Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.
I have a reader here in the Northeast with a question about taking on a new job that I thought would be of some general interest. She’s been in the industry for a few years now, working at a pretty large site, but (as with many others), layoffs have sent her to a smaller company… Read More
One of my readers, a PhD chemist, is thinking about a career change and is looking for some advice. Having been through a mass layoff earlier this year, I can sympathize. I did everything I could to avoid a career change of my own, and I’m very glad that I was able to. I like… Read More
An alert reader sends along this story from The Economist, on the price of talent in China versus the West. Talking about the steep rise in the stock of WuXi PharmaTech on the Chinese stock market, which is insane even by the impressive standards of the Chinese stock market, they point out that: ”. . Read More
The FASEB folks have collected a large amount of data on training and employment in the life sciences (start here), and see the discussions over here at the AAAS). Many of the conclusions are not going to surprise people, but it’s good to have some data to back up everyone’s impressions. I can sum the… Read More
Having had the chance recently to see a number of interview seminars (other than my own, for once!), I have a few more thoughts for aspiring job seekers. It turns out that many of these are things that high school speech teachers have been telling their students for decades, but you know, there’s only so… Read More
I’m back! This entry comes from temporary quarters in Cambridge, which will be my home for about another six weeks. The second half of that period will find the rest of my family in here with me, but for now it’s just me, an internet connection, and some take-out souvlaki. Going to work tomorrow will… Read More
The grad-school advice topic from the other day got me to thinking about another issue in that line. Everyone knows about how hot all the mixed chemistry-biology stuff is (and has been). Chemical biology, biological chemistry – call it what you like, a lot of people are doing it (and a lot of people are… Read More
I’ve had an e-mail from someone going off to grad school in chemistry. He wants to eventually do drug discovery work, and is wondering which way to go: I have it narrowed down to two departments. One is a large, well funded and well respected university with a specific research advisor that is actively recruiting… Read More
Since I’m still on the job-hunting trail, after the events described here, I think I’d find it a bit therapeutic to complain about one part of the process that’s a complete waste of time. Now, there are open positions that are advertised, both online and in the various science and trade publications, and there are… Read More
Here’s a mighty topical question for some of my associate colleagues these days: what is it that people are looking for in a presentation from a MS-level candidate? Associates are expected, first and foremost, to make SAR analogs. If you can crank out a stream of reasonable compounds, you’re probably going to do fine, and… Read More
