Research Program and Mission Statement
Our mission is to develop novel targeted anti-cancer therapies to improve patient outcomes and quality-of-life. This approach is based on a comprehensive understanding of the molecular interactions and pathways that promote cancer progression and how those can be manipulated to elicit therapeutic response. To achieve this, we design and investigate small molecule nuclear receptor inhibitors to reprogram transcription, prevent metastasis, and shrink tumors. We are active and collegial members of the global scientific community. We are committed to an open, rigorous, empirical, and reproducible approach to improving lives.
Expectations and Individual Goals
Sean
Sean’s role as your principle investigator (PI) is to give you the tools to succeed. He will mentor, advocate, and enable your growth as a scientist and cancer researcher. Your success is the lab’s success and our success will help us achieve our goal of improving cancer outcomes. Mentorship includes training and meeting with you during weekly 1:1s and lab meetings. We can meet outside of set meeting times and Sean will drop in on the lab from time-to-time. But keep in mind that it is your job to take ownership of your project and meet your individual expectations/goals. Within your project, it is Sean’s role to get you going then to provide guidance. Outside of the lab, Sean will also help you identify possible career paths and help you explore those avenues.
Science (at least our kind) doesn’t happen in a vacuum. As your advocate, Sean will help you become a member of the broader cancer research community by presenting at local/national meetings, publishing, and forming an international network of scientist colleagues. Projects almost always take unanticipated directions. Sometimes these new directions bring to areas outside of Sean’s expertise. In such cases, it’s incredibly important to have a strong, diverse, and collaborative international network to help give us this unique expertise.
Sean’s final role is to provide the funds needed to continue our research program by obtaining federal and foundational grants. A history of funding success is an important component of scientific career progression. As such, Sean will help graduate students and postdocs write grants to obtain funding.
Sean will do his best to maintain a respectful and collegial laboratory environment. Don’t worry about calling him Dr. Fanning. Likewise, please let him know of any reasonable accommodations and to help you be comfortable in the Fanning Lab.
Expectations for All Fanning Lab Members
- Maintain a safe, organized, clean, and collegial lab environment.
- Take care of yourself. Many mental and physical health issues can come with working in a lab. Take a balanced approach to research that incorporates your version of self-care. Science should be approached as more of a marathon than a sprint. Burn-out is real. Be patient, develop a plan, and make consistent progress on your projects. You’ll be surprised at the progress you make by consistently putting in normal working hours, focusing on your work, and taking care of yourself.
- Participate in weekly 1:1 and lab meetings and departmental seminars.
- Keep your work area and shared resources clean and organized.
- Shared equipment has a way of being abused. It’s the Fanning Lab policy leave shared and departmental areas cleaner than when you arrived.
- Keep up with the lab shared resources (e.g. tissue culture cell line stocks and plasmid banks).
- Keep a good lab notebook and electronically back up data to the cloud.
Research Technician/Lab Manager
Research technicians are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the lab. The specific expectations of research technicians include:
- Ordering everyday supplies, reagents, and personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Ensure that the lab remains safe (compliant with safety guidelines) and organized.
- Maintain good relationships with sales reps.
Postdoctoral Researchers
The goal of a postdoc is to gain new knowledge and expertise necessary to springboard to your next career. Expectations of postdocs include:
- Gain new expertise in the Fanning Lab.
- Develop and test novel hypotheses and publish findings.
- Obtain independent funding and assist Sean in writing grants for the lab.
- Publish papers and assist Sean in peer review of manuscripts.
- Develop a career development plan with actionable items.
- Attend, present, and network at local and international scientific conferences.
- Mentor other trainees.
Doctoral Students
The goal of the doctoral student is to learn how to do research and substantially contribute to the body of scientific knowledge. In the case of doctoral students in the Fanning Lab, the specific expectations are as follows:
- Maintain a good balance between courses, teaching, and lab work.
- Under Sean’s guidance, develop new hypotheses based on your initial projects and data.
- Take ownership of your project, be open to new directions, but don’t lose focus on your project/goals.
- Publishing remains critical to future career paths in science. You will be expected to have published at least one first authored paper in peer review by the time you defend your thesis.
- Grant writing is a critical skill, once you have completed your courses, you will be expected to write predoctoral grant applications.
- Attend, present, and network at local and international scientific conferences.
- Develop an actionable career development plan and curate your scientific network to help you achieve your career goals.
Master’s Students
The goal for master’s students is to gain new technical skills and lab experience while contributing to the research mission of the Fanning lab. Specific expectations include:
- Maintain a balance between courses, teaching (if applicable), and research.
- Contribute to the Fanning Lab research efforts by generating publication-quality data to publish in peer-reviewed journals.
- Maintain a safe and collegial lab environment.
- Attend and present your data at one or more scientific conferences during your time in the Fanning Lab.
- Develop an actionable career development plan and curate your scientific network to help you achieve your career goals.
Undergraduate Researchers
The goal for our undergraduate researchers is to get hands-on experience in a research lab to understand what it means to conduct research outside of a class setting. The specific expectations of undergraduate researchers include:
- Safety first, don’t do any experiments you haven’t been trained to do. Don’t try to fix any equipment if there’s an error.
- Take ownership of your project.
- “Measure twice, cut once” if a number for a dilution or weight doesn’t make sense, ask another lab member to check your math. It’s easy to miss a zero and throw off your numbers. Reagents (especially small molecule drugs) are expensive.
- Find ways to keep busy and make lives easier for other lab members. For example, a 45-minute column equilibration is a good opportunity to complete trainings, clean, organize, or catch up on your lab notebook.
Lab Events and Meetings
Group Meetings
Lab meetings are a good opportunity to show your data and sound ideas off in front of the lab. This is often valuable feedback before presenting to a larger audience and going for peer review. It’s also an opportunity to see how your work fits into the larger Fanning Lab. We will have weekly group meetings from 1:30 to around 2:30 on Tuesdays. The time and day may change depending on Sean and other lab member’s schedules. We will have a mixed round table format. One trainee per meeting will present a detailed account of their data at least once per quarter, should be around 30 minutes and presenters should expect to be interrupted for questions throughout. If they have insufficient data to present (e.g. just joined the lab), trainees are expected to present on a new paper or topic that aligns with the interests of the lab. The paper should be emailed to the lab at least 24 hours ahead of time. Other lab members will be expected to give a brief 5-10-minute update, with data shown wherever possible, to be discussed with the lab.
Individual Meetings with Sean
All trainees will be expected to meet with Sean on a one-on-one basis once per week for about an hour on an agreed upon recurring time slot. We will go over recent data, discuss next steps and new hypotheses, and how your work fits in the overall context of our field. We will also discuss career development plans, presentations, publications and any other topics related to a trainee’s scientific development. For personal meetings outside of the scheduled time slots, Sean has an open-door policy. An open office door means he’s available to chat, feel free to come in. A closed door means he’s unavailable, only knock if there’s an emergency.
Ethics
The Fanning lab has a zero-tolerance policy for scientific misconduct, especially with regards to falsification/fabrication of data. All lab members are expected to be honest and transparent with regards to their communication of data both within and outside of the lab. We expect proper credit to be given to other scientists in papers and presentations. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, and it is up to you to understand its definition and scope. We understand that, with the scope and breadth of all that is out there, this can be a grey area. As such, please don’t hesitate to discuss any perceived instances of scientific misconduct with Sean or with our department chair Dr. Nancy Zeleznik-Le (nzelezn@luc.edu).
Code of Conduct
We seek to cultivate a collegial and safe lab culture where everyone can be successful. To that end, all members and other visitors/guests in the lab are expected to agree and adhere to a code of conduct. We will enforce this code and expect the full cooperation of all Fanning lab members. We provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender-identity and expression, age, parental status, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or socioeconomic status. We do not tolerate harassment of any form. Sexual language and imagery are generally inappropriate in our setting. Note, we do work on biological systems that mainly focus on reproductive organs. As such, we will have work-place relevant, discussions on topics like animal or human reproduction as appropriate. If you are being harassed, please contact Sean or the Executive Director for Equity and Compliance and Title IX Coordinator Timothy Love at tlove@luc.edu.
Authorship
Each doctoral student and postdoctoral trainee will have at least one project that will lead to a first authored publication. Master's students will have a project that should generate enough data for at least a rapid report. Successful completion of the project including data analysis, figure generation, manuscript authorship and overseeing the publication of the paper is a requirement for first authorship. In addition, the first author is expected to commit to the completion of the publishing process including assisting in the response to reviewers and proof-reading, which may last beyond their time in the lab.
The collaborative nature of our research both within the Fanning lab and with other researchers may mean that other lab members may receive co-authorship on our papers and others. We may also be invited to write review articles, commentaries etc. Lab members may be asked by Sean to assist in these efforts. Authorship can be a tricky area to navigate, please reach out to Sean with any concerns.
Lab Notebooks
Good record keeping is critical to the successful completion of your project and the optimization of protocols for the whole lab. As such, all Fanning lab members are expected to keep a legible and detailed lab notebook of their studies. These notebooks are property of the Fanning lab. These can be either paper or electronic but electronic are encouraged as it makes figure generation easier. Powerpoint can be easily used as a running lab notebook. All electronic notebooks should be housed in the lab cloud so that Sean can review your data and progress.
Conferences
Scientific conferences are important ways to learn about the cutting-edge research being conducted in our field. They’re also critical sounding boards to get feedback and advertise our research to a large and diverse audience. Importantly, they provide a great opportunity to network, the connections you make at scientific meetings will be critical references for your future career aspirations. As such, all lab members will be expected to attend and present at
national and international conferences as directed by Sean.
Funding
We fund our research largely through Federal and Foundational grants. Therefore, most of our money comes from tax-payer dollars or charitable donations. We need to make sure we are good stewards of those funds. Importantly, like manuscript writing, grant writing is its own skill that is improved upon with practice and by attending workshops. As such, all lab members will be expected to pursue external funding and to assist Sean in fundraising efforts.
Lab Supplies/Consumables
There’s nothing worse than running out of a supply in the middle of an experiment. When certain lab supplies start to run low, please either restock them or contact Sean to have him order more. Sean or our lab tech will put in requests for quotes on Wednesday to place orders on Fridays. Please you’re your requests ready by then along with the product number, company, and quantities needed. We will not be placing orders on an “as needed” basis. Further, please be good stewards of our funding and the environment and find ways to minimize waste and conserve supplies where possible.
Lab Upkeep
Space is a premium in our lab and things could get disorganized very quickly. Disorganization leads to waste, contamination, and poor-quality data. Keep your bench and shared spaces clean. Don’t let labware sit dirty, any beaker, flask, etc should be cleaned after each use so that it’s available to the next person. There should be no dirty labware left overnight. Many buffers and other consumables will be shared, if your use brings a shared stock below ~10% of its normal capacity, it’s your responsibility to make more. Multiple offenses could mean an expulsion from the lab.
Facilities and Maintenance
For biohazard pickup, please contact XXX???.
For chemical safety (e.g. spills or questions) contact ???
For other maintenance issues like leaks or heat, please let Sean know and he will work with facilities to get it resolved.
Health Philosophy
Because of its importance this is going to be restated. Your health is up to you, but your it should not be sacrificed during your time in the lab. A healthy body makes for a healthy mind and a more productive scientist. We are very fortunate to have a great health facility right down the hall, take advantage of it. Do what you need to do to take care of your physical and mental health while you’re in the Fanning Lab. With good planning and keeping to a consistent schedule, you should have plenty of time to take care of your physical and/or mental health. Consistency is key. Make sure that you take appropriate time off to reset and rest as well. Please give Sean and other lab members appropriate warning before taking a vacation so that we can make sure your cell lines etc are maintained. Any issues or concerns, please talk to Sean.
Odds and Ends
- These are some simple things that can help make a good lab environment:
- - Be a courteous lab member. Think about how your music or phone calls could distract fellow lab-mates. When listening to music, please wear headphones and keep it to a reasonable volume in case someone needs to get your attention.
- - Be a good trainee, when someone is teaching you a technique, don't look at your phone or get distracted. They're doing you a favor. They shouldn't have to explain things more than a few times.
- - All kits and tubes should be returned to their common spaces.
- - Take ownership, do the legwork to understand the techniques and the science behind your experiments. It's always better to ask for clarification and confirmation if your hazy one an aspect of the technique.
- There's no eating or drinking allowed in the lab. Please place all food and beverages on the cart outside of the door.
Contact
Sean can be reached at sfanning@luc.edu or on his cell at 815-901-2448. Sean will do his best that you respect his time outside of the lab and asks that you do the same. As such, outside of 9am-5pm he will only respond by email unless it's an emergency.