Overview
Self Notes from my PhD
I have been in academic research for over 10 years. I started as a lab intern in the summer of 2007 on an NSERC USRA scholarhsip and have been in research ever since. I have worked in various fields including bacterial and fungal evolution, heart development, mouse work, plant and fungal symbiosis, brain development, cancer, stem cells and chromatin architecture, to name a few.
The process is usually quite similar:
1- You identify a question you are interested in answering and find a laboratory that specializes in similar topics to join.
2- You design the experiments that will help you answer your question including positive and negative controls that will help you make sound conclusions.
3- You run the experiments, analyze the data and hopefully answer the question that started it all.
Data analysis is quite exciting but can have a few pitfalls to be careful of. Last week I was going through my PhD notes and found a list of tips I had written to myself back in 2016. I think they still hold true and define how I work today so I am sharing them.
1- Quality Control, Quality Control, Quality Control! Test all tools and start with data as raw as possible. Understand where and how the data were generated. Don’t over trust other’s work… People are not always thorough.
2- Document! Keep log files of every step and avoid small scriptless work. Humans forget. Write it down! All of it; even thoughts that lead to certain decisions.
3- Take your time, read a lot and have a clear idea of what and why you are doing things. Working without a long term plan is like driving somewhere new without a GPS, inefficient and redundant. It also sucks to work hard for years only to know that the question was answered before you started.
4- Work in a modular fashion. Working step by step will help make sure what works and what doesn’t. Unit test as much as possible!
5- A lot of data is not always a good thing. It can easily clutter your thinking and drown you. Be systematic…
6- Life requires persistent. Re-search, Re-search, Re-search. Although sometimes the amount of work is not worth the prize. Weigh your odds before you start.
What are your tips??
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