When you started research did you have your own project or did you just help other students out with little autonomy?

[futuredoc212]

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How long do you stay in a lab until you get opportunities for your own project and more autonomy?

 

[deleted972488]

During undergrad I worked in an undergrad-only lab and we each had our own projects/responsibilities.

For my PhD, I obviously had my own project and also supervised undergraduates' projects. As far as how long it took to let the undergraduate have autonomy, it depended heavily on the undergraduate. If you want your own project, make it known and be willing to put in the time/effort required.

 

[907914]

During undergrad I worked in an undergrad-only lab and we each had our own projects/responsibilities.

I want to stress that this is a rarity for most premeds.

Most will do guided research under their PI or under their graduate student only picking up your own projects (if ever) after the PI trusts you in the lab and you show proficiency in understanding the general concepts your PI would approve of.

 

[deleted972488]

Most will do guided research under their PI or under their graduate student only picking up your own projects (if ever) after the PI trusts you in the lab and you show proficiency in understanding the general concepts your PI would approve of.

Yep. And getting the graduate student to trust you to work independently requires you put in the time, effort, and initiative. If you can't run a PCR without my help I'm not giving you your own project.

 

[907914]

Yep. And getting the graduate student to trust you to work independently requires you put in the time, effort, and initiative. If you can't run a PCR without my help I'm not giving you your own project.

I mean, it is just as simple as washing the cells, making the lysis buffer, extracting just the DNA, mixing the primer and the master mix, spreading that out to all of your samples, putting it on the machine, picking the right protocol, waiting two hours, mixing your agarose with buffered saline for the gel, setting up the electrophoresis plate, adding a 50/50 mix of your amplified samples and your dye, don’t forget the ladder(!), waiting 20 minutes, and boom gel ready to be visualized. A toddler could do it, no training needed!

Edit: I have impressed myself with knowing this off the top of my head lol Yay.

 

[deleted972488]

I mean, it is just as simple as washing the cells, making the lysis buffer, extracting just the DNA, mixing the primer and the master mix, spreading that out to all of your samples, putting it on the machine, picking the right protocol, waiting two hours, mixing your agarose with buffered saline for the gel, setting up the electrophoresis plate, adding a 50/50 mix of your amplified samples and your dye, don’t forget the ladder(!), waiting 20 minutes, and boom gel ready to be visualized. A toddler could do it, no training needed!

Edit: I have impressed myself with knowing this off the top of my head lol Yay.

You'd be surprised by how difficult these things can be for some people.

 

[907914]

You'd be surprised by how difficult these things can be for some people.

No, I fully understand the difficulty. I worked in the medical laboratory for 5 years before even conducting any research, so doing 100x serial dilutions and using 0.5 microliter volumes was already ingrained into me before undergrad. It takes time and patience to learn.

 

[deleted972488]

No, I fully understand the difficulty. I worked in the medical laboratory for 5 years before even conducting any research, so doing 100x serial dilutions and using 0.5 microliter volumes was already ingrained into me before undergrad. It takes time and patience to learn.

Yeah, and I've done these things a million times at this point so they aren't hard for me. Sometimes I forget where I started and that I have to be patient with those who are just beginning.

 

[bobbitybob]

😱 Reading all that reminds how much I DON'T miss bench work.