Leaving QMCM

This page contains a protocol you should follow when departing QMCM. It is divided in two sections: general (for everyone) and wet lab (for people working in a wet lab).

This is meant not only to give you a guide about what steps you need to take and to remind you of everything that needs to be taken care of, but also to ensure that your research during your time at QMCM is not lost and can be reused and shared in the future.

You can also find some tips and useful information

For PhD students

If you are a PhD student, your last working day is the hand-in date of your thesis. After that day you will lose access to the building and the internal DTU systems, including your email, Teams, and the DTU drives. Make sure you reserve time to take care of all the tasks in this protocol before that day.

General

Exit interview

All employees should have an exit interview with their immediate manager before their last working day. This interview is meant to receive feedback and suggestions on how to improve as a workplace. Make sure to agree on a date and time for the interview with your manager. More information.

Data

When you leave it is important that the data you generated is accessible to future members of QMCM, either to replicate your research or to be reused in a different project.

It is also important that data from publications is available and easily accessible to be sent to third parties if they request it.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on the process you must follow for the data you generated.

Step 1: Decide what to keep

Go over all your data and decide what should be stored and what should be deleted. Remeber to check all the places where data is stored, such as local hard drives, the M drive, OneDrive and the O drive.

Be very conservative with what you decide to keep. If in doubt, decide to keep something rather than deleting it. Also, consider asking your manager and other people in the group if they could use any of the data you want to delete.

All data related to a publication must be kept. For data not related to a publication, as a rule of thumb you should always keep raw data and final data, while intermediate data may be deleted (depending on the case).

Important

Before deleting any data make sure to consult with stakeholders. Stakeholders may include your supervisor, collaborators, or other third parties.

Step 2: Ensure access

Move all the data that should be kept to the O drive. The O drive is the only accessible and backed-up storage space that will not be deleted when you stop working at Biosustain and which other members of the group can access.

If you have any data or lab notes on Benchling, make sure the responsible person from QMCM has access to it.

Commit and push any changes in repositories that are local in your computer. If possible, consider uploading data files to repositories to ensure they are accessible.

If there is any data in a proprietary format readable only by a specific software, like raw data from an instrument, store the information in an open format if available.

Step 3: Organise the data

Organisation can help a lot with understanding where the data comes from, what was it used for and what it can be used for in the future.

Create 1 folder per publication and collect all the files related to the publication in that folder. Consider also creating a compressed file with the data folder that can be sent to third parties if they request data from the publication.

For data not related to a publication, organise it based on which project it belongs to. Create 1 folder for each project and move all the related data there. Create a text file inside that folder that explains what the project is about, what has been done until now, who was involved in the project, what are the next steps for the project and if there are any publications.

Files on Teams: files you shared in Teams channels are stored in your personal OneDrive account. This means that when you leave and that account is eliminated, the file will be deleted. Make sure to back up any files “stored” in a Teams channel that should be preserved.

Step 4: Create metadata

Create metadata for everything! Each folder that contains files should have a metadata file explaining them. This can take many forms, but as a minimum for every file there should be the following information:

  • A brief explanation of what the file is (unless it’s obvious).
  • How the file was created (what software or lab protocols were used, the raw data it has been created from if it is processed data).
  • When it was created (approximately).
  • Who created the file.
Tip

To help decide what to include in the metadata file, think as if you were encountering all the data you are leaving from a past employee and didn’t know anything about it. What information would you need to use it? Write anything you would need in the metadata file.

You may write all this information in the metadata file, or you can direct to another place for the information. For example, if you have a lab notebook in Benchling that explains how some data was created you can link to it in the metadata file. NEVER direct someone to a physical object such as a paper notebook for more information. If that information is not in a computer drive on which security back-ups are regularly made, it may as well not exist. IMPORTANT: When linking to external locations (such as Benchling) or other files make sure that people in the group have access to them and that they will not be deleted when you leave.

Consider also creating a metadata file explaining how the data is structured, and what kind of data is in every folder.

Step 5: Revise the data

Go over the data and the folders where it is stored with the person that will be responsible to continue with your projects or the data responsible for the group. Make sure with them that everything is clear and organised in a way that makes sense.

Any questions they have about the data or folder structure should be answered by the metadata file. If they have a question that is not currently answered by the metadata file, add the information to it.

Step 6: Data storage plan

There are some important points you should think about in regards to your data. Some of these topics are:

  1. For how long should the data be kept?
  2. Who is responsible for the data?
  3. Are there any legal agreements related to some or all the data (like GDPR contracts)?

Consult with the Data Management Team at the center. They know what the legal requirements for data and can provide input to some of these topics. They should also have a copy of your Data Management Plan, where some of this information may be specified.

Once you have consulted with the Data Management Team, you should have a discussion with your manager. Make sure to communicate what the legal requirements for the data are and agree on the topics specified above.

Equipment

Every employee is provided with an office setup by the IT department. This includes a laptop, mouse and keyboard, screens, a laptop charger, (maybe) a dock for your computer and (maybe) a phone. All this equipment should be returned to the IT department before you leave.

You may also have been using some equipment bought with the group’s or your budget. In this case, talk with your manager about what to do with that equipment, if it can be reused by another member of the group or if it could be given to the IT department. Note that all equipment is property of DTU, and you can not take it with you even if it was bought with your grant.

Other

Remove all items from your desk and any drawers you used. Make sure to leave the keys of the drawers.

If you have a locker in the changing rooms return the keys to reception.

Bureaucracy

Before your last day settle all your expenses on DTU Fusion and submit all your timecards.

Wet lab

This protocol is specifically made for people that work in the wet lab.

Apart from this page, you will need to store some information about samples that are being kept and ongoing projects. Fill the tables in one of the files (Excel, ODS, CSV) and then save it in your folder on the O drive with the name of the file indicating your name, initials and that it’s the information about what is left in the lab. For example: 20250626_smuyo_lab_departing_tables.csv

Knowledge transfer

If you are responsible for any equipment, ensure that another person takes responsibility.

Put all the protocols in the common folder in the group and ensure that they are reproducible. If necessary, show the person who will continue with the project how to perform the experiment

Cleaning checklist

Waste handling: Information about waste handling, waste containers, labels etc are available in the waste storage room (0. floor). If you have questions ask in the goods reception or the lab responsible person.

All boxes and items to be retained after you leave need to be labelled with your name/year/sample type/project name or number.

Clear your Cold room shelf

  • Discard buffers, LB-plates, bio-samples according to waste handling guidelines.
  • Give chemicals, kits, reagents, antibodies related to unfinished projects to the person who will continue the project or to the lab responsible.
  • Write to the group and ask your colleagues to pick up what they can use (using common channels i.e. Teams).
  • Chemicals - discard expired chemicals, put the rest into the group´s lab collection or if no longer needed in the common chemical storage (1.floor)
  • Wipe down the empty shelf with soap and afterwards 70% ethanol

Clear your Lab bench

  • Give relevant materials to the project successor and/or ask the group for pick-up.
  • Discard all buffers and expired chemicals according to waste guidelines.
  • Discard opened materials, everything that should usually be kept sterile (e.g tubes , serological pipettes, pipetting reservoirs etc) .
  • You can leave commonly used kits (RNA, DNA, plasmid extraction etc) and unopened, not expired items of general use at the common shelf in the 0 floor.
  • Wipe down the empty desk and cupboards with soap and afterwards 70% ethanol.

Clear your -20 freezer space

  • Discard everything that is no longer needed or not in original containers (working solutions of buffers, antibiotics, redundant samples etc.)
  • Leave samples that need to be retained (e.g until publication) with the project successor or in the alumni freezer (lab responsible provides a place). List in the table above what you leave behind.
  • Transfer enzymes, antibiotics, chemicals, kits (not expired and still in original containers) to common lab storage
  • Take the empty rack out of the freezer, let it thaw and dry before placing it back

Clear your -70 freezer space

  • Discard everything that is no longer needed or not in original containers.
  • Strains: add all important strains (characterised, published, to be published, patent-related) to the alumni lab strain collection.
  • Leave strains, biological samples etc. that will still be needed after your departure with the project successor or in the alumni freezer (lab responsible provides a place). List in the table above what you leave behind. Make sure that the physical location matches the location stated in the alumni strain collection.
  • Take the empty rack out of the freezer, let it thaw and dry before placing it back.

Other

Clear out your personal items from common laboratory storage spaces, e.g chemical hood, anaerobic chamber, mammalian cell culture, animal facility etc.

Let project successors and lab responsible review this list to make sure there are no immediate questions.

Tips

Extending access to DTU systems

If you want to extend access to your DTU profile, including access to all the related services, you can get extensions of up to six months at a time. The extension needs to be actively requested before the employment termination date.

  1. The employee, whose profile should be extended, must sign a non-disclosure agreement. You can find the NDA in DTU Inside
  2. The immediate manager must file a request for a prolongation of an active DTU profile with CFB-HR including:
    • The signed NDA from the employee
    • End date for the prolongation.

Borrowing your laptop

It may be possible to loan your laptop for a while after your last day if you need it, but it will require signing a contract with IT. Consult with IT before you leave in case you want to keep your laptop and they will let you know the requirements and prepare any necessary documents.