If running a scientific project is like cooking, then my usual modus operandi in the lab is to prepare a lavish, many-course meal. The meal, in this analogy, is the overarching goal of what I want to understand, and each course is one independent angle on that question. Such a multitasking approach is useful: you get to try out different competing theories, which can answer your question faster, and if something crashes \u2013 say you burn the casserole \u2013 you can still keep the project afloat with more promising routes and extra helpings of dessert. <\/p>\n
My multitasking tendencies got more extreme during my experience as a team leader in a Dutch biotech company \u2013 when you have a group of people working for you, it\u2019s so easy to expand your menu. My challenge in returning to science as a re-entry fellow was to adapt to being a lone-wolf chef once again. Although it\u2019s been hard at times, I\u2019ve managed to run my project in the manner to which I\u2019ve grown accustomed, while at the same time keeping it manageable for my one pair of hands.<\/p>\n
In the past month, however, I\u2019ve had to change my approach completely. My big screen paper came back from an excellent cell biology journal with three positive reviews, but after a bit of back-and-forthing with the editor, I was charged with performing just one final experiment to flesh out the mechanism a bit more. And I was given three months in which to do it.<\/p>\n
Never has my career depended so much on the outcome of one single experiment. Applications for independent fellowships are coming up this autumn, and though I have a good shot at them, I have a feeling that this paper will be what makes or breaks the acceptability of my track record, which will be an important component. So a successful experiment will land the paper into a safe and well-regarded home in time for the deadlines, which will facilitate my applications; in turn, success at winning a fellowship will allow me to stay in science as an independent researcher. Failure, though: I almost don\u2019t want to think about the reverse. No timely paper, no fellowship, no position. In that event, it\u2019s time to do yet another post-doc to try to consolidate my chances \u2013 or to finally surrender gracefully to the inevitable and leave research altogether.<\/p>\n
So my laboratory life has narrowed down to an incredibly focused point, and I have to say I\u2019m enjoying myself immensely. One key experiment: what could bring more lucidity to my life? It\u2019s like trying to boil the perfect egg. Everything else is on hold as I grapple with the best way to deliver. The editor referred to the experiment as \u201cstraightforward\u201d; well, yes and no. There are two ways to do it, neither of which are up and running in our lab: a classic biochemical approach, and a new-fangled strategy involving F\u00f6rster Resonance Energy Transfer microscopy (FRET). Naturally I\u2019ve called in all my connections and received advice \u2013 the old-fashioned biochemists, horrified, tell me to avoid FRET like the plague, while my imaging-savvy colleagues would rather put out their own eyes with a Gilson P1000 than spend all day in a cold room pulling down elusive proteins so fragile, urban myth goes, that if you so much as hold a tube at its base instead of by its lid for a few seconds, the game is up.<\/p>\n
Typical me, I\u2019ve decided to pursue both in parallel. Each technique is challenging and interesting, and equally useful to have under my belt for the future. And clearly, doing both will maximize my chances of success. <\/p>\n
One month into the three-month period, and I\u2019ve had some modest success with the FRET, though I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s sensitive enough to reveal my phenomenon clearly enough. And it\u2019s gruelling work: preparing the cells and capturing the images is easy, but analyzing the data is painstaking and slow, one cell at a time with dozens of analysis steps in the pipeline. For example, I managed to look at four today, and I\u2019ll require many dozens; rainbow-hot images of phtotobleached cells are seared into my retina and haunt my sleep. Meanwhile the reagents for the biochemical assay have arrived from America, and I\u2019m going to set up a few pilots next week. It\u2019s more sensitive, and I\u2019ve always had biochemical green thumbs, but I\u2019m worried that my process will be too localized in the cell to show up in a mass population of lysed cellular proteins.<\/p>\n
So the game is still all to play for, and the stakes are incredibly high. I should be worried and stressed, but instead, I\u2019m upbeat, ruthlessly efficient and buzzing on adrenalin. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be the best damned egg you’ve ever eaten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If running a scientific project is like cooking, then my usual modus operandi in the lab is to prepare a lavish, many-course meal. The meal, in this analogy, is the overarching goal of what I want to understand, and each … Continue reading