<p>Hi,
I found a prof willing to let me work in his lab starting September.
This will be my first-ever experience in working in a lab.
What can I expect to accomplish in the lab?
Thanks.</p>
<p>Depends on what he is researching, you will basically be helping him to do the experiment, or after you learn the procedure, you will do it on your own, and will repeat it basically every day you go there, over and over.</p>
<p>Start researching the professor's research interests now. Get a list of his publications from the department secretary and read them all. Do background reading, including important papers in the field, so you can understand the work.</p>
<p>What you accomplish in the lab will depend on your apparent preparation and initiative.</p>
<p>Reading all a professor's publications is way overkill - most professors have several research projects at any time, and to understand what's going on in all of them at once is a waste. However, background reading from textbooks or papers is an excellent way to prepare. You should have some idea of what project or area you'll be working on. Ask the person or people who will be directly supervising you to give you recommendations for good textbooks, articles, or papers to read. That'll do you a great service in being useful in lab.</p>
<p>Question: is it OK if your research is not neccesarily related to medicine? Will med schools frown upon this?</p>
<p>Eg. I am researching currently the luminesscence of nanoparticles in Cadmium and Sulfide Compounds, and I may be doing research on phytohormone genetics.</p>
<p>I think it's fine. A former classmate of mine did a senior thesis in her major, Middle Eastern Studies. She'll be attending Columbia P&S in the fall, provided she doesn't get off the waitlist at JHU. Not bad, huh?</p>
<p>What exactly are you researching in luminescence? What's the point of your project? I'm curious, since I did my thesis on fluorescence and really liked P-chem and Biophysical Chemistry.</p>
<p>Also, what is phytohormone genetics? The genes that code for the various plant hormones? I didn't take anything beyond Bio I and II in college.</p>
<p>We use a UV/VIS machine to measure the intensity of the nanopartices in solution (AOT solution containing Cadmium/Sulfied Compounds), then after diluting the two best curves to 1/10th of their wavelength, we irradiate the combined sample with light for like 30 min, then we measure the luminesence of the particles (a measure of how much light they reflect), the irradiation makes the particles much more luminescent. We then dry the sample in a flask in a boiling water bath and collect the dried, evaporated sample and measure the luminescence.</p>
<p>The problem with this research is that I am not exactly sure how it applies to medicine, if at all. I believe it h as to do with engineering, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>phytogenetics I haven't started yet, but it has to do with the codes for various plant genes.</p>
<p>Not sure what AOT solution is, but I'm wondering if you really understand what you're doing on the scientific level. Luminescence is NOT measuring "how much light is reflected." I ask because it sounds a lot like what I did - the principles are the same, despite the fact that what I was doing was super-early stage cancer research.</p>
<p>If you're using an UV/vis spectrometer, you're examining your solutions' capabilities to absorb light at different wavelengths. You're probably selecting the solutions that have the most intense absorbance at the wavelength of interest. Then you dilute 10-fold to reduce the intensity of absorption (not wavelength, since dilution won't mess with that unless you're talking dimer formation) and then irradiate. It sounds like you're working with phosphorescent compounds, especially since you're talking about the heavy metal cadmium and sulfur, which have d orbitals. </p>
<p>You'll do better if you really understand what's going on for that project. I did research in the nuclear energy industry right out of high school, and frankly, I wasn't very productive because half the time (or more) I had no idea what I was doing and why I was doing it. How much chemistry or physics coursework do you have under your belt? Your work sounds really interesting (to me, at least) but based on my experience, it'll be an upward slog for you if you don't understand what you're doing or its purpose.</p>
<p>I don't mean to discourage you. Keep learning, for your own sake, so in the future, you can kick *** on that project. :)</p>
<p>I found two more profs willing to let me work (or volunteer?) in their labs starting September. I must reply to only one of them, but I don't know which one to choose. I actually want to do research with more than one of them throughout the year, but that's unrealistic in terms of time, assuming that I'll be devoting at least 10 hours per lab every week. What factors should I consider in making a decision like this?</p>
<p>Pay, demand on your time, scheduling, interest in research topic, and most importantly (for me) the amount of responsibility you are given.</p>
<p>Shades_children, I appreciate your adivice, and thanks for straightening a few things out for me, (its only my 5th day and that was a very rushed and not so accurate explanation, sorry, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!) I only have a year of intro chem and bio and no college physics, yet. I am rising sophomore.</p>
<p>You seem like you know more about this than me, what year/major are you?</p>
<p>jonathan06:</p>
<p>I graduated in May with a BA in chemistry. :) I guess you could say I "specialized" in physical and biophysical chemistry, since I took my electives in those areas and did my research in those areas.</p>
<p>If you've got questions about the stuff you're doing, ask your professor and anyone else you're working with. They're gonna be more helpful than me. But if you'd like to ask me instead, feel free to PM me with the name of your professor, the project you're working on, any papers you're reading, and your specific questions, and I'll try to help. :) I love this stuff.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Pay, demand on your time, scheduling, interest in research topic, and most importantly (for me) the amount of responsibility you are given.
[/quote]
Do some profs actually pay students who have no prior experience? Don't all newbies start out as volunteers?</p>
<p>No. Depends on the professor, how much interest there is in their lab, and how much funding they have. My first research position was in plant science which isn't the top choice for many premeds at my school so plant science labs tend to offer paid positions.</p>
<p>You will find that prior research experience is actually not very prized by professors because they want you to do things their way and those with prior research experience tend to be more set in doing certain things. I've interviewed with a lot of PI's for various positions throughout college and none of them seem to value prior research experience greatly. In fact, the only time my current PI at the NIH asked me about previous research experience was during the 5 minute walk from the front gate to the building. He hired me for a year long research fellowship w/o knowing really anything about my previous research projects.</p>
<p>A more extreme example: I met a chem major the other day, also doing a NIH fellowship. SHE HAD NO PREVIOUS BIO LAB EXPERIENCE. She didn't know what LB was, how to pipet, or what a gel was used for. Her lab was actually teaching her how to use a pipetman. Somehow she landed a NIH fellowship.</p>
<p>What is lb? hehe... pound? I've worked in three labs already and I still don't know. I"ve actually done very different work in my three labs. One was more industry related which required me to work with machinery that this biotech company manufactures. The other lab I work at is in the psychology department, so it's not that technique intensive. The lab I am working at now over the summer is a microbiology lab, so there's alot of Northern/Southern/Western blotting, plasmid purification, etc. All three were pretty good experiences and I don't see how it can be a bad thing in terms of medical school admissions.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My first research position was in plant science which isn't the top choice for many premeds at my school so plant science labs tend to offer paid positions.
[/quote]
What are some of the top choices for premeds intending to apply to top medical schools?</p>
<p>"The lab I am working at now over the summer is a microbiology lab"</p>
<p>And you don't know what LB is? Come on, man.</p>
<p>How the heck do you culture bacteria in your lab?</p>
<p>"What are some of the top choices for premeds intending to apply to top medical schools?"</p>
<p>Pretty much stuff that could have possible application to humans: mammalian cell cultures, stuff with lab rats, etc. Basically, animal science is generally preferred over plant science.</p>
<p>Nevermind, I know what is LB agar. There's just a lot of abbreviations that I see everyday that I sometimes forget.</p>
<p>Is it looked highly upon to do an independent project in a lab (versus a project under a mentor/post-doc student/etc.)? I'm volunteering at a lab this summer and was given the opportunity to either run my own project or work with another person in the lab on a different project. Both projects are very good (very much medically-related). Of course the independent project will require more legwork, since I'd be in charge of making it happen, but I was just wondering if med schools view such projects differently. thanks!</p>