Reflections on a lab rotation integrating science writing and experiment work

Project and advisor selection are critical decisions in a graduate student’s career. To help students and advisors make an informed decision, many universities instituted lab rotation programmes, where students cycle through a few labs to assess the relative fit of projects and lab environment. Nevertheless, how should a lab rotation be designed to deliver maximum educational benefit without significantly affecting lab operations, while fulfilling the goal of matching projects to students? By combining science writing with experiment work, this article reflects on one possible approach for structuring a lab rotation experience. Specifically, writing a commentary on a published article introduced the general theme of the lab’s research, while providing information on the student’s critical thinking and journal critique capabilities. On the other hand, a literature review of a prospective research topic allowed the student time to critically assess the current state of the field, and possible paths forward. Breadth and depth of the analysis offered glimpses into the student’s comprehension of the field, and capability at identifying knowledge gaps and conceptualizing innovative approaches for problem solution. Immunoblotting was chosen as a focused technique for experiment work and introduced student to a new technique. More important, multi-step nature of western blots highlighted the importance of experiment precision and rigour. Collectively, integrating scientific writing and experiment work afforded student’s a holistic understanding of the lab’s research thrust and practical experience of an important experiment technique, while providing advisor with important information on student’s attitude, motivation, experimental skills and thinking capabilities.