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CRI Director and @HHMINEWS Investigator @SJMorrison_ shares his top eight pieces of advice for any new faculty setting up their lab as part of our #CRIHack series.
Hire a lab manager. Pick someone energetic, conscientious, & attentive to detail who will help you establish the right culture in your lab. Look at a lot of resumes & take a glass-half-empty view to find the right fit.
Order equipment & supplies. Determine what equipment you need vs. what you can share. Make a list of everything you used in the last few months of your postdoc. Let your lab manager order & negotiate with product reps. Buy brands you have confidence in.
Focus on the top 3 priorities. Get the science started — work at the bench as long as you can. Write grants. Recruit people. Remember you can only do 1 thing at a time. Don’t stress that all 3 things can’t happen at once.
Get the science started. Pick one question to focus on. It has to be interesting — you want to be invited to speak about it. It has to be doable - no long shots. It has to be distinct — it will define your brand. It has to be productive — you should have papers by year three.
After two years, you can expand to a second, related question that further defines your research and brand.
Write grants. Remember that grants are a means to an end — the goal is to do important science. Don’t take rejection personally — most grants get rejected. Aim to submit a quality NIH grant application by year 1.5 and have a R01 by year three.
Tailor writing to grant type. Junior grants (Searle, Pew, etc.) are seeking vision. NIH grants are looking for something interesting that is hard to criticize. HHMI wants creativity and the potential to break new ground.
Recruit people. Choose quality over quantity and look for people who are intrinsically motivated. The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Know quality postdoc applicants will be rare until you publish significant discoveries.
