In life, we sometimes make decisions that are bigger than others. One such key decision is picking a thesis lab, as this decision will likely have a ripple effect. It will be your "home" for the next 4-6 years, your interaction with your PI and peers will have a key influence on your growth as a scientist, and altogether this will determine your success, which is, in many instances, tied to whether you decide to continue in academia or not.
Luckily, in many universities and research institutes, such as Weizmann Institute of Science, where I performed my grad work, there is a program in place that dedicates the first year for rotating between labs. This allows experiencing different types of science, and working in different environments.
The journey of the rotations, for me, was interesting. From being interested in biotechnology and immunology in my bachelors degree, I was open to try and rotate in fields which were very different. While the research carried out by these labs was different from my aspirations, I felt that I could be interested in what they do. In fact, I think that even after reading a couple of papers per lab, I wasn't completely sure of what it means to be in that lab.During my rotations I learned a few things about the system, but mostly on myself - (1) Three months is not enough to really capture the essence of a lab. (2) I can fall in love with many different types of science, once I start working on something it becomes a passion. (3) I know nothing in some fields, but I am interested in learning more.
Professor Maya Schuldiner from Weizmann Institute of Science, together with Dr. Tslil Ast (now a postdoc at the Broad Institute) wrote a comprehensive document on how to choose a thesis lab, including specific questions to ask yourself and your peers. I encourage every grad student to read this before/during the first year of their program, and I would like to add on this document, in light of my own experiences.
While rotating, I constantly thought and analyzed the strategies my peers took. Even today, as a postdoc, I am always intrigued to understand the considerations and the decision making that rotation students do. I would advise noticing the following strategies and their pitfalls - you'll notice that my main advice is - heterogeneity:
Rotating only in your comfort zone: People sometimes choose labs that are in some way similar to a lab they worked in in undergrad. This usually means they have some experimental experience, and some knowledge of the research field. This is nice, but I would advise devoting, at max, 2 rotations for this. You may miss out on other great and interesting labs because you fell in love with certain field.
Rotating only in labs that do similar things / work on similar questions: This one is interesting. For example, one of my colleagues rotated in 3 different labs, all of which do genomics in yeast. It was interesting to see how it evolved her and made her an expert. She could compare schools-of-thought, technologies, protocols, and projects in a very efficient way. I think this gave her many advantages, however it also produced some discomfort ("the other lab is doing it differently/better"). I think this "expertise" was also very short-termed, as programs are long and there's enough time to catch up and become familiarized with other labs' works. Most importantly, I think this strategy provides a relatively narrow view of science, and may mean that you're missing out in unexplored fields. I would advise picking at max, 2 rotations for this.
Rotate without finding out anything about the lab first: This is probably the most risky one - if you don't know anything about the lab, it may be a rough ride.
I ended up joining one of the labs that was completely distinct from my original interests in biology. I was so intrigued by the science in the lab, and felt, based on my interaction with the PI and other students, this would be the lab where I can learn and grow the most. It was clear to me that this would be the best place for me to grow as a scientist, and learn from my colleagues and mentor.
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