Lab Safety

Once you have found a lab, ask your PI/mentor/direct supervisor what safety training you may need to complete. Most training modules are online courses, but some are in-person trainings. Note these may be required trainings for you to complete before you are allowed to handle certain experiments or even access certain data (such as protected health information). You can read more about safety issues surrounding research here. Specifically, you may want to ask your PI or mentor about the following.

General Safety

This includes research ethics trainings, fire safety, data management, privacy, and other related topics. This may include laser safety or radiation safety depending on your lab and your work. Note even if you are not directly involved, certain environments may require safety trainings (ie, if you are exposed to radiation due to a lab location in the medical center, you should take the training).

Animal Safety

Anyone working with animals must undergo the required trainings for that species.

Biological and Chemical Safety

Anyone working with chemicals must undergo the appropriate trainings for those substances (including proper disposal)