Advice for starting a mechanobiology lab

Abstract

Starting a new lab in mechanobiology and a new lab in general can be an exciting, yet daunting experience. Depending on your previous position, you have now found yourself with significantly more responsibility in more ways than one. For those considering taking such a career path, I present in this commentary advice that will hopefully be useful and provide food for thought. Keywords Mechanobiology. New principal investigator. Cardiovascular system. Gut epithelium Persistence is key Persistence always wins the battle. As a new PI, you will be given start-up funds. However, these funds will only last for so long. While this of course is obvious, what may not be so obvious is that you may have to take time to be patient before you are successful. Keep applying and be persistent something will eventually come through.

2019—A year in Biophysical Reviews

“…As described in the Editorials (Ferrari et al 2019;Hall 2019e) the Issue discussed how mechanical environments can determine the function of cells and tissues, alongside presenting a range of suitable techniques for the measurement of such mechanical effects and responses. Features of the Issue included a number of interesting Commentaries written by senior (Guck 2019;Verheyen et al 2019) and junior investigators (Steward Jr. 2019) as well as Presidents of relevant Societies (Pérez 2019). The 13 contributed Letters and Reviews address fundamental basic science questions such as the reasons for heterogeneity in cell populations (Vishwakarma and Di Russo 2019) and mechanotransduction principles in neurons and other cell types (Chighizola et al 2019;Ridone et al 2019).…”

The benefits of writing a Review

“…Next we hear from a young researcher (Assist. Prof. Robert Steward Jr.) just setting up a laboratory in the mechanobiology field (Steward 2019). Rounding out these commentaries is a piece written by the Director (Prof. Peter Kohl) and Senior Staff (Dr. Julia Verheyen and Dr. Remi Peyronnet) of the Institut für Experimentelle Kardiovaskuläre Medizin (IEKM) who provide an inside perspective on the establishment and maintenance of a dedicated Mechanobiology Institute comprising over fifty academic staff and students (Verheyen et al 2019).…”