Hi everyone, my name is Lillian and I am currently a graduate student in a Biology PhD program
over at Harvard.
So it's 6:50am right now in Boston.
I'm in the point in my process in the PhD where I am picking a lab.
Like, it's one of those life decisions that will actually have a huge effect on you.
It will affect the way you're trained.
Not only that, but the name follows you for the rest of your life - and that's just kind
of a lot of pressure.
So for those of you who aren't familiar with how a PhD works.
A PhD is a research degree.
So it teaches you how to conduct experiments, write papers, and communicate your research.
And so being in a biology PhD means I am going to be trained by a biologist in how to do
these things specific to the biology field.
Because biology PhD programs tend to go on for like, years, it's really important that
you pick a good lab and a good mentor.
You have to pick a lab with generally people you like, because if you don't get along with
the people or the lab environment isn't good, you're going to miserable.
But also you want to pick a mentor that is really a good fit for you.
One that you trust to train you on how to do science.
And that can be hard to gauge if you don't really know how to do much research or haven't
had much experience with it.
So basically the way the process works in a bio PhD because of this lab-based process
is, the first year of the PhD, in addition to taking classes, we do something called
rotations which is basically you spend 6-12 weeks in a lab just checking it out, doing
some of the science, seeing if you like the people, seeing what the mentor's style is
like, how often are they around, how do they advise people, seeing the collaborative nature
of the lab.
It's just like "is this the right fit?"
So today I'm going to take you around a typical day of what it's like to be a PhD student
in their first year.
So one of my friends just got on the bus.
This is my friend Nouran.
Hi.
So do you just want to tell everyone what program you're in and what you've been up
to.
Yeah!
Lilly and I are BBS G1s.
I am about to give a metabolism presentation on vitamin C. I'm rotating in a cancer immunology
lab that I'm super psyched about.
So.
Hey so this is my friend Kevin and we just got out of our metabolism class where a bunch
of people gave presentations and now we're about to head into lab.
We are in different labs.
So do you just want to talk about the kind of work you're doing?
Yeah.
Right now I'm working in a lab at Brigham Women's Hospital.
It's focused on cancer metastasis and how it spreads in response to instigating cancer
cells.
It's pretty cool!
Yeah!
And so what's pretty typical for us as rotations students is we get out of class and head over
to our rotation labs where we typically just do like a project (or sometimes people do
two...)
Bye Internet!
Hey so I'm in lab right now.
I'm currently a rotation student in the DePace lab which is a lab that studies gene regulation
in flies.
So far this experience has been really great.
I really love the lab environment and Angela DePace is a phenomenal person.
People really respect each other here and that's definitely one of the things that I'm
looking for in a lab.
Mutual respect and collaboration.
So right now I'm running something called a "western blot" which will allow us to measure
protein (concentration) changes.
So I started this experiment yesterday and I'm going to be getting the results today.
So now I'm getting my data.
This is what it looks like.
So there's a blot which involves, y'know, a piece of "paper" with some protein on it...
to put it very simply.
And this computer right here is reading the amount of protein that is on the gels and
letting me know what it looks like over here.
Wow looking good.
So the data acquisition went really well and now I'm actually going to have a meeting with
someone else.
So one part of being a rotation student is that you really try and find a good fit for
a lab.
And what that means is meeting with other people outside of the lab to really ask them
what their thoughts are.
So I just finished getting dinner with my friend Jacob and it was a really good time.
We talked through a lot of the things I learned about today, about the lab that I may potentially
be joining and he helped me make some decisions.
I haven't picked the lab I'm going to join yet.
I still have one more rotation left so it's a little bit early for that.
But I have some things in mind for the past labs I've worked in and I think it will be
really cool.
Just coming up with projects and stuff.
So.
Now I'm just heading home, thankfully.
I still have some work I need to do for my classes.
I did do some of it earlier with my friend but there's always more work to do.
So it's always nice to do it from the comfort of your home rather than being several buses
away.
The college has some event going on, some high profile concert or something.
So something that's a pretty common occurrence is that there will be events that happen in
the Science Center of Harvard.
And apparently now there's actually the Cambridge Science Festival that's going on.
There are like banners and stuff that have been around all the city but I actually didn't
realize it was at Harvard!
So that's pretty cool.
Looking through it it looks like it's going on all of this week which is a nice treat,
something to go to.
Given that I'm in my first year other than homework and maybe some experiments, really,
I don't have much to do outside of that, which is very rare in a PhD program.
Like that won't happen when I'm a G2, G3, etc.
So I'm really going to cherish this time and check out the Cambridge Science Festival this
weekend.
So it's 8:15 now and I'm back home.
It's pretty late because it takes me awhile to get home.
And now I have some homework to do so that will usually actually be the end of my night.
I try my best to really unplug and not do anything past 9 o'clock.
So I'll just be working for the next 45 minutes and then after that just relax for a bit,
watch some anime or y'know play some chess, just for fun to relax myself.
So I'm all done with my work now thank god.
It's very different to be a graduate student because homework isn't something you really
have to worry about.
Like, you still have to do it but you're not as concerned with grades.
I actually found that I'm able to balance my time better because of that - because there's
a lot less pressure so I actually end up doing better, though that may also be because graduate
classes can often, but not always, be easier than undergraduate classes.
So now that I'm done with homework, I usually chill.
It's important to note though that it's pretty much an exception that I'm back this early.
Usually I would still be in lab, and that's something I think most people don't realize
about scientists and how hard they work.
That experiments take a lot of time and it's normal, though maybe not the best practice,
to be in lab until 7pm 8pm until you finish running an experiment.
There have been many days where I'll be back at 10pm!
But there will also be days when I'm back at 3pm.
It just kind of depends on how the day goes.
Those days though, the ones where I'm back earlier, are more of an exception than a rule.
So I'm just really glad that I'm back early and I get to enjoy the rest of the night.
Probably just going to play the Sims which is one of my favorite games, and just relax
until I get more work done tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to actually documenting my time throughout grad school as to what
it's like.
Not just to be a first year, but a second year grad student, third year, etc.
All the way until magic thesis defense!
If you liked this video please remember to "like" the video and subscribe.
I would love to hear your comments on how your day is different.
If you're a PhD student that's not in Biology I'd love to hear how your process differs
from mine.
Thanks for watching!