Planning on doing research over the summer, should I stick with my current lab?

[reese07]

Ive been with my current lab for 1.5 years. I was planning on doing some research in my last summer at my school from May to August (I graduate in aug). Are 4 months long enough to expose myself to a different lab and to broaden my research experience? If I do stick to my current lab, I will be doing the same thing in the summer. My PI doesn't really offer great opportunities to be independent and my lab is limited to what we can do. However, I do know another PI that will be able to let me work on a whole new independent project.

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[random cell]

In a case where your current PI gave you some autonomy I'd say stay, but this doesn't seem to be the case here and the other lab sounds like you'll have more room to learn and grow. I vote for switching labs. This goes without saying, but leave on a good note.

and yes 4 months is plenty of time. Maybe not enough to publish, but enough to get a solid feel for the lab and what they do. As a MD/PhD student your lab rotations are way shorter than 4 months and you're expected to get a feel for the lab during that time.