How to Get into a Research Lab as an Undergraduate

I know it can be really daunting to try to get your hands into research especially as an undergraduate who nine times out of ten does not have any prior experience in research or a real-world lab setting. In this post, I am going to go over how I got into my current lab position in just a matter of a few weeks after actively starting to look!

Finding Labs

Before Classes Begin: Making a List of Potential Labs

Before beginning fall quarter at UC San Diego, I spent some time in the summer to make a list of Principal Investigators (otherwise referred to as PIs, who are essentially the head of the lab and/or have their own lab) that I was interested in with regards to their work.

I made a google sheets file and filled in the following information:

• Name of PI
• Link to their lab
• List of other graduate students or post-docs working under the PI
• The area of focus (for example, neurodegenerative diseases, nano-engineering, biomedical engineering, cardiology, etc.)
• What department/school they work in (for example, School of Medicine, School of Pharmacology, etc.)
• What I like about their lab
• Links to a couple of papers they have published
• A “yes/no” column for whether I have contacted them yet
• A “yes/no” column for whether they responded and if so, what they said (for example, no availability, only taking grad students so contact when in grad school, or setting up a meeting)

Once You Start Classes: Attending Seminars and Club Meetings + Looking into Research Portals

Another great way of finding labs, especially if you didn’t have the chance to do the above task before the quarter or semester began, is by attending seminars and club meetings that feature PIs or post-docs! Usually, post-docs are the ones presenting as they have more availability (and are sometimes even scouting for potential undergraduate researchers 👀).

When you attend these seminars and meetings, make sure you listen attentively and write down questions that come up. Usually, there is a time towards the end of the meeting left for questions so make sure you ask at least one. This is a way of introducing yourself and having them remember your face, and therefore increases the likelihood of getting a response when you contact them after regarding a lab position! Usually I would say something along the lines of “Thank you so much for that very informative talk, I especially enjoyed learning more about [insert topic of interest from the presentation here]! I had one question that relates to one of the figures you showed. [Insert question here].”

Here are some potential questions you could ask, or at least the direction you could go:

• Asking how a specific technique was performed
• Clarifying what a specific aspect of a figure illustrates
• Asking what future directions are planned (if not already mentioned)

Remember that if you cannot seem to think of a scientific question, even asking a personal question like how the specific researcher came about doing work in this field, what inspired them, etc. are great questions to ask and often show a different side of the researcher.

Another form of looking into labs would be by accessing your institutions research portals. My university used a specific research portal where labs would post available positions you could apply to. There was also another portal called Handshake that included internships, full-time positions, research lab positions, and more. You could also apply through these types of portals if your school offers them, just make sure your resume and whatever else they ask for (i.e. cover letter or CV) is fully updated and reviewed!

Reaching Out to Labs

First things first, I strongly believe that cold emailing (having a cookie-cutter template that you send to every lab that you may or may not be interested in, without tweaking because it is so generic) is not effective. Not only will labs see right through you, it will also ultimately end up in you having to spend more time sending more emails.

From my experience, the easiest way to reach out is by email. I will probably make another post into the specifics of the email format, but overall, the biggest concern you should have is successfully expressing your genuine interest in the lab and what they do. This can be done by taking the time out to read their research work, looking into specific projects being worked on, and ideally, reminding them of your previous encounter if applicable.

The way I got into my lab was through a combination of what I have mentioned so far. I attended an event that was created through one of the organizations I was a member of, listened to the post-doc speak about their work, then asked a couple of questions at the end of the event, then followed up with an email a couple days after the event.

Reading Papers of the Lab of Interest

Before actually sending that email, it is important that you take the time out to read into their research. One PI will have multiple projects led by multiple post-docs, so you can really go deeper into a specific sub-topic of interest. And if you find a post-doc leading a specific project you are interested in, it may be very beneficial to send them an email as well since usually they are more responsive!

What I did was I looked up the PI or post-doc’s name and the lab they are working in on a quick google search and their papers should pop up. Then I chose one or two that I was particularly interested in and annotated the paper. The main sections you should be paying attention to are the abstract, introduction, results, and conclusion/discussion sections. The methods section usually goes into much more detail than you need to know. Once I had a gist of what the paper is about, I would write a few questions I wanted to ask the researcher.

Drafting a General Template

I had a separate document that was sort of my “toolbox” for sending emails. In this document, I had a mini template that contained the following information:

• Greeting to the specific individual you are contacting
• Brief introduction of yourself (1–2 sentences max)
• Reminder of how you came into contact with him (if there was a previous interaction)
• What made you interested in their lab/work
• Insert a couple questions you had from the paper(s) you read
• Asking to set up a meeting to answer your questions as well as “discuss future lab opportunities” (personally, I do not ask for a lab position right away as I want to show genuine interest — worst case, I have a new connection developed even if there is no availability within the lab)
• Thanking them for taking the time out

Lastly, be sure to attach your resume and/or link to your LinkedIn profile (if appropriate). It’s okay if you don’t have any specific research experience in another lab (I sure didn’t)! Many researchers in academic institutions know that there are students coming in with no specific experience and are willing to teach you the techniques as you go!

Make sure to keep your email short and sweet, straight to the point! Don’t write paragraphs about yourself, why you were interested, or anything like that.

Following Up

Ideally, the researcher will respond to you to let you know if they are available to meet. Some may even just let you know whether they have availability in their lab right off the bat.

Often, the email you sent gets lost in their flooded inbox so if they don’t respond there is no need to be discouraged. Simply follow up on the same email thread about 1-2 weeks after the initial contact. Just mention that you are checking in to see if they had a chance to read your email and be understanding that their time is limited!

If they don’t respond after your second contact, I would say that it’s better to move onto a different lab you are interested in. No harm, no foul!

Touring the Lab

Lastly, once you do get a response and are offered a position, make sure to ask if you could get a tour of the lab, ideally by another undergraduate or graduate researchers. This is super important because you want to ensure that you are going to be working under ethical and reasonable conditions.

During your lab tour, you have the opportunity to ask questions to the undergraduate or graduate researcher that is touring you. Some general questions that might be beneficial to ask casually are:

• How is the balance between being a student and a researcher like? Is it manageable?
• Are you able to pursue other extra-curricular activities in addition to the lab?
• On average, how many hours per week do you spend in the lab?
• Is the PI/post-doc understanding when it comes to midterms and finals season?
• Would you say that the prospective mentor is reasonable and communicative? What is the best form of communication?
• Are there opportunities for independent research projects? What about conferences and symposiums?
• Are there paid or academic-credit opportunities available? Is it just volunteer-work?

These are just some examples of questions you can ask. It is important to ask questions that are important for maintaining the lifestyle you want in college because after all, you are a student first, researcher second!

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Just to summarize, here are the overall steps to follow:

1. Create a list of labs/researchers you are interested in.
2. Attend seminars, club events (perfect opportunity to introduce yourself), and look into application portals to apply through.
3. Contact labs/researchers you are genuinely interested in (include a couple questions).
4. Send follow up emails if needed.
5. Tour the lab of interest once you are offered a position.
6. Start working as an undergraduate researcher!

So that’s the whole process of potential ways to get into a research lab. Hopefully some of my tips and tricks helped and you are able to get your hands on research you are super passionate about!