Teamwork, or pulling oneself up by the bootstraps?

For de som ikkje fekk med dykk mitt flotte innlegg om PhD-rettleiing på etisk frukost i dag så legg eg ut notatane her. Bon apetit.

The title can mean several things.
First, that noone can develop in a vacuum. All personal development and learning happens in some interplay with ones surroundings.
Second, that the two persons most importanf for finishing a PhD is the candidate and the supervisor. In this regard it is already teamwork.
Third, it is of great help to participate in a vital scientific environment.

Before continuing it is important to remember that a PhD-degree is a so called qualifying position:it is suppose to qualify the candidate unformally and formally for certain jobs.

There are some causes that makes it difficult to obtain a good Phd. I'll mention a few.
1. The candidate do not make the necessary effort. This is the most important one, ofcourse. The candidate has the main responsibility.
2. The project is to big:
- if it is an experimental project one should have some aspect of the project that ensures the formal qualifications.
- if the candidate has made the project him/herself: is it realistic? If it turns out (after 2-3 years) to not be realistic: can it be broken up to smaller parts?
Dont be unprepared for faliure!
3. There is bad chemistry between supervisor and candidate.
- People are different, and some dont get along, and some simply are assholes.
- Use co-supervisors, verneombud, HMS-routines. Dont let things get worse in the belief that it will blow over!
- Supervisors are not immune to critisizm of various degrees.
4. The candidate is alone or isolated on a project.
- This increases the chance of premature quitting!
- Who can one interact with? Research group, Phd-network,deparment seminars?
- RESEARCH IS A SOCIAL ACTIVITY
5. Unprofessional supervising.
- most supervisors are not trained supervisors, so it's dependent on persons
-maybe the university should arrange mandatory training?

PhD-rettleiing og etikk på Etisk frukost

I morga kl. 8 snakkar eg om PhD-rettleiing og etikk på Studentsenteret under etisk frukost

Sjå info her

Foredrag i morga torsdag på haukeland

Eg held foredraget "Identification and characterization of the human N-a-acetyltransferase complexes hNatB and hNatC" på sentralblokka kl 13 i morga, rom B301.

Dette kan du ikkje gå glipp av! Sjekk berre desse abstracta:

det populærvitskaplige

Identifisering av nye proteinfaktorar som er viktige for celledød og cellevekst.

Kristian K. Starheim, PhD-student, Institutt for kirurgiske fag, Universitetet i Bergen. kristian.starheim@mbi.uib.no

sjå også her

Kreftceller er celler som veks ukontrollert. Sjølv om vi no veit mykje om cellene i kroppen, er det svært mykje vi ikkje enda veit.

Det er viktig å forstå cellevekst for å forstå kreft. Denne kunnskapen kan vi bruke til å utvikle betre kreftmedisinar med færre biverknader.

Vi har funne to kompleks i menneskeceller, som begge er nødvendige for at eller skal vekse normalt. Vi håpar vidare å utvikle medisinar som kan påverke desse kompleksa.

Det vitskaplige/kaudervelske:

Objective:

To identify the novel co-translational human N-a-acetyltransferase complexes hNatB

and hNatC.

Conclusions:

We here present the novel human NatB and NatC complexes (hNatB and hNatC).

hNatB consists of the predicted N-acetyltransferase hNat3, and the auxiliary subunit

hMdm20, while hNatC consists of the N-acetyltransferase hMak3, and the auxiliary

subunits hMak10 and hMak31. Both complexes are conserved from yeast with respect

to subunit composition, substrate specificity and ribosome binding. hNatB was found

to acetylate peptides with N-termini Met-Asp-, while hNatC acetylates peptides with

N-termini Met-Leu-.

Knockdown of hNatB subunits disrupts normal cell cycle progression, and induces

growth inhibition in HeLa cells and the thyroid cancer cell line CAL-62.

Knockdown of hNatC subunits results in reduced growth and disturbed cell cycle

progression in HeLa cells. Knockdown of hMak3 leads to p53-dependent cell death,

and aberrant localization of the Arf-like GTPase hArl8b.

Taken together, these studies emphasize the importance of N-a-terminal acetylation for

normal cell function in eukaryotic cells.

This work was supported by The Norwegian Cancer Society, The L. Meltzer

Foundation, Norwegian Health Region West, and the Norwegian Research Counsil.