Tales from the Lab #10: Elleronne Hatchet Interviews A.J. Calvin on Laboratory Horrors
Good morning. This is Elleronne Hatchet from the Interdimensional/Time-Traveling News Agency, reporting live from an undisclosed microbiology lab. It is the workplace of scientist and author A.J. Calvin. Today I am interviewing A.J. as part of her Tales from the Lab series, and the theme this fine October day is terrifying stories.
So, A.J., before we get into the telling of tales, I’d like to know a little more about your scientific background.
As you know, I’m a microbiologist. I’ve worked in biotech, pharmaceutical, and clinical labs at different points in my career. Some of my best stories came from the clinical labs, though I’ve featured a few from the other labs, too. I started this line of work in 2005, while I was finishing my last year of college. The industry is volatile at times, but the work isn’t bad. I guess that’s why I’ve stuck with it for as long as I have.
Excellent, thank you. Now on to the real reason why we’re both here: scary stories from the lab. What is the most terrifying scenario that you’ve encountered during your years of work?
Well, I suppose that happened while I worked in the clinical lab. We worked with human tissue samples, mostly from cadaver donors, so there were a lot of interesting and potentially dangerous bugs growing in the lab on a daily basis.
One of my coworkers contracted MRSA. She was out of work for months due to the illness, and it left her physically scarred. She did eventually recover, but still has some lingering problems years later.
Because MRSA can come from so many sources, they never determined where she contracted it, but they couldn’t rule out that it came from our lab. That was scary for everyone.
Would you say MRSA is the most dangerous organism that you’ve worked with?
Hmm. No. I once worked in a lab that got a positive identification of Vibrio cholerae (cholera) on a sample. We had to report that to the CDC. It was during my last few weeks at that job, so I’m not sure what came of it.
Do you have anything that dangerous in your lab right now?
Haha, no. The worst bug I have is a strain of Salmonella that is used as part of a quality test. As long as its handled correctly, you’re safe. And I cleaned the entire lab a few days ago. You have nothing to worry about.
I understand laboratory technique is important, not only for the testing but for safety, as well. What is a scary story you can share about poor safety practices?
The first one that comes to mind happened in one of my college labs. It was parasitology, which happened to be one of my favorite classes. Anyway, if you know anything about parasites, you know that many of them like to live in the digestive tract. Which means you’re testing stool samples…
Yuck. I’m afraid to hear where this is going.
Haha, yeah, I still cringe every time I think of this.
So, laboratory protocols usually require that you wear a lab coat, safety glasses, and gloves while working. It’s the same in school as it is in industry. In the parasitology lab, I sat across from a woman who had very long hair, and it was always falling in her face. She never seemed to have a hair tie, either. It always bothered me.
Anyway, I don’t remember exactly what parasite we were looking at that day, but it was one found in stool. The professor was part of the veterinary hospital on campus, and she always had samples available from there. We worked with a lot of sheep and dog waste. That lab never smelled very good.
We were supposed to be preparing samples to look at under the microscope for class that day. The woman across prepped her sample just fine, placed it under the scope, and then did the absolute worst thing I could imagine. She ran her hands through her hair – with her gloves still on!
That is horrifying.
Yep. Especially since we knew the samples contained parasites, but there are always bacteria to consider, too. And viruses, I’m sure.
You don’t talk of viruses much in your Tales from the Lab series. As I understand it, those are microbes, too. Why do you exclude them?
It’s simple. All of my work experience has dealt with bacteria and fungi. I worked with parasites briefly in one class while in school. I don’t have experience with viruses beyond reading a text book. And no, I will not answer any questions about COVID. I’m no expert on it.
Good, we’ll get back to the tales, then. I’ve seen some of your culture plates today. Bacteria colonies don’t look very intimidating. Are there any microbes that you find particularly scary, in terms of appearance?
You’re right, most bacteria don’t look bad, even under the microscope. Fungi aren’t much different, in that respect.
I guess that leaves us with parasites again. There are some that look pretty crazy up close. Hookworms, for one. They have these huge teeth!
And I guess some people might think Giardia is scary. When you look at it under the microscope, it looks like it has a happy face. Does it smile because it makes us sick?
That’s a particularly frightening outlook, to think these creatures might have some level of intelligence.
Hmm. That might make for a good novel, don’t you think?
I suppose if your goal is to terrify your reader, then certainly. I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for this interview today, A.J. Thank you for your time.
This is Elleronne Hatchet with the ITNA, signing out.
Thanks for reading the latest installment of Tales from the Lab!