Research Advice

[WestCoastDerm77]

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So this upcoming friday, I have a meeting with our chair of derm for doing research this summer. I have been researching some stuff on the internet but I wanted to get your input on what you feel might be some of the "hot areas" of research right now.

Basically, does anyone know of any good resources or websites that outline some of the major things being done in research for dermatology right now? I mean I figure it would be smart to have a decent grip on what kind of research the chair is interested in, however, I didn't know how much to know or if there was a good site for gaining a nice base of knowledge in addition. **As a side note, the chair is big on chemotactic (both receptors and cytokines) responses that are seen to have a role in many common skin disorders and cancer.

Also, I was interested to hear what you thought might be a good topic to bring up that I would like to research in. I was always curious to investigate the roles of chemokines and receptors in skin cancers bc i really enjoy immunology but I feel like that is too broad and would rather not come off as naive. Any suggestions on how I can narrow my interest in researching skin cancer?

 

[Dral]

I may not be of much help...and I don't mean for this to come off as patronizing, but...

Pubmed

Start literature searches and read. So much is out there. You have to start broad, learn broad, then narrow it down and focus on learning about that narrow topic. If you don't have experience in the field of interest, it's very difficult to come up with an original question that is specific and hasn't been covered already.

Go in with the mindset as if you're starting your career in research, not just as a summer project.