Help! Newb Researcher

[obecalp]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey guys, I have a question and was wondering if you could help me out. I'm planning on taking a leave of absence from my med school during my second semester of 2005. What would I be able to do with six months of research? Would I be able to put together an abstract, first author, or just be a glorified tech? I was thinking something in the infectious disease field. To be quite honest, I've never done research before in undergrad and I'm a bit clueless. I thought that this forum would be a good place to start gathering info. Thanks guys!

 

[utcrew]

In my opinion, it will take at least a month or two to really get the hang of the technical aspects of lab (gels, assays, protein purifications etc) for someone who has never done it before. At least, that's based on my experience with undergrads and to a certain extent grad students. As far as an independant project goes, you can read up on the literature and develop some decent ideas in the same month or two. So, around month three, you can start really getting involved in testing your ideas with some confidence. As far as authorship goes, it depends on how many road blocks you run into during the way. For instance, if a certain assay doesnt want to cooperate, it may take a while (longer than six months). You should definetly be able to have a good abstract though. It also depends on what sort of research you'll be doing, and how well the methods are developed in your lab for the project you want to due. For example, one of the methods I wanted to use on my project as an undergrad was UV fluorescence. No one in my lab or the labs on the same floor at least had done the same procedure I wanted to do. So, I had to hurdle a few obstacles, which set me back. All in all, it depends on luck and hard work. In 8 months as an undergrad I was able to be first author on a couple of good papers, so it's not impossible to do it in 6. Good luck 🙂

 

[Neuronix]

I think the previous post is overly optimistic. In six months you should expect to learn some procedures and read up about research in the field. You cannot expect to be getting meaningful data in that amount of time without prior research experience and a cush project. You might be able to get enough for an abstract, but much beyond that is dreaming unless you tag along on someone's project or just luck into something.

 

[Gfunk6]

I concur with Neuronix. I took me a full year in a good lab to crank out my first publication. If you have no experience, it will take you a few months to master basic techniques in molecular biology like the various blots and PCR.

Your best best is to try to get a "cush" project as Neuronix mentioned. Make sure that you ask the head of the lab this question BEFORE you start. Tell them that you have no prior experience but you would like an abstract (at a minimum) or publication (ideally) within 6 months. If he immediately laughs, then thank him/her for their time and try again elsewhere.

There are only a handful PIs who will be nice enough to do this for you so you may have to "shop around" so to speak. Good luck!

ADDED: Another alternative would be to be tacked on to an existing research project. In this case you would be able to gain some valuable experience being a part of a research team and potentially get a co-authorship (not first) on a good paper. Your call though.

 

[obecalp]

Utcrew, neuronix, and Gfunk, thanks alot for your input! I really appreciate it. Again, I am pretty ignorant in the research realm. So, I guess I'm going to have to take Gfunk's advice and do some shopping... Any other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

 

[utcrew]

ADDED: Another alternative would be to be tacked on to an existing research project. In this case you would be able to gain some valuable experience being a part of a research team and potentially get a co-authorship (not first) on a good paper. Your call though.

I agree, one other thing to keep in mind if you latch on to someone else, is to pick carefully who you latch onto. If your time is limited to 6 months, you want the person who seems to never go home and is personable. The worst thing is to have someone who would rather use you as a tech and only uses two word sentences when you ask them a question. To stand the best chance of authorship, you need someone who works very hard. Your fate also rests with them in this regard. I would keep this in mind when looking for a lab.