How much prior science knowledge is required to do research?

[xnfs93hy]

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I'm extremely interested in doing research. Albeit, I'm only in General Chemistry I at the moment. This is coming from a student who is pretty much clueless about the entire process. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[Stixman28]

I'm extremely interested in doing research. Albeit, I'm only in General Chemistry I at the moment. This is coming from a student who is pretty much clueless about the entire process. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! 🙂

I did two years before I even took a gen chem course. You can pick up a lot as you go along in your topic of interest. Gen chem will also put you way up for mixing gels etc.

Look for someone you want to work with, and generally, they will have a post doc or graduate student oversee your work. They will also be able to answer questions you might have. it may turn out that most of your questions anyone would have had due to the high degree of specialization in research.

 

[bravofleet4]

i volunteered in a neurobiology lab not being a neurobiology major or even having taken a single neurobiology class.

it should comfort you as well to know that many professors at medical schools encourage the medical students to volunteer in the lab and no prior knowledge is needed.

to be honest, lab work is mostly procedural. you don't even need to know how it works or why just how to analyze results. you gradually pick up things from reading papers, listening in on discussion in the lab, and talking your supervisor.

start volunteering in a lab early if your grades won't be harmed by it!!!

 

[JJMrK]

Try to start doing some research ASAP. You'll usually be able to get some general understanding without many courses if the PI explains what's going on. Don't expect to be paid though until you can run experiments/analyze results/troubleshoot on your own.

 

[apumic]

Depends what you'll be doing. If in a lab under a postdoc w/ supervision, you should be able to start w/ minimal, if any, college coursework completed. At the same time, I've seen many profs require upper division courses (or at least freshmen level courses) as a prereq. O-chem I w/ lab seems to be a common prereq for a lot of bio labs at my school.
OTOH, if you'll be designing experiments or doing self-guided research, you'll need much more of a background. A lot depends on the lab, so ask around.

 

[xnfs93hy]

If I find that I enjoy research, I will probably end up applying MD/PhD. Either way, I'd like to begin ASAP and eventually do self-guided research.

 

[Acoustica]

You really dont need much prior knowledge, though the more coursework you've completed, the better.
I started at a paid position in the lab cleaning dishes, taking out biohazard waste, autoclaving... once I started school as a freshman and by the end of the school year, I got kicked up to doing actual research. I didn't know a thing about western blotting or tissue culturing or PCR, so my supervisor taught me everything. You learn how to do the experiments and the you eventually start to understand what you're doing and why you're doing it.

I personally believe that the labs are looking for people who have good potentials to contribute to their lab, ie those who are hard workers, dedicated, willing to learn and diligent (you get the picture).

 

[Narmerguy]

I think it depends what type of research you're doing. I think at least an intro bio class is really all you need for a lot of research.

 

[orrghead16]

If I find that I enjoy research, I will probably end up applying MD/PhD. Either way, I'd like to begin ASAP and eventually do self-guided research.

Let me offer a very opinionated piece of advice. At any "level" of choosing a new research lab (i.e. choosing one for undergrad, choosing a thesis lab, a postdoc lab, etc.), I think it is far more important to choose a mentor rather than a research project. At any level, the best mentors are going to be the ones that champion their students and find the most pleasure in doing so. I can't stress enough how having a mentor like that has been invaluable to me, both in terms of where it has put me and how much I have loved being in my lab. If your goal is a project of your "own", then finding a mentor who is congenial to that is essential.

In a similar opinionated piece of advice, I think smaller labs that are just starting offer better opportunities to undergrads. There are a variety of reasons, but I think leading the pack is the opportunity to be put on more "ballsy" projects rather than gel pouring duty (Keep in mind, the bigger the lab, the more B*tch work that needs to be done) and the opportunity for much more direct contact with the PI. That said, I am positive that there are thousands of exceptions with excellent mentors running huge labs.

 

[Practitioner]

This:

I think it is far more important to choose a mentor rather than a research project.

👍


To answer the question how much science do you need to know, none. But you likely need an appreciation for scientific thought process and it would help to be able to read/scan literature. Like others have said already, you'll pick it up as you start working.

(Nearly my entire transcript is biological science, and I'm looking to do some research now and I feel all the science that I have taken is pointless and all I want to do to start off is read prior papers from the lab and review articles in their field -- genomics and diabetes in children. Then get trained again in their particular lab on what I'll be working with.)