In 2021, I started my PhD at University College London in Stephen Perkins’s group, where I studied rare complement disorders. My work combined wet lab experiments with computational work. I purified specific proteins from yeast and compared them with mutant versions to understand how these mutations affected protein structure and binding.
About two months in, I ran a protein purification experiment on my own for the first time. It was a multi-day process: transferring a desired plasmid into yeast, cultivating the yeast, and subsequently collecting and purifying the protein product.
After days of work, I realized that I mixed in the wrong reagent. There was no way to fix it. I had effectively erased two weeks of work and used up valuable reagents. I immediately began calculating the cost of the mistake and how long it would take to redo everything.
I was stressed, but there wasn’t much I could do except own up to it. Feeling defeated, I went to my advisor’s office and mentally braced myself for a lecture—but it never came. Instead, Perkins got up, put his coat on, and told me that we were going to get tea and cake at a café in the park next to the university.
It didn’t feel like I was in trouble. We just sat down and he asked me to explain what happened. We talked and traced the mistake back to figure out why it occurred. The tea and cake didn’t undo the error, but they helped me see that there was no need for self-punishment—only accountability and improvement.
Not long after, I asked to shift my project toward the computational side, where my interests truly lay. This did not come as a surprise to my advisor, who happily adjusted my project. I began working on predictive modeling to identify which mutations were most promising to test. Fortunately, a new PhD student joined the lab and took on more of the wet lab work, so the arrangement suited us both.
I later realized that the café we visited was where he often chose to celebrate milestones, such as publishing a paper. After intense pushes to meet deadlines, he would also encourage us to take time off to avoid burnout. I learned that while minimizing mistakes is important, constantly fearing them can be exhausting and stifle creativity. My advisor taught me many lessons about research and balance that I still carry with me today as a freelance consultant for scientific writing and strategy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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