Need advice about being kicked out of a research lab

[Luckycharms2024]

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Hello. I was excited to be invited to participate in bench research for a cool project this semester. I observed the first experiment, and did a portion of the second. For the third experiment I was on my own, and I made a mistake and didn’t plate cell correctly. Now I’ve been asked to leave the lab. It was my only chance as I go to a small school. How do I deal with not having research for Senior year. I’m an undergraduate with no experience in bench research. How do I find summer research after this fiasco?
Would love advice/ guidance. Thanks.

 

[deleted1082311]

Hello. I was excited to be invited to participate in bench research for a cool project this semester. I observed the first experiment, and did a portion of the second. For the third experiment I was on my own, and I made a mistake and didn’t plate cell correctly. Now I’ve been asked to leave the lab. It was my only chance as I go to a small school. How do I deal with not having research for Senior year. I’m an undergraduate with no experience in bench research. How do I find summer research after this fiasco?
Would love advice/ guidance. Thanks.

first off, a lab with no leeway for mistakes is not a lab; it's a toxic environment. no lab tech is perfect and it is crazy that this still happens to this day.

If your interested in gaining additional research experience, could you reach out to local schools with more research funding or additional spots? I would also suggest reaching out to labs via cold email at other schools with a lot of NIH funding. these labs will take just about anyone if your willing to work for free initially. I also don't think bench research is necessary for the med school process. My partner worked in an entirely computational research setting remotely and has interviews from multiple T10 and T20 institutions.

 

[Luckycharms2024]

first off, a lab with no leeway for mistakes is not a lab; it's a toxic environment. no lab tech is perfect and it is crazy that this still happens to this day.

If your interested in gaining additional research experience, could you reach out to local schools with more research funding or additional spots? I would also suggest reaching out to labs via cold email at other schools with a lot of NIH funding. these labs will take just about anyone if your willing to work for free initially. I also don't think bench research is necessary for the med school process. My partner worked in an entirely computational research setting remotely and has interviews from multiple T10 and T20 institutions.

first off, a lab with no leeway for mistakes is not a lab; it's a toxic environment. no lab tech is perfect and it is crazy that this still happens to this day.

If your interested in gaining additional research experience, could you reach out to local schools with more research funding or additional spots? I would also suggest reaching out to labs via cold email at other schools with a lot of NIH funding. these labs will take just about anyone if your willing to work for free initially. I also don't think bench research is necessary for the med school process. My partner worked in an entirely computational research setting remotely and has interviews from multiple T10 and T20 institutions.

Thank you and I am shocked that she didn’t give me another chance. I am not going to say that I did a great job, but I didn’t do a terrible job either. The worst thing is the research class is a grade so hopefully that didn’t mess up my GPA as well. 😔
I’m a junior in college with no coding or computational experience, but maybe this is a space I can grow in. Also, wanted to ask if having strong clinical research is a good alternative? I can’t seem to find good answers on what counts as good research for an application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Prehealth Advising at Small Colleges | SDN

Dr. Chloe Lash, 2024 Private University Advisor of the Year awardee, discusses advising options for small college students.

www.studentdoctor.net

We also have many archived posts about summer research.

 

[deleted1082311]

Thank you and I am shocked that she didn’t give me another chance. I am not going to say that I did a great job, but I didn’t do a terrible job either. The worst thing is the research class is a grade so hopefully that didn’t mess up my GPA as well. 😔
I’m a junior in college with no coding or computational experience, but maybe this is a space I can grow in. Also, wanted to ask if having strong clinical research is a good alternative? I can’t seem to find good answers on what counts as good research for an application.

Complete anecdote here but my roommate in college only did clinical research and is at a T20 now. I think its just that you do research not the type necessarily

 

[Luckycharms2024]

Prehealth Advising at Small Colleges | SDN

Dr. Chloe Lash, 2024 Private University Advisor of the Year awardee, discusses advising options for small college students.

www.studentdoctor.net

We also have many archived posts about summer research.

Thank you.

 

[lioneljohn]

The best thing you can do is stay proactive and learn from this experience. Maybe try reaching out to professors or researchers who might be willing to give you another shot or offer advice. Summer research opportunities are still possible, so start looking early.

 

[Moko]

Complete anecdote here but my roommate in college only did clinical research and is at a T20 now. I think its just that you do research not the type necessarily

This is correct - many applicants to research-heavy schools only have clinical research and do just fine in the application process! Just my thoughts.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet honestly

 

[Luckycharms2024]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet

The best thing you can do is stay proactive and learn from this experience. Maybe try reaching out to professors or researchers who might be willing to give you another shot or offer advice. Summer research opportunities are still possible, so start looking early.

thank you for the advice!

 

[Luckycharms2024]

This is correct - many applicants to research-heavy schools only have clinical research and do just fine in the application process! Just my thoughts.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[lioneljohn]

Thank you for the advice!

You're welcome! 🙂

 

[Luckycharms2024]

The best thing you can do is stay proactive and learn from this experience. Maybe try reaching out to professors or researchers who might be willing to give you another shot or offer advice. Summer research opportunities are still possible, so start looking early.

 

[Luckycharms2024]

This advice is helpful. So, I’ll ask another question. Should I go talk to my premed advisor about what happened? Or just shut up and move on? I wouldn’t want to come across as whining.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As mentioned earlier, you don't need bench research. Just any research on a small campus will do. The more important issue is your relationship with your faculty because if you listened to the interview... if your school is anything similar to Dr. Lash's, the faculty will find out.

It might be a good idea if your prehealth advisor is a faculty member and is generally sympathetic. You do need a game plan of what you want to say and what you want to convey. This isn't a confessional, and your advisor may not be able to do anything. You could ask how it could affect any institutional letter you get supporting your application (if it exists). You may want to brainstorm other options for research or an honors project.

No faculty are "entitled" to give anyone in their lab another chance, though I'm still trying to ascertain why. Doing a protocol incorrectly doesn't get most people kicked out of a lab experience, especially at a small school. I don't know how you establishing a strong faculty-student relationship to get this research position, but we lack a lot of specific information that tells us what you did. Most small-school professors know and value student researchers as part of the institutional mission, and if this were so high-stakes, you were likely given many more chances to practice before the real experiment. That said, details are important and you have to follow directions.

 

[Luckycharms2024]

Thank you for your feedback!

 

[AJS59]

Please don’t think I’m trying to excuse myself. I feel terrible. Here are the details…They were primary cells that I was culturing and yes, the PI showed me 2 times what the protocol was. So, I did “know” what I was doing. However, I hadn’t done the entire protocol on my own. When it was my turn, I tightened the caps on the flasks too tight and all the cells died. I panicked because I was already scared of this PI but also because I had messed up. Instead of completing the protocol, I said that I couldn’t finish because I had class. Which I did, but probably should have skipped class and tried to find my PI to tell her. Instead, I emailed to let her know what was happening and the cells didn’t get plated in the morning and it was too late.
The issue was they were dead in the first place because I closed the flask caps too tight and I was too afraid the tell her and it kept building because she thought I didn’t care about the assay, when in fact I do. I did beg her forgiveness and for all the other work I did in the lab, I believe I did a decent job. Know I feel like I’m f**ked and all my hard work of getting good grades and trying to build relationships with professors down the drain because she hates me and the whole school will think I’m a *****.
I understand that I messed up, but I told her I would work really hard to do better, but I don't think I changed her mind.

So there's a couple of takeaways from this, both for you and your application:
-With respect to your future application: You're fine and likely escaped a very toxic environment given your PI's lack of forgiveness. Focus on maintaining everything else and seek out research either on your campus or elsewhere. And it can be anything — does not need to be bench work. You're not going for an MDPhD here. I would advise not listing this PI on your application though if that can be avoided. The fact that you said this PI already scared you to me is a sign that they should not be involved, at all.

-For your personal development: Based on your description and what you said went wrong, it sounds like you made a mistake (closing the flasks) and then compounded it by not telling your PI. While the mistake is honest and not bad you will need to own up to your mistakes, especially in this field. Don’t lie about a physical exam result or say that you called a consult when you really didn’t.