Last night I attended a screening of the film Naturally Obsessed: the making of a scientist, which is part of the Imagine Science Films & Rockefeller Film Series Screenings (more to come on the Imagine Science Film Festival via a future post by Barry). This documentary profiles the struggles of three graduate students working towards their doctorate in the laboratory of Larry Shapiro, Ph.D. at Columbia University Medical Center.

The film was produced and directed by Chairman Emeritus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Richard Rifkind, and his author-educator wife, Carole Rifkind. The duo filmed the documentary over a three-year period in the lab. In short, the film demonstrates the many hardships that one faces when training to become a scientist. All three students face great uncertainty in their respective thesis projects, particularly because they work in the field of X-ray crystallography. The goal of crystallography is to obtain the three dimensional structure of a protein in order to better understand how that protein functions. To do this, one must generate crystals that diffract X-rays produced by a particle accelerator called a synchrotron. This requires equal parts of skill, knowledge, and plain old luck.

A glimpse at the film directors, Richard and Carole Rifkind, in the Shapiro lab.

Even though crystallography is depicted more as alchemy than science, the film demonstrates that becoming a scientist (particularly in a wet lab) is a difficult and often daunting process. Of the three students profiled, one does not complete the program and another leaves without a publication. Even the third graduate student, who eventually publishes his work in Science, does so only after four years of failed experiments.

One of the CU graduate students profiled in the film, Robert Townley, performs experiments.

So, why did one graduate student eventually succeed and two suffer? All of the students in the film were bright and hard working people who would likely succeed outside the laboratory environment. In fact, all three of them went on to successful careers in science-related fields. The truth is, it boils down to an unruly combination of luck and perseverance.

This film is a welcome reminder that, in training to become scientists, we are learning to think independently and tackle difficult problems but, most importantly, persevere. These skills are invaluable in any career path and reach far beyond the walls of the laboratory.