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A website has become a requirement for research laboratories and their principal investigators. Beyond just listing research outputs, they give us the opportunity to explain the scope and mission of our work, offer prospective lab members a sense of what the culture is like and showcase the career paths of former members. These websites are also used by journals to identify potential reviewers, authors and conference speakers.
In 2023, I began my career as a biologist at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After a year of acclimatizing to my new role and the courses I would be teaching, I started up my research lab. We study the roles of microRNAs in regulating cell differentiation, development and disease.
Because I work at a mainly undergraduate institution, all of the researchers in my lab are full-time students. Although this presents unique challenges, it is an incredibly rewarding opportunity: I get to mentor and guide aspiring scientists at the beginning of their careers. While I was building my lab’s website, I sought to not only publicize our research, but also create a resource for students and trainees both inside and outside the lab.
There are many wonderful resources with tips and examples for crafting a website that creates a great first impression. Below are a few examples of resources I have built into my lab’s website. Although these can no doubt be found elsewhere, I’ve curated those that are most relevant to our research and the career stage of our lab members.
Funding
Finding a funding agency or opportunity that aligns with your research can be challenging, especially for early-career researchers. To make this process easier, I’ve compiled a list of relevant funding sources that students and trainees can apply for. Because the members of my lab are fee-paying students, the opportunities on the list also include sources of financial aid.
I also plan to include the names of lab members who have successfully applied for specific opportunities, so future lab members can reach out to them directly for advice.
Conferences
Scientific conferences are perhaps as numerous as funding opportunities. However, just as with funding, not every conference is a good fit for your field or career interests.
I’ve compiled a list of conferences that I have attended or heard about that I feel the members of my lab would find valuable. The list includes relevant funding opportunities, such as travel awards. These conferences might focus on a topic that our research is aligned with, or be designed for the professional development of trainees at earlier career stages.
Professional societies
Professional societies are an incredible way to network and form relationships with people with similar scientific and career interests. Over time, I have developed a sense of which societies are most aligned with the goals and interests of my lab.
For example, our work studying RNA biology, with a previous focus in neuroscience, fits well with the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in Rockville, Maryland; the RNA Society in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in Washington DC, which have been incredibly useful for my own training and professional development. Compiling a list of these societies helps my current and future lab members know how to get involved with the broader scientific community outside the lab.
If local branches exist for these professional societies (such as the student chapter of ASBMB on our campus and the DC Metro Area chapter of SfN), I include their information, because this can be a great way for students and trainees to gain leadership experience.
Education and professional-development resources
Over the course of my career, I have discovered many useful professional-development resources. Rather than trying to remember each one, or saving them on my own computer where nobody else can access them, I have added my favourite resources and advice to the website. Because computational biology is a large component of our lab’s work, many of the resources are related to data analysis and programming languages, such as free courses and textbooks. I also include my own examples, such as my CV, posters or slide decks from past talks, and educational materials (including a podcast).
Future directions and other tips
You can expect to spend a dozen hours or so perfecting your site and adding all your favourite resources, but future updates will be rather quick. No matter what you choose to include, adding these resources will be of enormous benefit to you, your lab members and the countless other students and trainees that might visit your site.
As you build and personalize your web page, it might be useful to gather data on the traffic it is getting. Google Analytics is a great way to do this — and if you build your site using Google Sites, as I did, you can turn on this capability in just a few minutes. This allows you to monitor certain data, such as how many users are visiting your site, where those users are and which pages on your site are most frequented.
Updating websites can be a bit cumbersome. To save time, I list resources in an online document, such as a Google Sheet, that’s embedded in my lab website. That way, I can simply add a new line to the document rather than updating my entire website every time I find a new resource.
My lab is just getting started, so our website will continue to change as the lab grows and our projects advance. As students present their research at conferences, publish their work in academic journals and develop their own training resources, we will celebrate their successes on the website. And when students in the lab discover new conferences or funding opportunities, those will also be added.
As the first batch of students working in my lab graduates and moves on to other endeavours, I’m looking forward to showcasing their achievements and career moves on the website.
Dementia Researcher
Nature Careers Blog
Adam Smith
