Skip to main content

Lab Manual

Richard E. Hartman, PhD

Note that this lab manual is a "living document", subject to change at any time, almost for sure somewhat out-of-date, and not legally binding. It does not necessarily reflect the views of LLU or its administration (but it might). Policies / procedures for other labs in the department / school / university may be different.

Lab members and potential lab members should read through this manual in its entirety - if you have general or specific questions, please ask me ASAP.

Introduction

About us.

About the Hartman Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory

See the lab's website for information about our focus and members: home page PI (Rich Hartman...

Facilities

We have an office suite in the Psychology ("Central") Building Annex that students may use for st...

Papers with student authorship

Dissertations and doctoral projects Peer-reviewed publications: Cutting, T & Hartman RE. Unde...

Lab Member Trajectory and Information

What to expect.

Joining the lab

Like many scientists, I view our lab as a small business that creates income (grants) by doing wo...

Typical timeline to completion of the program

Lab members should strive to maintain this schedule, which will assure completion of the requir...

Choosing a project

For finding papers, my go-to tools are Pubmed and Google Scholar. The University Library also has...

Scope of a typical dissertation project in a clinical PhD program

Lab members should strive to thoroughly read and process at least 1 project-related paper per wee...

Potential models / assessments for fly experiments

IVs: gender / age (probably the lowest hanging fruit) diet (pomegranate juice, ellagic acid, ...

Some notes regarding PsyD projects / research

PsyD students have several options for completing a PsyD project, including writing a review pape...

Note regarding lab members’ clinical training placements

Although I generally stay out of the “clinical” side of things, most clinical lab members are gen...

Note regarding funding and quarterly lab fees

Students eligible for federal work study may be offered up to 20 hr/wk “research assistant” posit...

General Lab Information and Policies

Stuff you should know.

Getting stuff done (GTD)

If you are asking me to do anything (answer a question, sign off on course units, review a manusc...

Basic laboratory practices

When collecting data, all experimenters should be blinded, and all experimental factors should ...

Lab managers

Running an efficient lab requires delegating responsibilities to current long-term members. If an...

Meetings

Depending on your "stage" in the program, we may meet more or less often. Generally, you will fal...

Required software and useful websites

We use several software packages and websites to accomplish different things in the lab: LLU u...

Keeping a lab notebook

Keeping an updated electronic lab notebook (ELN) is required to get a “Satisfactory” grade for yo...

Authorship and data ownership

Authorship on posters, chapters, and peer-reviewed journal article is determined by several facto...

About attending campus talks

Students should go to any and all neuroscience-related talks on campus. Going to neuroscience tal...

A primer on the Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) nervous system for behavioral neuroscientists

Before we begin, it's pronounced: droh-SOFF-uh-luh mel-AN-uh-gas-ter Dro - like drone so - st...

Protocols

How to do stuff.

Using your electronic lab notebook (ELN)

An electronic lab notebook (ELN) like eLabFTW allows lab notebook entries to be automated and cus...

Data management workflow

Excel is great for organizing your data and making simple calculations (e.g., means / standard de...

Generic data analysis procedures

Following these guidelines should get you started on most basic analyses: Before the experimen...

Writing scientific papers

Each lab member is expected to write and submit (and hopefully publish) 1 review paper. For PsyD ...

The peer-review process

You may be asked to help review a paper that been submitted for publication in a “peer-reviewed j...

Notes on posters / presentations

More coming later…. Know and cite your lab’s previous research and how / why it led to “today’...

How to attend conferences

We have presented at the Society for Neuroscience conference every year since 1995. The meeting c...

Animal care training for working with vertebrates

Loma Linda University follows all the rules and guidelines of the Institutional Animal Care and U...
Back to top