How to get to the top

Principal investigators on last year's list of the 20 biggest grants offer advice about how to get where they are.

BY ALISON MCCOOK

1. Experiment with your experiments
One of the keys to scientific success for Lawrence Corey at the University of Washington in Seattle was doing different things at different times in his career, then finding a way to marry the experiences. "I've been able to take these pieces and put them together into a large program." Tufts' Mohammed Anwer, too, says that as a postdoc, he had the attitude that he "needed to learn a lot," going even outside his principal investigator's lab to pick up key expertise. To get the right experience with the right people, it often makes sense to approach people outside your own areas. "One of the things that's required in a...