Tracks/Measurement/Measurement Worksheet

From 2014.igem.org

iGEM 2014 Measurement Interlab Study Worksheet

To participate in this study, please complete the following worksheet and submit to measurement [AT] igem [DOT] org.

Inter-Lab Study Worksheet:

For each assay that you perform, fill out the following worksheet. Answer each question with enough detail to allow another person to replicate your measurements without needing to ask you any questions. This does not necessarily mean you need to describe everything in detail---for example, if you use a standard assay, you just need to give enough information to allow another person to use that assay in the same way that you did.

Section I: Provenance & Release
  1. Who did the actual work to acquire these measurements?
  2. What other people should be credited for these measurements? (i.e., who would be an author on any resulting publication. For example, your faculty advisor may have helped design the protocols that you ran.)
  3. On what dates were the protocols run and the measurements taken? (this will often be a range of dates; make sure you say which data was taken at what times.)
  4. Do all persons involved consent to the inclusion of this data in publications derived from the iGEM interlab study?

Section II: Protocol

  1. What protocol did you use to prepare samples for measurement?
  2. What sort of instrument did you use to acquire measurements?
    • What is the model and manufacturer?
    • How is it configured for your measurements? (e.g., light filters, illumination, amplification)
  3. What protocol did you use to take measurements?
  4. What method is used to determine whether to include or exclude each sample from the data set?
  5. What exactly were the controls that you used?
  6. What quantities were measured? (e.g., red fluorescence, green fluorescence, optical density)
  7. How much time did it take to acquire each set of measurements?
  8. How much does it cost to acquire a set of measurements?
  9. What are the practical limits on the number or rate of measurements taken with this instrument and protocol?

Section III: Measured Quantities

  1. For each type of quantity measured (e.g., fluorescence, optical density), report on the following:
  2. Units:
    • What are the units of the measurement? (e.g., meters, molecules)
    • What is the equivalent unit expressed as a combination of the seven SI base units? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_base_unit)
  3. Precision:
    • What is the range of possible measured values for this quantity, using your instrument as configured for these measurements? (e.g., a meter stick measures in the range of 0 to 1 meter)
    • What are the significant figures for these measurement? (e.g., on a meter stick, it is common to measure to the nearest millimeter).
    • Is the precision the same across the entire range? If not, how does it differ?
    • How did you determine these answers?
  4. Accuracy:
    • When was the instrument last calibrated?
    • How was the instrument calibrated?

Section IV: Measurements

  1. For each sample, report:
    • the identity of the sample
    • each quantity directly measured
    • each quantity derived from measurements (e.g., fluorescence/OD)
  2. For each group of replicates, report:
    • the identity of samples in the set
    • which, if any, of the samples are excluded and why
    • the mean and standard deviation for each quantity measured or derived