Documentation

 

A. Functions of documentation

 

1. record what an individual has done & observed

2. establish ownership for patent purposes

3. tell workers how to perform particular tasks

4. establish the specifications for evaluation

5. demonstrate that a procedure was performed correctly

6. record operating parameters of a laboratory instrument

7. ensure traceability

8. establish contact between company & consumers and between company & regulatory agencies

 

 

B. Types of Documentation

 

1.     laboratory notebooks

2        Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

3        Forms

4        Protocols

5        Reports

6        equipment/instrument logbooks

7        recordings from instruments

8        electronic documents

9        analytical laboratory documents

10   numbering systems

11   labels

12   chain of custody forms

13   training reports


C. Labels

 

Glass - write on label tape with black Sharpie, adhere tape to bottle

 

Microfuge tubes - write on tube with very fine tip Sharpie - for long term labeling, use a more permanent type of label:

 

Ex. Computer generate, convert to 6 point font, print out and adhere with clear tape, overlapping ends.

 

 

Ex. Solution

 

          Tris-EDTA Buffer

          (10mM Tris-HCl, pH 8, 1 mM EDTA)

Sterile

          1/22/09                  Team #

 

 

Ex. Sample

 

          Purified E. coli DNA

          Conc. 100ng/ml

          2/20/09        Team#

 

 


D. Laboratory Notebooks

 

An important legal document

 

Assigned to individuals - a chronological log of everything that individual does and observes in the laboratory.

 

1. General Rules

 

·        Record everything directly into the notebook

 

·        Always write legibly with black ink and in English

 

·        Be so complete that anyone could exactly duplicate your work

 

·        Errors should be marked out with a single horizontal line so that the writing is still visible, and initialed and dated - in some cases a brief explanation of the correction should be given

 

 

Setting up the Laboratory Notebook:

·        Front of notebook

 

Name

Date

Project

Company

 

·        Inside front cover - summary of notebook keeping rules

 

·        First pages - table of contents

 

Description                Page number

 

·        For each project, a thorough listing of the results of any literature search and any experimental information collected from colleagues. (In this class, this will be your 1 page summary overview of the project we are doing).


·        Record pages

 

Proceed consecutively, do not skip any pages

 

Each day's entry

 

First page – Name     “Experiment Title”       Date started

 

 

Purpose “The purpose of this experiment is to …”

 

Procedure – “as described in ‘Biotechnology DNA à Protein’ pp. 52-53 with the following modifications:”

 

Results-

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

Answers to questions