advice to young scientists.ppt

JeremyNathansJohnsHopkinsMedicalSchool AdviceforYoungScientists lecture Whois JeremyNathans AprofessoratDepartmentofMolecularBiologyandGenetics JohnsHopkinsUniversity SchoolofMedicineAmemberoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesDanielNathans sSonDanielwonNobelPrizebyhisworkondiscoveryofrestrictionenzymewithWernerArberandHamiltonSmith HisExcitingMoments Firsthomologyalignmentofaconepigmentsequence FirstSouthernblotwithDNAfromcolorblindhumans Firstabsorbancespectrumofrecombinantrhodopsin WhatHehavelearnedin33yearsofworkinginthelab Mostofall theincrediblethrillofdiscoveringsomethingnew notnecessarilysomethingbigandimportant butsomethingthatnooneknewbefore Twoaspectsarebeautiful thethingthatisdiscovered andtheactofdiscovery Galileo Iwouldratherdiscoverafact evenasmallone thandebatethegreatissuesatlengthwithoutdiscoveringanythingatall Mostexperimentsdon twork atleastnotashoped Designeachexperimentsothatifitfails andthisistypicallyatechnicalratherthanabiologicalfailure youcanlearnasmuchaspossible Don ttrytoseewhatyouwanttosee Don tfallinlovewithafavoritehypothesis Learntodiplomaticallygiveandacceptcriticalinput Therearebigpsychologicalhighsandlowsinscience Onenaturallywonderswhetherthelowswillbefollowedbyhighs hopefullytheywill After30yearsinscience IhaveseenenoughthatIknowthatlowswillbefollowedbyhighsandhighswillbefollowedbylows Therefore enjoyeverylittlevictory awell runSDSgel aniceimmunofluorescentimage etc Mentaltoughness endurance scienceisamarathon notasprint ThomasEdison scomment scienceis99 perspiration 1 inspiration Edison sresponseregardinghis3 000thfailuretofindthebestmaterialforalightbulbfilament Ihavesuccessfullyidentified3 000materialsthatwerenotgoodenough Keepapositiveattitude Supporteachotheringoodtimesandtoughtimes D Importanceofreadingwidely eachpersonhasauniquefundofknowledgeandcanmakeauniquesetofconnections ReadingtheMolecularProbes NewEnglandBiolabs orPiercecataloguesismorevaluablethanreadingthelatestissueofNature inpartbecauseeveryoneelsereadsNature Thedangerofpurelyelectronicscientificliteratureisthatittooefficientlychannelsyoursearchingintothenarrowdomainofyourownarea Activelylookfordiamondsintherough awayfromthecrowd Life longlearning classesarejustthestart Readtheclassics i e theworksofthemostoriginalthinkers CharlesDarwin OriginofSpecies IsaacNewton Opticks MichaelFaraday TheChemicalHistoryofaCandle JeanPerrin Atoms ErwinSchrodinger WhatisLife JBChasasectionwithclassicarticleswithcommentaries E Masterthebasicsofchemistry physics andmathematicsthatrelatetoyourexperiments Forexample whenyouthawasamplethathasbeenstoredinthefreezer youneedtomixtheliquidbeforetakinganaliquot becausethefreezingpointdepressionofsaltysolutionsleadstotheselectiveconcentrationofsaltatthebottomofthetube Becomeskilledatusingdataanalysissoftware Excelisespeciallyusefulbecauseitwillbehereinroughlyitspresentformfortheforeseeablefuture andithasagoodcombinationofuserfriendlinessandmathematicalpower F Theimportanceoftechniques Ideassuggestexperiments andtheexperimentsrequiretheinventionofnewtechniques butthereversealsohappens newtechniquespermitnewexperiments andnewexperimentalresultsproducenewideas G Respecttechnicalexcellence ConsideranOlympicgymnast agreatsurgeon oraviolinist everymotionhasapurpose nonearewasted Masterthetechniquesthatyouuseandknowhowtogetthemostoutofthem Cultivate goldenhands atthebench Observecarefullyandtakegoodnoteswhenlearningfromothers Don tjustlisten butwatchwhatothersdoandwriteitdown H Writedownyourideas I Taketheextratimetokeepaneatandthoroughlabnotebook ortheelectronicequivalent withpaperprintouts Writedownwhatthepurposeofeachexperimentis whattheresultsare andwhattheymean Igenerallydoallthisinlistform ApplythesameapproachfororderingsyntheticDNA designingaconstruct etc Collectprotocols J Pickingagoodresearchquestion balancinginterest originality andfeasibility K Dataissacred Don tloseit Back upyourelectronicdata Thereisnosuchthingasbeingtooorganizedortooneatwhenitcomestoarchivingmaterialsordata L Don tletagoodexperimentorpublishablefiguregetaway doitrightorrepeatituntilitispublicationqualityandthenyoudon thavetogobackanddoitlater Anexperimentdoneperfectlywithallthecontrolsinplacesothatitnailstheresultisfarmorevaluableandenduringthanonethatcomesclosebutdoesn tquitegetthere WhenIreviewpapers ifIseesloppydata Irejectthepaper Iftheauthorscan tdotheexperimentright thentheyaren treadytowrite upthepaper M Thinkintermsofhowthethingthatyouaredoingtodayfitsintothelargerpictureofyourbodyofwork Whatisyourgoalfortoday Themostconcreteversionofthisapproachistoask whatpaperamIgoingtowritethatincorporateswhatIamdoingtoday WhatfigureinthatpaperisgoingtoemergefromwhatIamdoingtoday Academiavs IndustryScientifictrainingascurrentlypracticedhasabuilt inparadox Competitionandpriorityinpublishing Generaladviceregardingcompetition itisnicetobefirst butitisbettertoberight TheimportanceofNOTcomparingyourselftootherpeople oryouraccomplishmentstothoseofothers Observationsonthescientificenterpriseandthesociologyofscience Keepingone smentalbalance perspective importanceoflifeoutsideofscience Timemanagement Howmanyhoursshouldoneworkperweek MichaelFaraday sadvicetoayoungscientist work finish publish Skills Threegeneralfactorsforsuccess hardwork motivation mentalability intelligence curiosity originality luck Generaladviceforsucce