Transcript Anne O`Gara`s presentation

Special Career Presentation to Bright Sparks in
Immunology 2013
Anne O’Garra
The MRC National Institute for Medical Research
Mill Hill, London
British Society for Immunology Congress 2013 –
December 2-5th, 2013, Liverpool, UK
Anne O’Garra
Born Gibraltar 1954
1973: Moved to UK to finish A-Levels
1974:1977 Worked in a Lab as a Research Assistant (funding)
(from Pharmacology to Infectious Diseases)
1977 - 1980: BSc Microbiology & Biochemistry, University of London
Then
1980 - 1983: PhD, Div. Of Microbiology, NIMR - “Bacterial Adhesion”
The MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London.
1983 - 1986: Postdoctoral Fellow: “Cytokines & B Lymphocytes” (G. Klaus)
Division of Immunology, NIMR (Head – Ita Askonas)
1987 - 1989: Postdoctoral Fellow, “Cytokines and Immunoregulation”
DNAX Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA
1989 - 2001: DNAX, from Senior Research Associate to Group Leader
(independent research group)
to Principal Scientist
Advantages of Living in Different Countries
•Life experience
•Experiencing different cultures - benefits of multiculturalism
•Experiencing different scientific approaches
•Exposure to broad range of technologies
• Increased Networking
•International Friendships
And many other---------
Research Career Facilitates Moving to Different Countries
2001 - Head of Division of Immunoregulation
To interface Research on Immunology & Infections
The MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London
Continuing: Research On Cytokines & the Immune Response
Initiated: Research on the Immune Response in Tuberculosis
MRC: Dana Foundation: funding
From The MRC National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill to
the future:
The Francis Crick Instiute
Tips for PhD students/Postdocs
•
You must have a passion for research; answering questions; get excited about data and discovery –
determine the area that excites you
•
Develop and define, keep discussing your research project together with your group leader
•
Plan, execute & document experiments & review against current literature: keep abreast of the
literature; give talks on your work at lab and other in-house meetings – whilst driving your research
through (be organised)
•
Attend seminars: Lab Meetings, Thematic/Interest groups, Journal clubs, external & internal seminars –
always balancing your own research around this (be organised)
•
Continually review your own work; document data carefully; review your experiments regularly & plan
future experiments against your past data & the literature; regularly meet with group leader to review &
interpret data & plan ahead (as soon as get the novel findings which can lead to talks/publication (start
thinking of the story – the figures/how many times each experiment reproduced/stats etc)
•
Develop your skills eg.learn new techniques needed for your project; improve your presentations and
writing; improving time and data management allows you think of the science (your’s/literature)
•
Conduct your research with an aim to presenting at conferences and publishing papers on novel findings
once you have accumulated enough reproducible data
Your Development As a Young Researcher
•
Courses (limit to really key ones – with advice from your group leader/other mentors)
• On the job coaching is standard for PhD students & Postdocs
- through discussion with your group leader or other if required
- obtaining advice/training from appropriate lab researcher/institute researcher for
techniques/protocols
•
Self-managed activities – most of your research career is self-directed with advice/input
from your group leader & input from others when appropriate/needed or resulting from
feedback at meetings eg. planning experiments, documenting experiments, interpretation of
results post experiments (don’t be defensive – listen to questions – can be most helpful)
•
Discuss your personal career plans through the years with your group leader (your friends &
family can provide good sounding board but usually not mentoring – biased)
•
Seek advice – find the right mentor – Head of Dept can also provide additional advice if
needed
Writing a Paper or Review: A Potential Formula
(for most but not all journals eg Nature different)
Use top journal papers as examples
•
Arrive at stage with sufficient reproducible novel data (statistically sound) to write a paper; choose
journal, check format & submission guidelines – all in consultation with Group Leader
•
Arrive at a structure together – figures with active headers form the basis of results; design
impeccable & easy to follow figures; discuss what to include in Materials & Methods and
requirements of the journal – thus structure Results Section
•
Introduction – before attempting to write, provide a structure by naming each paragraph required
(background & references that led up to your question and findings – end with importance & novelty
of your study)
•
Discussion – first paragraph usually summarises novel findings of paper – then again provide a
structure of each topic to be discussed and against what background before attempting to write
•
Always ask for and listen to feedback; listen to feedback from your presentations at meetings
particularly from Programme leaders (helpful) – get feedback from wise experienced ressearchers
before submission of paper – think about suggestions – discuss with your group leader
DO NOT BE DISILLUSIONED BY REVIEWERS’ COMMENTS – WE HAVE ALL HAD THE BAD ONES
GET MAD FOR 20 MINUTES THEN THOUGHTFULLY RECOVER AND LOGICALLY FIGHT BACK
•
Again – when writing a review provide logical structure first
Scientific Integrity
(many grants eg NIH, NSF etc now require Ethics Training, part of medical school, business school curricula)
Basic rules for scientific community
• Absolute honesty in all scientific communications –
reporting data, results, methods, procedure
• Reliability – maintain careful/accurate records of research
activities eg. data collection (example); carefully critique and
examine your own work & work of your peers
• Reproducibility (statistics – some good UCL stats courses)
• Objectivity – avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis
& interpretation etc
• Publish to advance research & knowledge not just to
advance your career
• Confidentiality (your own work; that of others; reviewers’
material; confidentiality of computer accounts/array &
sequence data)
• No plagiarism
In Summary – Your Life as a Researcher
•
Keep developing and defining your research project together with your group leader –
your ultimate aims as a researcher are to conduct your research to make new discoveries to advancing our knowledge of biomedical research – disseminate your findings –
talks/publications
•
Make sure you are getting continued excitement/satisfaction regarding your career –
(some lows inevitable – can drive the highs)
•
Track your own experience – how long is it taking you to obtain data towards a publication
and/or poster or talk at an external conference
•
Track your learning – how is your work comparing to the literature; how are your skills
developing re – thinking up new ideas to address the research question; organisation;
data management; writing; giving verbal presentations
•
Do this regularly for yourself & with your mentor/PL
•
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MAKE THE MOST OF THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY & ENJOY IT
Discuss your personal career plans through the years with your group leader/mentor
Career Options for Researchers (publications & successes however important always –
whatever you choose for your future)
Further Post Docs abroad eg. USA, Canada or Europe
Research eg. Institutes
Research & and Teaching eg. University Lectureship, Senior Lectureship, Reader, University
Professorship
Grants and Fellowships (Clinical and non- Clinical) eg. MRC, other RCs, Wellcome, other Charities,
HEFCE, Royal Society, EMBO, EU and ERC funding
Post PhD,
Postdoc
Career
Possibilitites
Pharmaceutical/ Biotech Industry eg. Research Careers, Other- Patenting, Management,
Production, Marketing, Quality control etc.
Scientific Policy/ Admin
Teaching- non University/schools
Science Publishing Or Journalism Or Public Relations
Could be
Research or
other Allied
Patenting and Technology Transfer
NHS- clinical- other
Careers
Professions allied to medicine- clinical psychology, research nursing, dieticians etc.
Science and/or Medical Writer
Various other careers using knowledge and/ or skills developed in science