[ANSWERED] A new postdoctoral fellow in a genetic research laboratory must sequence a 4-kDa fragment. After the

A new postdoctoral fellow in a genetic research laboratory
must sequence a 4-kDa fragment. After the sequence, he is to prepare a 200-base
unit to use as a potential regulator of a DNA-related enzyme. The 4-kDa
fragment is suspected to contain the 200-base unit. The sequence of the
200-base unit is already known in the literature, but not as part of the 4-kDa
fragment, and not as a potential regulator. The fact that the 200-base unit is
known is what gave the mentor the idea that it may have a functional role. The
new postdoctoral fellow tried for three months to sequence the 4-kDa fragment,
without success, and so simply proceeded to synthesize the 200-base unit without
locating it within the fragment. After two years of research, the 4-kDa
fragment appeared to play a key regulatory role in an important discovery, but
at this time the mentor learned that the postdoc never sequenced the original
4-kDa fragment. The mentor could never fi nd a “good” record of the attempts to
sequence the 4-kDa fragment.
• What impression do you gather about how this mentor runs
the laboratory?
• Should there be records of sequence attempts of the 4-kDa
fragment?
• How should the mentor proceed?
• If you were the new postdoc, what steps you would take to
ensure proper records of your work?