{"id":8431,"date":"2015-11-23T17:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=8431"},"modified":"2016-02-08T12:09:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T12:09:12","slug":"the-faculty-series-setting-up-your-own-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2015\/11\/23\/the-faculty-series-setting-up-your-own-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"The faculty series: Setting up your own lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting up a brand-new lab is a dream to many early-career researchers, but to make the most of it, they must be wise with their money.<\/h2>\n
\"Fancy\/<\/a>

{credit}Image credit: Fancy\/ Punchstock\/ Getty Images{\/credit}<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019ve covered setting up your own lab before<\/a>, but there\u2019s an awful lot more for you to consider when you begin your tenureship. Here\u2019s some more of the story.<\/p>\n

Equipment isn\u2019t the only thing you need to think about when you finally get your (hopefully big) bag of cash. Staff and PhD recruitment is important, as is considering whether you need a closed or an open lab. How should you arrange everything? Does anyone else in the department need to share equipment? Should you stay traditional or move everything online? What else should you consider?<\/p>\n

Recruiting staff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no point in paying for all of the new equipment if you don\u2019t have enough hands available to use it,\u201d says Rafael TM De Rosales, a lecturer in imaging chemistry at King\u2019s College London. Too much focus on the equipment \u2013 be it computers, chemicals or carefully calibrated chronometers<\/a> \u2013 and not enough on the people who\u2019ll be using it, means you could find yourself in a brand new, decked out lab with little research output. Your most important hire will be the first one \u2013 your first postdoc needs to be skilled and enthusiastic enough to both carry out the research and teach your future hires what they need to know.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be under a lot of pressure to recruit quickly, but try to take as much time as required to find the right fit for you. To find good staff, you\u2019re going to have to trawl through a lot of bad applications. Some institutions have dedicated staff to help with recruitment, so check with your head of department. Start posting adverts online; remember you\u2019re advertising yourself as well, so your posts need to be as good as you hope the applicants will be. If you already know an interested and capable candidate \u2013 perhaps from a previous lab or through your own networking \u2013 contact them directly and if you\u2019re lucky you could save yourself some time.<\/p>\n

Lab layout<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you want an open lab, where resources are shared with other groups, or do you want a more private space? This depends mostly on the department you\u2019re working with. An open lab can be a great collaborative space, where those working on similar problems can help each other.<\/p>\n

In less collaborative departments a closed lab space may be a much better way to work. You\u2019ll avoid uncomfortable shoulder-bumping with another group, which is all the more important if you\u2019re working with reagents that carry a significant health and safety risk.<\/p>\n

Whatever space you go for, design your lab in as space-efficient a way as possible. Try writing out workflows of experiments you expect to be doing a lot of, and use these to group equipment together (this will also help to prioritise your equipment list, and remind you of anything you\u2019ve forgotten).<\/p>\n

Online or offline<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moving all of your work to an online space using a tool such as Labguru<\/a> can be a great way to foster collaboration and increased communication between your lab members, and a time-saving device for you to look over their work easily. But, it can be more expensive because every lab member will need a laptop or tablet when in the lab. There\u2019s also an increased financial risk; what would normally be a spillage on easily-replaceable paper is now a spillage on a moderate investment.<\/p>\n

The financial risk might pale in comparison, however, at the risk of losing all of your research data if there\u2019s a fire or computer failure in the lab. In the end, it depends on what you\u2019re comfortable with and on your field \u2013 if you\u2019re researching theoretical physics, for example, the only spillage risk is from the morning coffee, and the fires will be likely be very, very small.<\/p>\n

Turning an empty room into the hub where you\u2019ll build your scientific legacy is a challenge, and one you should be excited for \u2013 but don\u2019t get ahead of yourself. Making sure to spend the money available to you wisely and slowly will help an awful lot in the long run.<\/p>\n

Now you\u2019re set up and ready to go, you need to start justifying your appointment. Next week, John Tregoning, senior lecturer in medicine at Imperial College, London, writes on how to add value to your institution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/em><\/p>\n

The art of setting up a lab<\/a>, on the <\/em>Nature Careers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Advice for scientists setting up a lab<\/a>, by Addgene.<\/em><\/p>\n

The employee<\/a> and employer’s<\/a> perspectives on new hires, from the <\/em>Naturejobs blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

Going paperless: The digital lab<\/a> from <\/em>Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out the other posts in the faculty series:<\/em><\/p>\n

A big adventure \u2013 the podcast<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

An introduction<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Applying for a job<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 tips on negotiating start-up packages<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Nobody rides for free<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Balancing the books<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Becoming independent<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Recruiting staff<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Learning to collaborate<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Applying for grants<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A case study<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 tips on managing your time as a PI<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

What does it take to be a mentor?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve covered setting up your own lab before, but there\u2019s an awful lot more for you to consider when you begin your tenureship. Here\u2019s some more of the story.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90925,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[12,445,145,36949,1091,87],"class_list":["post-8431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-2","tag-academia","tag-career-path","tag-faculty","tag-faculty-series","tag-lab","tag-postdoc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}