On becoming a Principal Investigator

The loneliness is real. Moving away from the benches, the white noise of the lab, the shared trainee hardship, and routine mentor meetings to the windowless office, empty lab space, and no lab members is isolating and strange. It is a combination of missing home, friends, and science that was mastered over previous years. It is also easy to get overwhelmed…suddenly negotiating all the major laboratory purchases, renovating the lab, drafting the animal protocol, managing all the bureaucratic tasks, preparing grants, hiring personnel, designing a website. This is by no means a complaint because the goal has always been to push beyond comfort into the unknown. Complacency kills, so it is only when we go past our limits that discovery is possible. And while there is frustration that all the above takes time and it will be some time for my laboratory to produce real data in this new environment, I am energized by the opportunity at hand and excited to establish new meaningful connections here. I am also fortunate to be in a department with many early stage investigators starting their own research groups and willing to provide guidance and feedback. Being the new kid on the block is not all bad either. Nobody really knows you and so it is an opportunity to be the positive change you read about on social media but were previously on the wrong rung of the academic ladder to effect. All I see is opportunity. Lets go!