At the Helm: Leading Your Laboratory

by Kathy Barker

Since 2002, the first edition of this best-selling book has helped thousands of newly appointed principal investigators successfully transition to running their own labs. But changes in technology continue to transform the way science is done, affecting ways in which labs communicate and collaborate, organize data and supplies, and keep current on the latest developments. The culture of science has also evolved, as more scientists explore non-academic career paths, seek new ways to communicate information and ideas, and acquire skills and knowledge outside of their field. In the second edition of this book, Kathy Barker has substantially revised the text, offering PIs advice on adapting to the changes and challenges that the years have brought. New topics include collaboration contracts, performance evaluations, communicating with non-scientists, tips for succeeding on the tenure track, and professional development. With this book as a guide, any new or aspiring PI will be well-equipped to manage personnel, time, and institutional responsibilities with confidence.

Genres: Academic, Science

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 13, 2010

Reviews

[Henry Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive guide to starting out on your own in academia. You only really get one shot at starting a lab. As a post-doc, there are many pointers in this book that I would not have thought of. Throughout the book Barker provides short quotes from actual scientists, sometimes resulting in conflicting advice, but it gives you a really good picture of what different scientists find important. In this way, Barker catalogues many different bits of advice on running a lab and does not just rely on her own experience. For me, a biochemist, this is bang on, but I get the feeling that a lot of the advice would be applicable to researchers in other fields as well.

One of the biggest problems new PIs seem to have is managing people, and after reading this book you feel better prepared for handling these problems. With other problems that PIs have, simply being aware of the pitfalls before setting out is highly beneficial.

Overall, provides great general advice on all aspects of lab management, but also gives very detailed lists, questionnaires and protocols for things like example lab inventories, or informal contracts for collaboration.

[James Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was some useful stuff here, even though I’m a NASA PI, not a medical one. I started just skimming about halfway through as much of the advise started to get repetitive. Personality in the book mostly came through in the copious quotes, which was an effective way to get a lot of voices in the book. Translation to kindle seems to have broken what I assume was easier to follow formatting in the paper though... quotes would break in between thoughts in the text that I imagine would’ve been side bars like in a text book, and there was an awful lot of usage of bold, subsubsubsections, and bullet points that seemed strange in a book and made it a bit harder to follow on kindle. Nevertheless, I found myself reading a particular bit and being like, hey that’s exactly what so-and-so has been doing as they’ve been expanding their lab! Cool! It’s helped me make plans for my own projects and teams and envision it more fully. It brought up things I hadn’t considered yet. It was also refreshing to see so many things that are apparently unique to the world of academic pursuit that don’t show up in the corporate world, which is a problem I’ve found with personal coaches (though I still love working with a coach). The book seems pretty comprehensive in terms of the topics covered. I was actually quite surprised at the length of the book.

[Holly Bik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a good book for lab management, but some of the later chapters came across as a bit dated or non-comprehensive overviews of important topics. Also wish there would have more info/advice on dealing with university power hierarchies, this book generally only focused on a person’s own lab and trainees.

[Ringo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book was extremely helpful when I struggled to find a direction as a TT social science faculty


Catalog
1. Know what you want
2. You as a leader
3. Choose your people
4. Starting and keeping new lab members
5. Making research the foundation
6. Organizing the lab to support research
7. Communication
8. Dealing with a group
9. For the long run

=== Chapter Notes====
5. Making research the foundation
"tracking the questions, not the techniques"
"ask important questions"

5.1 Setting the course
"Professionals know that they have to produce after before they are likely to hit the jackpot. The very process of abandoning one theory for another gives them a degree of critical detachment that is almost essential if they are to succeed." -- Crick, 1988, p 412
"Before you can guide your lab through projects and plans, you must be one step ahead. you must know your objectives. Looking ahead to your research goals, you can begin to break your long-term science plans into smaller pieces suitable as projects for lab members."
"The most important part of any competitive or noncompetitive lab is generating good data."
Trainee = 1 project for publishing, 1 project for potentially more exciting but more of a long shot for successful completion

5.2 Motivation
How to motivate oneself and the lab
"I have respected and admired those colleagues whose scientific work seems to fill their life and pervade every minute of their wasteful time."
Low motivation diagnosis is it due do 1) lab problem, 2) work itself, or 3) personal crisis
"success is the best way to overcome motivation problems"


5.3 Writing paper
5.4 Resources

[Rodrigo Nemmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book that guides you through the hurdles of a becoming a new professor and lab leader. Although the book was written having in mind somebody leading a biology lab, it can be serve to PIs in other fields. For example, I was recently hired as an assistant professor of astrophysics and I am building up my own new research group. I found that this book has lots of useful advice for me. Some of the topics covered: setting the priorities straight, time management, choosing people for the group, how to be a group leader, personal issues that may arise, communication and conflicts.

[David Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good handbook for a new faculty member looking to set up a lab. It deals well with personnel issues a lot of new faculty may not have considered initially. It is geared most specifically to biologists but is useful for other fields as well.