This document is continually reviewed and discussed by all laboratory members and updated multiple times a year. The current version here lists the professional expectations that all laboratory members are expected to follow to the best of their ability. At any time, a laboratory member can suggest a modification to these expectations. If you want to join the laboratory, you can fill out the form here.

Last Update (02/20-21/2025): Fixed typos, added information under “Authorship” to better inform personnel new to academia about journal publisher guidelines, added information under “deadlines” to clarify institutional timelines for scholarships, and added the “integrity” section.

Expectations for all workers in the Wenzel laboratory

Illness

• Personnel must not come to work if they are ill.
• Personnel must e-mail Dr. Wenzel anytime they are ill and unable to work. Personnel are allowed unlimited sick days without questions asked; however, Dr. Wenzel may initiate a conversation with the student if the sick days are amounting to a quantity that will delay the completion of their program. If the sick days are for prolonged periods or frequent, Dr. Wenzel may also recommend that the personnel take a professional leave of absence, and will work with the relevant institutional departments to ensure institutional policies are followed.

Vacation

• All vacation must be documented by e-mailing Dr. Wenzel the days that personnel are requesting vacation. Please try to give Dr. Wenzel and the laboratory four-weeks notice of any vacations. While vacations may be able to be approved without such notice, this is a professional courtesy to help the laboratory take over any tasks while the personnel may be away such as, for example, keeping cell lines alive.
• Personnel agree to take all vacation by the end of the calendar year by filling out the appropriate timesheets on PAWS (University of Saskatchewan), and agree to use all vacation time before their job is terminated. Personnel agree that timesheets submitted on PAWS and e-mail requests for vacation will reflect the same time off; in the case of discrepancies, the documentation reflecting the most vacation time will be used for any disputes. Personnel can request changes to these expectations by e-mailing Dr. Wenzel to, for example, accommodate delaying a vacation until January of the following year.

Working hours and safety

• Personnel may choose their work hours and work days; however, it is encouraged to work between the hours of 9AM to 5PM to build interpersonal relationships and ensure there is support available if they need it. Personnel is aware of the Work Alone policy and will continue to uphold all biosafety procedures.
• Dr. Wenzel will have a conversation with personnel to record work preferences, including days and hours of work. This is to establish protected time for personnel.
• We encourage personnel to take two days off every week to maintain a healthy work-life balance. This may be on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), but can be anytime the personnel chooses.
• Certain protocols may require personnel working on a weekend periodically, and it is expected that personnel have some flexibility to ensure they can learn and conduct all assays in the laboratory.
• Personnel are expected to dedicate 37.5 hours per week to research, which may include laboratory work, data analyses, manuscript writing or attending conferences. Classroom time (attending courses or teaching other students during an assigned teaching assistantship) is also included in these 37.5 hours. Studying for classes or marking assignments are not expected to be included in these hours; however, hours are not tracked. This expectation is noted because different personnel require different amounts of time for studying and marking, and 37.5 hours per week is the estimated amount of time to ensure projects or degrees are completed on the expected timeline.

Mistakes in research

• Mistakes are expected and a part of the learning process. If a mistake occurs, personnel are expected to inform Dr. Wenzel. The personnel will then have a brief meeting with Dr. Wenzel to discuss if there are any systems in place that could be introduced to prevent the mistake from happening again in the future. This might be adding descriptions or steps to a standard operating protocol. If the personnel is comfortable, the mistake will be discussed at a laboratory meeting to get feedback from all laboratory personnel on how to prevent this mistake from happening in the future.
• Mistakes should not be repeated. Personnel are expected to reflect on the mistake, and try to make sure they only happen once.
• At no point should mistakes lead to the publication of data with low integrity. If any personnel feels that the data from our laboratory is not reproducible or replicable, it is encouraged to discuss this with Dr. Wenzel.

Deadlines

• All presentations, including but not limited to posters and presentations, must be reviewed by Dr. Wenzel two weeks in advance of any deadline. Personnel must address all concerns brought up by Dr. Wenzel and other laboratory members. This process must repeat until Dr. Wenzel gives clear approval that the poster or presentation is suitable for presentation outside the laboratory. If the personnel believes they may need more than two weeks of feedback, they are encouraged to have their documents reviewed three or more weeks in advance of any deadline.
• Scholarship, award or committee applications must be reviewed by Dr. Wenzel four weeks in advance of any deadline. These applications may need to be reviewed by the institution, or get institutional signatures, which can take up to 2 weeks (10 business days) to get.
• Deadlines above are to guarantee Dr. Wenzel has the time to mentor the personnel in these tasks, write reference letters as needed, or get personnel the appropriate institutional signatures. Deadlines may be shorter if the personnel was given less notice due to circumstances outside their control.

Communication

• Personnel is aware that text messages are not a formal means of communication, and the student is not required to provide anyone with their cell phone number.
• The laboratory standard for formal communication is e-mail communication. all members of the laboratory are expected to check their e-mail once per day to respond to urgent messages. Unless on vacation, all members of the laboratory will respond to all laboratory and institutional e-mails within 5 business days, and will respond to urgent messages within 24 hours. It is expected that urgent messages are justified by the sender and are explicitly identified in the subject line of the e-mail by starting with “URGENT:”.
• The laboratory will respect personnel’s time and will not burden laboratory members with e-mails while they are on vacation. All e-mails from the laboratory sent to another laboratory member on vacation can be deleted, and it is the sender’s responsibility to follow up when the laboratory member is back from vacation.

Working with other laboratories

• Any consumable items borrowed from another laboratory are expected to be replaced by our laboratory. To borrow a consumable item from another laboratory, first ask a worker in the other laboratory and ensure their principal investigator is informed that you are borrowing an item. If the consumable item needed is not a routine item bought by Dr. Wenzel’s laboratory, please ask Dr. Wenzel first before borrowing items.

Biosafety and responsible use of space

• All items made in the laboratory, including aliquots, must be appropriately labeled to meet biosafety requirements. These requirements include SDS information, date of creation, solvent, creator’s initials, and the solute’s concentration. Furthermore, these items should be  easily findable and stored in an tidy manner. To be permitted to graduate, the student must dispose of all materials that no longer have use to the laboratory. The student must then demonstrate any materials that still have use are appropriately labelled and stored.
• All personnel must keep the laboratory tidy and clean. It is expected that all personnel clean up their workspace at the end of each work day.
• Personnel agree to follow the biosafety plans in our laboratory’s biosafety permit, and under no circumstances are there expected to be any exceptions. If part of our laboratory is in a shared space, personnel will continue to uphold our biosafety standards and be model researchers for others.
• Anyone entering our laboratory is expected to follow our biosafety plan, and it is expected that personnel help anyone entering our laboratory follow our biosafety plans. Our laboratory is the most familiar about the chemicals in our laboratory, and it is our responsibility to let everyone be as safe as possible in our space. However, personnel are not expected to be confrontational, and thus personnel can choose to simply inform Dr. Wenzel that there is someone in the laboratory not following our biosafety plan. In this circumstance, Dr. Wenzel will address the biosafety issue.

Biosecurity and data management

• Without prior permission from Dr. Wenzel, the student is only permitted to discuss their data with Dr. Wenzel and other members in Dr. Wenzel’s laboratory. This includes social media posts. This is to ensure intellectual property is protected.
• Personnel must upload all raw data, annotated raw data, analyzed data, PRISM files, and protocols associated with all data to DataStore. The personnel’s DataStore files will be audited routinely. Graduate students will not be permitted to graduate until these files are uploaded and well-documented. These protocols must include the date any solution was made, their concentration, the catalogue numbers, and the supplier.
• Personnel is responsible for ensuring their laboratory notebook and DataStore is up-to-date before they leave the laboratory. This includes all raw data being annotated and analyzed before leaving for the day. Personnel understands that important details may be forgotten if they try to remember this information later.
• Personnel are expected to have a copy of all files on DataStore at all times – under no circumstances should the crashing or breaking of a personal computer lead to the permanent loss of data.

Integrity

• Personnel agree that under no circumstances will data be manipulated. This includes, but is not limited to, image manipulation (e.g., cloning, erasing, etc.). If data manipulation is suspected or discovered, the personnel will be given the chance to privately explain the situations. Failure to provide an sufficient explanation will result in professional consequences, such as dismissal from the laboratory or an academic misconduct report.
• Personnel agree that if artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, such as ChatGPT, are used at any point in laboratory communications or laboratory work, it needs to be documented and disclosed. Personnel should also note that the policies around using AI assistants are different for coursework, and personnel should meet with their instructors to better understand the policies. Failure to disclose the use of AI may result in professional consequences, such as an academic misconduct report.
• Personnel agree that statements made in documents, such as scholarship applications, abstract competitions, job applications, and manuscript drafts, are accurate to the best of their ability. Under no circumstances should this policy result in poor behavior in the laboratory, such as non-constructive criticism or inappropriate language.

Meetings

• Personnel are expected to attend all laboratory meetings. These meetings will be scheduled 7 days in advance, and will likely be scheduled at the same time on a routine basis. The routine time will be reassessed at the beginning of each semester. Personnel are expected to schedule experiments around these meetings, without compromising the integrity of experiments and wasting sample/reagents. If personnel is unable to attend a meeting, they must inform Dr. Wenzel at least 10 minutes before the meeting occurs.

Expectations specific to highly-qualified personnel (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, etc.)

Expectations of Graduate Students

• Broadly, all graduate students are required to write and publish at least 1 first-author review in their program. Master’s students must have 1 primary article drafted and submitted. PhD students must have between 1-3 primary articles drafted and submitted, and this number is dependent on the size of the project; it is estimated that the cumulative impact factor total of a PhD student must surpass 9 to ensure sufficient discovery for being awarded a PhD degree (i.e., one impact factor 9 primary articles, or three impact factor 3 articles).
• Graduate students understand that there is a minimum grade requirement to stay in the program and to obtain scholarships. In general, graduate students must maintain a grade-point average (GPA) above 80% for all classes in their program. Failure to meet this GPA may result in the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies asking the student to leave the program.
• Graduate students understand that a failure to demonstrate research is being conducted may result in a conversation about their withdrawal from their program. While Dr. Wenzel will do everything he can to ensure success in a timely manner, the student understands it is their responsibility to conduct experiments, analyze data, and write manuscripts & thesis. Research progress will be assessed in laboratory presentations and informal conversations, and may include the student showing what work has been done recently.
• Graduate students must TA unless 1) they have financial support above and beyond their stipend, OR 2) there are no departmental opportunities to TA available. This is a requirement of the graduate program.

Authorship

• If concerned about authorship, the personnel must have a discussion with Dr. Wenzel. If there is a conflict in author order, there may need to be a discussion between the student and another scientist. Dr. Wenzel reserves the right for final say on the order of authorship, but will do his best to ensure a mutual agreement.
• After leaving the laboratory, personnel in the laboratory are highly encouraged to update Dr. Wenzel with their most accurate contact information. If personnel contributed a reasonable amount to a project, but Dr. Wenzel is unable to get in touch with personnel to get their approval of the manuscript submission, personnel will be listed in the acknowledgements. Dr. Wenzel will contact personnel with their most recent contact information, and give personnel a minimum of 3 weeks to respond. Personnel acknowledge that all listed authors 1) are required to approve a manuscript to submit to a journal, 2) agree to work together to ensure this process does not hinder the dissemination of our publicly- or privately-funded research, and 3) acknowledge that authorship cannot change once published.

Salaries, awards and scholarships

• Personnel are aware that salary awards and teaching assistantships (TA) go towards paying the graduate stipend or postdoctoral salary. The only guaranteed way to exceed the graduate stipend or salary in a contract is to obtain external financial support above and beyond this amount. This is in-line with institutional policy, and is repeated here to help personnel with their financial planning. Given this, the laboratory will do whatever we can to help personnel have financial security and reward exemplary scholarly activity.
• Personnel are expected to apply for any scholarships, award or professional opportunities brought up by Dr. Wenzel if they are eligible to apply. These opportunities are not expected to impose any financial burden on the student. If the student does not wish to apply, the student will schedule a conversation with Dr. Wenzel. There are many institutions that provide scholarships, awards and professional opportunities, such as the Canadian tri-councils (NSERC, CIHR), national societies (Alzheimer Society of Canada, Stem Cell Network) and international organizations (International Brain Research Organization, and the International Society of Neurochemistry).
• Personnel can discuss their salaries and professional opportunities with one another, if they feel comfortable. As an employer, Dr. Wenzel does not discourage this practice; it is beneficial to employees to have these discussions, if they feel comfortable, to ensure equitable support of the employer.

Master’s program to PhD program transfer

• If the student is a Master’s student and wishes to transfer to a PhD program, they must inform Dr. Wenzel as early as possible to ensure Dr. Wenzel can raise the funds necessary to make this happen by the end of their second year of studies. If this is the student’s intention, Dr. Wenzel will also alter the scope of their Master’s projects to set them up for success in the pending PhD program.

Expectations specific to Dr. Wenzel

Feedback and Letters of Support

• To the best of their ability, Dr. Wenzel will be available to the student to ensure there is no delay in their experiments or research progress.
• Dr. Wenzel will provide feedback to any presentation, including oral and poster presentations, within two weeks before the presentation must be given, and will do everything within their power to ensure that the student is sufficiently prepared.
• Dr. Wenzel will provide feedback to any writing, including manuscripts, within four weeks. However, it is likely that the feedback will be received sooner.
• If Dr. Wenzel feels comfortable that they can provide an adequate document, they will write letters of support, reference or recommendation within four weeks.
• Dr. Wenzel will have a 1-on-1 meetings with personnel at least every semester to discuss anything the student wants, which may include areas of support, how to conduct an experiment or analysis, or professional development opportunities. Dr. Wenzel will be open to discussions about increasing the frequency of these meetings, if the personnel desires.

Professional Development and Career Advancement

• Dr. Wenzel will seek opportunities for the personnel, which may include scholarships, workshops, and other professional development opportunities.
• Dr. Wenzel will ensure opportunities are equitably distributed amongst personnel.
• Dr. Wenzel will encourage personnel to take ownership over their research projects by allowing them a safe space to suggest experiments and new research questions.

Communication

• Dr. Wenzel will listen to any concerns brought up by the student, and will discuss modifying any laboratory policies, documents, or procedures to make them the best they can be.

Inclusivity

• Dr. Wenzel will frequently attend workshops on equity, diversity, inclusion and teaching to continually learn about new practices, and will bring these ideas to laboratory meetings for discussion.
• Dr. Wenzel will ensure that all personnel who have worked in the laboratory are appropriately credited in manuscripts and presentations.
• Dr. Wenzel will advertise all positions in the laboratory as broadly as possible to help ensure a diverse team.
• Dr. Wenzel will work to ensure the work environment is safe; inclusive; and free of harassment and discrimination.
• Dr. Wenzel will encourage personnel to have mentors that are external to the laboratory and institution, and will seek mentors for personnel upon request. The idea of a mentor is to have someone who can provide personnel with unbiased advice, or talk about mutual lived experiences and their impact.