杏吧原创

What makes a great cancer research lab? Ask scientists with a reputation for heading noteworthy labs and the answer goes beyond good science: their secret is fostering a collaborative work environment that sparks creative ideas.

The investigators interviewed for this article run labs that range from fewer than 10 people to nearly 30, yet all share a similar management philosophy. They encourage students, fellows and staff to work together freely, without fear of losing status or projects when sharing ideas. Each makes time for weekly one-on-one meetings with their advisees. And when they send off young scientists to start their own programs, their projects leave with them.

Here, these senior scientists explain their approaches and offer advice for both new hires starting their own labs and researchers looking to find a position in a lab with a stellar working environment.

Working one-on-one

While there鈥檚 more than one way to run a successful lab, avoiding a competitive approach is key for many leaders in both academia and industry. Having 25 to 30 postdocs and expecting two or three to rise to the top is exactly what they try to avoid. Instead, they promote a friendly, noncompetitive environment, believing it leads to faster results and more innovation.

Lisa Coussens, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, studies biological processes involved in early tumor development. She says: 鈥淚 am an absolute believer in collaboration and encourage it both inside and outside the lab. I don鈥檛 put people head to head to compete 鈥� it lowers morale.鈥�

Indeed, many researchers point out that it鈥檚 nearly impossible to work in isolation anymore 鈥� most large studies feature scores of authors from across the country and around the world. For many scientists, sharing data and skills is the best way to tackle the latest problems in cancer research.

鈥淪cience and cancer biology are changing rapidly. No one lab can do everything. It鈥檚 important to learn to support each other and collaborate,鈥� says Gary Gilliland, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who focuses on bringing treatments for hematologic cancers to Phase I clinical trials. 鈥淲hen you have people come in who are crossing fields or bringing a new tangent into cancer biology, it fuels creativity and thought processes in the lab.鈥�

Gilliland also lets his trainees know that their ownership of a project continues once they leave his lab. 鈥淔or younger PIs, that is more of a challenge 鈥� they have projects they can鈥檛 afford to let go of,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut older investigators should be willing to let young investigators take anything with them that they developed. It鈥檚 an incentive for doing creative work.鈥�

Both Gilliland and Coussens make an effort to meet with their trainees once a week. These weekly one-on-one meetings are nearly standard among investigators with a reputation for running great labs. Not only do lab members receive individualized guidance and training, keeping an open door means any problems are likely to be caught early, before they spiral out of control, says Kornelia Polyak, a breast cancer researcher and associate professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

鈥淚 think communication is very important,鈥� Polyak says. 鈥淵ou have to have a lab atmosphere where people feel free to raise issues about something they don鈥檛 like. Otherwise, problems become bigger if they don鈥檛 talk about it.鈥� However, it鈥檚 also important to allow time for unstructured discussions. The freedom to bounce ideas off senior scientists can spark new approaches to thorny research problems.

At Novartis, Bill Sellers, vice president and global head of oncology, recently started hosting informal meetings with project teams to encourage outside-the-box thinking. 鈥淧eople come in without any kind of presentation at all and we have a whiteboard session. It鈥檚 been an absolute blast,鈥� he says.

For many researchers, their scientific training didn鈥檛 address the fundamental aspects of operating a lab: finding and managing students and staff and heading what is essentially a small start-up business. So how do you build a successful lab?

Building a great team

The key is careful hiring. Even though an empty lab may bring feelings of panic, take your time. Making the wrong choice is a common mistake for young faculty, according to Vishva Dixit, vice president of physiological chemistry at Genentech.

鈥淭hey fill their positions more rapidly than they probably should,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey often hire the first person with a pulse who can walk and chew gum at the same time, because they feel pressure to fill the position. It鈥檚 much, much better to let the position remain open than to get somebody who is not only unproductive, but detrimental to the program.

鈥淵ou have to find someone with fire in the belly, who also possesses the right chemistry to fit into the group.鈥�

For trainees and technicians, it鈥檚 important to check references and bring in potential hires to meet others in the lab. 鈥淲hen I interview people, they鈥檙e all smart, they鈥檝e all been documented as hard-working, but the most important thing for me is that they鈥檙e nice people,鈥� Gilliland says.

He adds that evidence of willingness to collaborate can come via a couple of second or third author papers, as well as a potential hire鈥檚 ability to clearly articulate their contribution.

When hiring a lab manager, concentrate on finding a careerist with several years of laboratory work experience.

鈥淚 think the lab manager should be somebody who has been in a lab for quite some time, because it requires many different skills,鈥� says Martine Roussel, a professor at St Jude Children鈥檚 Research Hospital. 鈥淵ou need someone who can run an organized lab, take care of equipment, take care of all the ordering and be like a firefighter who can help when there鈥檚 a hot experiment and hot paper that has to be finished.鈥�

Once you鈥檝e made the right hires, it鈥檚 time to concentrate on building a strong sense of community among lab members. This could include sponsoring monthly lunches or Friday night beers or even once-a-year weekend retreats. Keep in mind, however, that your goal is to encourage respect and communication, not inspire lifelong friendships.

Coussens cautions young faculty to avoid confusing mentoring with friendship. 鈥淎s a postdoc, you鈥檙e used to sitting around the lab and being involved in each other鈥檚 lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淥ne mistake common among young PIs is to befriend everyone in the lab. It makes it more difficult when the hard conversations need to happen.鈥�

And make sure you recognize your lab members鈥� good work. Roberto Weinmann, director of oncology drug discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb, says that giving recognition to other people in the lab can also help create a good atmosphere.

鈥淧eople who selfishly keep everything to themselves usually rapidly lose the confidence of everybody around them,鈥� he says.

Managing your time

Fostering a healthy lab environment also means avoiding another common mistake young faculty make: taking on too much responsibility. Avoiding extraneous commitments frees lab leaders to provide individual, focused attention to trainees 鈥� one of the common denominators of a great lab.

For Lynda Chin, an associate professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, serving on an NIH study section was a burden in her early career. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a serious time commitment, and I believe the benefit is minimal.鈥�

At St. Jude鈥檚, Roussel has the capacity to run a large lab but chooses not to. 鈥淩ather than having 25 postdocs and let the cream come to the top, I decided I鈥檇 rather have fewer people and really train them and provide them with help,鈥� says Roussel, who studies cell signaling pathways important in cancer development.

Polyak put this advice into practice when she arrived at Dana-Farber. 鈥淚 totally started from scratch, with an empty lab, no people in the lab, no reagents, not even a cell line. When you have a small lab, you can handle most things on your own. My approach was to start small and spent a lot of time in the lab, waiting until later on to hire technicians.鈥�

But even a measured approach to building her lab didn鈥檛 prevent Polyak from making a hiring mistake.

聯Rather than have 25 postdocs and let the cream come to the top, I decided to have fewer people and really train them聰

鈥淭he very first technician I hired turned out to be a nightmare,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ventually you learn how to interview people, how to predict who you are going to get along with or not and who fits into to the group.鈥�

Even if they arrive with projects in hand, many young scientists feel pressure to quickly branch out into new research. That can be a waste of time and effort.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a temptation to go fishing, but my advice to them is to take a problem and drill down into it,鈥� Dixit says. 鈥淭he danger of doing many projects concomitantly is you obtain a superficial understanding of the problems, and that reflects in your publication record.鈥�

Roussel echoes that advice. 鈥淵ou have to start with good ideas or experiments, because that鈥檚 what will attract people. Have some ideas you know are bread and butter and will work right away, and some long-range, more high-risk projects that may not work.鈥�

Senior faculty and mentors, both inside and outside your company or institution, can provide valuable advice on what to accept and what to turn down. 鈥淭he best thing is to have access to senior people with your best interests at heart,鈥� says Coussens.

Polyak organized junior faculty gettogethers at Dana-Farber, which served as an informal support group. 鈥淲e went through similar experiences and learned from each other how to handle situations,鈥� she says. 鈥淎t some institutions, senior people are assigned to junior people, but if there isn鈥檛 a structure for mentoring, find your own mentors and your own support group. It鈥檚 good to feel not totally left alone.鈥�

CASE STUDY

Lynda Chin, an associate professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, deliberately limits her lab size to about 10 people, which means she has time for family and faculty commitments. Keeping her lab small allows her to have weekly meetings with trainees, as well as make brief, daily visits to everyone鈥檚 bench.

The content of these meetings varies. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 with a more senior person in whom I have a level of confidence, we talk about high-altitude directions and potential career directions,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or more junior people, if I felt I needed to stay closer, I would ask them to bring a gel. I also want to see the film and the raw data.鈥�

Chin鈥檚 lab focuses on mouse models of human cancers, particularly melanoma and glioblastoma. She makes an effort to promote a collegial atmosphere by establishing clear lines of communication and responsibility.

鈥淚n my lab, I expect people to leverage what others are doing and take advantage of the expertise and experience of their lab mates so they can make the fastest progress,鈥� she says.

Her advisees typically take on multiple projects, eventually advancing one or two through to first-author publication. As the remaining projects become lower priority, Chin encourages these senior lab members to transfer the research to newer trainees, who get both an in-progress project and a quicker shot at publication. To ensure the partnerships go smoothly, Chin helps team members lay out who has responsibility for different aspects of a project.

鈥淚 sit both of them down, ask them if they are okay with the arrangement, if they understand what has been done and who will carry the ball forward and get the appropriate credit for it. If it鈥檚 defined up front, in most cases it becomes a positive situation,鈥� Chin says.

鈥淭he PI has to do everything possible to make sure conflict doesn鈥檛 evolve or, if it does, it鈥檚 resolved.鈥�

How to be hired

What can you do to get hired in a lab with a stellar working environment? As always, a strong publication record opens doors. But you should also do your research and know what the lab is working on. How can you contribute?

Enthusiasm for discussing science is an important quality for Genentech鈥檚 Vishva Dixit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be able to talk science,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 want to be able to come in and bounce ideas off people. I鈥檓 looking for people who get excited by ideas, in that they want to push back and engage in discussion, at times combative, that will help sculpt a better appreciation of the problem. I enjoy that sparring aspect of science.鈥�

Take time to visit the lab and talk to its members. 鈥淲hen there is a good atmosphere you see enthusiasm, you see commitment. When there is good communication, you can feel that,鈥� says Bristol-Myers Squibb鈥檚 Roberto Weinmann.

Gary Gilliland of Harvard Medical School agrees. 鈥淭here is a personality in a lab that more or less reflects the personality of the PI. Every place is a little bit different.

鈥淵ou want to make sure that the chemistry matches and the fit鈥檚 good between you and the type of laboratory environment that鈥檚 been established.鈥�

Having a long-term plan, or at least a vision of where you hope to be after a decade, will impress your interviewers.

鈥淚 would say that one of the biggest mistakes that people make is to have a lack of long-term vision of what they really want,鈥� Weinmann says. 鈥淚 always ask the people where they see themselves in a decade, what they would do if they had unlimited funds and, if they had the choice, what they would like to be doing in 10 years.鈥�