MadSci Network: Neuroscience |
Well Jay, I am a neuroscientist and it is fun. But before I go into more detail about what I do, let me clear up a couple of things. There are three major "neuro" professions: neurologist, neurosurgeon, and neuroscientist. For the most part, these are separate professions, but there is significant overlap. A neurologist is a medical doctor who specializes in treating diseases of the nervous system. They go through 4 years of medical school and usually 3 years of residency training in neurology. They treat a variety of patients with conditions ranging from Parkinson's disease and stroke to neuropathies, and cerebral palsy (Psychiatrists by the way are medical doctors who specialize in the treatment of mental illness). They usually treat patients with drugs and other non-invasive techniques. A neurosurgeon is a surgeon who specializes in doing surgery involving the nervous system. They go through 4 years of medical school and usually 8 years of residency training. They are probably the best trained surgeons because of the delicacy of the operations that they usually perform. Because neurosurgery can be so difficult, many neurosurgeons specialize in only one type of surgery, for example, removing brain tumors or repairing damaged nerves in the hands. A neuroscientist on the other hand is someone who conducts research involving the nervous system. Most neuroscientists have PhDs not MDs. This means that they went to graduate school after college (anywhere from 3 to 8 years for most people) followed by at least one post-doctoral fellowship (2-5 years). I went through 6 years of graduate school and completed two post-doctoral fellowships over a 5 year span. Neuroscientists conduct both basic and clinical research. The difference between the two is that basic research does not have usually have any direct medical application. For example, a neuroscientist doing basic research may study the brain structure of song birds to see why they sing, echolocation in bats, how snails learn, or the development of the nervous system in flatworms. Neuroscientists conducting clinical research may study the brain's response to stroke, develop an animal model for Alzheimer's disease, or examine the use of nerve grafts to treat spinal cord injury. These three professions are not necessarily exclusive. Many (though not most) neurologists and neurosurgeons do some research and an therefore be called neuroscientists. In fact some trained neurologists and neurosurgeons only do research and do not see any patients. On the other hand a trained neuroscientist with a PhD cannot practice medicine and therefore cannot treat patients, though some do research with humans. I currently do mostly clinical research. I do gene therapy research to treat neurological diseases. I use genetically altered herpes simplex viruses to deliver genes to the nervous system in an attempt to cure or treat a disease process. I use a variety of animal (rat and mouse) models that emulate human diseases in order to test the therapeutic ability of these altered viruses. However, I have also done basic research involving the biology of the aging process in the brain and the basic biological processes occuring in the brain following traumatic brain injury. Being a neuroscientist is fun and conducting research is very interesting work. The type of research that you do depends on what your interests are. This begins in graduate school where you select an advisor based on mutual interests. In grad school you take classes and learn how to design and carry out proper research. You learn a variety of techniques that allow you to answer the questions that your research raises, and hopefully publish papers on your findings. When you receive your degree, you usually go to another laboratory for your post-doctoral training. During this time, you focus almost exclusively on doing research. You don't take any classes, but you usually learn how to write and apply for government grants in order to get money to do your research. Publishing good quality research is the goal of your post-doctoral fellowship. The more you are published the better chance you will have of getting a job. Once you have a job you tend to spend less time doing actual research and more time writing grants, papers, teaching, and doing administrative work. People who enjoy doing research are people who are self-motivated, curious, and above all patient. Good research takes a long time. Most researchers work about 60 hours a week. On the plus side though, most researchers do not have jobs that have set hours and there is a lot of freedom. Science is definitely one profession where you can excel as much as you want to as long as you are willing to work hard. Professional success is measured by the quality of your research, not by how much salary you make or necessarily where you work.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Neuroscience.