What is Ph.D training about?
When you decide to do Ph.D thesis work and spend next 5 years of your precious life working in the lab, I assume you have some reasons for it. But it doesn’t seem that many students know what the Ph.D training is really about.
This is the time you deepen your knowledge on the subject that make you wonder “How does that work?” in your Biochemistry, Cell or Molecular Biology class.
Once you join the group, you start getting some general ideas and questions about research of the lab. Some of the questions, for example, in our lab include “what is a membrane protein?”, “What does it do?”, “Where is it?”, “Why is it important?”. Then, you also start learning experimental procedures that are used in the lab.
Initially, you spend some time to know about the research subject and the experimental tools by working with postdocs or senior students in the lab. During this period, you should start developing the questions that you think important and relevant within the rim of the research interests of the lab. Once having a question or questions, you start thinking about how you can answer the question(s) (e.g., How can I design the experiment to answer my question? what kinds of experimental techniques do I have to use?, What are the pros and cons of this or that experiment?). This requires lots of readings of research articles, serious thinking and discussion with your labmates, supervisor and other scientists.
Once you get a question you want to solve and an experimental plan to attack the question, you start working on the project. This is your Ph.D thesis work.
Experiments do not usually go as you wish to. You will encounter many failures and mistakes, and you doubt about yourself and your plan. Sadly, that’s the life in this business, but actually it’s not so bad. When things don’t go well, you start looking for the reasons why it doesn’t work and re-examine your experimental plan, and by doing that you find solutions to the problems and/or learn a lot.
In essence, during your Ph.D training period, you go over the cycle of the following: 1. Learning about the research project and the basic experiments, 2. Developing questions that are important to solve, 3. Designing the experiments to answer your questions, 4. Developing the ability to interpret and understand your experimental data, and 5. Learning to write and communicate effectively about your results with other people.
As a Ph.D student, you go over the above cycle with planning, working and thinking hard, reading research articles, exchanging and communicating your ideas and plans with other scientists.
It is worth getting this training if you are interested in finding out how nature works. For me, it is a real pleasure to find out how things work in the cell.
I have enjoyed my years as a graduate student and a postdoc because it was much fun working in the lab. Now I have my own lab, I am looking for students whom I can have fun with and share this joy in science and research.
This is the time you deepen your knowledge on the subject that make you wonder “How does that work?” in your Biochemistry, Cell or Molecular Biology class.
Once you join the group, you start getting some general ideas and questions about research of the lab. Some of the questions, for example, in our lab include “what is a membrane protein?”, “What does it do?”, “Where is it?”, “Why is it important?”. Then, you also start learning experimental procedures that are used in the lab.
Initially, you spend some time to know about the research subject and the experimental tools by working with postdocs or senior students in the lab. During this period, you should start developing the questions that you think important and relevant within the rim of the research interests of the lab. Once having a question or questions, you start thinking about how you can answer the question(s) (e.g., How can I design the experiment to answer my question? what kinds of experimental techniques do I have to use?, What are the pros and cons of this or that experiment?). This requires lots of readings of research articles, serious thinking and discussion with your labmates, supervisor and other scientists.
Once you get a question you want to solve and an experimental plan to attack the question, you start working on the project. This is your Ph.D thesis work.
Experiments do not usually go as you wish to. You will encounter many failures and mistakes, and you doubt about yourself and your plan. Sadly, that’s the life in this business, but actually it’s not so bad. When things don’t go well, you start looking for the reasons why it doesn’t work and re-examine your experimental plan, and by doing that you find solutions to the problems and/or learn a lot.
In essence, during your Ph.D training period, you go over the cycle of the following: 1. Learning about the research project and the basic experiments, 2. Developing questions that are important to solve, 3. Designing the experiments to answer your questions, 4. Developing the ability to interpret and understand your experimental data, and 5. Learning to write and communicate effectively about your results with other people.
As a Ph.D student, you go over the above cycle with planning, working and thinking hard, reading research articles, exchanging and communicating your ideas and plans with other scientists.
It is worth getting this training if you are interested in finding out how nature works. For me, it is a real pleasure to find out how things work in the cell.
I have enjoyed my years as a graduate student and a postdoc because it was much fun working in the lab. Now I have my own lab, I am looking for students whom I can have fun with and share this joy in science and research.