Cloning dilemma: The “Err” code saga and not-so-quick-ligation

Remember my cloning dilemma story? Well, it slowly turned into a nightmare. 

I made my way back to campus to continue working on my research. It takes time to readjust to everything I left behind for two weeks, hoping that this time, things would finally fall into place after all my previous cloning attempts.

Coincidentally, the research supplies I had been ordering — new ligation kit, primers for colony PCR, and a few other essentials, had finally arrived from the supplier.

Everything was ready. 
The materials were there.
The experiment was waiting.

So, I decided to give my ligation mixture another shot, this time using  the Quick Ligase from NEB. Everything seemed great. It was quick, just like it was named for — Quick Ligase. It saved me a lot of time, and for once, I thought maybe this cloning experiment was finally going to give me some hope...

The ligation was ready.
The samples were ready.
I was ready. 

When I was about to move on to electroporation, I switched on the electroporator… 

And then — ERR. ERROR. No beep. No warning. 

At that point, I was hoping it was just a minor technical issue. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

Yup. The electroporator decided that my cloning experiment was the perfect time to have a problem. And just like that, my supposedly “quick” ligation experiment came to a very un-quick halt.

So, I did what any researcher would do when things suddenly go wrong. Apparently, one of the most important skills in research is learning how to search for answers at 2 am.

1) I went down the rabbit hole of Google and ResearchGate
I tried to find out whether other researchers had experienced the same problem — and to convince myself that someone, somewhere, had already suffered through exactly the same thing.

2) Repaired by my own
What was I thinking? I'm not an engineer or a technician.

3) I contacted the supplier
I reported that faulty electroporator error and asked for their advice.

4) I reported (cried) everything to my supervisor

I started thinking, maybe I should just start all over again using the conventional heat-shock method. Back to basics. No electroporation. No fancy troubleshooting. Just my competent cells, my quick ligation mixture, and a little bit of hope.

But guess what?

The refrigerated centrifuge was at faulty too.

One instrument broke down, then another. Every time I thought I had found an alternative route, something else decided to stand in my way. 

It may not be going according to plan. Instead, I somehow ended up sending away that faulty electroporator for a diagnostic repair and it definitely took longer than I expected.

But hey, better late than never.