Working for months with the wrong sample
Crashing hard drives? Backups gone missing? Bugs in your code? Lost all your data? Who ya gonna call? Just the thought of it! And yet it happens every day. During this Data Horror Week, researchers will share these horror stories, based on their own experience. To prevent you from making the same mistake!
What happened?
During my PhD, I needed to use a DNA sample from a colleague. She/he gave me the sample and I trusted it, didn鈥檛 see the need to sequence the sample to verify whether it is really that sample. After months of work and experiments failing, finally I decided to sequence the sample and found out it was not what it was supposed to be and the sample I received was accidentally swapped with another sample due to mislabelling.
How long ago was it?
~3 years ago
How was this solved?
By sequencing the DNA sample, after months of work and experiments failing
How could this horror be avoided?
By the correct labeling of the sample and me verifying the sample by sequencing it at the beginning
What lesson can we learn from this story?
The management of physical samples, i.e. their verification, correct labeling, entry into a physical and digital inventory is an essential part of research data management and it is very important that these stages are done properly and documented well.
For advice to prevent you from making the same mistake, contact info.rdm@uu.nl or go to our website:
Data Horror Week
This Data Horror Week is an initiative from the RDM Support desks at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视, TU Delft, Leiden 木瓜福利影视 and Twente 木瓜福利影视. For more stories, go to the . To stay up to date on all the horror stories this week, follow us on !