.
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Sian Richardson answered on 8 Mar 2018:
Like Francis said when you are working with mammalian cells you need to change the media every 2 days so that means some weekend work. I did this during my PhD but in my current job I work with bacteria which don’t replicate every 2 days or so like with mammalian cells do. Bacteria can replicate as fast as every 20 mins therefore I don’t work weekends anymore but I do work shifts. Theses can be from 6am to 2pm, 2pm till 10pm or 10pm till 6am. My process can be over in less than 48hrs from start to finish therefore I may need to be there in the middle of the night to sample or do something to my cells. Science is not always a 9-5 job
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Lizzie Wright answered on 10 Mar 2018:
Totally depends on the experiment you are doing. Sometimes never. If you work with animals or cells cultures, you often have to pop in for an hour to change the solution or check they are OK. Most labs offer help with this, or different team members share the responsibility.
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Ben Mulhearn answered on 12 Mar 2018:
At the moment I work every Sunday, but it’s kind of out of choice, because I can have a day off in the week!
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