quelquechose

I've posted this at several other sites, and it was suggested that I should try here.

For an English paper I am researching biological research as a career (originally I was planning on researching research in general, but if I can get enough information on biology specifically I will focus on it). As a part of this paper, I must include at least two interviews, and I was hoping that someone here could answer my interview questions. In order for me to use your responses, I need to know your name, area of expertise, telephone number and/or address, and email address. I will post my questions here, and if you would like to respond, email your responses to my questions along with name, area of expertise etc. to andkruse@comcast.net

Questions:

1. In what field do you work?
2. What specifically is your job?
3. What training and other preparation did you need for this job?
4. Do you like your work? Why/why not?
5. Describe a typical day.
6. Do you plan on continuing your current job, or would you like to change sometime in the future?
7. What, if anything, would you have done differently in high school and college to prepare you for your career?
8. Do you consider your pay to be fair? Why/why not?
9. Do you have any other comments/recommendations etc.?

Thanks in advance, and apologies for being off topic.

paradigm9

1) started in molecular environmental research, then went to virology...now in oncology.

2) find the genes that allow normal cells to transform to malignant cells and figure out the pathways they are interacting in to find drug targets..etc

3) bs biology, ms molecular bio, phd molecular oncology...tons of lab training, from radioactivity to pathogens handling

4) love it...never boring. in basic research you are doing things that have never been done before. i have a wide mix of duties- from custom robotics, coding, databasing to basic biology and cutting edge molecular biology

5) email for an hour or so, cell culture to keep my tumors happy..design and start experiments, coffee, spend an hour or 2 coding or getting the statistics done on image analysis algorithms ive been making, fluorescent imaging of my cells to see what happens when i knock out certain genes, coffee, etc..

6) continue...teach more in the evenings

7) internships, in this field it doesnt matter so much where you graduate from or if it was ivy league. the only thing that matters is experience

8) pay is great...but this can vary a LOT. if you are interested in the mating habits of tree sloths in new guinea, your pay scale may not be very good. but if you interested in breast cancer or HIV, you can do very well.

9) look into doing internships, volunteer work in labs...do something you are interested in. research sounds great, but it is VERY different from other careers. totally different kind of stress...

quelquechose

Thanks for your responses. However, I need to fill out a "verification form" to prove that I actually interviewed real people. In order for me to use your responses, I need to know your name, area of expertise, telephone number and/or address, and email address. You can email this to me at andkruse@comcast.net (And no, I'm not going to sell it to spammers.)

My dreams have been shattered.

acidphos

1. In what field do you work?

--Molecular biology- more specifically tumor biology

2. What specifically is your job?

--Grad student

3. What training and other preparation did you need for this job?

--It varies really. Depending on your drive you can get away with a BS and work as a tech or, in my case, decide to stay in school forever. (BS Zoology, MS Biology, PhD will be Mol Biology)

4. Do you like your work? Why/why not?

--Depends on the day. If I am doing something cool, then yes, if it tedious busy work (more common than you would imagine) then it gets mundane at times. But that aside, the incredible flexibility is wonderful. It is also nice to feel like your work may actually contribute in a huge way to society.

5. Describe a typical day.

--Again, depends on the day. In a typical day I am taking care of mice, running PCR reactions, cell culture, extracting RNA for microarray analysis, and screwing around in between all of that.

6. Do you plan on continuing your current job, or would you like to change sometime in the future?

--Well my current "job" is a transition by nature, but I plan on staying in the same area of research for my postdoc and afterwards.

7. What, if anything, would you have done differently in high school and college to prepare you for your career?

--Payed attention and developed better study habits. Grade/high school was too easy for me, I could get away without putting in any effort and it came back to bite me in undergrad where I didn't have the study skills to be able to pick apart what was worth paying attention to and not. It probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to try to get into a lab earlier than I did (I didn't try until I was a junior)

8. Do you consider your pay to be fair? Why/why not?

--At this point no, but its by design. I know it will get much better.

9. Do you have any other comments/recommendations etc.?

--Biological research is a pretty wide area of study. As paradigm noted, there is tremendous discrepensy between area in terms of work structure and compensation. I previously had done some work with the DNR and the pay was better, but funding was zilch- to the point I had to recycle reagents that really shouldn't ever be recycled.

Roland98

Questions:

1. In what field do you work?

Infectious disease epidemiology.

2. What specifically is your job?

Identify genes which may be important in virulence, transmission, or carriage of group B streptococci.

3. What training and other preparation did you need for this job?

Undergraduate degree in Biology, Ph.D in microbial pathogenesis, extra coursework in epidemiology and biostatistics.

4. Do you like your work? Why/why not?

Most of the time, very much. However, it can get frustrating at times as experiments do not always work as well as you'd hoped. Or sometimes, do not work at all.

5. Describe a typical day.

Really don't have one. Some days I'm in the lab for 10 hours straight doing experiments, some days I'm at the computer analyzing data or writing up grants or notes for manuscripts, other days a combination of these things.

6. Do you plan on continuing your current job, or would you like to change sometime in the future?

I am taking a professorship at the end of the year so my job description and research focus will change slightly.

7. What, if anything, would you have done differently in high school and college to prepare you for your career?

Probably would have started doing research earlier in college; taken more stats courses in college and grad school.

8. Do you consider your pay to be fair? Why/why not?

Currently it's not very good, but will improve with the new job.

9. Do you have any other comments/recommendations etc.?

If you're thinking of a research career, try to at least observe labs working in several different areas. You may be bored by one area, but find another one fascinating. Lab PIs also vary in terms of psycho-ness, so don't let a crazy scientist turn you off from an entire area of research.

dado

i'm not, but my SO is so these are her replies
1. In what field do you work?
- cardic electrophysiology
2. What specifically is your job?
- (mostly) in vitro studies of cardiac arrythmias
3. What training and other preparation did you need for this job?
- PhD in cardiac pharmacology (that's pharmacology, NOT pharmacy)
4. Do you like your work? Why/why not?
- love it. it's mentally challenging and lots of independance
5. Describe a typical day.
- cut up animals, hang up still living hearts, feed them electricity, capture responses, spend a week doing computer analysis of the results
6. Do you plan on continuing your current job, or would you like to change sometime in the future?
- taking hiatus to have another child, then taking senior position at biotech startup
7. What, if anything, would you have done differently in high school and college to prepare you for your career?
- molecular bio instead of pharmacology for undergrad
8. Do you consider your pay to be fair? Why/why not?
- sure
9. Do you have any other comments/recommendations etc.?
- plan ahead. learn marketable skills. choose mentor carefully.

quelquechose

Thanks everyone for your responses! I think this should be enough information.