Communication

Effective communication is paramount for a lab to function cohesively and productively. Our lab, a scientific community within the larger University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) ecosystem, thrives on regular interactions. These exchanges foster connections, enhance morale, facilitate the sharing of information, and help to identify and mitigate challenges in our research endeavors. It is crucial that when we communicate, both within our lab and with external colleagues, we adhere to the following principles:

Meetings in the Lab

Lab, project, and institutional meetings are integral to keeping abreast of each other’s research, fostering collaborations, and furthering our professional development. Therefore, all full-time staff and trainees are encouraged to attend these meetings in person whenever possible.

Lab Meetings

The Andrews Lab convenes every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 AM to 12 PM. These sessions are primarily designed for members to present updates on their research progress. We will also engage in discussions on professional development topics such as writing, presenting, and journal clubs. To ensure productive meetings, all participants should arrive prepared with any necessary materials or updates pertinent to their projects.

One-on-One Individual Meetings

In addition to broader lab meetings, one-on-one meetings offer tailored feedback on research projects and professional development. Staff and trainees should come ready to discuss their project’s progression, any challenges encountered, and any questions or concerns they have. It’s also a time to review goals and set new ones.

These meetings are ideally held at regular intervals—weekly, biweekly, or monthly—to best accommodate the staff/trainee’s and Shea’s schedules.

Important

Responsibility for these meetings lies with the staff/trainee, who should provide an agenda to Shea at least one day prior. If there are specific materials for review, such as manuscript drafts or abstracts, these should be submitted at least one week in advance.

As-Needed Meetings

If my door is open, feel free to request an ad-hoc meeting. These are intended for issues that don’t necessitate a scheduled meeting or when rapid feedback is necessary. Additionally, Shea will make rounds to touch base informally throughout the week.

Seminar Series

See the UCSF Events Calendar for upto date information on UCSF seminars.

  • Insitute of Human Genetics: Seminars from UCSF IHG faculty or invited speakers held Biweekly on Thursdays, 3-4:30pm
  • Memory and Aging Center Lecture Series: Seminars from UCSF MAC faculty or invited speakers held weekly on Mondays, 10-11am
  • Center for Population Brain Health Works in Progress: CPBH staff trainees provide updates on their research works in progress.

Internal Communication

Our primary means of communiction is Slack, but we also talk with outside collaborators via email, zoom, and social media.

Important

As the PI, Shea juggles a lot of commitments and often works outside of standard work hours. Should you receive messages or emails from him during these times, please know there is no expectation for an immediate response or to adjust to his schedule. Additionally, Shea appreciates your understanding and reminders if there’s something you’re awaiting from him that hasn’t yet been delivered.

Slack

We use Slack as our primary means of communication within the lab. If you plan on sending an e-mail to someone within the lab, try a slack message instead. You’ll find that almost all messages you write on Slack should be in a channel, and not in a Direct Message. This is because Slack’s value is in its search functions: they make it easy to find messages about a particular project long after they have been posted. This only works well if messages are grouped in the right channels; we can’t search each other’s direct messages.

Important

Direct messages should only be used for confidential conversations (like advising discussions with Shea) or for incidental messages that nobody else needs to read (like “are we meeting now?”).

How and where to post

Every project has its own channel (like #mendelian-randomization). Some of these channels will be large due to it covering multiple subprojects peopel are working one, as these start to become unweildy we will make channel-children.

In additional to project-specific channles, we have a varity of channels for oganizational purposes.

#general is where we share various thoughts and ideas across the lab that are not specific to a given channel and lab-wide anncouncements.

#journal-club is for posting interesting papers that you have come across.

#lab-meeting is for organizing lab meetings, posting agendas, or meeting minutes.

#wynton is for discussing using wynton and computational resources.

#check-in is where, each work day, we post a quick overview of what we plan on working on for the day.

check-in

The daily check-in serves to keep all lab members informed about ongoing work, facilitate collaboration, and help individuals manage their time effectively. All full-time lab members are required to post a brief summary of their daily work plans. This can be done either at the beginning or end of the workday. If posting in the morning, please address “What did you accomplish yesterday, and what are you planning to work on today?”. If posting in the evening, the focus should be on “What did you accomplish today, and what are your goals for tomorrow?”. For part-time lab members, please post a check-in only on the days you are actively working on Andrews Lab projects. Lab members are encouraged to review each other’s check-ins to offer help, resources, or collaboration where applicable.

There is no need to provide a check-in if you are not working on a particular day due to a holiday, vacation, or other reasons.

journal-club

In an effort to foster a culture of continuous learning and to keep the team updated on the latest scientific developments, all full-time lab members are required to actively participate in our Slack channel, #journal-club. Each full-time lab member must post at least once a week - but more often is better! - sharing a scientific paper they find interesting and is relevent to the lab lab’s research focus or broader scientific community. Please also include a link to the paper and a brief statement (2-3 sentences) on why you think it is interesting or relevent. Lab members are encouraged to read the shared papers and engage in discussions, either by asking questions, providing insights, or sharing related work.

See Journal Club for some suggestions on how to develop a habbit of keeping up with the litrature.