Culture
“It is not the critic who counts…the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat”
-Teddy Roosevelt
Philosophy
In the Naik lab, we view science as an adventure into the unknown. We navigate complex biological systems with an interdisciplinary approach that draws from immunology, microbiology, stem cell, and developmental biology, and cancer biology. This requires teamwork both within the lab and with outside collaborators and allows for the cross fertilization of ideas. Teams with diverse perspectives not only lead to new discoveries, but also make science fun! And so, our lab environment is dynamic and fosters dialogue. Communication, collaboration, and cooperation are crucial for our team to flourish and for each individual to grow as a scientist and person.
Mentoring in the lab
Mentoring is big part of life in the Naik lab. Each trainee establishes an individual development plan, with explicit short-and long-term career goals. This plan is reviewed yearly to ensure that the needs of the mentee are being met and to receive feedback on progress. Likewise trainees provide Shruti with feed back about her mentorship and logistics of the lab on a yearly basis. Trainees are free to pursue questions that are exciting to them and are empowered to lead their research. Trainees write fellowships and grants, and present their work at national and international conferences to engage with the scientific community. Professionally, students and postdocs are encouraged to hone their communication skills, both written and oral, to prepare them for pursuits in academia, industry, government or any other path they find fulfilling and wish to pursue.
In the Naik lab, we view science as an adventure into the unknown. We navigate complex biological systems with an interdisciplinary approach that draws from immunology, microbiology, stem cell, and developmental biology, and cancer biology. Communication, collaboration, and cooperation are crucial for our team to flourish and for each individual to grow as a scientist and person.
