Dear Solutions Lab,
My PhD is on a fairly niche aspect of tau biology and I’m starting to worry I’ve over-specialised.
When I look at postdoc adverts, almost nothing fits. Did I make my project too narrow, and is there anything I can do in my final year to widen things back out?
I would welcome your thoughts.
Hello,
This is a little hard to respond in detail without knowing the niche area of tau biology.
However, your PhD is a training programme that set you up with expertise in a large number of methodologies, scientific approaches, analytical skills, writing skills, presentation skills and so on. This will prepare you for a scientific career and you could choose to change field entirely to use these skills. Furthermore, within neurodegenerative diseases, there are huge overlaps in the way in which amyloidogenic proteins are involved. Whether you worked on how tau works functionally, or how it is involved in pathology, the importance of loss or gain of function is going to be important for any neurodegenerative disease from Parkinson’s disease to Huntington’s.
And finally, don’t forget how important tau is becoming in understanding how neurodegenerative diseases work!
Tau is key to over 26 different conditions, each one involving tau pathology, but displaying different symptoms and areas of the brain affected. This is a fascinating area of research that can be transferred within neurodegeneration or outside.
The most important thing is that you enjoy your research and you find it interesting. If you want to read around what you are doing and see how your work impacts on other areas, do. You might just find the key!
Professor Louise Serpell
Emily Spencer
Ajantha Abey
Nature Careers Blog