Research Proposal- endocrinology

[Mayssy]

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Hey guys,

So I'm applying for a summer research program at my undergrad... The thing is the professor I want to work with doesn't have a specific project for me to join. I took an endocrinology course with this professor last semester, and she really emphasized research. Bottom line: I LOVED it, and would LOVE the opportunity to work with her.

My problem is I don't know how to start a proposal, and she wants me to have a t least SOMETHING prepared before I meet with her this Wednesday. I've been looking through endocrinology journals, I'm interested in stress hormones, but don't have a specific question yet...

What do you guys suggest? Has anyone done research within this field? Those of you who've written proposals, where should I start?

Thanks in advance guys, any suggestions would help I think🙂

 

[lorenzomicron]

Hey guys,

So I'm applying for a summer research program at my undergrad... The thing is the professor I want to work with doesn't have a specific project for me to join. I took an endocrinology course with this professor last semester, and she really emphasized research. Bottom line: I LOVED it, and would LOVE the opportunity to work with her.

My problem is I don't know how to start a proposal, and she wants me to have a t least SOMETHING prepared before I meet with her this Wednesday. I've been looking through endocrinology journals, I'm interested in stress hormones, but don't have a specific question yet...

What do you guys suggest? Has anyone done research within this field? Those of you who've written proposals, where should I start?

Thanks in advance guys, any suggestions would help I think🙂

so, as far as research proposals go, you have started the correct process: literature review. conduct some literature review and that will form the introduction/background part of ur proposal. im sure your professor has specific equipment and capabilities in her lab (i.e. animal models? cell cultures? she must have some kind of specific experimental capabilities).
if you know these, the next step is to choose a recent article, i.e. like 2010, and then just for the sake of the proposal and having a proposal, propose a similar experiment, probably to further the work in some way.
i might be able to suggest a direction, but its too broad wihtout knowing the lab capabilities.

good luck.

 

[Mayssy]

so, as far as research proposals go, you have started the correct process: literature review. conduct some literature review and that will form the introduction/background part of ur proposal. im sure your professor has specific equipment and capabilities in her lab (i.e. animal models? cell cultures? she must have some kind of specific experimental capabilities).
if you know these, the next step is to choose a recent article, i.e. like 2010, and then just for the sake of the proposal and having a proposal, propose a similar experiment, probably to further the work in some way.
i might be able to suggest a direction, but its too broad wihtout knowing the lab capabilities.

good luck.

Phew.. at least I'm on the right track. Yes, she does... her lab uses rats as animal models (most of her past students have been in the neuroscience realm). As far as specific technology, I'm not sure, but I would assume the lab is well equipped for an undergraduate one.

Does that help? Thank you for suggesting I choose a recent article! I'm definitely on it, any other suggestions would help.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Hey guys,

So I'm applying for a summer research program at my undergrad... The thing is the professor I want to work with doesn't have a specific project for me to join. I took an endocrinology course with this professor last semester, and she really emphasized research. Bottom line: I LOVED it, and would LOVE the opportunity to work with her.

My problem is I don't know how to start a proposal, and she wants me to have a t least SOMETHING prepared before I meet with her this Wednesday. I've been looking through endocrinology journals, I'm interested in stress hormones, but don't have a specific question yet...

What do you guys suggest? Has anyone done research within this field? Those of you who've written proposals, where should I start?

Thanks in advance guys, any suggestions would help I think🙂

Are you sure you need to write a proposal? It would be hard to come up with something as an undergrad with the proper experimental design, etc. From my experience, it seems a bit out of the ordinary for her to expect you to come up with something on your own. The least she could do, if this is for actual research, is guide you through this process.

Especially for something like summer research, PIs usually have a bunch of small projects that they don't have time for but would love to give out to undergrads. You should try talking with other PIs at your school who do endocrinology research to see if some of their work is interesting to you as well.

 

[lorenzomicron]

Phew.. at least I'm on the right track. Yes, she does... her lab uses rats as animal models (most of her past students have been in the neuroscience realm). As far as specific technology, I'm not sure, but I would assume the lab is well equipped for an undergraduate one.

Does that help? Thank you for suggesting I choose a recent article! I'm definitely on it, any other suggestions would help.

I can't think she wants you to write a whole research proposal. It does seem that she wants you to have some idea of what you might do. My professor pulled a similar trick, where I spent two weeks fulltime reviewing literature and coming up with a research proposal (background, work to be done, equipment, additional stuff) on FibreOptic Plethysmography hardware; he then said kewl and put me on a different project altogether. so, it's not that big of a deal probably, but this whole proposal thing sure teaches you to read literature like a pro for sure man.

so, for animal models, you have basically unlimited options, and if its like neuroscience stuff (not sure what you're interested in?), you could probably do stimulation tests, where you give animals hormones and imbalance them, to see the various behavioral effects- theres still research to be done even in commonly cited hormones like testosterone, estrogen....etc....

 

[PermanentWaves]

My guess is this is a test. My supervisor asked me to do something similar. I ended up spending a week looking through literature, and proposed a project that was a) full of holes, b) not practical given our resources, and c) had already been done before. I realized later on that I had completely missed the point of this exercise: the proposal itself did not matter. Once I handed the proposal to him, he spent two minutes looking it over, tossed it aside, and then went on talking to me about a completely different project ongoing in the lab.

PIs get approached by tons of students all the time asking for research opportunities to beef up their med/grad applications. Then when they get into the lab, they realize that research is not for them, and end up dragging their feet and wasting time and money. By doing this proposal (jumping through hoops, if you will), you are showing your supervisor that you are committed to this venture and willing to derive something tangible from it. Not only that, but you demonstrate that you are capable of dealing with the mundane and redundant parts of science

 

[Mike7704]

Not sure if you are interested, but UC Berkeley has a M.S. in endocrinology

 

[LizzyM]

Grab the most recent issue of a journal in the field and read the discussion section of each article. That's where the authors will lay out what needs to be done next to advance the research described in that paper. Once you find a question that interests you, take a look at the methods section of that paper and other papers cited by that paper.

Finally, go back and look at the introduction of that article and read the articles cited in the introduction.