Life of a Lab Rat

Why cell cultures are like children

1. You get emotionally attached to them
   
2. When it's all going right, they are rewarding and fulfilling
   
3. When things go wrong it breaks your heart
   
4. Sometimes it's difficult to tell if the weird shit is normal
   
5. It helps to keep them clean
   
6. It's difficult to keep them clean
   
7. It's distressing when they're sick
   
8. You can't just throw them away when they're sick
   
9. It's difficult to trust anyone else to look after them
   
10. Looking after someone else's is more stressful than looking after your own
    
11. It's impossible to get them to clean their own room
    
12. You need to look after them at inconvenient times (weekends, holidays...)
    
13. They're devilishly expensive
    

Why cell cultures are not like children

1. You don't have to feed them every day
   
2. You don't have to go to parent-teacher meetings
   
3. You don't have to cuddle them when they're in a bad mood
   
4. You don't have to cuddle them when you're in a bad mood
   
5. You don't have to kiss them goodnight
   
6. You get strange looks when you do kiss them goodnight
   
7. Children remind you if you forget to feed them
   
8. Cells don't wake you at three in the morning with bedsheets covered in bodily fluids
   
9. Cells aren't crabby when you get them up in the morning
   
10. Cells sit still when you're trying to take photographs
    
11. I've never been excited about a cell's first steps (or first word). Yet.
    
12. You can bleach cells when you've finished
    
13. If it all goes terribly wrong you can start again from a frozen stock.