It was Elynn’s PhD oral examination yesterday, and we had a celebration after that! The lab is awfully quiet these days wow that 2 people have graduated and left. We used to have so many people that there was no free space in the office or the lab, and our hood bookings were always full. But the situation’s pretty much reversed now – there are empty workspaces, the hood is left unused at times, and there are moments when you’re all alone in the lab. We’re all getting used to it, but I must still say that it’s way too quiet for me sometimes. I miss the days when everyone was around, and the lab was a lively place. But when you’re in the research field, one of the things you have to get used to is people coming and leaving all the time. Students will leave upon graduation, and even the post-docs don’t usually stay for long – if they want to advance their careers, then it is important that they gain experience from doing research in different areas and in different labs. New staff and students are also constantly coming in to replace them. Nothing is constant, except for the fact that the experiments are always going on.

When people come or go, the group dynamic always changes, and it’s a matter of getting used to it until the next change happens again. I’m glad that the few of us were able to meet because we all entered the same lab, even if it was for a short period of time. When the next batch of students leave it’s only going to get quieter and lonelier… and I don’t want to be the last one that gets left behind! So for now, that will be a source of motivation to work hard, so that I can graduate as soon as possible. I doubt I’ll be able to graduate together with them (some are a whole year ahead of me), but at least I won’t be too far behind.

I’m helping out with a Year 4 module this semester. In this class, all the students are tasked to present a paper, and a few of us PhD students were asked to listen to their presentations and ask them questions.

A few days after the first class, my friend, who was also one of the PhD students involved, overheard an undergrad commenting on how the questions we asked were so difficult, like we were out to kill them or something. Seriously, were the questions that difficult?

We questioned the undergrads mostly on the techniques used in the paper, as well as some questions on how they interpreted the results. We also asked them to summarize what they had presented, and one of my friends give them some comments on their presentation skills as well. No matter how I think about it, the questions we asked certainly weren’t unreasonable – at least for that session. After all, what they’re being tested on in their presentations is how well they understand the paper, and that certainly includes an understanding of how the techniques used in the research work. And as a Year 4 student, we expect them to have enough knowledge to be able to think about the findings presented in the paper, and why certain results happened that way. And for questions that might not have an obvious answer, or multiple possibilities, what we’re trying to test is their logical thinking. Anything reasonable is good enough. And hey, it’s not like we’re asking them something totally unrelated!

I’ve been through this as an undergrad, and I understand how, when it comes to presentations, we all hope that there are as few questions asked as possible – or even better, none. But after working the the research field, I understand how important it is to be able to think logically. It’s not that we’re purposely out to kill people by purposely throwing out questions that are beyond their level, but if there are some people who choose to see it this way, then I guess it can’t be helped. But let me just say this – the questions get worse when it comes to the FYP poster presentation and scholarship interviews!

When I tell people that I’m doing my PhD in Biological Sciences, one of the common questions I get is “So what are you working on?” I’m perfectly fine with being asked such questions, but ever so often, I wonder how I should answer them. If I say that I’m looking at the control of cell polarity and ruffling in mammalian cells, how many people would know what I’m talking about? Even if I say it’s something related to the actin cytoskeleton, those who have never done biology before might not know what it is. So I usually simplify it further, and tell people it’s something related to cell migration, and most people seem to roughly understand what that term is about.

Once in a while, the person that I’m talking to is someone in a related field, or has studied something related before. When they hear my super-simplified answer, they usually probe me for more details, and it’s only then that I realise that they know what I’m talking about. And then I’ll have to think about how I should put my project across to them, and also how much I should talk about.

Another question I commonly get is “What’s the significance of your project?” Now this is a tricky one, and I’m usually stumped for an answer. Sometimes it seems like people expect your project to have some great significance, you know, like Watson and Crick discovering the structure of DNA, but discoveries with such great impact are few and far in between. A lot of times, what we are trying to do is simply to understand what’s going on within the cell, and it’s only after we get some idea of that that we can move on to see if we can make us of this knowledge in other areas, such as medicine… So when I get that question, I usually answer “‘Perhaps it will have some implication in cancer in the far future”, since cell migration is an essential process in cancer development after all. (Plus I really can’t think of a better way to answer this question.)

At least through questions like these, I’m made to think about how to explain my project in an understandable way, which is useful when I have to do presentations!

6.55am. I left my house at this time on Thursday, as I had to attend an Animal Handling Course at SGH. The last time I left my house this early (with the exception of going overseas) was probably back in JC, when school started really early.

Taking a leisurely walk to the MRT station, the streets were generally quiet, and most of the passers-by I met were mostly students, their parents, or unfortunate people who had to start work early. The weather was cooling and their air fresh. It’s been a long time since I took such a nice quiet walk, and I enjoyed it.

The Animal Handling Course wasn’t that enjoyable though, despite the fact that it was educational. I don’t intend to do animal work as far as I can help it, and I only went for the course because my boss suggested that the few of us without the certification go for it since she has money left from her grant to cover the expense. We watched a demonstration on how to handle rabbits, and got the chance to handle mice and rats ourselves. Mice move really fast, which makes it difficult to catch them, plus they bite. But they’re easy to handle because of their small size, and you can easily hold them using a single hand. Rats are much bigger, and I didn’t like to handle them because they shriek! They’re stronger, and once they grab on to something it’s difficult to get them off, and it’s important not to use too much force to get them to let go, because it’ll break their claws.

Anyway, we had to learn how to hold the animals such that they wouldn’t move, as well as how to give them injections and to draw blood. I felt more comfortable with handling them once they’ve been anesthetised, since they won’t be moving about and they probably won’t feel the pain from all those needles poking them. The poor animals were all euthanised at the end… I guess it’s because after all the handling and poking from inexperienced people, no one knows what trauma they might have suffered, and it’s probably the best to put them to sleep then to have them suffer.

I believe that alternative methods should be used in scientific research whenever possible, but I also understand that there are times when animal models cannot be replaced (at least with our current technology). It’s sad to have to sacrifice animals, but perhaps one day we can further reduce their use for research purposes.