Should I switch my PhD field?

[HydrationShell]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to get some input on concerns I have been having regarding my graduate education. I am a first year MD/PhD student currently in the midst of doing a rotation in a structural biology/biophysics laboratory feeling way over my head. I have always been interested in studying how biomolecules act like molecular machines undergoing conformational changes to some effect, however I feel totally unprepared to enter this field.

My undergrad degree is in biology and was quite general in subject matter, ranging from ecology to cell biology. As a result a lot of the concepts in structural biology are hard for me to approach as I feel I lack a certain understanding of the physics and mathematics relevant to the field. The same goes for my previous research experience which centered more on biochemistry and genetics.

I feel like I absorb nothing after reading a structural biology paper. My eyes just glaze over after I am subsumed in a tsunami of jargon and mathematical models that make no sense to me (what even are normal modes and how does it inform me about molecular dynamics?!). This doesn't happen to me when reading papers from other biomedical disciplines.

So my question is, should I switch to a field where things are more intuitive for me? I really like structural biology but I feel like it has such a steep learning curve that I have no idea how I'll overcome it.

[avidnote]

What does your supervisor think? If you are going to switch PhD subject, the most reasonable thing would be to do so in your first year. Just make sure that the new subject area that you want to study is really worth it, and I mean really really worth it. You don't want to switch only to be disappointed in your choice. If you know someone who studies that topic, might be useful to ask them a few questions beforehand so you don't commit to something that you are not 100% on board with.