主题：推荐一篇文章给想要献身科学事业，或者正在献身的人们 -- fengshui

Perspective

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 413-416 (May 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrm2389

Essay: How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I: taking the plunge

Jonathan W. Yewdell

Abstract

Biomedical research has never been more intellectually exciting or practically important to society. Ironically, pursuing a career as a biomedical scientist has never been more difficult. Here I provide unvarnished advice for young biomedical scientists on the difficulties that lie ahead and on how to find the right laboratories for training in the skills that you will need to succeed. Although my advice is geared towards succeeding in the United States, many aspects apply to other countries.

If you are contemplating pursuing a career in the life sciences, or have already embarked on one, you need to give some thought to your career prospects. So, take a study break, grab a cup of coffee and read on.

Unfortunately, I need to begin with some depressing facts. First, only a small minority of Ph.D. students will ever have opportunities to become principal investigators (PI) in academic settings and direct their own independent research programmes (Fig. 1). Second, even if you are among this elite group, the odds are that you will be well down the path towards retirement by the time you receive your first research project grant (R01) (the average age is 43) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the principal source of funding for biomedical research in the United States. Third, for your entire career as a PI, you will put inordinate efforts into writing grants. If you should ever lose funding, you will be at the mercy of your institution for your continued employment. Fourth, if you do achieve the 'Holy Grail' of full professorship then you will not be poor, but you will be far worse off financially than nearly all of your peers who have similar levels of talent, energy and dedication, but who chose other careers.

Figure 1 | The tenure track derails.

The number of doctorate degrees awarded per year in the United States in the life sciences has increased more than threefold since 1966, whereas the number of tenured scientists has decreased slightly from a peak in 1981 (according to National Science Foundation data3). Consequently, in the past 25 years the fraction of Ph.D. holders with academic independent investigator positions has decreased steadily. The fraction of Ph.D. holders with tenure or tenure-track position is now approx30%. Graph reproduced from Ref. 3 © (2007) FASEB.

Your professors might tell you that this is the way it has always been, but this simply isn't true. Twenty-five years ago the situation was much rosier. Scientists gained independence a decade earlier and funding, although never easy, was more reliable and accessible. Universities were more humane institutions where accountants had less influence over institutional priorities and decisions. Our current lamentable situation is fixable, and will have to improve significantly if the United States is to maintain its position as a leader in science and technology. A positive outcome is not guaranteed, however, and fixing the current mess will require the concerted efforts of scientists, university presidents and politicians to save the biomedical goose that has laid golden eggs for US biotechnology and health care for the past 50 years.

Science rocks

But there is good news too. Society desperately needs your talents. The future health, wealth and even survival of Homo sapiens depend on a deeper understanding of the laws and mechanisms of nature and on using this information to develop new technologies and therapies. For rationally thinking people with an altruistic bent, life can be no more rewarding than when practising the scientific method for the benefit of all of the denizens of this fragile planet. As a budding scientist, you are trained to expertly use the scientific method. That is, you learn how to wield the body of techniques that are used to identify and investigate natural phenomena by formulating and rigorously testing hypotheses. The origins of the scientific method date back at least 1,000 years, and it is arguably the most important invention of civilized man. Armed with the scientific method, we can explore and understand nature to the limits of our intelligence. As a high priest of 'Scientific Methodism', you will be equipped for success not only in science and its allied occupations, but in virtually any career that requires rational decision making (and in some, such as politics, that ought to).