Don't Spend It All ... On One Fridge.

As with any issue there are two sides to the coin. Research involves a lot of hits and misses which can be expensive. But at the heart of this issue is personal accountability. All of us need to be aware that while grant money is someone else's money and there should be no reason why misusing it is acceptable. Vendors of scientific equipment should be held accountable for charging an arm an a leg for something which would not fly if it was in the general use category (i.e fridges, computers). End users should also be accountable for buying these items without justification. Be it a $500K sequencer or a $500 pipette, we need to ask ourselves "is it really necessary?". If you do not go and buy a Porsche when you buy a car for personal use, why then should you do that in research. Universities and funding agencies should hold grant awardees financially responsible for not using core facilities that may be available. Core facilities usually have high end equipment that are multi-user and need to be more efficiently utilized. With funding for research becoming more scarce, we all need to become financially thrifty and more practical.