Grad student experience in Clinical vs Molecular-based research

[MoJingly]

Howdy forumites

I started off last year in a very molecular-based science graduate program before realizing that I really wanted to do clinical research (as in, research on and with human subjects). I have subsequently switched programs (at the same school), found a great lab, submitted a couple abstracts for funding, finished a manuscript from my rotation project... but no physical "research" on my project yet.

This is all fine, but what's a bit stressful is talking to my friends from the previous program (including the S.O.)-

"What are you doing today?" they ask.

"Reading papers and planning out how I'm going to go about my project," I say.

"So... no actual research?"

"I... guess not."

I've learned that clinical research moves slowly. Before I even THINK about recruiting subjects, I have to know exactly how and why I am doing my project, get the IRB approval, set up the equipment, run pilot studies, fix problems, etc. That's a bit foreign to my friends doing benchwork. I don't necessarily care how they perceive my graduate school experience, but my main question is, how do I avoid letting their little hints that "I don't do anything" make me paranoid? I'm not doing experiments everyday. My hands don't get dirty. I sit at a computer and plan and read. I've certainly learned a lot, and my process of planning and researching (and writing a review article in the process) has made me pretty comfortable with how my project will fit into the literature.

This is interesting because it really highlights the differences in the "graduate school experience" based on your field. Anybody out there have experience where you feel slow-moving but know your attention to detail will pay off?

Stay strong and carry on, I guess. Don't let people in a different discipline make you paranoid about your own.

[Dal PhDer]

Interesting! I was thinking about this the other day.

I am in a very clinical and applied research program. I work with humans, and like you, before I begin ANY bits of my experience, I need to read read read read read. I have a group of friends in biochemistry who just don't get what I do. They think I don't do ANYTHING. They spend HOURS every day at their lab doing things that I can only imagine looking like this:

While I'm at home or a coffee shop reading and writing. They just don't get what I do. And I guess on some level I don't get what they do. They don't go through ethics, they don't pilot test, their data is completely different, and even what and how they write is completely different. I mention a literature synthesis to them one day, and they were like: what? You have to do that? ...my mouth was on the floor.

I am like you sometimes, I do feel like I am some kind of slacker because I am not in a lab 24/7, or I haven't tried a step in my experiment and figured out if it's a go or not. I just remind myself that in good time, I am going to be wishing I had the freedom that I do now..because once REB is approved and data collection begins, I am sure we're both going to be up to our ears in dissertation tasks!

Also, I am in much the same boat as you...constantly reading and learning can seem like you're not doing anything. I often worry about not having something concrete to show my advisor for all the work that I am doing. So I started working on some chapters for my dissertation. There's some writing I can do without starting my actual data collection. Even outside my dissertation, there's background writing I can do for my REB, dissertation proposal, potential papers. So I try to read and write! Maybe try that, it might make you feel better having some kind of document to show for all of your hard work!

Good luck, and stay strong!!!!

[prettyuff1]

I am in a very clinical lab but i am working bench side mostly.. I work with infectious disease vaccines and I am not even at the point of touching patients.. I am determining toxicity with animal subjects.. I would love to move to human subjects but its not yet..

[MoJingly]

Dal PhDer, it's so good to hear that I am not the only one who feels like this! And yes, the weekly meetings with the adviser can leave me thinking, "what should I talk about today?" But at least I'm following his direction in what I'm researching. Still, I'm pretty sure I will go back and keep re-reading your post just to encourage myself.

I'm currently sitting at home with a cup of coffee organizing a spreadsheet of sources. I read, summarize, search, read, summarize, bang head on desk, read, summarize.

And I just received a notice that the funding committee didn't want a full proposal from my abstract... boo. So, I'll add the next abstract submission to my list of things to write!

[MoJingly]

Another question

Have you noticed a difference in publications with clinical vs molecular research? It seems that molecular research can be broken down into a bunch of little projects, and you can publish some of these during the course of your education while still using that data in your dissertation/thesis. But it seems that clinical research is more like one project with a bunch of preliminary work, and multiple publications would have to come from the big bunch of data at the end. In other words, you are not publishing along the way.

I'm lucky that my rotation project had great timing and I could pump out a manuscript, but I don't know when the next will come...

Thoughts?

[Dal PhDer]

Hmm...my answer is not based on clinical vs molecular research....but I would say lab science has a bit of a benefit in publications, as a lot of time the lab work itself can be it's own publication and then the results could be another. With that said, a lot of non-lab/clinical work can do this with literature syntheses (not sure that bench work really does that) and/or conceptual pieces. I think students should consider these options as publications from their dissertation work.

Not sure if that answers what you're thinking....I also resent that because I don't do bench work, I don't get to wear a lab coat.

[Arcadian]

Just throwin' it out there: clinical and molecular research aren't mutually exclusive. Clinical people can do molecular research, and molecular scientists can do research directed at clinical applications. This is tangential to the topic, of course, but just saying.