Research Lab Group
Lab meetings, an experiments-log forum, papers and datasets channels, journal club voice and a PI room.
- 8 categories
- 33 channels
- 9 roles
- Medium
Choose a server, review what will be created or reused, then confirm. Merge keeps what you have; replace rebuilds the server. Vetox takes a safety backup first either way.
Server structure
Channels
LAB NOTICEBOARD
- welcome-to-the-lab
New members land here. Read the handbook, then introduce yourself in #lab-chat.
- lab-announcements
Lab-wide news: visitors, closures, funding decisions. PI, lab manager and postdocs only.
- deadlines-and-calls
Conference deadlines, grant calls and internal deadlines, one message each.
- lab-handbook
How the lab works: authorship, data handling, safety, working hours.
LAB MEETINGS
- meeting-agenda
Add an item for the next meeting: what, who, how long.
- meeting-minutes
Decisions and actions from each meeting. Lab manager posts.
- presentation-signups
Claim a slot to present your progress. One presenter per meeting.
- Lab Meeting
RESEARCH
- experiments-log
One thread per experiment: hypothesis, protocol, runs, result. Move the tag as it progresses. Never delete a Failed thread.
- datasets-and-code
Where each dataset lives, which repo holds the analysis, who maintains it.
- methods-and-protocols
Protocol versions and the changes between them.
- results-and-figures
A figure worth a look, with the experiment thread it came from.
PAPERS
- paper-drafts
One thread per manuscript. Drafts, comments, author order discussions.
- reviewer-responses
Reviews as they arrive and the response drafted by the authors.
- submission-tracker
One line per paper: venue, status, next action. Lab manager keeps it current.
- preprint-watch
New papers in the field, from feeds and from people. Say why it matters in one line.
JOURNAL CLUB
- journal-club-schedule
Who presents which paper when. Postdocs and lab manager post.
- journal-club-picks
Nominate a paper with a link and one sentence on why.
- Journal Club
EQUIPMENT AND ADMIN
- equipment-booking
Book an instrument: which one, when, how long. First come, first served.
- orders-and-supplies
What needs ordering and what has arrived. Lab manager confirms.
- compute-cluster
Queue status, outages and who is hogging the GPUs.
- travel-and-reimbursements
Conference travel, forms, and what the lab will and will not cover.
LAB LOUNGE
- lab-chat
The open room for everyone in the lab, collaborators included.
- coffee-corner
Not about the research. Recommendations, weekends, the departmental cat.
- Focus Room
- AFK
PI ROOM
- pi-office
PI and lab manager only.
- grant-budgets
What each grant has left, what it can be spent on, when it ends.
- hiring-and-admissions
Applicants, interviews and offers for students, postdocs and RAs.
- student-progress-reviews
One thread per student: milestones, concerns, what was agreed at the last review.
- lab-logsHidden from @everyone
Vetox posts joins, role changes and moderation here.
- PI Call
Roles
- Principal InvestigatorAdministrator
- Lab ManagerModerator
- PostdocModerator
- PhD CandidateModerator
- Masters Student
- Undergrad RA
- Collaborator
- Muted
Overview
An academic research group run by a principal investigator with postdocs, doctoral and masters students, undergraduate assistants and the occasional external collaborator. The LAB NOTICEBOARD is read-only: #lab-announcements, #deadlines-and-calls for conference deadlines and grant calls, and #lab-handbook. LAB MEETINGS has #meeting-agenda that anyone can add to, #meeting-minutes that the lab manager posts, #presentation-signups and the Lab Meeting voice room. The RESEARCH category is the working core: #experiments-log is a forum where each experiment is a thread tagged Planned, Running, Analysed, Failed or Replicating, so a failed run from last year is still on record; #datasets-and-code, #methods-and-protocols and #results-and-figures carry the material around it. PAPERS holds #paper-drafts, #reviewer-responses, a read-only #submission-tracker and #preprint-watch. JOURNAL CLUB has its own schedule, picks channel and voice room. EQUIPMENT AND ADMIN covers #equipment-booking, #orders-and-supplies, #compute-cluster and #travel-and-reimbursements, and is hidden from collaborators. The LAB LOUNGE has #lab-chat, #coffee-corner and a silent Focus Room. The PI ROOM is hidden from everyone but the PI and the lab manager: #grant-budgets, #hiring-and-admissions and #student-progress-reviews stay there.
When to use it
The lab's experiments are scattered across three people's notebooks, the reviewer response for the paper is in an email thread half the authors are not on, and a collaborator from another university can see the grant budget discussion. This layout gives every experiment a thread that records its outcome, puts papers and their reviews in channels every author can read, hides lab admin from outside collaborators and keeps budgets, hiring and progress reviews in a room only the PI and lab manager see.
What makes it different
- #experiments-log is a forum where each experiment is a thread tagged by state, so failed runs stay on record.
- Collaborator is a role that sees research and papers but not equipment, orders or the PI room.
- #submission-tracker is read-only, so the status of each paper is a single trusted line.
- The Focus Room denies speaking, giving the lab a silent place to write next to each other.
- Grant budgets, hiring and student progress reviews live in a PI ROOM only the PI and lab manager can see.
Recommended Vetox setup
Reminders
Schedule Reminders in #deadlines-and-calls a fortnight and a week before each conference deadline, and in #meeting-agenda the day before the lab meeting.
Notifications
Feed the group's RSS or preprint alerts into #preprint-watch so new papers in the field arrive without anyone pasting links.
Logs
Send role changes to #lab-logs so the PI can see when a Collaborator was added and by whom.
Applications
Use an Applications form linked from #hiring-and-admissions so prospective students apply in a structured way the PI reviews privately.
Questions
What can a Collaborator see?
The noticeboard, lab meetings, the RESEARCH and PAPERS categories, journal club and the lounge. EQUIPMENT AND ADMIN and the PI ROOM are hidden from them, so an external co-author reads the science without the lab's orders and budgets.
How is the experiments log meant to be used?
One thread per experiment, opened when it is planned. The first post holds the hypothesis and the protocol link, later posts hold the runs and the result, and the tag moves from Planned to Running to Analysed. A Failed tag is kept, not deleted; the next student needs it.
Why is there a silent Focus Room?
Writing next to other people works, and a room that denies speaking makes it safe to leave open. Lab Meeting and Journal Club are the rooms where people talk.
Common mistakes
- Giving external collaborators the same role as lab members, which shows them equipment orders and admin they have no business reading.
- Logging experiments in a text channel, where the outcome of a run is unfindable once the next run is posted.
Consider instead
- University Course with TAs The group is a taught course with lectures and sections rather than a research lab.
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