How is the synthesis of the protein regulated? Which molecular pathways lead to the degradation of the protein? Which are the proteins that interact with X? Are there specific environmental signals which control the expression of the gene which is transcribed and translated into protein X? How does a transgenic mouse behave when protein X levels are over-expressed in selected organs or tissues? Answering each one of these questions by carefully interrogating all the detailed molecular mechanisms involved can take several years. Considering the complexity of biological phenomena, a single protein X can supply a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of research questions. Some scientists devote decades of research to studying a single protein in a cell. Keeping up with the scientific literature and actively conducting experiments in multiple scientific disciplines may take up so much effort that it leaves little time and resources to dig deeply and unearth high-impact knowledge in any one area. How is your work different from what is already known? What impact will your work have in your scientific field? Have you developed a new tool or concept that will be of significant value to your peers? To engage in cutting-edge research therefore requires that one stays abreast of the amassing scientific literature, carefully curating which of the numerous published findings are most relevant to one’s own work.Ī scientist with too broad of an area of scientific expertise or too many distinct scientific interests may drown in the ocean of newly generated knowledge. A major aspect of scientific research is placing your own findings into context of already existing knowledge. Every day, more than a thousand original scientific papers are published. It isn’t a bad advice and I have known many scientists who have succeeded in academia by following it. “Focus! Focus! Focus! Create a narrow area of scientific expertise in which you excel and develop a national or international reputation for excellence!”Įstablished scientists often share this sort of advice with their younger peers who are about to embark on their academic career. Goethe’s symmetric colour wheel with associated symbolic qualities (1809): – Public Domain Image Department of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology