The Research Survival Guide: Q&A with Lylah Deady and Elizabeth (Liz) Knapp

The Sun Lab is located in a locked hallway in a quiet section of the Pharm/Bio building.The Sun Lab focuses on studying the mechanism of ovulation, using a fruit fly as a model system. Inside the lab, however, it is anything but quiet. I, myself, have been a member of the Sun Lab for over a year now and have often appreciated the hustle and bustle of everyone sitting at the fly sorting stations, often talking about funny scenes from The Office or about how our weekends were. Having been here full-time over the summer, I gained a newfound appreciation for the scientific process and what goes into setting up and conducting a well-thought out experiment. Two people who have been instrumental in teaching me about research are the graduate students of the Sun Lab, Lylah Deady, a fourth-year Ph. D. candidate, and Elizabeth (Liz) Knapp, a second-year graduate student. I sat down with them to ask them a plethora of questions about their life pre-graduate school and during graduate school.

Elizabeth (Liz) Knapp (left) and Lylah Deady (right) standing in front of their poster in the Pharmacy/Biology Building.

The Interview

Did you do research in undergrad? What was your research?

Lylah: I did do research as an undergraduate student. My spring semester of my junior year, I got involved involved in one of the two neuroscience labs at WNEC (Western New England College). I was working using the fruit fly larvae as a model, more commonly known as a maggot. And we were assaying the force produced by their body wall muscle. We applied drugs like octapamine (OA), which is an insect fight-or- flight neuromodulator, and what we found was that OA can greatly augment the force produced by muscles. I felt fortunate that that ended up in a publication, that I was able to participate in writing and prepping those figures because I felt like that experience really helped me with the transition to grad school. We were able to present posters at conferences and I even gave a talk. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun, again, all in preparation for helping me prepare for grad school.

Liz: I only got into research my senior year of undergrad. And the lab I joined my senior year is now the lab I am in as a graduate student, so that is kind of why I am in graduate school, to continue my research. You find that a lot of people like to leave their undergrad.

What about research interests you most?

Liz: I like that every day is different. I like that I get to do so many different things all of the time. It’s never a dull moment in research.

Lylah: The experiments. Planning them out is fun. But actually doing the experiments, I think, is the most interesting. And then finding out if what you thought was going to happen, happened. Whether it did or whether it didn’t, that doesn’t matter, but I think doing the experiments is the most interesting part of research.

What was the interview process for like for you? What are the basic steps in applying to go to grad school?

Lylah: The interview was terrifying. So I applied to the University of Virginia, and I had a day’s worth of interviews. I had 6-7 30-minute interviews throughout the day. They asked me questions about what I liked about research and what I found was interesting and what my experience was and why I wanted to continue doing grad school. For each interview, that only took up [about a third of the time]. The rest of the time, it seemed like the PI was trying to describe to me what their research was doing, what questions they were focusing on and how they were answering them, in order to familiarize me with the department. To prep for the interview, I had read up on some common interview questions. I had my undergrad advisor give me a mock interview. For UConn, I had a Skype interview with Dr. Sun and it was a very similar type of interview. He asked me some questions about my experience and told me some of the things he was planning to do.

Liz: I had no interview. I applied to no other school. Dr. Sun told me to take the GREs and once you do that, turn in your letters, and you will start in the spring pending you don’t fail the GREs.

Why UConn?

Lylah: I was given the opportunity to go to UVA, and if I went to UVA I would have to do rotations. Space and funding permitting, if the lab I wanted to join was accepting a student then I could join their lab. If not, I would have to pick someone else. At UConn, I wasn’t forced to do rotations. I knew just whose lab I was going to go into, and I was closer to home. The fact that I knew my spot was secure in a lab at UConn was enough for me.

Liz: I didn’t know what I wanted to do [post-graduation] and I had someone saying, “hey! I want you to come work for me! I’ll even pay you for a whole semester while you decide and take the GREs.” Uhm, well, okay.

What was the transition between undergrad research and graduate research like?

Liz: It was very different. I didn’t do anything in my undergrad research. Grad research became your whole life. It’s a lot more time-spent, priorities change. Like you’re in the big leagues now, no more messing around.

Lylah: The biggest transition was going from a very small university to a very big university. I hadn’t been exposed to this huge kind of campus before, so I’d say the transition was more with the physical environment than day-to- day tasks. That’s more due to my undergrad advisor treating me more like a grad student than like an undergrad. It was so long ago, it was hard to remember, but it was hard teaching classes I’ve never taken before, taking class and doing research the whole time. There’s definitely a lot to juggle your first year or two here.

What are the requirements to get your Ph. D.? How many classes, how many hours of research, etc.?

Lylah: So for this department, there are four core classes you have to take. Each is three credits, and you take one class a semester. In addition to that, you have to take two grad-level out of department classes. We get credits through seminars. Really, there’s some defined credit that you need to take. The current average of the PNB department to receive your Ph. D. is 6.3 years. MCB is a little higher, other departments have it a little lower. That will change university to university, whether or not you have to do rotations, the type of research that you do. We don’t have to get our Master’s before applying to UConn’s Ph. D. program so that definitely saves some time.

Wait, so you don’t have to get your Master’s in order to get your Ph. D.?

Liz: You have to pass your qualifying exam. You can’t just not take that and get a Ph.D.

Do you receive funding? How does that work?

Liz: It depends on your lab. If your PI is good at getting grants, you can get lots of funding. Some labs are not as fortunate as others. Also, the department is really good at helping us out because we get stipends from teaching. Usually, we teach labs but you can teach other courses too, and the department will give you money for being a teaching assistant.

Lylah: I guess that was kind of another difference between undergrad and grad school. From undergrad, you go from paying thousands of dollars per course you take. Here, you get paid to go to school. And if you can find a university that will allow you to teach, the experience is so beneficial. But also, you won’t have to pay and you’ll likely get a stipend. So don’t pay for grad school if you can avoid it.

Tell me a little about your projects. Why can you use Drosophila as a model system for ovulation? How is your project helpful to human ovulation? Why is this important?

Lylah: My project is studying the process of ovulation, not as you would normally think about it in terms of the hormonal control, but rather the local regulation. Basically what the cells are doing to allow the mature oocyte to be ejected from the ovary. We’re using Drosophila as a model for this. It’s been shown that there is a high degree of conservation of many genes between Drosophila and mammals, particularly humans. We think that there is likely a high genetic conservation between the physiology of ovulation [between the two]. Likely the same genes that are essential for large components for mammalian or human ovulation will also be essential for Drosophila ovulation. The benefit of using fruit flies as a model is they’re completely sequenced and you can easily manipulate their genes. So we can address questions about a specific gene or set of genes, perform loss of function with ease, and assay to see whether or not it affects ovulation. Some of the genes that we find to be important in Drosophila could play a role in mammalian ovulation.

Elizabeth (Liz) Knapp studying the mechanism of ovulation in a fruit fly alongside the Leica S6 D greenough stereo microscope

What are your career goals after you finish your education?

Lylah: So, when you’re in high school, you’re told you have to figure out what you want to do with your life so you tailor what college you want to go [based on that]. And when you’re in college, they say that you have to figure out what to do with your life, so that you know what to do after college. In grad school, you’re told you have to figure out what you want to do with your life and as long as you keep doing what you want to do, you’re fine. But I don’t know what I’ll end up doing. There’s a lot of things you can do in Ph. D. in the sciences. So, traditionally when you get your Ph.D., you do post-doctoral research until you find a faculty job teaching and running your own lab. However, while being the most publicized option, it is not always the most feasible due to lack of job availability. And, most people end up in industry. So you’d be doing research for a company. You could go into sales, there’s a lot of things you could do. I do not know what I want to do yet, but that’s totally fine. I do like teaching; I would like to teach. But I’m still trying to figure it out.

Liz: I have no idea what I want to do. I realize what I don’t want to do by looking at certain people around me. I don’t want to sit down writing grants all day.

What advice would you give to undergrads who are looking to join research during undergrad?

Liz: Don’t join if you’re just looking to put it on your resume. Actually want to be there. Time commitments are different for every lab, so know what you’re getting yourself into.

Lylah: Know how much you can offer time-wise, and don’t sign up for things that you can’t follow through on. Because it’ll only make you stressed out and unhappy and make things difficult for you. And if you’re honest with what you have available, things will work out. If you try to give too much, then you’ll end up stressed and your advisor will end up stressed.

What advice would you give to undergrads who want to go to grad school?

Liz: Definitely look around. Don’t pick a lab just because you think their science is cool. See how the professor is, see how the people in the lab are. They’re going to become your family. You’re going to be spending all of your living moments with them for the next like five years.

Lylah: I agree with all of that. Just to restate, you can be choosy. Pick a good fit. You can get interested in any project, but you could also get deterred if you don’t get along with the people in the lab, it can make for a very difficult 5 or 6 years.

Liz: Also, support systems are really important. Like Lylah said before, she wants to be close to home. That’s super important. It’s nice to have someone to talk to. Don’t isolate yourself.

What has been your favorite memory/favorite part of grad school thus far?

Liz: I like when I make my PI laugh. I like also when we all are just like family, it’s not just science.

Lylah: Work hard, play hard. The end of the semester parties when we can all just hang out and be real people and be proud of what we’ve accomplished that semester.

Liz and Lylah are two of the most hard-working people I know, and they have really inspired me to not only become a better researcher, but to also become a better student and a more focused individual.