Jared O. Kafader
Research Assistant Professor and Director of Instrumentation, Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, USA
Predictions? Over the next 5–10 years we will see significantly more automated studies taking place. Automation unlocks high-throughput studies for the clinical arena, which reveal important trends that are not captured in more fundamental investigations. The pandemic has jump started this push with advanced testing and diagnostic studies.
Advice? Continually teach yourself something new every day and surround yourself with other driven scientists. As you become familiar in a subsection of your field, regularly turn your attention to additional experimental, computational, or informatics based tools. Collaborations both internally within your research institution and beyond is the only way to stay at the forefront of your field and grow as an investigator.
Secret to success? I credit most of the success in the early part of my career to my family and graduate mentors. It is important to have a strong support system in and out of the workplace. The field of science (and especially graduate school) can have many ups and downs. Being able to bounce back fast to tackle the next problem is challenging but necessary.
