Let's go all the way with research.

So, I have been involved in research for nearly 15 years now. I have read and written a lot of papers. I have been to a lot of conferences, and I have attended countless seminars. Today, I want to challenge each of you to take your research beyond the easy paper and go all the way. What do I mean by this? Well, our group has been doing cancer research (mostly brain) for the last 3-4 years. We have focused primarily on the "easy" papers. I throw some materials/drugs at some cells, look at how they respond, and write a nice paper summarizing my results. The cells are probably transformed cells, not real patient cells, so who knows how well this research would translate into the clinic, and honestly probably don't care just want that next paper to put on my CV.

I met with my lab a few days ago and told them that this is bulls**t. I don't want to do easy research anymore. I want to go all the way. I want to do the hard research, the stuff that takes years, that no one wants to touch because they don't even know where to begin, the stuff that matters. Let's take an example. OK. So let's say we publish a paper that says material X causes tumor cells to migrate faster. I can publish that paper. I can build a whole career on papers exactly like that, but what I have I actually done to make cancer better? Jack squat! Now, what if after observing that material X has this property, I publish a follow-up paper identifying factor Z as the main reason that the cells move faster. Then examine what parts of the cell specifically interact with factor Z, identify which genes/proteins are involved in those interactions, and try to find drug targets to block them? The latter is a lot harder, but that is the work that truly matters.

We are going to start doing the hard work that really matters. I challenge you to do the same.