Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Panel on Alternative Careers in Science

         


On November 9, 2011, the BioEntrepreneurship Core at Washington University put together a panel discussion on alternative careers in science.  Panelists included Jeff Xue, Ph.D./PMC, Product Portfolio Manager at Sigma-Aldrich; Kathleen Chaffee, Ph.D., Scientific Advisor at SNR Denton Law Firm; and Mike Degenhart, Executive Vice President of Sales at MIDSCI. 

Jeff started the panel with an animated, interactive PowerPoint presentation.  He first talked about his life before becoming part of Sigma-Aldrich.  He started out in biochemistry, did his Ph.D. work on an animal model for multiple sclerosis, and studied vaccines in his post-doctoral years.  At Sigma-Aldrich, Jeff worked first in technical service and has now transitioned to SAGE Labs, a division of Sigma Life Science, which is almost like being in a start-up.  As a result, he has diverse experiences to draw from when giving the audience advice about deciding whether to go into industry.  For technical service, Jeff commented that it's a good fit for him and others who like interacting with people and don't like working with animals in the middle of the night as well as those who can withstand customers who are often rude.  He also suggested that we make an effort to get to know ourselves and our working styles before we decide; if we are willing to accept and even like the work industry bosses give us, then that sort of attitude would fit well with a job there.  Additionally, Jeff introduced us to his three different categories of industry companies to help us figure out what type of environment we might like best: 1. R&D which encompasses big pharmaceutical companies, 2. market-oriented such as Sigma-Aldrich which specialize in market-driven product production, and 3. sales which are small biotech/start-ups where the whole team is geared towards getting a product for an order.  Finally, he talked about the difference between big and small industry companies, namely that employees have less responsibility and take on more specific roles in big companies versus more responsibility and broader roles in a small one.

Kathleen spoke next about her job in patent prosecution.  She first described her diverse scientific background, which encompassed training in NMR and MRI and spanned fields in synthetic chemistry, imaging, and cancer.  She does not do litigation, but her job does include duties that patent lawyers as well as paralegals do.  She didn't have to go through law school to get her position, but she did say that a Ph.D. degree is more desirable for the job than a Master's.  Why did Kathleen choose her career?  Her main reason is the fact that she likes science and writing but not benchwork, and when she was looking for a job, her firm luckily was hiring and liked her diverse scientific background.  Perks of being in patent prosecution include the great compensation, being allowed to choose the clients she wants to work with, and the highly flexible nature of the job – meaning that she can work from anywhere as long as she reaches her target billable hours.  Kathleen described the billable hour, something very different from what she was used to in science, as billing everything you work on into a working product for the client.  Consequences of the billable hour include having to work about or more than 10 hours a day to get to the requisite billable hours and no vacation days or set working hours.  Downsides Kathleen mentioned is that she can't spend too much time doing in-depth research and learning all the details since work must be done efficiently for the billable hour and that she is expected to be available all the time for her client and has to check her Blackberry constantly.  Kathleen also agrees with Jeff that her job requires a specific personality in which you like interacting with others and making clients happy.

Last to speak was Mike, who started out as a sales rep and is currently Executive Vice President of Sales at MIDSCI.  He first talked about MIDSCI, a local, customer service-focused place that helps small companies bring their products to the marketplace through a sales channel.  His father, Larry Degenhart, started the company back in 1983.  Prior to that, he was working as a sales rep, selling incubators, but he became dissatisfied with restraints placed on his job and decided to start his own company and be his own boss.  From watching his dad go through the experience of starting his own company and his own expertise in sales, Mike gave advice on these two areas.  To start a company requires a thought-out plan, a certain drive to make it happen, gumption to get through the hard times, and passion to follow through to the end, which can be very rewarding.  A sales rep position can also be rewarding in the sense that these individuals get paid for what they do, and if they do their job well, they consequently get paid well.  Mike stressed that it's not for everybody.  Qualities for being a sales rep include good communication skills, confidence, resiliency, and tough skin.  Mike concludes that it is also imperative sales reps have the right attitude, since customers would not want to interact with sales reps with bad attitudes. 

From this panel discussion, it is clear that there are many avenues outside of the traditional academic route to consider for those who find laboratory experiments isolating or dissatisfying.  Besides the great advice each panelist gave related to his or her specific field, the general take-home message from all three panelists is that there is no consensus science background or training required.  Rather, it seems that each panelist found success by careful analysis of his or her personality and working style and then making sure a prospective job – whether it involves assisting customers in technical service, writing and learning about diverse techniques in patent prosecution, helping new products gain recognition in sales, or any other endeavor – would be a good fit personally.  

Monday, November 7, 2011

Where to go to troubleshoot protocols frequently used in the lab

Suggestions pooled from Erica Koval (Neurosciences Program), Peggy Ni (Immunology Program), and Elizabeth Todd (Department of Pediatrics Infectious Disease) at Washington University

1. Cloning:

Manuals from cloning kits often have a helpful Troubleshooting section (ie. Invitrogen's cloning kits) that includes explanations and solutions for various problems that might come up.  For instance, I have definitely encountered issues with obtaining sufficient numbers of transformants and have tried some of the suggestions offered in manuals, such as altering the insert:vector ligation reaction.

Likewise, manuals for products used in qRT-PCR experiments from various companies (Applied Biosystems's TaqMan®, Invitrogen's SYBR® Green are popular examples) include "Good Laboratory Practices" sections that offer great PCR tips to prevent contamination and RNA-handling advice.  Additionally, there are step-by-step protocols to set up standard curves and prepare the reactions that are incredibly detailed, often making it unnecessary to trouble-shoot.

Websites of companies that provide off-campus services, such as GENEWIZ, for DNA sequencing, have handy pages that provide tips on how to best prepare samples to submit, primer properties that yield good results, or suggestions to purify products. 

2. Protein-centered experiments:

Of course, there is always word-of-mouth and getting helpful tips from either the senior members of the lab who have gone through the experience of troubleshooting a certain protocol or from other labs specializing in a certain troublesome technique.  For example, I was experiencing difficulties with expressing sufficient levels of a protein; after asking a protein biochemistry lab for advice and hearing that adding a histidine tag increases production – most likely by targeting the protein to inclusion bodies more – I tried their approach and saw better results.

Performing Western blots is a fairly common lab protocol.  For troubleshooting tips, the "Western Blot Analysis" and "Good Westerns Gone Bad" sections in the manual for the Odyssey® imaging system has some helpful advice, including suggestions on different blocking buffers, concentrations of various detergents to use, etc.  Another website to look at is the Cell Signaling Technology® FAQs section (under the "Support" heading).  Here, you can find various things to try if a certain antibody isn't working or ways to ensure reproducible Western blot results. 

3. Cells and tissues:

The Current Protocols in Immunology book, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., offers protocols on a variety of topics, with scientists renowned in a certain field contributing the information on that particular topic.  A solid source of information, it is great for learning the background of a certain experiment as well as for finding tips or alternate protocols.  Growing finicky cell lines, for instance, is something detailed in the book that was very helpful for members of my lab who were unfamiliar with the specifics.  Additionally, the Current Protocols series includes topics such as molecular biology that are applicable and useful across many different fields.

University core facilities offer information on their websites for flow cytometry, a ubiquitous technique in immunology labs.  Washington University, Yale, and UC Berkeley are just a few examples of places to find recommendations on antibody staining to yield better cell sorting results, eliminate overcompensation to analyze the data more accurately, etc. 

There are multiple places to find good protocols or troubleshooting advice for immunohistochemistry.  One is the Cell Signaling Technology® website.  Under the "Support" heading, the Protocols section offers detailed instructions for both frozen and paraffin samples, with buffer components included for different antibody diluents and antigen unmasking procedures.  Another way is to go to the antibody company website and look up recommended protocols.  Abcam®, for instance, has a lot of information and suggestions.  Various antibodies include reviews and ratings submitted by scientists as well as questions others have asked that have been answered by the scientific support team.  Additionally, the website provides troubleshooting tips for immunohistochemistry, with advice for addressing issues such as high background or non-specific staining.