I have never really referred to online discussion boards concerning the research I am working on, so I had to look around for a bit until I stumbled across an online discussion board concerning laboratory protocols and techniques. Generally, if I have any questions concerning a technique I am using I refer back to the methods section of applicable scientific literature. The website I stumbled upon is protocol-online.org, and I was first impressed by the wide array of topics available for people who may have questions in that field. I was able to find an Immunology board that had a list of discussion topics, that I overall found to be very useful (https://www.protocol-online.org/forums/forum/3-immunology/). The first list I referred to was the discussion concerning “determining antibody concentration” (https://www.protocol-online.org/forums/topic/6584-determine-antibody-concentration/). I referred to this discussion board first because I am very familiar of the multiple techniques available for determining this. I found the discussion to be very helpful and applicable to how I determine antibody concentration myself. I disagreed with one suggestion stating that BSA could be used as a protein standard, however, someone else corrected this later on in the discussion. Overall, I found the discussion to be very helpful. It is important to note that I would also compare the ideas discussed to the literature.
The next discussion topic I reviewed in the Immunology section was “DC (Dendritic-Cell) Isolation” (https://www.protocol-online.org/forums/topic/1390-dc-dendritic-cell-isolation/). Although the information overall seemed helpful in dealing with live mice, I did not find any of the information useful for the cell line I am working with. I noticed throughout these discussion posts, that many do not have replies which is unfortunate because I did find some very interesting topics. I have never referred to online discussion boards concerning protocols until now, so I found the experience to be overall interesting and I found that there is a lot of information out there to work with.
Finally, the one online discussion board I have used and referred to is forums.studentdoctor.net. I graduate in the spring and I am planning on applying to medical school. I have used the forum for information concerning the application process, academics, the MCAT, and many other related topics. The list I referred to today was “350k in debt for med school” (https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/350k-in-debt-for-med-school.1166199/). The applications and the cost of the MCAT and study materials alone is already quite the investment, so I have been trying to get a realistic idea of just how much I will be in debt if I do end up choosing this career path. The discussion was both comical and serious, concerning medical school debt. I find these forums to be really helpful, as there are people who have had experience dealing with the financial burden of medical school and discuss how they chose to deal with it. I am not looking forward to incurring a “350k” debt or more, but it is nice to have discussion boards such as this one to refer to. Forums like these make the process feel less lonely, which is always welcomed.