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 🙂
