Update. I re-read one of my older posts when I went through Dennis’ recent discussion on the lessons learned during his PhD, which also included his advice on how to keep your motivation up. Two years ago, I actually wondered where motivation for science comes from in general. Are we driven largely by egoistic motives like money or fame, or are there different factors at play? I am re-blogging one of our old posts from 2012 with minor 2014 updates. These were the answers that I came up with back then. I think they are still relevant. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Phd
A PhD in genomics – lessons learned
This is it! With finishing my PhD I have become an “adult” member of the scientific 
community. I grew out of a bachelor in biochemistry on transfection methods in neuronal cell lines, a research semester in Canberra with focus on B-cell immunology and master into a PhD in epilepsy genomics. I was involved in the EPICURE IGE copy number projects and recently my work changed to the analysis of rare variants in RE and IGE in the EUROepinomics framework. During this time I was involved in the identification of variants in RBFOX genes and GRIN2A as well as other risk factors which are currently in review. I share my experience and thoughts and hope they help others who are about to or have just started their thesis. The aspects reflect my personal view and some are specific for graduation in disease genomics. Continue reading
Papers of the week – Comorbidity clusters, Epigenomic annotation & exome-based TDT
Finally, I have finished my PhD. 
After focussing on writing and defending my thesis for the last few months, I am now ready to focus on research again. Because I am understandably in a very happy mood, this week’s selection of papers also reflects the fun aspects of science beside neurogenetics and genomics. Continue reading
