March winner!

Congratulations to our Backpack winner of the month: Liliana Marquez from Univ. Of Illinois-Chicago!! Your MIDSCI Lab Consultant Caroline will be delivering your gift to you!

Tread the Med

In an effort to promote a healthier and more active lifestyle, the Wellness Committee of Washington University School of Medicine has implemented an initiative called "Tread the Med."  Challenging us to incorporate more walking into our daily routines, the Wellness Committee decked the school with colorful posters outlining various walking trails, called MedPaths, conveniently located throughout campus along with the approximate number of steps and corresponding miles each trail entails.  Additionally, the Committee launched the Walk Star Campaign, a 100-day program in which participants aim to walk 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) each day.  To make things more interesting, the participants formed teams, tracked the number of steps they took with a pedometer included with their $5 registration fee, and uploaded their stats on the Walk Star website, which went towards their specific team's average number of steps walked.

Nancy VanderHeyden Campbell, a Senior Research Technician in the Department of Medicine, captained a team for the Walk Star Campaign, and she kindly agreed to share her experience and insights about the program.  She became motivated to form a team after reading an email from the Wellness Committee describing the Campaign and thinking what tremendous fun it would be to participate.  During the 100 days of the program however, Nancy did encounter some challenges.  Understandably, accomplishing the target number of steps was one.  "I definitely had to step up my walking to get to 10,000 daily," she shares.  And as captain, she also had to work hard to make sure all her team members recorded the number of steps they took on the website to ensure the team was getting the credit it deserved.  Anna McCulley, a Postdoctoral Research Associate also in the Department of Medicine, works with Nancy and was recruited to be on the team.  As Anna is a runner (one who participates in half marathons) and already leads a very active lifestyle, it may be surprising to hear that she signed up to do this.  Her reasons include thinking that walking would nicely supplement her training and, primarily, wanting to meet new people and get away from the stressful work environment.  Happily, Anna was able to do this and fondly reminisces about "getting together with people and walking and enjoying the team" during lunch hours.  Anna also has an interesting suggestion that ought to be taken into account the next time a campaign like this happens.  She thinks it might be a good idea to divide the competition into a walking-only component and one that incorporates more intense activity such as hiking and biking, thus attracting a broader spectrum of people.

The Walk Star Campaign concluded on January 5^th, 2012, and results reported by the Wellness Committee suggest the campaign was a success.  Over 1,800 walkers participated, recording over 1 billion steps in the 100 days of the challenge.  The numbers were quite astounding; the team with the highest step count, the Heavy Breathers, walked an average of 1,325,526 steps equivalent to 627.62 miles, while the individual who walked the most recorded 4,052,780 steps equivalent to 1918.93 miles.  In a nice gesture, all participants were recognized in a ceremony on Feb. 3^rd, 2012, and the top 10 teams and 10 individuals were also specially honored.  Another campaign is being planned for the spring, so those who missed out this time will get a second chance to sign up.

Winner for February

The winner of the February Back Pack is Becky Staerk of St. Louis Community College. Congrats Becky, MIDSCI Charlene will be delivering your gift.

Sciency New Year Resolutions

As we start the New Year, many of us will make resolutions to improve our lifestyles or ourselves.  To many in the Washington University science community, this is an opportune time to reflect on things at work we thought were unsatisfactory last year and resolve to do better in 2012.  These are science-related resolutions we have made and will hopefully keep.

Even when he doesn't ask for updates, keep my boss informed of any progress or technical issues with my research at least once a week.

-Peggy Ni, Ph.D. student in Immunology

Graduate in 12 months.

-Ben Xu, Ph.D. student in Immunology

Write for at least 15-30 minutes each day, first thing in the morning when I get into work.

-Nick Manieri, Ph.D. student in Immunology

Read a paper a day.

-Stephanie Rodriguez, Ph.D. student in Immunology

Publish my work and graduate.  Become more knowledgeable about how science is regulated on a national level, from funding and grants to education standards and health policy.

-Jen Lynch, Ph.D. student in Immunology

Get back into the lab [after the holiday break] and get the ball rolling.

-Brandon Holmes, M.D./Ph.D. student in Neurosciences

Stay more organized and efficient, so that we can continue to grow YSP by providing scientific experiences to the students/teachers of the St. Louis community.

-Jen Mosher, Coordinator of The Young Scientist Program

Getting a PhD but don't want to be a PI? Try scientific journal editing or writing...

For science Ph.D. students contemplating potential career paths after graduation, the choices have traditionally been either being a post-doc en-route to becoming a professor versus finding a job in industry.  Now, it seems that there are more choices out there, such as the options discussed in the prior post regarding the Alternative Careers in Science Panel.  Another career path that was not explored is being an editor or writer for scientific journals.  For science Ph.D. students, there are many questions surrounding this type of job, such as whether journalism experience is required, what kind of training is preferred, and what types of positions are available in this field.  To provide insight into these questions for anyone contemplating or are curious about this career, I've researched job requirements and descriptions for two types of journals: 1. those that report research articles and target an audience with advanced scientific knowledge and 2. publications with informative and fun science articles for the general public.

The Nature titles, produced by Nature Publishing Group (NPG), are examples of journals that publish research articles for scientists.  Here, being a research editor and contributing as a freelance writer are avenues that Ph.D. students could explore after graduation.  The NPG website helpfully describes the job responsibilities.  For research editors, these include selecting the articles that the journals publish as well as writing editorials.  Freelance writers contribute news stories, either by pitching a story idea to the editors or being commissioned to write something specific.  Maxine Clarke, editor at Nature, in an "Ask the Nature Editor" forum gives advice on the requirements for obtaining an editor position.  Editors who handle manuscripts need to have a Ph.D. and a good publishing record.  Some have post-doctoral research experience, but this is by no means a requirement.  For aspiring freelance writers, an established body of work is necessary.  Writing a science blog, entering in writing competitions, or publishing in school newspapers or popular science magazines are all creative ways to do this.  Looking around at other journals reveals similar requirements for writing jobs.  For instance, Cancer Discovery, produced by the American Association for Cancer Research, is a journal with peer-reviewed articles for a science audience.  In fact, it is currently looking for a science writer to write and edit content, and for this position a bachelor's degree in life sciences, science writing, or journalism is required as well as experience in writing science-related articles. 

There are also opportunities at science magazines geared towards the general public.  Science News is an example of such a magazine, and it offers internships for those wishing to learn more about the field and gain hands-on experience.  Working as a writer here entails researching as well as writing news articles and longer feature stories.  People who have an advanced degree in journalism with an emphasis on science writing and those who have an advanced degree in science and good writing skills are both eligible.  Discover, another general audience science magazine, also has internships focused on researching and writing stories for the print magazine.  Additionally, it offers positions where interns write blog and feature articles for the website, an excellent way to gain experience with online science journalism, an in-demand field if the current expansion of online content seen for newspapers and science journals is any indication.  Regarding qualifications for the job, the Discover contact person states that a student who has just received a Ph.D. in science and has no formal training in journalism but has demonstrated interest in writing – such as keeping a blog – would certainly be considered for the position.  Other magazines such as Scientific American, a leading source of science and technology information for the general audience, offer comparable positions involving researching and fact-checking articles as well as writing stories.  However, this one has a stronger emphasis on candidates having a journalism background, requiring graduate studies or work experience in journalism.  Thus, job descriptions should be read carefully to ascertain which opportunities would be better for science Ph.D. students who desire to have a job communicating science to the public.

Besides becoming more familiar with the requirements for science writing or editing positions, it is also imperative to know how our resumes can stand out and allow us to actually be hired by science journals.  I spoke with Gaia Remerowski of The Genome Institute at Washington University, whose impressive career in science journalism, including being a Senior Researcher at NOVA, has given her insight into how people interested in the field can break into it and find a job.  Her advice is to demonstrate an interest in writing science.  Since all job candidates say they're interested, the only way to be a top candidate is to have evidence of it and build a portfolio of writing samples.  Even having a free blog at WordPress is a great way to do this.  Gaia mentions that having a science Ph.D. may be viewed as a disadvantage; the many years spent researching a very specific and narrow topic may give journals or magazines pause when they want to hire an editor who can assess manuscripts about vastly different fields or a writer who can write stories about a myriad of scientific topics.  Should we encounter difficulties in getting hired, Gaia advises us to use the Web as our way in.  For instance, we can take initiative and offer to start a blog or podcasts on topics studied during graduate school to enhance our resumes and market our talents to journals or magazines that have traditional roots in print but desire to expand online.  Finally, Gaia suggests that aspiring science editors and writers join a professional society to take advantage of resources it might offer.  The National Association of Science Writers – applicable for both writers as well as editors since they would need writing experience to be able to assess articles – conducts workshops great for networking opportunities, has a jobs mailing list, and offers free hosting of members' websites. 

It is exciting to realize that there are many options out there for science Ph.D. students, including becoming an editor or writer at a scientific journal.  There are of course requirements for obtaining these positions, including demonstrating an ability to write well in academic papers and pursuing writing opportunities such as starting a blog.  However, for those who have a passion for learning about various scientific topics, a desire to communicate scientific ideas to the general public or scientific community, and an appreciation for grammatically correct sentences and well-constructed paragraphs in a story, these efforts are definitely worth it.  

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.  

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.