Where mother does experiments standing upside down in oil (6)
I believe the answer is:
balsam
'oil' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
(Other definitions for balsam that I've seen before include "Soothing herb" , "Balm of Gilead" , "flowering plant" , "Resin-yielding tree" , "Aromatic ointment" .)