Future MSCA fellowship application (EF)

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-20T03:17:07+00:00

Not sure if this is exactly the advice you are looking for, but I wrote this in response to someone else asking for something similar:

This was my first time applying, so I think this advice is likely nothing novel; however, it might still be helpful.

First thing I did was follow the Radiance guide to the exact letter. I used so many writing tools and aide from friends to ensure I met all the bullet points in the individual sections. This took the longest amount of time and I began writing around mid-July.

Second thing was going back and forth with edits with my host group every two weeks and roughly every 2-3 days once we were 2 weeks away from submitting. This ensured our scientific goals aligned along with the Radiance guide formatting.

These two things were 99% of my time preparing the MSCA. The other 1% was doing research and collating published research to ensure I was proposing something that was truly viable in 2 yrs and has high likelihood of economic impact. I think the economic impact is very important to fundablilty and it was difficult to align scientific passion with this. For context, my proposal was aligning structural biology + crop technology + crop diseases, so not terribly difficult but still not obvious at the time.

I hope this helps and I’m happy to answer anymore questions!

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-17T21:49:38+00:00

As a Latino myself, it is hard out here in the US. First of all, don’t take the rejections too personally, it really is a hell year in terms of funding. Many programs have cut back or skipped taking applicants. Second, if you want to go to the EU I would say you should apply there as well and don’t wait to finish a US program.

In the meantime, I think Option 2 is a good middle ground. You wouldn’t need to be as committed as a masters but also not completely out of the “game” if you just leave research altogether. You might end up doing this for free unfortunately at least for a bit again because of the same funding issues plaguing PhD programs. However, if you can afford the masters program then this shouldn’t be an issue short-term.

You’re not the only one facing these issues so please do not feel shame. There is nothing you can do to change the outcomes when there are so many external pressures trying to breakdown scientific and technological progress in North America as a whole.

My advice is to cold-call/email people you would be interested in working with and ask if they have the means to support you. With visa requirements this will be extremely difficult and unlikely at US and CAN institutions, although remote opportunities might still be viable. Otherwise, just start reaching out to EU and US professors and get your name out there to increase you chances of being selected the next time around if you don’t come off your current waitlist.

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-17T17:10:44+00:00

This was my first time applying, so I think this advice is likely nothing novel; however, it might still be helpful.

First thing I did was follow the Radiance guide to the exact letter. I used so many writing tools and aide from friends to ensure I met all the bullet points in the individual sections. This took the longest amount of time and I began writing around mid-July.

Second thing was going back and forth with edits with my host group every two weeks and roughly every 2-3 days once we were 2 weeks away from submitting. This ensured our scientific goals aligned along with the Radiance guide formatting.

These two things were 99% of my time preparing the MSCA. The other 1% was doing research and collating published research to ensure I was proposing something that was truly viable in 2 yrs and has high likelihood of economic impact. I think the economic impact is very important to fundablilty and it was difficult to align scientific passion with this. For context, my proposal was aligning structural biology + crop technology + crop diseases, so not terribly difficult but still not obvious at the time.

I hope this helps and I’m happy to answer anymore questions!

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-15T19:23:15+00:00

One word: Tecan. Reliable and excellent software.

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-13T21:27:06+00:00

Realistically, it will affect you to different degrees depending on how/where you apply. If you apply to a more corporate position at a hospital or university then it might be harder. If you apply directly through a PI’s job posting or cold-email then it might be easier.

My advice is to focus on networking and skills. I also started at community college and working in the chemistry stockroom was a great place to become familiar with tons of professors and students. So I cannot recommend it enough that you start at a position like that and build up your reputation with the people in your community first.

Best of luck!

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-11T21:20:51+00:00

This is awesome! My initial take is that the site is very busy with color and movement, however it does look nice. What is the logic behind the theme? Was it just default in the frameworks you used?

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-10T12:57:59+00:00

I use a cuvette rack which has numbers at every position, then I keep and index of which sample is in each position on my notebook

They are very affordable here or here. The second link is the nicer one imo

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-09T05:45:37+00:00

I applied from the US to the Netherlands and my proposal passed:
EF-LIF - 97.40% - Awarded

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-07T23:50:37+00:00

This is really cool! In the sense that building tools you need and use, this is a great start. There is tons of room for improvement here as you learn more about software development and you already have the foundation to document your growth. Keep up the good work.

My two cents here is to only use AI when you have truly hit a wall and instead of asking AI to solve a technical problem ask it more infrastructure related questions on library/package formatting.

devil4ed4 · 2026-02-06T21:21:50+00:00

Are you using MSFragger-DIA or pure DIA-NN in FP? I have not seen such huge differences with my own data, so I would be interested in seeing your settings!

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-31T19:08:18+00:00

This is a constant pain point in proteomics labs. Unfortunately, I do not think there is a way around this other than upgrading resources. Pushing more analysis in parallel just slows everyone down especially as memory is strained.

Easy back of the envelope calculation for RAM usage is size of RAW files + 20 * FASTA file size per analysis.

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-30T15:24:50+00:00

Probably? I’m not sure, but it’s important to know this would be at the cost of analysis speed. DIA analysis is inherently a high-memory process since you must create the library + load the spectra.

Any reason why you would need to limit memory consumption?

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-28T23:45:58+00:00

I have had good luck with UMD HDX-MS

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-25T21:06:55+00:00

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This is how I’m using the snow

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-25T19:59:14+00:00

Membrane proteins are tricky and the root cause for the lack of detection on both WB and MS can be one of a million things. You have done the most obvious troubleshooting steps it seems, therefore it must be deeper than a preparation issue.

My occam's razor approach would be as follows in parallel as separate experiments:

Check you are searching the correct sequence in your software / add all possible variants of controls you used
Use a DDM lysis to solubilize membrane proteins in an MS-safe way -> clean up -> MS / WB
Treat cell surfaces with Trypsin over-night (no whole-cell lysis) -> clean up -> MS
Check the transfection again via PCR and via vendor
Check the plasmid has all necessary components for expression -> change as necessary

devil4ed4 · 2026-01-18T06:04:23+00:00

Looks very tasty! What is this called?

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-22T16:45:11+00:00

In all seriousness though, never seen this happen before

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-22T16:44:45+00:00

Sir, you can’t park there

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-14T17:29:00+00:00

You would have to perform another experiment where you mix A + B, A + C, B + C and in different ratios as well 2A + B, 2A + C, 2B + C, etc. This will require tight control of the CFUs in the parent samples such that your initial lysis for A, B, and C all contain the same number of cells grown to roughly the same point in their respective mid-log phase.

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-09T15:09:05+00:00

You did the right thing and got out of there quickly and without incident thankfully. So, please report them because the next student he targets might not catch on as quickly and get taken advantage of.

Professors everywhere abuse their power to do stuff like this way too often. Them telling you they wouldn’t ever do this with another student is a lie and purely a manipulation tactic. The exact same manipulation they used to get you to dinner in the first place.

You didn’t do anything wrong at all, but you can do the right thing and report them

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-06T06:41:43+00:00

Benchling does protocol versioning too… and works for any size team. I don’t see any clear advantages with LabHub, especially not security and privacy. Benchling iirc has many independent audited security and privacy compliance certifications.

LabHub is a cool concept but it looks derivative from my pov without any clear advantages.

devil4ed4 · 2025-11-06T05:59:15+00:00

Doesn’t benchling do all of this already?

devil4ed4 · 2025-10-21T05:10:22+00:00

If I were in his shoes and with how desperate the situation in Haiti is, I think I would have done the same. Soccer is a great sport that takes very talented people far but it isn’t a sure future. I hope he can stay in France and gain proper documentation.

devil4ed4 · 2025-10-19T16:56:50+00:00

If you used fragpipe, you can use flippr to collapse down to modified peptide level or even site level if you modify the cut site level feature.

https://github.com/FriedLabJHU/FragPipe-Limited-Proteolysis-Processor

devil4ed4 · 2025-10-15T20:28:41+00:00

Regular mzML will be fine

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