[PhD] October 2024 Updates

What does a forest plot have in common with matcha?

I have recovered from Jetlag so I can finally post this. My partner is presenting their research in Osaka, so we are in Japan for a few weeks.

What my workspace looks like for the next few days. I adore this cafe.

Top 5 Learnings

1. Creating stricter criteria to narrow grant and opportunity selection is vital.

2. My lack of immunological context is the limiting factor again, not my coding ability.

3. I am finally not burnt out.

4. Nice over-ear headphones are worth it.

5. Takes more than two hours to solve on a “fresh brain”? Ask for help.

This is a forest plot and the star of learning #5. This one is not mine, it’s from Introduction to forestploter by Alimu Dayimu.

A bit more about each of the 5

1. Creating stricter criteria to narrow grant and opportunity selection is vital.

   1. I’m fortunate to be at Oxford, surrounded by a network of supportive colleagues who share many grants and opportunities with me. But with so much coming my way, it’s a challenge to narrow down which opportunities align best with my goals.

   2. Warren Buffet said it well: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”

   3. I am working on figuring out exactly what kind of things I want to say yes to.

2. My lack of immunological context is the limiting factor again, not my coding ability.

   1. From January 2024 to April 2024 one of the reasons that I struggled with a project because I didn’t have sufficient background knowledge in immunology. I wasn’t able to develop that knowledge quickly enough to not hinder the research process. I have now reached a knowledge gap once more, where I have technical results, but I am unable to fully independently develop a plan for the next steps, due to a lack of surrounding context in immunology.

   2. The plan is to read roughly ~1 paper per day for the next month to build up more contextual knowledge about innate immunity and the pharmacokinetic interactions that happen in HCV drugs. I will provide an update next month on how it went.

3. I am finally not burnt out

   1. The current research pace seems sustainable.

   2. I used to take trips to “escape” work which was a clear sign of things being out of balance.

   3. I am still overcommitting, however I think this is slowly improving. It’s not linear and sometimes I feel that it’s one step forward two steps back with my mental health.

4. Nice over-ear headphones are worth it.

   1. I got some for my birthday. I am wearing them right now and jamming out to Alive by Sia. They help to reduce stimulation. Other things that I have entered into my Spotify this month are “Energetic Classical” and “Electro Classical”.

5. Takes more than two hours to solve on a “fresh brain”? Ask for help.

   1. I was encountering an error when making my forest plot diagrams - see the image above for a reference of what it is. Yes, it’s light green just like the matcha!

   2. Turns out I needed to add a bunch of spaces in one of the lines to fix it, which my lab mate told me about after about ~5 seconds of looking at my code. Could I have avoided this and asked them sooner? Yes. Yes I could have.

My two loves are matcha and chocolate. Need I say more?

Paper Corner

1. Breakthroughs in hepatitis C research:

   from discovery to cure (link)

2. Health Benefits and Chemical Composition of Matcha Green Tea: A Review (link)

   1. Had to keep with the light green theme for this newsletter! I just like matcha …

3. Introduction to forestploter (link)

   1. The page that helped me with forest plots. Not a paper.

Counter Update

Mistakes weren’t as useful anymore, as I have significantly decreased my “error” rate, which didn’t change much from month to month. That's a good sign, I guess. Adding a metric for papers now.

Thank you for reading!

Sofya