======= Date Modified 21 May 2011 21:21:55 =======
Hi there,

I have recently been approached by supervisor from a leading university and offered a graduate position in his lab. I am however quite unsure about whether I should go through and formally accept the offer or not due to the fact that he is working in plant genetics whereas my interests lie in aging research in mammalian systems (the only place where our interests seem to overlap is the ER and pathways employed for it to remodel and alleviate stress during protein misfolding and certain techniques that I can bring to his lab). Furthermore I wonder if it might be seen as a step down in the future, in academia, since I have just completed an M.Phil. involving mouse models of a disease group and even helped develop one for a mutation in the disease group.

My question is: If I do take up the offer how difficult would it be for me to move back into animal genetics and model systems between my PhD and Post Doc? Or would it be so difficult that I might as well consider myself stuck with working with plants?

Hi there,
I am currently looking to do a PhD. and one of the most harrowing aspect of it, for me, is to find suitable referees. Every application needs two referees and some in Europe and all in the US. need 3. My question is given that my current master through research is supervised by a single PI, where do I get the other two referees from. Many of the post-docs in the group are more than happy to stand in as references for me, but, many of the places I plan to apply in the US. informed me that they, in general they look down on references by post-docs on the suitability of a candidate for a PhD.
An option would be to go back to my Bachelor lecturers, but there again a problem arises with the fact that as lecturers they have not seen me do any research and as such can not comment on my ability in that field.
My question is put to all the students who applied and successfully received PhD. offers in the UK. US. or Europe. Who did you put as your referees and if they didn't directly supervise you how did you approach them to ask for a reference?