Achieving Your First Chemistry Research Lab Position

Photo: Tiffany Kuo presenting her first-author team scientific research poster, "Exploring the Role of Formamide-Free Gene Labeling Methods in Cancer Research," at the 2024 Symposium on Physical Genomics, Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering in Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering.

I began my undergraduate career at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where I was a Cognitive Science major. However, after taking the introductory biology courses in my first year, I became more interested in delving into the underlying biochemical mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases.

After making the switch to a Biochemistry/Cell Biology major, I knew that I wanted to find a research position to hone my wet lab and critical thinking skills. This is where I began facing hurdles that made me feel hopeless. I had emailed countless Principal Investigators (PIs) and even applied for positions posted on Handshake. However, I was not receiving any positive responses.

Then, I reached out to my undergraduate PI, who was a new faculty member at the time, and we arranged a meeting to discuss my interests. In the winter quarter of my sophomore year, I began as an undergraduate researcher in the lab. Now, I'm in the fourth year of my PhD in the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program (IBiS) at Northwestern University!

I hope to frame this article as a way to help chemistry majors who are interested in conducting research.

Steps to Finding a Chemistry Lab

Finding a lab can be difficult, especially when you are an undergraduate student who has just started and doesn't have lab-specific experience. Here are some of my step-by-step tips:

A.) Conducting the Search

Look through your institution's website to identify laboratories that match your interest. Chemistry has a wide range of disciplines, including biochemistry, organic, inorganic, physical, nuclear, theoretical, and more. Read through some of their publications and make notes on which projects seem interesting to you.

B.) Contacting the Principal Investigator (PI)

Once you have narrowed down your search, email the faculty member. When you write an email to the PI, ensure that you correctly address the PI (e.g., "Dr. Blank"). In the body of the email, briefly introduce yourself, discuss why you are interested in their research, and ask if they are available to meet with you.

C.) Communication Process

The PI will either respond to you, forward your email to their graduate students, or not respond to you.

If you receive a response from the PI and you are meeting with them, ensure that you are prepared to discuss your research interests. You are not expected to fully understand the lab's research. However, you should be prepared to ask questions about the publications and how they may potentially relate to your research project. Ensure that you also relay your research interests to the lab.

If a graduate student emails you and you are meeting with them, do the exact same thing as above.

If you do not get a response, it is okay! Do not give up! I promise you that the PI did not mean to ignore your email. You can either follow up with them if you are super interested in their lab, or you can start reaching out to other labs.

Below is advice for new undergraduate student researchers on making the most of the lab experience.

Meet regularly with your mentor in the lab, whether this is the PI, postdoc, or graduate student. Ask them all the questions that you have (trust me—no question is stupid!). This shows that you are engaged and eager to learn.

Make sure that you take notes. This can range from notes about research articles that you have read to how much buffer to add to your experiment. This will help as you reference your notes in the future and if you need to redo an experiment.

General Advice for Students Majoring in Chemistry

A.) Work–Life Balance

My most important advice for any undergraduate student in a STEM field is to have a work–life balance (I probably need to take my own advice, too). There tends to be a stigma—that you need to take all of the courses, conduct research, attain an internship, engage in extracurricular activities, and more.

However, it is also important to take a break and avoid burnout. If possible, take one day off during the week to do something that you enjoy. Don't think about work and focus on YOU!

B.) Facing Challenges

There will also be a lot of challenges throughout your undergraduate career—whether this is failing a midterm, not being able to find a research lab and internship, and/or not doing well in a class. It might seem like your world is ending, but it will be okay. In a few years, you won't even remember this hurdle.

C.) Enjoy the Experience

Finally, enjoy the journey. I feel like I did not cherish my time as an undergraduate student (even though half of it was online due to the COVID–19 pandemic). You won't get this period of your time back, so make the most of it. If you have always wanted to study abroad, apply for it. If you have always wanted to take a music course that is not related to your major, do it!

About My PhD Research

Finally, I wanted to briefly discuss what I currently do as a PhD student.

My current thesis work is primarily focused on using gene labeling, imaging, and sequencing techniques to understand how chromatin domain structures are altered upon loss of HP1a, which is a critical chromatin–crosslinker. By uncovering the spatial relationship between genomic loci, epigenetic modifications, and chromatin conformation, I hope to further elucidate the bi-directional relationship between chromatin architecture and transcription. Ultimately, my research project seeks to better understand how alterations in chromatin structure are associated with diseases; specifically, aging.

I hope that this article has been helpful, and if you have any questions, please reach out to me on LinkedIn and TikTok!