Search

Will a growth in postdoctoral positions across Africa cause bottlenecks, replicating the career-progression challenges faced by scientists elsewhere?

Around one in three respondents to Nature’s global postdoc survey are using AI chatbots to help to refine text, generate or edit code, wrangle the literature in their field and more.

The second article in a series on Nature’s inaugural survey of postdocs in academia worldwide uncovers a sense of instability among the research precariat.

Julie Gould explores professional identity and motivation by asking five researchers how they keep a childhood love of science alive, despite the setbacks.

Experience as a postdoctoral researcher might not fast-track your career outside academia, Julie Gould discovers.

Julie Gould investigates how brain drains and demographic time bombs are forcing some countries to rethink the postdoc.

Scientists' unions want long-term contracts

What is a postdoc and why undertake one? Julie Gould gets some metaphorical answers to a complicated question.

A conversation with Andrew Tutt, director of the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research, London

Temporary contracts, low salaries and cost-of-living hikes force many researchers to put off parenthood and other big decisions.

Opportunities abound for those who wish to make scientific research their career, if a nomadic lifestyle and short-term positions are acceptable. Advice abounds, particularly on the Internet. Nature's global review begins with the biggest postdoc jungle of them all.

Female academics who are keen to advance their careers need to see other women in leadership positions. Social stereotyping prevents that, argues Vanessa Gottifredi.

Long hours and a lack of job security, combined with workplace bullying and discrimination, are forcing many to consider leaving science, finds Nature’s inaugural survey of postdoctoral researchers.

Cost-of-living pressures, a dismal job market and stagnant US federal budgets are leaving lab leaders scrambling to balance the books.

Postdoctoral dissatisfaction about pay, job security and career progression cannot continue. Institutions must up their game or risk losing the next generation.

Nature Biotechnology’s annual survey highlights academic start ups that are, among other things, correcting misfolded or disordered proteins, creating second-generation GPCR agonists, building a new gene delivery platform and mining cancer genomes for novel targets.

Nature’s first-ever survey of this key segment of the scientific workforce uncovers anxiety and doubt about their professional pathway.

Following one’s passion and curiosity are major drivers for a successful career in science, and finding the right mentors and collaborators is essential in this journey. In the thirteenth part of our Career pathways series, Alexis Jourdain and Feilong Wang share their experience.

A stint at CERN exposed María Teresa Dova to longstanding collaborators and mentors, culminating in a successful bid to join a landmark project.

Closed labs and rescinded job offers have snatched away opportunities. How can science bounce back? Julie Gould finds out.

Postdocs are attempting to organize and improve their lot worldwide — but results have been mixed. Paul Smaglik reports.

Landing tenure is a pipe dream for most postdoctoral researchers. They need business skills to help them thrive outside academia.

Brazilian biologist Fernanda Staniscuaski saw career opportunities diminish after returning from parental leave, prompting her to take action.

Fewer than half of respondents to Nature’s 2021 salary and satisfaction survey feel positive about their prospects.

A trail-blazing astronomer, a climate revolutionary and a transplant pioneer are some of the people behind this year’s big stories.

Our annual survey highlights startups tackling intractable viruses with new vaccine design, engineering a reliable source of platelets, universalizing cell therapies, improving cancer screening, developing RNA-editing platforms and targeting protein–RNA interactions. Michael Eisenstein, Ken Garber, Caroline Seydel and Laura DeFrancesco report.

Between us, we got several offers to lead labs before we had finished our PhDs.

In this four-part podcast series, Nature follows two scientists to find what it takes to launch a research lab.

Electrode arrays for neurological diagnosis and treatment carry a risk of nerve injury. Nerve cuffs with tiny voltage-controlled shape-reconfigurable electrode arrays have been reported, allowing active wrapping around delicate nerves.

As Nature Neuroscience celebrates its 25th anniversary, we are having conversations with both established leaders in the field and those earlier in their careers to discuss how the field has evolved and where it is heading. This month we are talking to Freda Miller, Deputy Director and Professor of Developmental Neurobiology at University of British Columbia. She is known for her work on neuronal and mesenchymal stem and precursor cells and how they can promote tissue repair and regeneration. Here we talk about science and how to make your mark.

A postdoctoral application should present a person's best scientific self on paper. Kendall Powell demystifies why some applicants shine and others miss the mark.

Installation of small aliphatic motifs within pharmaceuticals provides a medicinally relevant tool in drug discovery programmes. Here, the authors report a late-stage meta-C–H alkylation method facilitating the biological properties modulation of therapeutic agents.

Students value being taught by real-life scientists with lived experience of life in the lab, say researchers who switched career.

Nature follows two scientists as they fight against the odds to build their careers.

Nature Biotechnology’s annual survey highlights university startups that are, among other things, rethinking how to deliver gene-editing therapy and tackling various metabolic conditions, immune disorders and cancer with microbiome treatments or immunotherapy. Michael Eisenstein, Ken Garber, Esther Landhuis, Caroline Seydel and Laura DeFrancesco report.

Our annual survey highlights startups taking on gene therapy, adoptive immune cell therapy, gene editing, and drugs targeting RNA modifications and the unfolded protein response. Ken Garber, Esther Landhuis, Melanie Senior, Cormac Sheridan and Laura DeFrancesco report.

Postdocs and other early-career researchers need better trained lab leaders, not just nicer ones, Julie Gould discovers.

Ice sheets and precession are shown to control westerly strength and position, impacting nutrient-rich water upwelling and productivity in the subarctic Pacific. This finding underscores the subarctic Pacific’s significant contribution to Pleistocene CO2, particularly on a precession timescale.

Philosophers, social scientists and a Nobel-prizewinning economist on how researchers can get satisfaction from their work — and make a difference to the world.

Our annual survey highlights several academic startups developing immunotherapies as well as ventures focusing on microbiomes, proteostasis, integrin biology, nucleic acid delivery and subcellular imaging.

A lab move can expose you to collaborators from different disciplines and change the direction of your research. But it can be scary.

WATCH ON DEMAND | This webcast took place on: Wednesday 17 April 2024

AAV vectors form difficult-to-detect concatemers at Cas9 target sites.

In one year, George Church’s group spun out 16 different startups. What explains the lab’s incredible output of entrepreneurs?

If academic research isn’t for you, when is the best time to switch sectors? Industry insiders offer their advice.

During March 2023, Nature Cardiovascular Research celebrates the female scientists that published with us last year, by reporting a brief story of their scientific and life journey. As we celebrate these extraordinary women through their fascinating stories, we hope to inspire younger generations that are starting their own amazing journey in life sciences. Each scientist featured in this article series has received an identical set of five questions. Although their backgrounds and journeys are unique, there is a common thread in their narratives — they are all insatiably curious, their generosity is bottomless and their love for science is profound. Here, we present Sabine Steffens.

Antila et al. show that brain amyloid-β load is not significantly affected by sustained dural lymphatic vessel atrophy or hyperplasia induced by lymphangiogenic growth factor manipulation in two mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.