Spanish budget raises postdoc job hopes

Prenatal DNA test raises both hopes and worries.

nancy, Barbara Farlow discovered that her daughter Annie would be born with the genetic disorder trisomy 13, a chromosomal abnormality — and a label — that would determine her future medical care. In August 2005, Annie, not yet 3 months old, suffered a respiratory attack and was admitted to hospital. She died within 24 hours. The official cause was “complications of trisomy 13,” but Farlow and ...

Postdoc Labor Love

I look back fondly on my years as a postdoctoral fellow (1993–1995) as a period of heightened intellectual growth, clarity and optimism. After 5 years as a PhD student, I was finally set free to explore ideas more of my own creation, to start from scratch a new research project but this time with greater wisdom, experience and vision than was possible as a dazed and confused first-year graduate...

Get that next job—how to break out of the postdoc trap

In the past, the majority of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers were focused on careers in academia. Times have changed, and many are now considering careers outside of academia and are aware of numerous exciting career opportunities in industry and nonprofit and government organizations. However, although it is easy to find resources about academic careers, the same cannot be said ...

The 2-A postdoc.

D a long discussion of our favorite enzyme mechanisms, Gene Sander advised me that the easiest way to obtain a true picture of the transitory steps of a reaction would be to ‘‘hire a 2-Å postdoc.’’ In the mid-’70s, when this whimsical conversation took place, molecular and structural biology was just beginning to exert an effect on mechanistic enzymology. Whereas the advances of the past 25 yea...

Postdoc Annual Report