John Lewis has a really good department, but I'm in London, maybe they don't elsewhere. Get a starter kit as then you will know you have the right thickness wool and gauge needles and stuff.

I'm a bit too enthusiastic about knitting - must get back to science

Oh, and it took me 8 months to get a ligation to work that was supposed to be really simple so I know how you feel! All I can say is to keep going, it will work eventually and it will feel great when it does!

www.protocol-online.org
then go to BioForum.

Definitely worth looking, you never know there might be an expert out there who just loves procrastinating on forums like all of us!

Have you tried posting questions on the Protocol Online forum? I find this really useful (although I'm in molecular biology, not sure about other areas) as there always seems to be someone who has used the technique before or can offer possible solutions that people in your lab might not have thought of.

You can press "change message order" to get the replies listed as most recent first.

Oh I am so jealous! I'm going to ask for one for Christmas, in the meantime I'm going to try knitting again. Hope you got some nice material.

I go to the gym quite a lot, but getting bored of that so might pick a new hobby. I want a sewing machine so I can make curtains. I painted my front door at the weekend, I'm so rock n roll I make Pete Doherty look boring.

I really enjoy journal clubs, it's a good place to meet other students and it also really helps with understanding papers. Sometimes I think I have understood a paper but when I go to the session I realise I haven't! We usually all read the paper and then discuss it with one of the PI's leading the conversation.

PhD's are worth a lot more in any scientific field than a masters so I would stick with the PhD especially as you are doing so well. I am doing molecular biology and everything is taking me forever and I am a long way from publishing so I'm quite jealous! Even if you don't want to be a bench scientist it is a lot easier to get higher up in the field with a PhD than with a masters because you need the research background.

I've been in uni everyday as normal yet still no real progress it's less than 2 months until the 1 year mark and I have nothing....seriously nothing to show for it, agggghhhhhh!

I was under the impression that you could choose to be Dr Maiden or Dr married name but it's often difficult because you may already have published under maiden name and will effectively "lose" those on searches people do on you.

Do you have to officially change your title to Dr? Or am I just referred to as Dr professionally but can be Mrs normally?

This is going to seem a really stupid question, but is there anyone on a BBSRC in london that can tell me what they get paid each year? I am trying to work out how much I get from CASE and how much is from BBSRC and if it is going up this year. It says £14,600 on the website - is that the same as last year?

Wear something you really like, that always helps me feel confident. Don't be scared to take a few seconds at the end of a question to think about your answer rather than just say the firs thing that comes into your head. Have a few prepared answers for common questions. I hate the "tell me a bit about yourself" one so always have a prepared answer for that one.

And they know you will be nervous so don't worry too much, once you get past the first few questions I'm sure it will become a lot easier.

I'm thinking this isn't for PhD research...

In my lab, if you don't have bench work to do it's fine for you to be working from home as long as contactable via e-mail or phone. I'm sure he is still fine with the arrangement, especially if he only comes in twice a week. I don't think there's a system in any uni to know whether you are there or not so I'm sure if you are producing the work no one will have a problem with it. And you'll still be putting in full time hours just flexi time!