Thriving in An Era of Team Science

INVESTING IN THE CAREERS OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS
TEAM SCIENCE
THRIVING IN AN ERA OF
THE BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND is an
independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the biomedical
sciences by supporting research and other scientic and educational
activities. Within this broad mission, BWF seeks to accomplish two
primary goalsto help scientists early in their careers develop as
independent investigators, and to advance elds in the basic biomedical
sciences that are undervalued or in need of particular encouragement.
BWFs nancial support is channeled primarily through competitive
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granting institutions in the U.S. and Canada on behalf of individual
researchers, who must be nominated by their institutions. To complement
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organizations conducting activities intended to improve the general
environment for science.
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corporate foundation of the pharmaceutical rm Burroughs Wellcome
Co. In 1993, a generous gift from the United Kingdoms Wellcome Trust
enabled BWF to become fully independent from the company, which was
acquired by Glaxo in 1995. BWF has no afliation with any corporation.
THRIVING IN AN ERA OF
TEAM SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION 2 // BUILDING A CAREER IN TEAM SCIENCE 4 //
PREPARING TO WORK ON A SCIENTIFIC TEAM 12 // CASE STUDIES HEIDI KONG
AND JULIE SEGRE 20 // JIM MORAN 30 // MARCUS BOSENBERG 36 //
MALCOLM GARDNER 42 // LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES IN TEAM SCIENCE 48 // NOTES 54 // FURTHER RESOURCES 56 //
21 T. W. Alexander Drive
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Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3901
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INTRODUCTION
:
TEAM SCIENCE
Advances in the technologies available to
scientists, and in the subsequent generation of
vast data sets, have enormously increased the
range of questions one can hope to answer.
2 BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND
THRIVING IN AN ERA OF TEAM SCIENCE 3
As the life and health sciences explore this expanded
terrain, many researchers nd themselves in new company, sharing the
bench with physicists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians,
chemists, demographers, anthropologists, and more. This new
interdisciplinary set of colleagues and the techniques and perspectives
they bring has triggered a revolution in the biological sciences.
Revolutions happen quickly and slowly. Biomedical science is
changing rapidly, yet most academic scientists work in a system that has
not yet dened how its historical and traditional methods for evaluating
and rewarding scholars will adapt to a world in which important
contributions are made not only by a principal investigator driving
projects, but also by investigators whose most critical and valuable work
occurs in the context of team efforts.
In this book, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund taps the experience of
established investigators involved in team-driven science to provide some
insight and advice on how to survive and thrive in collaborative science
how to make contributions, carve out signature elements that will help you
dene and communicate the role of your own original contributions, and
get credited and rewarded for work that may only rarely feature your name.
BUILDING A CAREER
IN TEAM SCIENCE
For many biomedical researchers in
training, academic independence is the
milestone that signies you have made it
within the scientic community. Independence
implies a leadership role and recognition
by ones scientic peers for discoveries
originating from your own research.
For decades, the academic incentive system has
operated by rewarding independent thought and senior authorship on
publications. But in the last decade there has been a signicant shift from
an incremental, independent approach toward the multidisciplinary
team approach to tackling complex problems. The guiding concept is
that diverse teams lead to dynamic, connective thinking and bring to
bear solutions that may not have occurred to a single individual working
in isolation. The government agencies that fund research have begun
placing emphasis on collaborative team approaches, and that emphasis
has begun shifting the center of gravity away from the individual principal
investigator and toward a more integrated approach to problem solving.
One could argue whether this shift will produce better solutions to the
vexing scientic and medical problems we face, but regardless of your view,
the shift is happening and it appears to have long-term consequences for
career advancement.
What is Team Science?
Rapid growth of the biomedical research enterprise in the 20th century
led to a branching of scientic specialization and even sub-specialization,
with each eld producing volumes of publications, and its own vocabulary,
culture, and scientic norms. It has become clear that tackling the
complex scientic and medical challenges of the 21st century will require
a reassembly of these disparate elds into teams with a common purpose.
Team science has been called by many names, including interdisciplinary
science, multidisciplinary science, transdisciplinary science, and the
catch-all phrase rst coined in 1961: big science.
1
These terms imply
an integration of two or more scientic approaches to solve a complex
multifaceted problem. Teams can be formed for a nite amount of
time, such as the National Institutes of Health grant cycle, or they can
be a longer lasting collaboration that spans multiple projects over many
years. Some approaches have become so integrated they have formed new
disciplines, such as bioinformatics and nanobiotechnology.
Before Big Science
For much of the 20th century, biomedical science could be thought
of as a cottage industry, with small groups working on tightly focused
projects under the direction of a single lab leader. Even after World War
II, when NIHs budget and mission grew dramatically, the organizing
unit of federal support remained the principal investigator. This system
produced many of the scientic and medical advances we recognize as
critical underpinnings of the modern biomedical enterprise. Some would
argue that if the system works, why alter it? Indeed, it is unlikely that the
individual investigator is in danger of extinction. However, as scientic
and medical research has grown and borne fruit, it has become clear that
many of the difcult problems still before us will require the combined
efforts of many investigators with a variety of skills and experiences to
solve. The success of the human genome project and its scientic offspring
has bolstered the idea that much can be gained from assembling diverse
teams to get things done. The current enthusiasm for team science might
be considered to have sprung from of the era of -omics.
The Era of -Omics
By 1986, fervor around the concept of sequencing the entire human
genome had reached fever pitch among geneticists. It had already been
decided that the new study of genomes needed its own scholarly journal,
but naming it became an issue. In a story that has now entered cultural
lore, a small group of scientists that included Frank Ruddle of Yale
University, Victor McKusick of Johns Hopkins University and Thomas
Roderick of Jackson Laboratory, mulled the question late at night over beer
and raw oysters. Roderick suggested the term genomics not just to name
a new journal, but also to describe an activity, a new way of thinking
about biology.
2
The massive accumulation of data that characterizes
the era of -omics presaged bioinformatics and the integration of
mathematics, the physical sciences and engineering into biological
problem solving. The data deluge requires a variety of approaches to make
use of all the tools available to biologists and medical researchers today.
The success of the human genome project
and its scientic offspring has bolstered
the idea that much can be gained from
assembling diverse teams to get things done.
The NIH Roadmap What it means for you
The National Institutes of Health has been explicit in its support for
scientists working in teams to solve complex problems. The NIH Roadmap,
which has been guiding federally funded biomedical research since
September 2004, explicitly sets research policy to encourage more cross-
cutting and interdisciplinary research. According to the Roadmap, NIH
wants to stimulate new ways of combining skills and disciplines in the
physical, biological, and social sciences to realize the great promise of 21st
century medical research.
3
Essentially the NIH is providing incentives and funds specically to
move biomedical research in the United States away from individual, single
principal investigator projects and toward multi-PI initiatives. The effect
of this shift has yet to be felt, since many of the rst Roadmap projects
are still in their infancy, and the majority of NIH grants are still made to
individual PIs. But NIH has made clear that interdisciplinary teams are the
direction it is headed.
How will careers advance if the principal investigator system fades
away? NIHs own tenure review committee revised its criteria for tenure
to include team science in 2006. NIHs clinical and translational science
program explicitly promotes the formation of interdisciplinary teams
among clinicians and basic scientists. In addition, since 2007, NIH has
recognized multiple PIs on NIH grants. By recognizing team leadership,
the NIH hopes to encourage institutions to reward and recognize
successful science teamwork through career advancement. But perhaps
the most visible effort to assist team science has come in the form of a eld
guide, published in November 2010, that provides guidance for established
investigators who are entering into a complex team project.
4
For scientists who are at the start of their careers, learning the skills
necessary to be a successful collaborator and perhaps a member of a larger
team can only help aid the transition to independence. To that end, several
large universities have begun to offer courses or professional development
programs to encourage new or established investigators to put together
effective teams.
Judith Ockene, professor of preventive and behavioral medicine
at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass.,
has offered one of the rst such team science workshops for graduate and
medical students since 2003. Ockene says the most important outcome
of her sessions is to get investigators to appreciate that engaging specialists
in other elds can bring breadth to their own research and can stimulate
creative thinking. For individuals still in training, beginning that process
means seeking out a broad range of mentors outside your immediate
specialty.
We talk a lot about the importance of expanding the number
of people they go to for mentorship to learn what they need to be able
to work in teams, says Ockene.
In November 2009, Stanford University launched its rst team
science training workshop, sponsored by NIHs Clinical and Translational
Science Awards program. Hannah Valentine, senior associate dean and
professor of cardiovascular medicine, worked with Margaret Neale,
professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of
Business, to design a program around developing group cohesiveness
and increasing creative thinking. The team dynamic approach involved
exercises in building teams and leveraging the experience and expertise
of team members to solve problems, says Valentine. Feedback from the
70 rst-year participants suggested that while the exercises were
worthwhile, the physicians and scientists in attendance would prefer a
program designed specically for their needs, according to Valentine.
By introducing the concepts that guide team science and the skill
sets necessary to work well within a team environment, the Burroughs
Wellcome Fund aims to spur thinking about what level of team science
is right for you where you are now in your career. For those who are
navigating a team environment while trying to establish an independent
career, we provide examples of investigators who have successfully forged
careers within a team science milieu and avoided getting lost in the crowd.
Proactively addressing the role of teams within your institution and
your own career goals will prepare you to be a stronger collaborator
and team leader.
We talk a lot about the importance of
expanding the number of people they
go to for mentorship to learn what they
need to be able to work in teams.
Judith Ockene
University of Massachusetts Medical School
PREPARING TO WORK
ON A SCIENTIFIC TEAM
Just as you would take time and care in
choosing a laboratory to conduct doctoral or
postdoctoral research, it is crucial to evaluate
the work environment and opportunities
presented in any collaborative endeavor.
Teaming with a former advisor to extend already
established work may seem straightforward. But, for a young investigator
trying to establish him- or herself, working with a former advisor could
be perceived as maintaining a junior role. In addition, there are critical
differences between establishing a small two-lab collaboration and joining
a large-scale, coordinated endeavor such as a distributed bioinformatics
project or multi-institutional clinical trial.
It might seem as if the decision to join a team should rest on
whether the science is interesting, but if the goal is to be productive and
publish in high impact journals, there is more to consider. Recent studies
of the structure and productivity of scientic teams show that success
correlates with group structure and dynamics.
The independent nature of academic research scientists has
been well documented by social scientists studying team science efforts.
According to Gary Olson and Judy Olson, cognitive scientists who study
group dynamics and human-computer interactions at the University of
Michigan, scientists must put in an extra effort when collaborating to
maintain open communication channels, adopt shared toolsets, and keep
groups focused on common, agreed upon goals.
The Olsons run one of a few research teams that have systematically
examined large-scale academic research collaborations across many
disciplines. After more than 15 years of research, including a National
Science Foundation-funded study of its collaborative groups, they have
developed a set of prerequisites that should be in place for a large-scale
collaboration to be successful as evidenced by developing new, more
efcient ways of working and/or forming new models that demonstrably
move the eld forward
1
.
Efcient division of labor
Work should be divided so that it can get done without constant daily
or even weekly communication across distance. For diverse scientic
teams whose members are spread out geographically, it is helpful if the
work can be divided into modules assigned to individual locations. The
more modularized the work, the more successful it is likely to be. For
example, scientists working on the malaria genome project, which involved
sequencing centers on three continents, divided the chromosomes that
need to be sequenced amongst themselves. While the project required
intense collaboration to bridge technological hurdles, the day-to-day
work required little contact among the groups. Leaders met face to face to
compare notes and coordinate effort twice a year, according to Malcolm
Gardner, a leading scientist in the project (see case study on page 44.)
Even for projects within a single institution, dividing the work into self-
contained units and devising a schedule of regular meetings to discuss
progress helps keep everyone on track. For Julie Segre, a laboratory-based
biologist, and Heidi Kong, a dermatologist and clinical investigator, both
of the National Human Genome Research Institute (see case study on page
22), embarking on a large team project to identify the skin microbiome
meant balancing clinical and laboratory arms of the operation. The two
quickly realized that having one large meeting with all members present
was an inefcient use of time. Instead, they opted for two meetings: one
focused on clinical protocol development, patient recruitment, and
details of specimen collection and storage; the other focused on technical
laboratory issues and data analysis. Segre and Kong attend all meetings
and negotiate problem-solving between the two groups.
Trust among all participants
While it may seem obvious, researchers who respect one another, share
common goals, and just plain like each other make for more productive
teams. Sometimes people lose sight of the fact that collaborating just to
satisfy a funders requirement, without rst establishing mutual trust,
can doom a collaboration to failure. In the case of Segre and Kongs
Being able to take direction and give
direction is important, and putting
in place a system of consensual
decision-making is critical.
Joann Keyton
North Carolina State University
collaboration, while they hadnt worked together previously, they shared
a trusted mentor, Maria Turner, who was at the time a senior clinician
at NIH. It was important that Turner could vouch for the reliability and
trustworthiness of the other.
She was the person who really connected Heidi and me in the
beginning, says Segre. There was a sense for both of us that if Maria
vouched for the other one, then we could trust each other.
Shared goals and shared success
Before starting a new team project, it is critical to ensure that all
participants are clear on the projects interim and ultimate goals, how
they will be accomplished, and how credit, i.e. patent and/or publication
authorship, will be apportioned. For trainees and junior faculty, it is
especially important to be clear at the outset about what you need
for professional recognition and career advancement and building
mechanisms into the research plan to achieve those goals. If some
members are clearly in an established position and some are in junior
positions, misunderstandings and lack of motivation can undermine the
endeavor. Everyone should be invested in seeing the project through to
completion.
Likewise, if partners have competing goals, conict is bound to ensue.
The Olsons give an example of scientists collaborating with computer
programmers to create a piece of software. In this case study, the
scientists goal was to create a reliable tool to further their research, while
the computer programmers goal was to extend knowledge about what
the computer itself could accomplish. The programmers were content
to continually modify the program, extending its capabilities, while
the scientists became impatient for a nished product. Ultimately, the
scientists decided to partner with program developers who were used to
seeking input from users and modifying their program to meet specic
requirements.
In another study of team productivity, a group led by business
professor Brian Uzzi and Ls A. Nunes Amaral, a physicist who studies
complex systems, both at Northwestern University, measured team
productivity in the diverse elds of economics, ecology, astronomy,
and social psychology. The study, published in the journal Science
2
,
demonstrated that the productivity of a given team, as measured by the
impact factor of teams journal publications, correlates with how long
team members have worked together and whether the team brings in
new members. According to the study, prior experience working together
increases team productivity, as does periodically bringing in new members
to an established team.
Publication issues
Individuals working in interdisciplinary research may naturally seek to
publish in journals inuential in their own eld of expertise. However,
editors of some specialty journals may not readily see a multidisciplinary
approach as falling within the scope of their publications. When getting
ready to publish, a good idea may be to consider submitting to journals
that expressly seek to publish research crossing disciplinary boundaries.
Many publications now include an author contribution statement detailing
each authors contribution to the work. For a publication with many
authors, submitting to a journal that allows this level of authorial detail
may alleviate discomfort over apportioning credit.
Putting it all together
If you are constructing a team to investigate a particular research question,
it pays to work with people you know and trust, but as the work progresses,
also to invite in new members who can contribute fresh ideas and perhaps
expertise the team is currently lacking. If you are a new investigator and
are asked to join a team whose members you have never worked with
before, spend some time investigating what your role will be and how
decisions about the direction of the project will be made.
Its important to know and understand your collaborators, says
Joann Keyton, professor of communication at North Carolina State
University in Raleigh, N.C., and editor of the journal Small Group Research.
Keyton studies how scientic teams work together and factors that
contribute to success. If you are planning to work with collaborators at
another institution, I cant stress enough spending time getting to know
one another on a personal level. Then later when issues arise it will be that
much easier to work through them. Science is often star-driven and the
world is asking scientists to operate differentlyto collaborate. Being able
to take direction and give direction is important, and putting in place a
system of consensual decision-making is critical.
I cant stress enough spending
time getting to know one another
on a personal level.
Joann Keyton
CASE STUDY
:
HEIDI KONG AND
JULIE SEGRE
Compatible goals and a trusted mentor
made for a smooth transition to team science
for Heidi Kong and Julie Segre
An unexpected result led Julie Segre, an investigator at the
National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., on a career-
changing journey from studying the innate immune response in mice to
examining the genomics of microbial communities that colonize human
skin. In 2006, she discovered that injured skin cells in mice commonly
produce antimicrobial peptides to prevent pathogenic bacteria from
gaining hold and causing infection. This insight led her to wonder about
the role of microbes in maintaining a healthy skin barrier. But to answer
the new questions that arose from her work would require a momentous
shift in research direction. That decision, reached after many discussions
with senior researchers in her eld and the acquisition of tenure, required
her to form a team capable of analyzing normal and diseased skin
samples, gathering samples, maintaining large databases, and doing high-
throughput genomic analysis.
In short, Segre moved from running a lab to managing a diverse
team. She knew that to make it work she would need a clinical partner who
understood skin disease. But where to nd such a partner? She didnt know.
So she turned to the connectors.
There are certain people in elds who I think of as real connectors,
says Segre. Those people [who are experienced thought leaders] can put
you in touch with someone else who has had a similar conversation with
them, but from a different perspective. I talked with a few of those people
and told them what I wanted to accomplish in some detail.
For Segre, it was a connection with Maria Turner, a senior clinician
in National Cancer Institutes dermatology branch, that led her to Heidi
Kong, an assistant clinical investigator in Turners section. Kong had
independently talked to Turner about her desire to ask deeper questions
about the origin of skin diseases.
For Segre and Kong, having Turner as a trusted mentor was critical
to making the decision to work together.
Segre recommends that individuals looking to start a team
partnership nd someone who is a good t, not just professionally, but also
personally. Prior to her collaboration with Kong, she had tried a similar
team effort with another clinician scientist and it just didnt work. She says
that its crucial for each member of the team to be equally committed to
the project and to remain on the same page.
For Kong, a board-certied dermatologist and new investigator at
NCI, the decision to collaborate with Segre was complex. Foremost, she
had questions she wanted to ask about skin diseases in which microbes are
thought to play a role. She knew that to answer those questions she would
need a partner who could provide the expertise in microbial analysis and
genomics, but as a brand new NCI clinician, she wasnt sure taking on a
partner made sense. Her branch chief, the equivalent of a department chair
in academia, had some concerns. To obtain tenure, she would need to show
independence, and engaging in this partnership would have an impact on
the tenure process.
From a junior persons standpoint, especially if you are going to
work with someone who is senior, youve got to be able to be protected
because it is very possible that you could potentially be overshadowed,
says Kong. You have to make sure that you do things that ensure that
you get tenure. You need independent projects.
After some discussion, Segre and Kong decided to take it slowly and
commit only to a pilot project, a kind of test, to see how well they meshed
and whether the results were interesting enough to continue. In retrospect,
they both recommend starting with a small pilot project to see how well
you work together before committing to a major endeavor.
In a sense it was testing out this relationship, says Kong. As in
any relationship there are ups and downs, and we denitely hit some
challenging parts. But if you have a sense that this is someone who is
interested in working out problems, things can move forward.
The research went well and they quickly completed a genomic
survey of the microbial skin communities. They wrote that the work
provides a baseline for studies that examine the role of bacterial
communities in disease states and the microbial interdependencies
required to maintain healthy skin. (Science, May 2009). The genomic
study, which sampled normal healthy volunteers, found a remarkable
diversity of bacteria living on the skin, far more than had been found
using traditional laboratory culture techniques.
Its crucial for each member of the team
to be equally committed to the project and
to remain on the same page.
Julie Segre
National Human Genome Research Institute
At the same time, Kong was invited to give a plenary talk at an
investigative dermatology meeting and afterward was asked to write
a review for a clinical journal. By this time the two investigators were
working closely together, but Segre recognized that Kong needed to be able
to do things on her own and after some discussion the two agreed for Kong
to be sole author on the review. Besides, Segre had her own review to write
for a basic science journal.
Thus was born what the two researchers say they expect to be a
long-term team effort. With great determination and focus, they applied
for a grant to be part of the NIH Human Microbiome Project and now
are a part of a much larger big science effort to understand the role of
microbes that inhabit our bodies.
But the relationship was not without some hurdles to overcome.
For instance, it became clear fairly early on that Segre and Kong have
different personalities and management styles. Segres priorities were
to make sure her trainees maintained some independence and sense of
control over their portion of the research. Academic science, she points
out, places a premium on creativity and problem-solving and a mentors
role is to inculcate those values and work ethic in graduate students and
postdoctoral trainees. In Kongs clinical realm, the priority is on efciency
and competency. She was used to giving orders to her research nurse
and technicians and having those orders carried out. Otherwise, she says,
workow would quickly grind to a halt.
Reconciling those different work styles took time and patience. To
assist the process, the researchers looked to NIH Ombudsman Howard
Gadlin, co-author of the NIHs eld guide to team science, to guide the
entire group through a mission and vision exercise in which the research
team, about 20 people, met to discuss the overall goals of the team and the
vision of where the project was headed. Then the group was able to discuss
how to reach those goals and individual roles within the team.
After the exercise Segre realized that she needed to formalize her
management style and to better articulate her expectations of laboratory
staff. In addition Segre and Kong developed a contract that spells out
requirements for authorship on any papers that resulted from the team
effort.
Because we are engaged in team science, Heidi and I did draw up
a contractual agreement where we list our criteria for authorship, and
we provide that document to every person who comes into either of our
groups, says Segre.
At rst Kong and Segre decided that to keep the team cohesive, they
would regularly gather the entire group of about 20 for a single group
meeting. But after some time, they realized that managing the clinical and
laboratory ends of the enterprise had unique challenges that were best
solved by those doing the work. They split into two weekly group meetings
that the two senior investigators both attend, providing a link between
the smaller teams. To ensure that individuals on the team understand the
others roles, the researchers had each individual sit with the next person
in the succession of sample handling to see what happened next. As a
result, a number of time- and frustration-saving economies emerged. For
example, Segre explains, Kong was breaking off the clinical swabs stick
handles before dropping them in the sample tube such that the tube would
close properly. Once the samples entered Segres lab, a technician doing the
initial DNA preparation was having great difculty getting the tiny swab
tip out of the tube while keeping it sterile. When Kong came to observe
him, she said, Well, we could just break them off longer so that the swabs
are easier to remove.
Its little things like that, if you understand what happens to the
sample after you handle it that can save the next person a half hour of
work, says Segre.
While Kong had to learn about the laboratory research enterprise,
Segre developed a better understanding of what goes into clinical research.
At rst, writing a clinical protocol seemed like it should be simple process,
but it didnt take long before she learned that you dont just y through a
process in which patients are asked to participate in the research process.

I realize now that when it comes to patient privacy, you cant
make a mistake, and these things take time to get it right, says Segre.
Its been an education for Julie, continues Kong. In the
beginning, Id say, you dont understand, you have to go through the
IRB [Institutional Review Board]. Now shes had to live it. So she can
appreciate that when one of her post docs comes in and says I want to
ask this question, and its a fabulous question, Julie knows that you have
to write a protocol which could potentially take six months or more,
then submit it to scientic review and then nally the IRB.
And for me, she concludes. Its easy for me to say I want this done,
and can we do the analysis this way, But, again, understanding the effort
that goes into it. Its not just type, type, type, and out comes this beautiful
graph. I understand that it takes a lot of training and its not trivial to be
able to do that.
Both Segre and Kong point out that being in close physical
proximity has helped immensely when there were technical issues to
address and misunderstandings arose. Kong maintains a small ofce
space in Segres lab, and the two coordinate regular informal get-togethers
for things like birthdays. Even those unplanned meetings in the hallway
bolstered the sense of being on the same team, Segre says.
Segre and Kong are now true believers in the process of team science and
have written an editorial for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology
1

describing their experiences as well as putting together a slide presentation.
In one slide, Segre candidly lays out the bullet points in favor of team
science:
Because translational research is built into the project.
To achieve a personal, professional goal.
Because I do not have to work 100 hours every week.
And last, but not least,
Free skin care advice is great!
Even those unplanned meetings in the hallway
bolster the sense of being on the same team.
Julie Segre
CASE STUDY
:
JIM MORAN
Biological research is transitioning from
its late 20th century emphasis on genomics
to an integrated analysis of biological
systems using genomic tools combined with
techniques from the physical and chemical
sciences. This transition has made scientists
who offer technical expertise, combined
with a willingness to collaborate, especially
marketable to employers.
When a collaborative team of scientists from
Michigan State University and Pacic Northwest National Lab (PNNL)
started a project exploring the use of microbes to generate hydrogen as
a renewable energy source, the group realized they need to add a scientist
trained in both microbiology and the earth sciences. Whats more, they
needed a scientist with experience in stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry,
a useful tool for tracking the movement of nutrients during metabolism.
Scientists at PNNL were establishing a stable isotope mass
spectrometry (MS) group and were looking for a broadly trained scientist
to join the group.
Jim Morans expertise, his collegiality and his willingness to jump
right into the team effort really stood out, says Helen Kreuzer, senior
scientist at PNNL.
Moran joined the PNNL group and immediately began working as
part of the collaboration in 2009. Using the model organism Shewanella
oneidensis, the group is examining two potential metabolic pathways to
hydrogen production.
This organism has two routes for making hydrogen, says Moran.
We are trying to prove that with these stable isotopes we can distinguish
between the two routes, he says. The long-term goal is to develop a tool
that can help us optimize hydrogen production.
Team members at PNNL include the MS group, microbiologists who
culture the organism, and an RNA group that is synchronizing the stable
isotope data with the appearance of RNA messages encoding metabolic
proteins. Scientists from Eric Heggs group at Michigan State are
conducting biochemical experiments.
Moran says his graduate work at Pennsylvania State Universitys
National Science Foundation-supported biogeochemistry program helped
prepare him for the highly integrative work he is doing now. Morans
graduate work combined knowledge of biology, chemistry, and geology
to examine how archaea and a sulfate-reducing bacteria work together to
consume isolated pockets of deep-sea methane. The discovery of microbes
that work together to feed on methane deposits is relatively recent, and
little was known about how they interact.
No one really knew how they interplay with each other, so I was
focusing mainly on those two groups, says Moran.
His graduate work, published in 2008, showed that the archaea
oxidize methane to produce methyl sulde, which is then consumed by
sulfate-reducing bacteria. The work helped explain why only 10 percent
of the greenhouse gas, which is produced in large quantities in the ocean,
escapes into the atmosphere.
Throughout his graduate training Moran cultivated relationships
among faculty in geology, chemistry, and microbiology, learning the lingo
of each group and making research among different specialties second
nature to him.
In many ways I was pretty interdisciplinary before I got here and
was used to working in teams, he says.
Perhaps more important though, upon reection, Moran says
the intellectual openness of his program was a major inuence in his
development and the search for an open, team-oriented career stemmed
from that early experience.
I had a lot of interaction with most of the lab groups in our
department, he says. Versus some grad schools where there is not even an
exchange of resources between one lab and the lab across the hall.
Moran said he observed that cloistered attitude at other laboratories
he worked with, which stood in stark contrast to what he experienced in
graduate school.
Moran says his training taught him to think broadly when
approaching a research question and not place limits on the research
because he doesnt have the tools or techniques in place.
I think, do I know anyone who has this capability or expertise that I can
tap into, he says. My training made me much less wary of asking for help,
which ts very well with how the system works at the national labs.
Moran says that the applied research mission of the national labs
lends itself more to goal-directed research in which teams with different
areas of expertise work within a project-driven framework with everyone
having dened roles and deliverables. But Moran says there is room for
professional development within the structure and he has learned how to
use lasers and tie his laser work into his stable isotope work. In addition,
he has been encouraged to attend conferences and present his work.
Moran says the best part about jumping into an established
group where he brings a new skill set is that he has been able to quickly
contribute and has been an author on four research publications, including
one rst-author work, in the 18 months since he joined the lab.
There are a lot of opportunities to do new things, says Moran.
Prior to joining the national lab, Moran considered teaching or
getting into environmental consulting work, but his two biggest priorities
were to make sure he had opportunities for professional growth, and to
be at a place where his wife, an engineer, could also nd work. PNNL
provided both.
He had considered university research, but found that it was difcult
to nd an academic home, a problem that often faces scientists with such
broad cross training.
In terms of academia, there is no biogeochemistry department,
he says. The question is: what am I? Am I a biologist or a geologist or a
chemist? And thats something I still kind of struggle with. I dont know
how to classify myself, which can be a little bit challenging professionally.
But these are man-made constructions, he adds. In reality, nature
doesnt exist in biology world or chemistry world. As science gets more
integrated, its a good background to have.
CASE STUDY
:
MARCUS BOSENBERG
Marcus Bosenberg wasnt looking to join a
large scientic team. Instead, one found him.
In 2007, Marcus Bosenberg was within weeks
of obtaining tenure at the University of Vermont. He had enough
publications, and his research studying mouse models of melanoma was
humming along. He had a thriving dermatopathology practice. Aspiring
clinician-scientists might picture Bosenbergs life as having made it. But
an invitation to give grand rounds at Yale Universitys melanoma research
group made him re-think his career. Unbeknownst to him, the group
was putting together a package to apply for a National Cancer Institute
Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in melanoma.
It became pretty clear at that visit that I might be able to contribute
or add to some of the things they were doing, says Bosenberg. There
arent that many skin pathologists that run labs, especially with a strong
interest in melanoma. We realized that my work might be a good t for
some of the translational things that go on in a SPORE project.
As excited as he became about the research possibilities at Yale,
professionally it was a giant leap to move from a nearly tenured, single-
investigator lab to an untenured position at Yale.
As a physician-scientist it is often difcult to strike a balance
between the clinical work, running a research enterprise and being able to
support yourself while doing all of those things, he says. The Yale group
was willing to put together a hiring package that allowed Bosenberg to
relinquish some of the constant pressure of applying for grants. But what
really got his attention was the sense of collegiality and a shared goal of
patient-centered melanoma research.
He said that a key for him in his decision to move was the incredible
contrast in the Yale group from other institutions he had observed who do
not meeting or interacting on a regular basis. It was very clear that people
here actually liked each other and wanted to work together, he says.
The 80-member Yale melanoma research group consists of 12
research groups, along with clinical and research staff. Group leader Ruth
Halaban, a molecular biologist by training, says that the group is organized
to maximize interaction while allowing each group to carve out its own
niche. In addition, the group has developed common resources that benet
everyone. For example, Yale has one of the nations largest melanoma
tumor banks. For research investigators, having access to patient samples
can be a key element to discovery. But organizing and running a tumor
bank is a massive effort that requires coordination and cooperation
from surgeons and nurses who obtain informed consent, through to
technicians and database processors. As Bosenberg points out, organizing
a cooperative group willing to contribute to the tumor bank requires
listening to everyones perspective and maintaining good relationships
with the clinical staff.
If a surgeon is not interested in calling your tumor-banking person
you will never receive a single specimen, he says. They really have to be
on-board because it is extra time and effort for them.
What maintains that camaraderie is an inclusiveness and the
engagement of the surgeons in the research enterprise, says Halaban.
The entire group meets regularly for research talks from students, postdocs,
clinicians and invited speakers. A steering committee gets together
quarterly to review progress and make decisions about resource allocation.
All team members have avenues for input and the group encourages
entrepreneurship from within. Junior faculty are encouraged to apply for
career development awards, which come from the SPORE funds, to gain
protected time to try new ideas. For Bosenberg, becoming a member of
such a large group has opened up avenues of research that would have
been beyond his means and resources at Vermont.
I think the clearest evidence of how things have changed is that
I am a co-PI on four grants now, he says. In one of the grants, co-PI with
David Stern in Yales pathology department, he says, we are trying to
nd combinations of drugs that work in particular subsets of melanoma
patients, which is something I never would have done or never would have
thought of doing before I came to Yale.
Another grant, in which Bosenberg is the principal investigator,
but which has ve additional investigators, will focus on tumor
immunobiology, an area that Bosenberg says he had no experience with
before he came to Yale. Next year the group is looking to coordinate a
next-generation bioinformatics platform that will allow them to integrate
biological sampling with genomic and proteomic data to open up even
more avenues of research.
If I look at the research direction where I was headed before I came
here and compare it to what I am doing now, I never would have even been
able to imagine all the exciting types of things I am doing now, he says.
And those are just the funded things. There are probably 10 others I am
doing where reagents are being shared, where I am crossing mice
with other peoples mice in pilot projects.
When he came to Yale, Bosenberg chose a non-tenure-track clinical
position so that he could be free from the tenure clock.
I have the security in my current position because of my clinical
efforts, he says. As long as I practice dermato-pathology, and thats a
day a week, I feel secure in my job. One of the reasons why I have chosen
to shape my career as I have is so I wouldnt have to worry about those
kinds of tenure decisions. I wanted to concentrate on what was worth
discovering and what was worth pursuing.
It was very clear that people here
actually liked each other and wanted
to work together.
Marcus Bosenberg
Yale University
CASE STUDY
:
MALCOLM GARDNER
Big science led to professional recognition
and advancement for Malcolm Gardner.
Malcolm Gardner is familiar with rejections.
With his newly minted Ph.D. from Oak Ridge Graduate School of
Biomedical Sciences, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tenn., he looked
in vain for postdoctoral work. He was trying to move from studying the
basic biology of retroviruses into a more clinically oriented research area.
After sending lots of queries, Gardner received a number of rejections,
including his favorite: a one-sentence letter that simply stated Your
application has not been successful. Sincerely, Dr. X.
But getting his resume out there eventually paid off. He received a
hand-written note from the well-known parasitologist Iain Wilson, who
at the time worked at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in
London, UK. Wilson offered him a postdoctoral position to study malaria,
a move that would eventually lead to being rst-author on the October
2002 Nature
2
paper announcing the complete sequencing of the malaria
parasite, Plasmodium falciparum genome.
Gardner says moving from retroviruses to malaria happened
because he had gotten his resume out there, taken his rejection lumps,
and jumped on a promising opportunity when it presented itself.
I knew nothing about what we now call global health, back then
called tropical medicine, says Gardner.
Moving from the cancer eld and the retrovirus eld, which
was completely overcrowded, to the malaria eld, I thought Hey, this
is really interesting. Very little molecular biology had been done on this
parasite and wouldnt that be a good area for a new person to make a
mark in, he says.
Gardner worked for six years on characterizing what he thought
was the malaria parasites mitochondrial DNA, but which turned out to be
from a previously unknown organelle now called the apicoplast. Because
the apicoplast does not exist in human cells, it became an attractive target
for new malaria drugs, an interest that Gardner continues to work in his
current position at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.
But in 1991, the malaria eld was still small and relatively obscure
to the larger scientic community. Gardner felt he needed to broaden his
scientic horizons. After working two years at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington D.C., Gardner was approached by Stephen Hoffman,
then director of the malaria research program at the U.S. Naval Medical
Research Center in Bethesda, Md.
I was never aiming at any particular place, but at some point I
wanted to run my own lab, says Gardner. At the time I had no inkling I
would get involved in something as big as the [malaria] genome project,
I had no clue.
At the Naval Research Center, Hoffman, a well known immunologist
who was well connected in the research community, mentored Gardner.
Getting the right mentors is critical, says Gardner. For him, moving to
Stephen Hoffmans lab was a critical stepping stone because Hoffman ran
a large, productive research enterprise and had lots of contacts within the
scientic community. I learned a lot from Steve, about writing proposals,
and about networking.
If you have a successful mentor, more opportunities present
themselves, he adds.
The genome project is a perfect example of that, an opportunity
came by that might not have presented itself if I had been somewhere else,
he says. You have to jump at chances when you get them.
Hoffman started a collaboration with scientists at The Institute for
Genomic Research (TIGR) to attempt to sequence the malaria parasites
complete genome and Gardner moved to TIGR shortly thereafter. The
group knew it would be difcult to get good sequence. The organisms
genome was difcult to clone, and had long repeated stretches of A and
T which made if difcult from a technical standpoint to correctly count
repeats of the sequence.
Malcolm Gardner
Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
You have to know enough about what the
other person does that you can explain your
objectives and your desires in a way that they
will be able to understand and help you.
There were people in the malaria world who said it was impossible,
that wed never be able to do it, and some of them were quite prominent,
so it was somewhat risky, says Gardner.
The project was a massive undertaking with three major funders:
the U.K.s Wellcome Trust, the U.S. federal government (National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the Department of Defense) and
the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The work was divided, by chromosome,
among three sequencing centers: the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in
the U.K.; The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in collaboration with
Gardners mentor Hoffman at the Naval Medical Research Institute, and
Stanford University. It was one of the rst examples of big science being
brought to bear on what was thought to be an intractable biological problem.
Logistically, it required intense cooperation and regular meetings
to discuss progress, problems and policy. Gardner describes the effort as
a true collaboration with no designated leader. The scientic and technical
hurdles provided the way forward, he says.
TIGR announced the completed chromosome 2 sequence in 1998,
followed by chromosome 3 completed by the Sanger Institute in 1999.
As the project was drawing to a close, the group met to discuss the
drafting of a paper to announce the full genome had been sequenced. The
scientists working at the Sanger Institute shocked Gardner by offering him
the role of lead author in writing the paper.
It was a dream come true, he says.
Gardners many years of basic research work and vaccine
development work served him well when it came time to write the genome
paper. He served as a liaison for the many authors of the paper and often
found himself acting as a mediator between the various authors to make
sure all the relevant implications of the genome were represented in the
nal draft.
You have to be a bit of a generalist, he says. You have to know
enough about what the other person does and what their point of view
is that you can explain your objectives and your desires to them in a way
that they will be able to understand and help you.
Today he has come full circle and is now studying proteins that are
essential for apicoplast function in the hopes that its unique biology will
present a target for new antimalarial drugs. His group is also currently
evaluating a new malaria target, the indirect aminoacylation pathway,
which they identied using bioinformatics and comparative genomics.
His biggest lesson learned: Not being closed to things outside
your comfort zone is important, he says. You never know where it will
take you.
Biggest lesson learned: Not being closed to
things outside your comfort zone is important.
You never know where it will take you.
Malcolm Gardner
48 BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND 48 BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND
LOOKING TO THE
FUTURE
:
CHALLENGES
AND OPPORTUNITIES
IN TEAM SCIENCE
Success in biomedical research is
becoming increasingly dependent on the
ability to work in teams with specic,
targeted goals.
As weve seen with the case studies presented here, becoming
comfortable with the give-and-take that accompanies this kind of work
can lead to professional rewards that would be unattainable working
within the connes of a small lab group.
In elds such as sports and business, the benets of working as a
team are well known and well studied. An analysis of success in World
Cup soccer revealed that in 2010, national teams whose members had
experience playing together in club soccer won more matches. In fact,
beginning with the quarternal round, teams with more club members
won every time. Take home message: Teams that function well rely on
trust and know how to work together to achieve goals.
Coordinating a multi-institutional research effort requires scientic,
technical, and management expertise. Some of the factors that contribute
to success of such endeavors can be gleaned from the study of teams in
general, but other intangibles can only be understood by studying scientic
teams in action.
Science of Team Science
The study of scientic teamsthe Science of Team Scienceor SciTS is in
its infancy, but is gaining interest and momentum on a number of fronts.
The annual International Science of Team Science Conference brings
together researchers, funding agencies, and those developing tools to make
collaboration more efcient and effective.
The inclusive meeting has drawn interest from those involved in
communications research, business, complex systems studies, and
other elds not traditionally associated with biomedical research. The
meetings goal, according to organizer and champion of team science
Holly Falk-Krzesinski is to serve as a neutral forum for sharing empirical
ndings about team science and acting as a bridge between the science
and praxis of team science.
Based on the results of the rst annual meeting and discussions
among a small group intimately involved in SciTS, Falk-Krzesinski, and
colleagues recently published a framework intended as an introduction
to existing knowledge and a jumping off point for future lines of SciTS
research.
1

Another instructive resource on team science can be found in a
special series of articles published in a supplement to the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine in 2008. The articles cover topics including management
issues, readiness for team science, transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary
team science, models and strategies for training and evaluating team
science, the series provides in-depth evaluation and recommendations
based on the current understanding of best practices.
On-line Tools for Team Science
But in the fast moving landscape of team science, more immediate
knowledge-sharing channels are also emerging. The National
Cancer Institute has developed a Team Science Toolkit to provide
a web-based, interactive repository of team-science resources.
[www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov/public/Home.aspx]
Other groups are developing web-based tools to introduce a
wide audience to team science concepts and enhance communication
among those engaged in team science. For example, researcher Bonnie
Spring and her colleagues at Northwestern Universitys Clinical and
Translational Science Awards (CTSA) have launched the Online
Assistance for Leveraging the Science of Collaborative Effort website at
www.teamscience.net to provide online modules that guide researchers
through a simulated experience in forming a team, identifying and
securing funding, managing conict, and evaluating team success.
Indiana University, Bloomington has developed the Cyberinfrastructure
for Network Science Center as a portal to shared resources, databases,
large-scale network analysis, modeling, and visualization tools for team
science. cns.iu.edu/cyber.html
Promotion and Tenure
This trend toward team science may be good for advancing research, but
even after you have developed all the necessary skills to be an excellent
team member and leader, the academic promotion and tenure system still
rewards individual effort. As some who have examined the impact of team
science pointed out, training and mentoring with the expectation that
the trainee will have a successful career in such a team environment are
virtually nonexistent.
2
Whats more, the impact on the tenure system has
not been explicitly addressed. Tenure track investigators are justied in
wondering what having the majority of their research conducted as part
of a large team means when the tenure committee critically examines the
tenure package.
For a scientist on the verge of independence, navigating the new
world of team science can pose a dilemma. Becoming part of a team
that includes established investigators can open doors and provide
professional references, but it can also strand you in the role of perpetual
junior investigator. The challenge for many scientists suddenly becomes
establishing independence while operating within the new paradigm of
team science. There is a clear disconnect between the traditional reward
system and the new funding priorities.
Everything about our traditional career advancement structure in
academia focuses on individual achievements and accomplishments, says
Falk-Krzesinski, director, research team support, Northwestern University
Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. In the absence of individual
accomplishment, youre not getting tenure. Most colleges and universities
do not have language about the value of collaborative accomplishments
in the promotion and tenure policy. If collaboration is not one of the
activities that is rewarded, what do you do?
For those on the tenure track, Ockene recommends keeping your
department chair informed about your team activities and about the
importance of your contribution to the overall team effort and to cultivate
relationships with senior scientists outside your institution who can attest
to your importance to the team effort.
Promotions committees need to get educated about the
importance of team science, says Ockene. Its still an education process
both for our promotions committees and for our scientists. After all,
having those letters to support the promotion process is still paramount.
Since the trend toward collaborative research seems likely to march
on, it is up to those now in training to gain the skills necessary to prosper
in research teams. We hope this resource will be a rst step on that road.
Since the trend toward collaborative research
seems likely to march on, it is up to those
now in training to gain the skills necessary
to prosper in research teams.
Notes
Building a Career in Team Science
1) Weinberg, Alvin M. Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States.
Science 134.3473 (1961) :161-4.
2) Kuksa, B. Beer, Bethesda, and Biology: How Genomics Came Into
Being, Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 90.2 (1998) : 93.
3) nihroadmap.nih.gov/researchteams
4) Collaboration and Team Science:
A Field Guide, published by NIH. Accessed from
ccrod.cancer.gov/conuence/display/NIHOMBUD/Home
Preparing to Work on a Scientic Team
1) Olson, Gary M., et. al. Scientic Collaboration on the Internet.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008.
2) Guimera, Roger; Uzzi, Brian; Spiro, Jarrett; and Luis A. Nunes Amaral.
Team Assembly Mechanisms Determine Collaboration Network
Structure and Team Performance. Science 308 (2005) : 697-702.
Case Studies
Kong, Heidi H. and Julia A. Segre. Bridging the Translational Research
Gap: A Successful Partnership Involving a Physician and a Basic Scientist.
Journal of Investigative Dermatology
1
130 (2010) : 14781480.
Gardner, Malcolm J., et. al. Genome sequence of the human malaria
parasite Plasmodium falciparum Nature
2
419 (2002) : 498511.
Looking to the Future: Challenges and Opportunities in Team Science
1) Brner, Katy, et. al. A Multi-Level Systems Perspective for the Science
of Team Science. Science Translational Medicine 2:49 (2010) : 49cm24.
2) Disis, Mary L. and John T. Slattery. The Road We Must Take:
Multidisciplinary Team Science. Science Translational Medicine 2.22
(2010) : 22cm9.
Further Resources
Rebbeck, Timothy R.; Paskett, Electra and Thomas A. Sellers Fostering
Transdisciplinary Science. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 19.5 (2010)
Web Resources
The Ofce of the Ombudsman at the National Institutes of Health
maintains a web site to serve as a jumping off point into team science.
From here, you can download NIHs Guide to Team Science and nd
other resources:
ccrod.cancer.gov/conuence/display/NIHOMBUD/Home
Northwestern University maintains a Science of Team Science (SciTS)
web site containing the proceedings of the Annual International SciTS
meetings and a host of links to other resources:
scienceofteamscience.northwestern.edu
Also based at Northwestern, on-line modules that provide an introduction
to the basic concepts of team science, showcasing examples of team-
based research from experts in the eld. Major topics include: team
conicts and resolutions, incentives and disincentives to collaborative
research, communication techniques, and evaluation methods:
www.teamscience.net
The National Cancer Institute has developed a Team Science Toolkit
to serve as a clearinghouse for resources on team science:
www.teamsciencetoolkit.cancer.gov
The Science of Science Infrastructure portal provides links for research
teams working in distributed environments and seeking to share resources:
sci.slis.indiana.edu
Acknowledgments
Series Developer: Victoria McGovern, Ph.D.
Author: Karyn Hede
Editor: Russ Campbell
Designer: Liaison Design Group
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Marcus Bosenberg
Yale University School of Medicine
Holly Falk-Krzesinski
Northwestern University
Malcolm Gardner
Joann Keyton
Heidi Kong
National Cancer Institute
Helen Kreuzer
Pacic Northwest National Laboratory
Jim Moran
Pacic Northwest National Laboratory
Judith Ockene
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Julie Segre
Brooke A. Stipelman
Ofce of the Associate Director
Behavioral Research Program
Hannah Valantine
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Amanda L. Vogel
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Career Development Guide Series
Communicating Science: Giving Talks
Practical tips on presenting your work in a variety of circumstancesfrom
the formal to the informal.
Stafng the Lab: Perspectives from Both Sides of the Bench
Are you looking to hire the perfect postdoc? Are you looking to be hired?
This guide takes a look from both perspectives on creating a productive
work environment.
Moving On: Managing Career Transitions
Moving on is never easy and neither is recognizing its time to do so.
This guide is meant to help scientists gain some control over a process
that can seem subjective and prone to idiosyncracies.
Email [email protected] to order your free copies.
21 T. W. Alexander Drive
P. O. Box 13901
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3901
[email protected]
www.bwfund.org

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INVESTING IN THE CAREERS OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS

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