This repository includes our mission statement, lab policies, expectations, standards, and important documents required to be a successful member of the Way Lab.
Please read this document in full, and, as this is a living document, please suggest any changes!
The Way Lab’s mission is to integrate high-dimensional biomedical data science into clinical decision-making.
We are biologists who strive to reduce human suffering. We use biomedical data science and computational biology to develop and validate analytical methods, novel approaches, and software. And, in select high-impact collaborations, we use team science to apply our methods and know-how to help advance clinical understanding, patient treatment strategies, and drug discovery.
We value creativity, integrity, courage, and openness. We believe that to maximize our impact, we require outside-the-box thinking and new perspectives. We will embrace new technologies, trust the data, learn from all of our collective experiences, and radically support each other. We use open science to the fullest extent possible in every project we pursue, and we are passionate about computational reproducibility. We also value our time away from the lab, doing whatever else gives us joy.
Our goal is to provide health systems and doctors with easy access to rich, patient-specific, clinically-actionable information. We will primarily focus on cancer research in our internal projects, and we will pursue selective collaborations in multiple disease areas of need.
We will establish morphology as a systems biology measurement rivaling molecular readouts in mechanistic information content. We will understand, with greater detail, how the central dogma of biology links and interacts with other, higher-order biological manifestations, like morphology.
As research capabilities evolve, new approaches crystallize, and the most pressing problems of tomorrow manifest, we will be ready.
Everyone is expected to be physically present during core business hours, between 10am - 4pm, at least four days a week. In addition to the core hours, we expect you to work a total of 40 hours per week. However, it must be known that in rare occasions, working extra time becomes necessary to meet deadlines. If you are consistently working far more or far fewer hours per week, please consider rethinking your behaviors and motivations, and consider working with the PI, and/or other lab members, to establish healthier behaviors. During the pandemic, we might not be able to be physically present, and we will follow all guidelines as set forth by the University in regards to remote work.
Imposter syndrome is real, and everyone experiences it at some point. When you ultimately experience this, you must remember that you belong. Research is hard, and it can be frustrating at times, but it is also extremely rewarding and can have real impact in our world. We will persevere through the hard times and celebrate the good times. You strive to be a supportive member of all communities you are a part of.
Everyone has a voice, and we will listen. If you see places where the lab can improve, please speak up. We have an improvement-mindset and grow through constructive criticism.
Principal Investigator The PI will participate in all lab functions and adhere to the lab’s core values. The PI will decide the research agenda, apply for grants, discover collaborations, and help establish (and abide by) a culture in which everyone in the lab feels safe to contribute to research and the lab’s overall mission. In consultation with each lab member, the PI will assign research projects, help define both research and career-oriented goals, track progress, and provide guidance when necessary.
Instructor Every instructor is expected to participate in all lab functions and adhere to the lab’s core values. You will collaborate with diverse scientists on multiple research projects, perform project management and task prioritization, generate reproducible analyses, effectively communicate and interpret intermediate results, present research in progress at strategy meetings, and work with the PI to define your own overall research agenda. If desired, you will mentor other lab members on research projects, and write your own grants.
Postdoc Scientist Every postdoc is expected to participate in all lab functions and adhere to the lab’s core values. Following a predefined schedule set forth at the beginning of each semester, you will present at least one journal club and one research in progress during lab meeting. You will work with the PI to design your own research program that aligns with the lab’s overall mission and with your personal and career goals. If desired, you will mentor other lab members on research projects, and write your own grants.
Graduate Student Every graduate student is expected to participate in all lab functions and adhere to the lab’s core values. If you are taking classes, we strongly encourage you to spend the time between classes in the lab. It is ok to do homework during lab time, but remember that part of the graduate school experience is juggling obligations and improving time management. Ultimately, your graduate program will award you a PhD for your research. You will abide by the guidelines set forth by your graduate program. Following a predefined schedule set forth at the beginning of each semester, you will present at least one journal club and one research in progress during lab meeting. You will work with the PI to establish your own research program, define and track personalized career-goals, and communicate any concerns.
The goal of our lab policies is to provide a lab environment where science can flourish. If at any point you would like to experiment to improve lab policies, please make constructive suggestions.
We hold three kinds of regularly scheduled meetings:
We can also schedule ad-hoc meetings if any lab member needs to practice a presentation, or needs group feedback outside of the normally scheduled meetings.
Communication is an essential skill in our modern, digital age. We use a variety of tools to facilitate effective communication. We communicate with radical candor, and we are supportive and care for one-another. With an improvement mindset, communication becomes fun and easy.
Discord We use discord for the majority of our communication. We make sure our posts are appropriate for their given channel topic. Private messages are a good way to receive quick answers. When a quick answer is not possible, we will switch communication modes to an in-person or zoom discussion.
Email We use email as a more formal communication mechanism. Emails should be short, and the main points should be abundantly clear. Email is useful for setting up and following up with external collaborators.
Github All research and software specific communications belong on Github. This includes project results, updates, questions, and decisions. Think of Github as a project-specific lab notebook! Remember that everything you write on Github is likely publicly available.
Zoom We primarily use Zoom for video calls when in-person discussions are not possible.
In person There is no substitute to in-person discussions. While internal, quick communication should exist on Discord, more complex and nuanced topics should be discussed in person. Zoom will be the substitute to in person communications when necessary.
The Center for Health AI Grand Opening will be in December, 2021. We will know more about our physical space then.
The Way Lab will provide every lab member with a computer, keyboard, and mouse to facilitate their research. We will primarily use custom builds with Linux operating systems for research, as the benefits they offer are unparalleled. The PI and Staff Scientists may request laptops instead of a custom build as their work might require it given specific software support.
It is not sufficient to just perform research. After performing research, you must report it to your communities and the world.
We use Github to document all software, results, intermediate data, hypotheses, and decisions. In project-specific repositories, or lab-notebooks, you can open a Github issue to discuss any results, and you can open a Github pull request to add code, results, and data. Effective Github management takes time, patience, and experience. The Way Lab will work with you to learn how to use Github for science.
We regularly publish our work once we have important results in need of widespread dissemination. After writing the manuscript and gaining all authors’ approval, we submit our work to a preprint server and to a suitable peer-reviewed journal. Prior to writing the manuscript, we encourage that the author present their work in a research round table lab meeting.
All lab members are also expected to present their work at local, national, and international conferences and symposia. All talks must be practiced before-hand in a research round table lab meeting.
Research integrity is the most important aspect of science. We will perform research to the best of our ability, using well-characterized controls and proper statistical tests. We will trust the data we analyze, trust the results of our experiments, and we will not lie about any data or results for any reason.
We abide by the Code of Conduct as set forth by the CU Anschutz and Center for Health AI communities. Please also read our lab’s CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md document for more specific details.