Lab Rules & Expectations

Last updated: May 2026

My goal is to provide lab members with the training, mentorship, and opportunities they need to succeed in their chosen careers, whether in academia, industry, medicine, or other fields. Please read and follow these lab rules carefully.

1. Safety & Health

Your health and safety are of the utmost importance. Lab members must complete all required safety training before beginning any lab work, including:

• Concepts in Biosafety

• Laboratory and Chemical Safety

• WHMIS

• Supervising Safely, where applicable

• Workplace Violence and Harassment Prevention

• Training instructions: UAlberta Safety Training

Additional training may be required depending on the nature of the project.

Lab members must also:

• Complete animal training before participating in animal work.

• Complete laser safety training before working with lasers.

• Follow the working-alone protocol if working outside standard hours.

• Maintain physical and mental health and use University support services when needed.

• Stay home when sick, notify the team, and arrange coverage for essential responsibilities.

Volunteers: Due to updated University restrictions and administrative requirements, the Yokota Lab is currently not accepting volunteer appointments. Individuals interested in joining the lab must do so through an approved University appointment, course-based research project, funded student position, employment appointment, or other formally approved mechanism.

2. Collegiality & Lab Environment

All lab members are expected to contribute to a respectful, professional, and supportive environment.

Lab members must:

• Treat all colleagues with kindness, respect, and professionalism.

• Maintain open communication and constructive feedback.

• Support a collaborative and inclusive research culture.

• Avoid discriminatory, racist, sexist, harassing, or otherwise inappropriate behaviour.

Misconduct should be reported or discussed through appropriate University resources.

3. Work Hours & Vacation

Lab members, including students and trainees, are generally expected to be present during standard business hours, typically 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, Monday to Friday, unless otherwise agreed upon.

Additional hours, including evenings or weekends, may occasionally be required depending on experimental schedules or project needs.

Undergraduate project students must commit sufficient time to complete their research responsibilities, typically 15–20 hours per week, and are not permitted to work alone after hours or on weekends.

Vacation should be discussed with the PI in advance. Lab members are generally entitled to three weeks, or 15 business days, annually, unless otherwise specified by University policy, funding source, appointment type, or program requirements.

4. One-on-One Meetings

Lab members will have regular one-on-one meetings with the PI to discuss:

• Research progress, challenges, and future plans.

• Lab notebooks, data, analysis, writing, and presentation slides.

• Positive and negative results.

• Manuscripts, grants, fellowships, and career development.

• Action items for the next two weeks.

Trainees should prepare a presentation file, data summary, or written progress report to facilitate discussion.

5. Lab Meeting Expectations

Lab meetings are an opportunity to share progress, troubleshoot challenges, discuss literature, and receive feedback.

Lab members are expected to:

• Attend weekly lab meetings.

• Participate actively in discussions.

• Present research updates, challenges, and literature reviews as assigned.

• Share both positive and negative results.

• Provide constructive feedback to peers.

When presenting a paper, the presenter should email the selected article to the group at least one week in advance.

6. Notebooks & Data Management

All lab members must maintain clear, complete, and up-to-date lab notebooks and research records.

Lab members must:

• Record methods, results, observations, and analysis details sufficiently to ensure reproducibility.

• Organize raw data, processed data, images, protocols, and analysis files in approved lab storage systems.

• Back up data regularly.

• Ensure that file names and folders are clear and understandable to others.

• Share data with the PI and relevant team members when requested.

• Follow best practices in scientific record-keeping: NIH Guidelines.

The PI retains ownership of all original lab notebooks, data, materials, and research records generated in the lab. Departing members may retain copies for reference with PI approval, but original data and materials must remain in the lab.

7. Travel for Conferences & Research

All University-related travel must be registered through the UGo Travel Registry, where required by University policy.

Conference attendees must submit abstracts, posters, and presentation slides to the PI sufficiently in advance for review. Abstract drafts should be sent to the PI at least one week before submission.

8. Authorship & Publications

Authorship will follow ethical authorship guidelines and will be based on substantial intellectual or experimental contributions to the work.

Examples of authorship contributions include:

• Conceptualizing or designing experiments.

• Acquiring, analyzing, or interpreting data.

• Drafting or critically revising manuscripts.

• Approving the final version of the manuscript.

• Taking responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

• Follow NIH’s General Guidelines for Authorship Contributions

Authorship order should be discussed openly and updated as projects evolve. All lab members are expected to maintain high standards of research integrity, transparency, and reproducibility.

9. Grant & Fellowship Applications

Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other trainees are expected to apply for appropriate scholarships, fellowships, and awards to support their research and career development.

Drafts should be submitted to the PI at least one week before the deadline whenever possible. Earlier submission is strongly encouraged for major applications.

Lab members may also be asked to contribute to lab grant applications, including preliminary data, figures, literature summaries, budgets, and draft sections.

10. Confidentiality & Intellectual Property

All unpublished data, methods, research plans, grant applications, manuscripts, invention ideas, and internal discussions must be treated as confidential.

Lab members must:

• Consult the PI before sharing unpublished research externally.

• Obtain approval before submitting abstracts, posters, manuscripts, preprints, or public presentations.

• Avoid discussing confidential research in public or online spaces.

• Respect intellectual property obligations.

Confidentiality obligations continue after leaving the lab.

11. Expectations for Postdocs & Graduate Students

Postdocs and graduate students are expected to take leadership in their projects and contribute to the scientific growth of the lab.

Expectations include:

• Designing and conducting rigorous experiments.

• Maintaining complete and organized records.

• Writing and submitting original research and review manuscripts.

• Applying for scholarships, fellowships, and grants.

• Presenting research at conferences and seminars.

• Mentoring undergraduate students and junior trainees.

• Contributing to a positive and collaborative lab culture.

Final Notes

Lab members are expected to contribute to a collaborative, ethical, safe, and professional research environment.

Regular feedback, open discussion, transparency, and mutual support are essential for scientific progress.

These rules may be revised and updated as University policies, lab needs, or safety requirements change.