While going through the Janelia farm website, one of the principles they uphold caught my eye: They donot burden group leaders with administrative work! Ofcourse they derived a list of such principles from that of successful labs like the MRC, where even Nobel laureates do active bench work.. It is the same with Department heads, who do experiments with their own hands. This is not the case with most labs here in India. Now, whether it is possible for group heads to take time out from active administrative work and get down to holding pipettes is a different story that's not going to be discussed here. It may be inevitable that group leaders do administrative work all the time. But, if they do get to involve themselves in bench work, they by themselves are a motivation to young recruits in the lab. Another big plus is that many get to do things the right way,and get to build the confidence to try out new experiments just by watching the way their mentors work. Also it keeps a check on the use of chemicals and consumables in the lab:)
Just thought would post this picture whisked from the web. This could be the scenario in most labs, should we think it might not apply to us as most of us don't wear labcoats at all?:)
Just thought would post this picture whisked from the web. This could be the scenario in most labs, should we think it might not apply to us as most of us don't wear labcoats at all?:)
5 comments:
Yes, it would be a wonderful blessing for people like me if I can test my ideas with my own hands as I could do when I was doing my Ph.D and till 3 years back when there was nobody to start the new project when we got one. I again write this with the assumption that I was assigned a supervisory role (or is it a lead role). But I don't agree if I am asked to do what PhD students are supposed to be doing on their own. I can only be of some technical troubleshooting or discussions on testing different ideas. There is no scope except for doing mundane, redundant techniques.
In Janelia farm, the projects or ideas conceived are by themselves of the group leaders' brain children. People work under such group leaders work on one particular aspect of that idea, which would later translate into a group work where group leader would have worked on one of the aspects. but in most of the labs or at least in most of the Indian labs, one colossal idea has many big ideas under which every Ph.D student works. There is no focus in addressing an interesting scientific problem. In many such cases, the problems have no scope for innovation, leaving only redundant application of techniques.
Spending chemicals judiciously has got nothing to do with group leader working in the lab in my opinion. Everything boils sown to self-discipline, and passion for science that makes anyone work. Doing science itself is an inspiration to do science!
That was a nice picture on the state of two different lab coats after a week. Just that it doesn't mention about washing lab coats periodically.
Surely by bench work i did not mean that which is mundane or redundant! And it is discouraging to think day-in and day-out that doing a PhD obligates me to do work that is mundane. There is no better way of torturing yourself than to think and (what is infinitely worse) that the work you do is redundant, for the five-six years of your PhD.
Why did I bring up this argument here? Well, we often tend to think of many an off-shoot of the work that we do,something meaningful apart from the stated project objective..of which s-o-s is very much capable of, perhaps something is already cooking:).
Am just thinking aloud/rather fantasizing that why not move that extra muscle a bit more, give that extra impetus and make it worthwhile because otherwise we are always complaining about the rest that doesn't get us nowhere.
I agree that doing science in itself is an inspiration. But does that mean one should deny other sources of inspiration?
What if Issac Newton thought that watching an apple fall from it's tree cannot teach him a thing? That the theory of gravity should come from within himself and nowhere else?
Discipline, passion, are all simply words in the air until it gets grounded into you. Some people are born with it, Others, unfortunately, need some means to know they should've got it already.
Surely by bench work i did not mean that which is mundane or redundant! And it is discouraging to think day-in and day-out that doing a PhD obligates me to do work that is mundane. There is no better way of torturing yourself than to think and (what is infinitely worse) that the work you do is redundant, for the five-six years of your PhD.
Why did I bring up this argument here? Well, we often tend to think of many an off-shoot of the work that we do,something meaningful apart from the stated project objective..of which s-o-s is very much capable of, perhaps something is already cooking,am sure that which is above my head:).
Am just thinking aloud/rather fantasizing that why not move that extra muscle a bit more, give that extra impetus and make it worthwhile because otherwise we are always complaining about the rest that doesn't get us nowhere.
I agree that doing science in itself is an inspiration. But does that mean one should deny other sources of inspiration?
What if Issac Newton thought that watching an apple fall from it's tree cannot teach him a thing? That the theory of gravity should come from within himself and nowhere else?
Discipline, passion, are all simply words in the air until it gets grounded into you. Some people are born with it, Others, unfortunately, need some means to know they should've got it already.
Lab in abroad, it is quite possible for supervisor or group leader to do bench work as they handle only few projects in which he or she is principle investigator. Here in india, we do not follow ONE-MAN-ONE-POST RULE. India too have scientists but few, dedicated purely to science.
I just remember about my college days where we used to assess lectures or professors by giving marks (like how he is skillful in taking classes and how he is friendly with students and etc..). It is mandatory assignment conducted by college administiaration to improve student and teacher relationship in professional as well as personal context.
If same thing (like how he spends his time for scientific discussion with student, how much he has given input to particular project and etc..) followed in the field of research, PhDstudent will have opportunity to work with supervisor whose interest only in science.
Note: Assessment should be confidential and reviewed by university where supervisor has got his guideship.
To get funds for a project is a big deal in India. Here in Indian laboratories group leaders want to write the projects to get funds, but in Janelia farm there is no pressure on scientist to get funds and as S-O-S said , they are addressing a specific scientific problem and working on that so the group leader to work on that particular problem is possible. but this is not the case in most of the Indian labs.
Post a Comment