Reading material packet and laboratory notebook for note-taking. Photo credit: Giovanna Napoleone.
As a current student researcher at the Barnhart Laboratory, I have had the amazing opportunity to investigate mitochondrial morphology during my first year at Columbia College, which I am now continuing over the summer thanks to CCE’s Summer Funding Program and its Work Exemption Program (WEP). However, upon initially joining a new laboratory environment, I wasn’t quite sure of how to approach my project topic learning curve at first. How can I be prepared to go to weekly lab meetings, or navigate concepts I haven’t covered in my science classes yet? Below is a list of Do’s and Don’ts for how to approach a summer research position at a new laboratory!
Reading Material
DO: Consistently read 1-2 research journal articles every week in order to have a deeper level of understanding of your work at the lab. Scientific literature can be incredibly important for learning new techniques, concepts, and mechanisms relevant to your research. It is often helpful to read editorials in addition to primary literature, but try to read more primary literature than editorial articles or reviews. It may be difficult to analyze, but by becoming familiar with the jargon and language used to describe certain processes regarding your research is incredibly helpful when it comes time for you to write your own papers and presentations. Adopting common and conventional jargon also helps the broader scientific community understand your research better so that they can reproduce and expand upon it later. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even find more ideas for your own project by reading others’ work! In my personal experience, reading the fly husbandry handbook and fly dissection protocol provided to me prior to my first day of dissecting flies was essential to my learning experience, as I was able to identify areas where I needed clarification. It was also really helpful for me to take notes on all these materials, as I felt more at ease when asking my questions and writing down the responses I got so I wouldn’t forget about their reasoning!
Independent Work
DO: Allocate your time efficiently by creating a schedule for yourself that sets reasonable expectations. It can also be helpful to notify your lab director and mentors of what your schedule might look like besides lab work, so that they can gain a better understanding of what you plan to do in the lab and when. Since I personally only go into my lab twice a week, I made sure to plan out what I want to do beforehand so that I can waste as little time as possible on the microscope or having meetings with my lab director.
DON’T: Distract yourself while working in a laboratory by constantly using your laptop or phone. You are only in the lab for a little while, so take advantage of all of the resources you have available, so that you can use your time to its full capacity. It is also important to not set unreasonable expectations for yourself and the work you can produce within the allotted time, since you are a student that may have other obligations besides research.
Weekly Laboratory Meetings
DO: Write down notes of every individual presenting by keeping a lab notebook, even if it does not directly apply to your own research project. This can be useful, because it will help you gain a better understanding of what the laboratory you are working at aims to do as a whole. Lab directors have an incredible amount of tasks to delegate, but most of the time each individual project has a cohesive goal and overarching question that the lab strives to answer in scope! Plus, taking notes on project presentations can make it easier for you to create your own presentations in the future when it comes to showcasing your research.
DON’T: Be passive during lab meetings, or try not to actively understand the ideas being presented that do not directly apply to your own research project. Most of the time, lab directors can tell when you are updated on the material being discussed during presentational meetings, which is why it is important to always stay engaged and present. This could mean not bringing a phone to lab group meetings, or bringing a pen and paper to take notes instead of a laptop, which can be distracting.
Finally, as you enter new environments where you will learn new techniques and form connections, always remember that the most important thing you can do when you are new to a lab is to ask questions! By finding mentors and resources, it is a good thing when you feel comfortable enough with your lab director that you can reach out anytime with questions. With that said, good luck on your research endeavors, and feel free to reach out to Columbia’s undergraduate research department if you have any doubts, concerns, or questions!