Stem cells, genetics, biochemistry and medicine

[Leylu]

Hello to everyone at SFN. I'm a new member here and I've come here because of my love of science and also the fact that I am in dire need of some serious advice!!!

 

Well to start off I am in England at sixth form level, I am doing Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology (you can already see that I love science just that much ) and I am going to drop either maths of physics next year (unless I decide to carry on to do 4 'A2's).

 

Now I was really unsure what degree to apply for 100% - then I started to narrow down a bit and decided that, although I do love physics and maths, my real love is biology/chemistry.

 

My real interest is the study and application of stem cells and genetics, (things like Gene therapy and growing tissues from stem cells, basically playing around with the building blocks of life).

 

Before I was really sure that I wanted to do biochemistry and go into research - but - I just came back from attending a five day residential course (called Medlink, which I LOVED). I had a few chats with some of the lecturers, one of them was a clinical geneticist who had just come back to full-time clinical work after spending about 5 years in genetic research. He told me that doing medicine and specialising in general medicine allowed him to spend time in part time research and also spend time applying his findings in the real world (he also spoke about his nice consultant's salary of 100K+) he told me that it 'seemed alot better than simply doing a 3 year biochemistry course and working as a researcher all his life in an abstract lab'.

 

He also told me about pathologists working in the field of stem cells and genetics etc.

 

He also mentioned something about research from doctors being more respected in the medical sciences community over simple biochemists. (I am not sure if that is true though).

 

I am really unsure what to think now, I really do want to work on ground breaking research into genetics but I also want to be able to apply it (and also earn some money the average salary of a full time researcher was about 35-45K pounds and the salary of a Clinical geneticist being 75K pounds plus)

 

This may seem all biased but I really would like some advise to clear thigns up any doctors/biochemists here?

[CharonY]

Hmm I am a biologist but I had a shortish collaboration with medicals. What I gathered with discussions with them (as well as with other people involved in research or rather work in clinical settings) is the following:

 

- medical doctors get paid better. Simple as that. However, they usually have additional responsibilities (i.e. patients)

 

-they tend to have less time for actual research. Between patients, administrative stuff (which is even worse in academia) and teaching there often is not enough time. Though to a lesser extent this may also be true if you are got a largish group in an academic setting.

 

-respecte: well this is a double edged sword. As a non medical research scientist working in a clinic you often get looked own upon by the higher-ups (not on the assistant doc level, though as well as not in collaborations, as I found out). In the mainly medical community this may also be true, however, when it comes down to basic and often also applied research the medics take the back seat. Their training simply usually do not involve the necessary training to be full-fledged researchers. Some eventually learn it but then do less patient care, for instance. The quality difference is most evident by comparing PhD theses and the equivalents from medical students. So in research communities the medicals suddenly become junior partners. In many projects (as in that I was involved in) the role of the medics is often to provide samples for the researchers (apart from conduction clinical trials that is). Cutting edge lab work is thus rarely exclusively done by medical researchers.

 

It simply boils down what aspects is more appealing to you. Basic research, applied research, using applied research or just collaborate on any level with others. Also think about clinical duties that medicals often got. Maybe you should ask Ecoli, though. I think he wants to make a dual degree.

[Genecks]

MD/Ph.D program. Such a thing allows a person to be a biomedical researcher. For what I understand, people who have both degrees are allowed to further htemselves in biomedical research by either doing medical work or actual research. With both degrees, a person has more power to cross the border of ethics or attempt to do so.

 

Being that the interest is in application, then I suspect you'll want to be a researcher. Thus, you'll want a Ph.D in something such as molecular biology or genetics. A degree in genetics might work. I suggest you get a bachelor's degree and take courses in genetics. A Ph.D will allow you to do research in stem cell technology. If you combine the Ph.D with a M.D., then you can make more money. Many research institutions only want to hire people with both degrees.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_research_scientist

http://www.mdphds.org/guide/mdphd_mstp.php

Edited January 2, 2009 by Genecks