TransFeyrai exec: time is the hidden variable that let a lab protocol stay wrong for 10+ years
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-11-16
Anna Marie Wagner of TransFeyrai argued on the iGEM stage that the unobserved variable between "magic hands" and bad lab results is time. She shared wild stories of time-based experimental variability, including a protocol that had been wrong for over a decade — caught only because a "sloppy" scientist accidentally let a reaction run too long. Slides show materially different outcomes within one plate running the "same" reaction and a strong fit (R²=0.7439) between Day 2 peak size and effective fragmentation time.
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