Maura Ishii

I really need help choosing a lab from two options! Lab 1 - Very well established, well funded lab. The professor has graduated many students before and all of them have a great track record. I absolutely love my research topic, and I got along very well with the lab mates. It was almost like family honestly, everyone came to my rotation presentation and told me how proud they were about me. The only hurdle (big one) that I can see is that I REALLY want to bring in a new technique/aspect into the research question. I already conversed about this to the professor, and he is totally open for me to do collaborations and take whatever classes I need to learn it, but quite frankly I am terrified. Essentially I will be investigating a transcription factor, and would want to see how this transcription factor differentially regulates different cell types doing things like ChIP-seq etc However I have almost no coding experience.... But my professor was optimistic since we do have a pretty solid genetics core and potential collaborators if need be. Lab 2 - The hip, awesome go-getter new female PI around the block. Her and I get along well, and the lab members are extremely supportive and have made sure I don't derail during my rotation. Ample funding, the techniques she uses are novel, and the lab's interest in genetics fits with mine but just not in my field (although that isn't a big deal). Essentially, they have all the techniques and expertise that I want to learn but in a different field. The only red flag that I see is that the employees (post-docs & RA's) are not treated the best in terms of HR policies etc. but none of those issues will pertain to me since I am a graduate student. However, it does make me wonder if problems will arise later on if the other employees are unhappy. Summary: I love the lab#1's topic but I will have to work my butt off to learn something really complicated and COMPLETELY new to me for one aim. I am not-so-in love with topic #2 but they have the expertise of the techniques and there will be a lot of people to help me in regards to that. I get along with both labs. This has been an extremely hard decision to make since both labs are well funded and I get along with the PI and lab mates. I have pondered about a co-mentorship between these two PI's but they don't even know each other, and I'm pretty sure PI#2 wants to stay within her field since she is just getting started...