Getting the most out of undergrad research

[DendWrite]

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This is sort of a broad question, but something I've been wondering about for a while. I've been doing "research" this past year, which is essentially me reading papers from the lab I'm working in (and other labs doing similar projects), doing a bunch of slide staining, westerns, PCR, protein isolation, etc etc etc. While I know that these techniques are valuable to know for future projects, I'm wondering how to go beyond merely following a protocol to actually thinking about research on my own. My PI is really flexible and is letting me work my way into doing my "own" projects, but these are basically things where he tells me what the project is and gives a lot of guidance.

I'm currently a sophomore and would ideally like to be able to design and conduct my own project before I graduate. Other than keeping up with literature and trying to memorize as much as possible, how do you go from reading papers to coming up with original ideas to investigate? I like working in the lab and feel like I can intelligently talk about what we do. But how do you take that next step? Is this something that I could realistically do as an undergrad? I'm definitely motivated and willing to work at it, but I don't know if it's just an intuition thing that comes with a lot of training or if it's something that you can just work at enough and get results. For any of you who had a similar experience in undergrad and were successful, do you have any advice to share?

Any comments / thoughts on the issue are appreciated.

 

[sleepy425]

This is sort of a broad question, but something I've been wondering about for a while. I've been doing "research" this past year, which is essentially me reading papers from the lab I'm working in (and other labs doing similar projects), doing a bunch of slide staining, westerns, PCR, protein isolation, etc etc etc. While I know that these techniques are valuable to know for future projects, I'm wondering how to go beyond merely following a protocol to actually thinking about research on my own. My PI is really flexible and is letting me work my way into doing my "own" projects, but these are basically things where he tells me what the project is and gives a lot of guidance.

I'm currently a sophomore and would ideally like to be able to design and conduct my own project before I graduate. Other than keeping up with literature and trying to memorize as much as possible, how do you go from reading papers to coming up with original ideas to investigate? I like working in the lab and feel like I can intelligently talk about what we do. But how do you take that next step? Is this something that I could realistically do as an undergrad? I'm definitely motivated and willing to work at it, but I don't know if it's just an intuition thing that comes with a lot of training or if it's something that you can just work at enough and get results. For any of you who had a similar experience in undergrad and were successful, do you have any advice to share?

Any comments / thoughts on the issue are appreciated.

I like what guildsman wrote, but I have a few things to add. First of all, you mentioned that you were "trying to memorize as much as possible" and maybe I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but the wonderful thing about research is that memorization pretty much goes out the window. Even if you are trying to memorize the results of previous studies, you would be better off trying to understand what they did and how they did it.

Anyway, the thing I really wanted to tell you is that there are several ways for an undergrad to become much more independent in the lab. The first thing, which I think you're sort of doing, is to ask your PI to let you work on an independent project. But you say he gives you a lot of guidance. That is fine, but what I would suggest, if you want to, is to ask your PI to give you a project and have you figure out how to do it. The PI will come up with the question he wants answered, and you come up with all of the experimental approaches to do that. Try your best to figure out a way to do it (and when you get stuck, go to the literature first, and then if you still can't figure it out ask your PI for a tip or two), and then run the proposed experimental approach by your PI. He/she will either approve it or suggest changes, and then you can start the experiments. So say you're in an organic chemistry lab and your PI wants you to make this crazy big molecule. You go through the literature and come up with appropriate reactions to make the molecule. You run the synthetic approach by your PI, he says ok, then you do it.

If you do it this way, the only thing your PI does is come up with the basic question and keep you from getting lost. The next step is to be able to come up with your own projects entirely. I assure you, if you keep working hard in the lab, you will develop the creativity to come up with your own projects. It's something you won't believe until it happens.

I started out in a lab in my freshman year and for the first few weeks, I was just making LB media and growing up batches of E coli. After a few weeks, the PI gave me a project and told me exactly what to do for the first few steps. Then when we got to the next part of the project, he told me to try to figure it out, and then if I didn't figure it out he'd help me. It took me a lot longer than it would take me now, but I figured it out, and I started working on it. Eventually we decided that the project was just not practical, so he suggested a new project and I came up with an intricate way to figure it out. Unfortunately, that also was just taking too long, but while I was doing that, I had an idea for a completely different project that my PI had not thought of (this was by my junior year). I designed it completely and it worked remarkably well, and I published it last year. The point is, I had a few failed projects along the way. One was because the project just couldn't be done by one person in less than 4 years, and the other was because my idea didn't work out. But the more experience I had, the easier it was for me to come up with viable projects.

You'll see, coming up with ideas is like pulling teeth at first, but after a while, it becomes really natural and actually, it gets to the point where you have more ideas than you are able to try. Good luck!

 

[UCLAzy]

If all you've done so far is westerns and pcr, I think that its a bit too early in the game for you to be doing your own thing. Its hard to come up with ideas when your research experience consists of being given test tubes with "science things" inside of them and running a gel. What's more important, even moreso than understanding what you're doing, is being able to do it. My PI taught me in a way where he would briefly explain what he was doing, show it to me, watch me do it, and have me do it on my own. It was quite confusing at first since he was teaching me all of the techniques involved in all of his projects at the same time, but once I became proficient at all of the techniques, it was a lot easier to understand what was going on as a whole. Now that I have learned everything and can literally see how a project is going to go from start to finish (i.e. he describes it in a few sentences and I can lay out all of the experiments that I need to do to actually get to the product that he wants without him telling me) I may start thinking about trying to design my own experiment.

I hope I did not grossly misunderstand your use of research in quotes and the description of the techniques you have mastered. If you're already proficient in everything, you're at the right place and just need to have a creative and questioning outlook while conducting experiments. It takes a lot of maturity and time, and I personally wouldn't feel comfortable doing it on my own yet, but maybe you're ready.

 

[NickNaylor]

I agree with the above post. I know that following protocols and being told exactly what to do is a beating, but it's definitely a necessary part of the process. If you just head straight to an independent project, you'll more than likely become frustrated because you don't have a solid foundation of general knowledge to build on. Trust me on this. Unless you feel extremely confident about being able to understand difficult procedures and concepts entirely on your own, be patient.

Once you've gotten enough exposure to a particular topic, then you may want to approach your PI about an independent project. If he/she feels that you'll be able to successfully make some progress, then he/she will more than likely comply. If they don't give you a project, though, don't get frustrated. It'll come with time. It's one of those gradual things, and you'll eventually get there. Rushing to start a project before you're ready, though, is definitely something you want to avoid.

 

[bigman225]

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