Tips for designing an independent project in the lab?

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Ihave Nonamè

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I want my experience in my lab to be significant. I want to do something on my own and I want to try to publish. I haven't discussed anything yet with my PI because I want to come up with something first to propose. I want it to be something that is interesting to me but also that is feasible (with my skills and availability).

Do people typically just ask the PI for a project assignment? Or did you come up with an idea that you wanted to test? Did you prepare by reading countless relevant articles and forming a novel hypothesis? How closely do you have to stick to the topic that your PI is following? Can you stray from this somewhat?

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Read your lab's most recent publications, with close attention to the discussion section. Normally the "next steps/future directions" part has your answer.
 
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If you're an undergrad, I really doubt your PI is going to assign you an independent project right when you get there. You'll most likely be working on an ongoing project under somebody else leading the project. If you're dead set on doing something independently, then you'll have to do the research on your own and come up with some testable hypothesis and present it to your PI. Something like this will be especially hard if you're not working at the lab full time, so make sure you have realistic expectations as well.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
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If you're an undergrad, I really doubt your PI is going to assign you an independent project right when you get there. You'll most likely be working on an ongoing project under somebody else leading the project. If you're dead set on doing something independently, then you'll have to do the research on your own and come up with some testable hypothesis and present it to your PI. Something like this will be especially hard if you're not working at the lab full time, so make sure you have realistic expectations as well.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors
I'm in the lab about 20 hours/wk. I have been there about a month now and am still training for everything up to assisting mouse surgeries. They don't yet have a project as the post doc is new and learning still as well. I would like to do something of my own starting about March or so. They will hire me as a full time research associate when I graduate but I hope I will be applying to med schools around then (dep on my ECs)

I'm wondering how to design something realistic for my circumstances.
 
If you're doing bench work keep in mind Ph.D. students often take multiple months or even years to produce and evaluate a publishable set of results that are actually meaningful. As an undergrad, you're probably better off (for yourself, and the rest of the lab group) supporting one of these projects and maybe exploring a possible thesis for your fourth year.

Clinical work is fairly simple and anyone with a minor background in CS should be able to join a lab and start producing fairly quickly; if not, it's not hard at all and you really only need the basics (or google). A pal of mine was evaluating some genetic trends in asthma and, from scratch, produced a manuscript set for submission in about 5 months as part of a bio internship at our uni. Didn't leave his home one time. Obviously, this sort of work is boring and may not be as appealing as benchwork (or so I've heard, it's up to you to decide) but if your goal is to get your own project then those are my two cents.

Not sure how either is viewed by adcoms since clinical research is vastly different than bench research. I'd guess that serious involvement and authorship on a cell/nature quality paper from benchwork would be more impactful than some patient data-driven analysis paper you pumped out in a few months.
 
Read your lab's most recent publications, with close attention to the discussion section. Normally the "next steps/future directions" part has your answer.
But how much can I stray from this?...Say they're looking at a particular receptor and knocking it out; I'm interested in tracking neuronal activity or connectivity.
 
If you're doing bench work keep in mind Ph.D. students often take multiple months or even years to produce and evaluate a publishable set of results that are actually meaningful. As an undergrad, you're probably better off (for yourself, and the rest of the lab group) supporting one of these projects and maybe exploring a possible thesis for your fourth year.

Clinical work is fairly simple and anyone with a minor background in CS should be able to join a lab and start producing fairly quickly; if not, it's not hard at all and you really only need the basics (or google). A pal of mine was evaluating some genetic trends in asthma and, from scratch, produced a manuscript set for submission in about 5 months as part of a bio internship at our uni. Didn't leave his home one time. Obviously, this sort of work is boring and may not be as appealing as benchwork (or so I've heard, it's up to you to decide) but if your goal is to get your own project then those are my two cents.

Not sure how either is viewed by adcoms since clinical research is vastly different than bench research. I'd guess that serious involvement and authorship on a cell/nature quality paper from benchwork would be more impactful than some patient data-driven analysis paper you pumped out in a few months.
I'm in my 4th year! But again, I will be a full time, paid associate for a year following graduation this spring. I think that even if I haven't finished the project by the time I apply, I could describe the project and my progress on my med school application pretty thoroughly.

I'm not too interested in clinical research.
 
By the time a recent publication is out they might be on to a new grant.

A ton of undergrads go into a lab under the idea "me smart. me not do grunt work. me do INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTION".

The best way to do that is to approach the PI and see what projects they are working on because that is where their attention will be. Work on it. Be involved. Be there when they don't get the expected results and need to troubleshoot. That's how you get your own project. When stuff goes wrong, you go back to the literature, and come up with some new permutation on what is being done.
 
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By the time a recent publication is out they might be on to a new grant.

A ton of undergrads go into a lab under the idea "me smart. me not do grunt work. me do INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTION".

The best way to do that is to approach the PI and see what projects they are working on because that is where their attention will be. Work on it. Be involved. Be there when they don't get the expected results and need to troubleshoot. That's how you get your own project. When stuff goes wrong, you go back to the literature, and come up with some new permutation on what is being done.
Well, I do have an option to get lab credit working in a research lab. This is described as an "independent project in biology" and I need to submit the application with a description of what it is the PI and I have planned for me to do. The PI wants me to do this because they get teaching credit for it.

This is a small lab with just three of us at the moment (not including the PI). The floor has people that do work like dishes, preparing solutions, stocking etc for us so I'm able to participate a little more.


Regardless, I know that a lot of students applying ARE doing their own projects and I'm looking to hear how they went about doing this. I don't expect it right this moment.
 
Well, I do have an option to get lab credit working in a research lab. This is described as an "independent project in biology" and I need to submit the application with a description of what it is the PI and I have planned for me to do. The PI wants me to do this because they get teaching credit for it.

This is a small lab with just three of us at the moment (not including the PI). The floor has people that do work like dishes, preparing solutions, stocking etc for us so I'm able to participate a little more.


Regardless, I know that a lot of students applying ARE doing their own projects and I'm looking to hear how they went about doing this. I don't expect it right this moment.
I found it important to be transparent with the PI and communicate with them what my goals were and what I wanted to get out of the lab as an undergrad. Initially, I worked on some side projects, but over time they recognized my work ethic and allowed me to pursue an independent project.
 
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Well, I do have an option to get lab credit working in a research lab. This is described as an "independent project in biology" and I need to submit the application with a description of what it is the PI and I have planned for me to do. The PI wants me to do this because they get teaching credit for it.

This is a small lab with just three of us at the moment (not including the PI). The floor has people that do work like dishes, preparing solutions, stocking etc for us so I'm able to participate a little more.


Regardless, I know that a lot of students applying ARE doing their own projects and I'm looking to hear how they went about doing this. I don't expect it right this moment.

Well ultimately you need to talk to the PI about their expectations. This all depends very much on the investigator's style and interests.

Sometimes PIs might have specific projects they are looking for someone to handle, and they just need someone to oversee it. If you're going to go so far as conduct a literature review and propose a new project, first, to get a sense of what the lab is doing and capable of. Make sure what you're doing is within the scope of their tools. Ideally, its best to make some small modification to their existing projects and make it your own. That way the PI will be motivated to publish it with you because it fulfills their own research aims.

How much you can deviate from their current projects depends on their funding. If the project is to investigate the role of the hypothalamus in over-eating, you can't just decide you want to do a study on the Parkinsons and order a bunch of mice -- unless you have funding specifically devoted to that.
 
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