Editorial pubs.acs.org/bc
Cite This: Bioconjugate Chem. 2018, 29, 1−3
Editorial 2018 t has been another busy year at Bioconjugate Chemistry. Submissions and impact factor are up, but we are still maintaining our ∼40 day submission to online publication average. In the summer we presented the second annual Bioconjugate Chemistry Lecturer award to Matt Francis. We published two special issues (“Interfacing Inorganic Nanoparticles with Biology” and “Peptide Conjugates for Biological Applications”), along with six virtual issues with partner ACS journals. We have continued growing the BC social media community, with over 1445 Twitter followers and almost 1800 likes on Facebook. We will continue our breakneck pace in 2018. We have two special issues on the way (“Bioconjugate Materials in Vaccines and Immunotherapies” and “Biomimetic Materials”), and already have three virtual issues in preparation. We will also be presenting the next BC lecturer award in August at the National ACS meeting in Boston, MA, and we BCers will be traveling around the world to reach out to researchers. Watch and see if we are coming to a location near you! For our Editorial, we are continuing our annual tradition of musing upon the scientific world. This year, we will be relating our thoughts on the interface between education and research, a topic near and dear to the hearts of the BC Editorial team. Best wishes for the coming year, Jan, Erin, Brad, Gang, and Vince
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Gang Zheng
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Vincent M. Rotello* AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Jan van Hest: 0000-0001-7973-2404 Vincent M. Rotello: 0000-0002-5184-5439 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS. Biographies
Jan van Hest Erin Lavik. The best part of my job, hands down, is working with students, hammering out ideas and approaches and trying to figure out what the results mean. It is an incredible gift. I remember the first time one of my students made a breakthrough. I had thought nothing could be better than making a breakthrough, but getting to watch one’s student make the breakthrough is infinitely more wonderful. It makes me feel a little like Keats, “...a watcher of the sky/When a new planet swims into his kin.” I have recently wondered if we give our students enough credit. They are authors on manuscripts, but when the science is newsworthy, more often the focus is on the PI. In the best cases, the students are highlighted as well, but I wonder if we need to do more to communicate just how critical students in general and graduate students in particular are to the scientific process. It is complicated to some degree by the nature of their training: students change dramatically over the course of their education, and it is easy to have one’s perceptions colored by their first forays in the lab, when they are anxious about which catalyst to use and what assays to perform. But with the right mentoring, their creativity, confidence, and depth of insight can flourish. I have to remind myself how much my students grow, but I also need to help the broader public understand how essential students are to the best science and to the breakthroughs that benefit humanity. When people outside the lab
Erin B. Lavik
Bradley D. Smith
Published: January 17, 2018 © 2018 American Chemical Society
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.7b00813 Bioconjugate Chem. 2018, 29, 1−3
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Learning lab techniques is only one of a broad set of objectives for PhD students. In addition, they have to learn how to read the literature, develop scientific hypotheses, plan compelling experiments, analyze data, and communicate the results to general and specialized audiences. It is rare that a new student can learn all these different skills with little guidance, and even the best students are helped by effective mentorship in the early stages.
discover how important students are to innovation, perhaps we can start to break down the perception that science exists in rarified air.
As a general management philosophy, I tend to view a PhD thesis project as three phases. Phase one covers the first year or so, and I typically ask the student to complete a series of experiments where the outcome is fairly assured. The student can quickly gain some success in the lab and learn the process for turning raw data into a polished, peer-reviewed article. The student then progresses to phase two where the project outcome is much less certain and likely will entail the student to overcome pitfalls, and perhaps even head off in unexpected research directions. Phase two is where creativity, tenacity, and ambition are developed. If a student does sufficiently well, then they can progress to phase three and independently develop a new research goal and plan the experiments. Some students never reach phase three and I find this situation to be part of the self-discovery process. Awareness of progress through these three phases of research helps students to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and decide what is the best path towards a future career.
Vince Rotello. For me, one of the great privileges of my job is to work with young scientists, warping (ahem, molding) their minds while training them as scientists. There is so much involved in this process, ranging from technical to aesthetic (pretty and communicative figures) to helping them harness their creative abilities. As you know (or can imagine), the education process is very personalizedevery mentor and every mentee is different, making their interactions a combinatorial explosion.
While science research can be very exciting and highly stimulating, it is important for students to appreciate the wide range of professional opportunities that are available to a person with quantitative analysis and critical thinking skills. Acquiring this helpful training while contributing to the world’s body of new knowledge is beneficial to all involved.
My mentoring strategy builds upon my own motivations: I use research as a way to find out who I am. As a result, my goal is to help out researchers in my lab find themselves in the scientific community. Unlike my own research, I try to take a “hypothesis free” approach to the process, with no preconception of where the students will go or how they will get there. This approach means getting to know the student, working with them, and trying to identify how to build on their strengths and address their challenges. One of the fascinating things about the process is that you never know where it will end up. I have had students that came in indifferent to research that have caught fire and become creative and effective powerhouses. I have also had the converse, with researchers that have realized their hearts are elsewhere and have moved out of research into a range of allied careers. I’d like to leave you with a couple of final thoughts. For those of you starting your careers, it is your life, and you should live it the way you choose. Listen to your mentors, thoughyou do not have to make all the same mistakes we have! For mentors, try to remember to guide, not direct. The words seem similar, but the intent differs dramatically.
Jan van Hest. For me the most rewarding part of this profession is the interaction with young people. It is a privilege to be able to successfully ignite the enthusiasm for science, and see students develop into independent scientists with innovative ideas. After all, the main achievement of an academician is the education of a next generation of talented people who will help our society move forward. My mentoring is based on trust: trust, in the sense that I believe in the potential of young researchers I collaborate with and whom I hope to guide toward independency. I like to give them much scientific freedom and the opportunity to develop their own ideas. Of course, every student is different and it is always an interesting challenge to find the appropriate method to motivate them and provide them with the right level of self-confidence. Trust also means that there should be an open atmosphere to discuss science within the group, and people should be able to present not only their scientific highlights, but also their problems and mistakes. A constructive critical attitude helps everyone to move forward
Brad Smith. I have led a research group for many years and it has been a privilege to work closely with so many impressive young researchers. It is extremely rewarding to see talented and hard working students evolve into highly competent scientists and research leaders. 2
DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.7b00813 Bioconjugate Chem. 2018, 29, 1−3
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more effectively. For me, it is important that people feel at home in the group, which they could regard as their scientific family. Being a group leader myself, I have come to appreciate even more the advice and guidance I received from my supervisors during the early stages of my career. The scientific family tree is something to honor, as it makes our profession connected to both the past and the present.
Gang Zheng. For me, the most rewarding experience as a mentor is to see students become independent thinkers and doers. Given the everincreasing complexity of our understanding of natural and man-made worlds, the disappearance of scientific discipline boundaries, the more specialized advanced techniques, and the explosion of information (e.g., so many new journals and social networks), nurturing such successful trainees is a major challenge. Through my own experience both as mentee and mentor, I believe the key to successful mentorship is “Educate”, “Empower”, and “Enable”. “Educate” focuses on both building students’ solid scientific fundamentals and developing rigorous experimental methodologies and analytical capabilities. “Empower” nurtures the creativity of the students by giving them the freedom to pursue their own research interest (e.g., side projects) and by instilling confidence in them via acknowledging every little success. “Enable” provides ample resources and intellectual environment for students to grow and helps students to connect with right collaborators that can fill the knowledge and technique gaps. As interdisciplinary work will predominate the high impact and innovative scientific discoveries, it is timely to promote early development of independent thinking to allow students to navigate and thrive in such a dynamic and collaborative environment.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.7b00813 Bioconjugate Chem. 2018, 29, 1−3
