Nerdy Science Blog

Jonathan W. Yewdell published an essay in Nature regarding to how to succeed in science (for biomedical scientists). There are two parts, and I think it’s worthwhile to sit down and read.

In part I, Yewdell first stated that there are four facts young scientists need to know:

• Only minority of Ph.D. is able to become principal investigator (P.I.).
• When you receive your first research project grant, you are old.
• PI spends excessive efforts into writing grants.
• Professorship won’t make you poor, but financially worse than others who choose different careers

There are two steps to become a successful biomedical scientist.

1. Graduate school: choosing a graduate programme, laboratory, mentor, and skills (not paper)
2. postdoctoral fellowship

It takes two things to stay in science field, which are perspiration and talent.

In part II, Yewdell pointed out that the mission of scientists is to “discover something completely expected about how cells or animals work”. In order to achieve this, you need to work out in the following aspects:

• choosing a project
• designing experiments
• doing experiments
• interpreting experiments

References:

Yewdell, J.W. (2008), How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I: taking the plunge, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, vol. 9, pp. 413 - 416.

Yewdell, J.W. (2008), How to succeed in science:a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part II: making discoveries, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology.

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