hi i think many here would know me as the phd student who ran into a brickwall 4 months into her PhD program. I tried in vain to differentiate a cell line for 3 months without any success. My professor has agreed to let me buy a new cell line but it wont come until late january.

in the meantime i have come up with a side project that requires me to use 'normal' kind of cells, those that are not difficulty to deal with. And the techniques im using are generally microscopy imaging rather than those biochemical assays(western blot etc) and have been getting my first few data quite fast. My thesis advisory commitee is in 4 months time and my qualifying examination is in 14 months time.

i was thinking of clearing my leave for this year, for which i am entitled to 7 days. i cant bring forward to next year but at the same time i dont feel like i deserve a break and also im getting panicky and the thought of me presenting to my thesis advisors with not much data to show with is hunting me. Am i being too panicky. should i take leave?

as i am writing this i wonder how much of this is common? I am 4 months into my PhD program in biology area. Although i did learn some new lab techniques, i feel like im making very little progress and it doesnt help that i do not possess much lab experience. for the past 2 months i have been struggling to get my western blot techniques right, getting every possible steps wrong in my tries. but i am learning with each new mistake i make. The worse part is that my cells take 14 days to differentiate under a certain condition and i have used 4 attempts at it with no avail. I could not even start to test out my research questions when my model system isint working to begin with.

frustrating much and it doesnt help that the seniors in my lab are saying things like ''eh this other newcomer got the western blot result straightway, why cant you?''

any advice ;/

Im 4 months in and i think i mostly underwent a similar situation like you. I doubted myself when i made every possible mistake(and im referring to the simplest of lab techniques like western blot). but i tell myself i can only get better. im very like you in the sense that i can get overly anxious over things.

but i think you are having it harder since your doing phd overseas. it takes time to settle down.

just dont neglect your heatlh. chill during weekends (even if you had spent time at work during weekends, at least take the night off etc).

Are they any seniors out there doing phd in biology? Im 3 months in and i feel like im making every possible mistake. Im trying to embrace the growth mindset and take it as a learning experience. But generally how long does it take to get used to lab techniques?

ME lol. im singaporean

What i was referring to is..
A breakthrough that can be in the form of a publishable data. Not the nobel laurete kind of discovery.

dont quit when you are already near the finishing line. you are already in pain, so get a reward from it. yes the financial aspect might take a burden but there are ways to earn some income (teaching, private tutor?)..

Maybe we can even set up a whatsap group chat to support each other along the way. im ridhwan, 3 months into my research program (PhD) in biological sciences.

Can any bio science researchers here share how many months/years it took them before they got a 'breakthrough' that would more or less set the direction for the entire course of their PhD?

hi i would like to seek advice if i'm really in dilemma. i am 3 months into my PhD project. When i first came in, i had quite a shock as my professor told me to read up in the literature to find a research question. i asked my fellow phd candidates from other labs and they felt pity for me. The only thing my professor told me was to find a research question for a cell line (new system).

it took me a month to come up with a research question. So i ordered the cells. The thing is this cell line is extremely 'sensitive'. I made a mistake initially where i let the cells come into contact with each other and this might be the reason why it could not differentiate at a certain temperature within 14 days. I have wasted two 14 days waiting for the cells to differentiate already.

What i kinda dislike about my lab is that you are expected to be independent right from day 1. I wasnt even assigned a senior member in the lab who could teach me things. And i feel its a bit too much to expect a new phd student(fresh from undergrad studies) to handle a project from scratch.

i probably have to tell my professor about my mistake which could have resulted in the cells not differentiating. im currently quite stressed and worries that i am getting nowhere 3 months into my project. All my friends from other labs have made quite some progress in their own projects and im stuck at this step.

any advise?