What kind of research to do?

[aldol16]

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The fact that one DOESN'T have cintrol over many variables in clinical resesrch is what makes it a not good basis for research experience, as a rule of thumb in my mind. It is more complicated and less about science than good epidemiology.

Well, now you're basically defining "research" as "basic research." Clinical research is still research if you don't have experimental control over all the variables. It just makes you think of clever ways to control for various factors and isolate the variable you want to measure. It's just as good science as basic research - just a different kind of science.

Basic and transl is what teaches you the fundamentals best because it can be controlled, and can be straightforward.

This hinges on your definition of "fundamentals." Sure, basic science research will teach you the fundamentals of basic science research well. But that's not the question. The question is, which kind of research will teach you about the fundamentals of research best? Well, what are the fundamentals? The fundamentals are coming up with a hypothesis, coming up with ways to test that hypothesis, gathering and analyzing data, and communicating your results. So basically the scientific method. This is invariable across the fields of science, whether you're talking about basic or clinical research. Both will teach you the scientific method. These key tenets of the scientific method are what is important to become a good researcher.

 

[LizzyM]

In my experience, the MSTP admissions committee will not give the time of day to an applicant whose only research experience in a chart review study. They are looking for people with "good hands" and some skills at the bench. The health services folks are not sponsoring MSTP students, not at my institution. Maybe aldol16 can tell you in a PM where MSTP applicants with no bench experience but with published chart review experience can get some MSTP love.

My advice: do bench research in undergrad if you want your foot in the door for MSTP. For straight MD in a top 20, I do know of people who have done "only" chart review but they were career changers who had other experiences that set them apart (e.g. military officer, professional athlete).

 

[aalamruad]

For straight MD in a top 20, I do know of people who have done "only" chart review but they were career changers who had other experiences that set them apart (e.g. military officer, professional athlete).

Are you suggesting that unless you have something special to set you apart, you need bench research to get into a top 20 MD? Because that's definitely not true (so I assume I'm misinterpreting your post)

 

[Lawpy]

In my experience, the MSTP admissions committee will not give the time of day to an applicant whose only research experience in a chart review study. They are looking for people with "good hands" and some skills at the bench. The health services folks are not sponsoring MSTP students, not at my institution. Maybe aldol16 can tell you in a PM where MSTP applicants with no bench experience but with published chart review experience can get some MSTP love.

My advice: do bench research in undergrad if you want your foot in the door for MSTP. For straight MD in a top 20, I do know of people who have done "only" chart review but they were career changers who had other experiences that set them apart (e.g. military officer, professional athlete).

What are your thoughts on translational research?

 

[aldol16]

My advice: do bench research in undergrad if you want your foot in the door for MSTP. For straight MD in a top 20, I do know of people who have done "only" chart review but they were career changers who had other experiences that set them apart (e.g. military officer, professional athlete).

Are you suggesting that unless you have something special to set you apart, you need bench research to get into a top 20 MD? Because that's definitely not true (so I assume I'm misinterpreting your post)

Yeah, I can tell you from experience that for at least several top 20 straight MD programs, I know students who have gotten in with no research (minority) or with only clinical research experience (more common).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Are you suggesting that unless you have something special to set you apart, you need bench research to get into a top 20 MD? Because that's definitely not true (so I assume I'm misinterpreting your post)

I could be wrong, but I took it to mean that for top 20 MD schools, your application should have something special about it. If you're not a non-trad career changer with military experience or something else like that, then bench or translational research can be your "thing." That doesn't mean you have to have it. It just means it'll give your app a boost if you don't have another angle.

 

[aldol16]

I could be wrong, but I took it to mean that for top 20 MD schools, your application should have something special about it. If you're not a non-trad career changer with military experience or something else like that, then bench or translational research can be your "thing." That doesn't mean you have to have it. It just means it'll give your app a boost if you don't have another angle.

It requires more of a story than anything. It's not that if you have nothing interesting about yourself that you can just do research and check that box off. On every top 20 interview I've been on, everybody there has an interesting story to tell. Yes, for some of them, that's research but it's obvious that research is an integral part of who they are and who they want to be. In other words, it fits into their narrative. And narrative is extremely important for top 20 schools - and probably the most important thing for top 10 schools.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

It requires more of a story than anything. It's not that if you have nothing interesting about yourself that you can just do research and check that box off. On every top 20 interview I've been on, everybody there has an interesting story to tell. Yes, for some of them, that's research but it's obvious that research is an integral part of who they are and who they want to be. In other words, it fits into their narrative. And narrative is extremely important for top 20 schools - and probably the most important thing for top 10 schools.

That was my point. I said research could be that angle your app has. I didn't say checking a box would be good enough.

 

[aldol16]

That was my point.

I must have misinterpreted your post then. I took "have something special" as have one or two things that stand out whereas what I'm saying is that your entire narrative has to stand out and fit together. In other words, those one or two things that might stand out the most have to fit into your narrative of who you are and what you want to do. You could have 10 publications but their significance would be much reduced if the narrative you convey is centered on primary care/community service and conveys that you are not interested in research at all in your future career.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I must have misinterpreted your post then. I took "have something special" as have one or two things that stand out whereas what I'm saying is that your entire narrative has to stand out and fit together. In other words, those one or two things that might stand out the most have to fit into your narrative of who you are and what you want to do. You could have 10 publications but their significance would be much reduced if the narrative you convey is centered on primary care/community service and conveys that you are not interested in research at all in your future career.

Yep. That's exactly what I meant. If your angle is being a non-trad career changer with a military career and service to others, that's your narrative. If you don't have anything like that, then bench/translational research is a good angle to have. At least that's what I got from @LizzyM's post.

 

[Goro]

To this list one can add

Zika virus
the role of the microbiome in health and disease
metabolism and obesity
anything to do with Crispr/siRNA
the role of miRNAs in disease processes
data mining genomics and microarray analysis
nanotechnology and nanomedicine
personalized medicine

If you're like me, you'll find a lot of research in many areas to be interesting. I would say that the hot fields right now are: infectious diseases (ex. Ebola, HIV, Chikungunya, etc.) , cancer, genomics, and neurological disorders (ex. Alzheimer's). People may disagree with me. So you might want to look into those labs. But you need to basically find what you're interested in.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

To this list one can add

Zika virus
the role of the microbiome in health and disease
metabolism and obesity
anything to do with Crispr/siRNA
the role of miRNAs in disease processes
data mining genomics and microarray analysis
nanotechnology and nanomedicine
personalized medicine

This is perfect. I'm at NIH right now on a fellowship and these topics are mentioned constantly. Dr. Fauci is huge on infectious diseases, and we're slowly moving into personalized gene therapies. CRISPR shows massive potential for this as well.


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[Goro]

As an aside, I deliberately left stem cells off the list because they hype about these has far outweighed anything making it even remotely close to the bedside.

This is perfect. I'm at NIH right now on a fellowship and these topics are mentioned constantly. Dr. Fauci is huge on infectious diseases, and we're slowly moving into personalized gene therapies. CRISPR shows massive potential for this as well.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[TexasSurgeon]

As an aside, I deliberately left stem cells off the list because they hype about these has far outweighed anything making it even remotely close to the bedside.

I don't think the general public realizes/understands you can use iPS tech to generate progenitor cells that can be differentiated into XYZ tissue. It's always about the fetuses


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[Lost In Transcription]

To this list one can add

Zika virus
the role of the microbiome in health and disease
metabolism and obesity
anything to do with Crispr/siRNA
the role of miRNAs in disease processes
data mining genomics and microarray analysis
nanotechnology and nanomedicine
personalized medicine

Also antibiotic resistance

*biased towards ID*

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Also antibiotic resistance

*biased towards ID*

Cray cray.