If you could research anything?!

[peanutbutter45654]

Hi everyone! I am a current first-year MD/PhD student. I go to a T20 school with pretty diverse & extensive research opportunities. My research background is pretty diverse, and I find lots of areas interesting. My question is, what area of research do you think is going to explode within the next 10-20 years? What type of project/department should I get involved with during my PhD so that I will be most successful in say 20 years? Stem cells? Immunotherapy for cancer? Gut microbiome research? What are some of your ideas? What research topic will keep booming for many years to come? I'm open to anything at this point because I find almost everything fascinating! And please do not tell me to pick a project based on the PI (I already plan to prioritize this too). Let's just pretend all the PIs are equally great. Thanks!

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[pierty]

No one finds "everything" equally interesting. Rotate with the PIs you speak with who pique your interest more - it's impossible to know what will "explode," and breakthroughs are happening in every field all of the time. The focus of your graduate lab is also not restrictive for your future research - you can switch your focus after graduating. Your post-doc will be more aligned with your future proposal.

Much more predictive of your future success (or even decision to remain in research) than your field is the match between you and your lab. Mentorship is not solely based on your PIs name and recognition. Every mentee has different needs. Identifying what yours are with intra-personal reflection before starting will set you up much better in your career (and life) moving forward.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

You can’t really predict 20 years down the road because you don’t know what new technology or its applicability will be. Along those lines, any techniques you learn in training may be obsolete by the time you graduate and are out in the real world.

You got picks topics/fields that interest you. Personally since everything has either a genetic or immunologic basis, those fields are always gonna be relevant. Data science is definitely en vogue, but at some point, that bubble may burst. But you gotta pick a field that excites you now. The future will be what it will be.

 

[mszzeta]

You can’t really predict 20 years down the road because you don’t know what new technology or its applicability will be. Along those lines, any techniques you learn in training may be obsolete by the time you graduate and are out in the real world.

You got picks topics/fields that interest you. Personally since everything has either a genetic or immunologic basis, those fields are always gonna be relevant. Data science is definitely en vogue, but at some point, that bubble may burst. But you gotta pick a field that excites you now. The future will be what it will be.

To disclose, I am heavily involved in data science research.
There are definitively bubbles in data science. But the field could also advance further given rapid progress in computer science. The ChatGPT popularity will make the area hot for a while.
Many senior investigators had little knowledge in modern bioinformatics/data science/biostat given that many methods were non-existent when they were young. So this is an opportunity for junior investigators
However, I personally found it difficult to run a pure dry lab from a physician-scientist perspective. And being a master in both dry and wet lab is difficult. This is my personal feeling. Could be wrong. And I am curious about how other people think