I want to do research on my own...I can fund it on my own... how do I do it?

[xoxx]

I go to a major university located in my state, we have enormous facilities with tons of lab space and technology. I have had an idea for several years now that I would be really interested in attempting. It has been experimented with in the past, but not much at all since it is a relatively new discovery. It would require lab mice with particular expressions and a few cheap chemicals. (I have access to both). I have estimated it will cost $5K +- and I have no issue paying out of pocket to do this.
My questions are:

How do I go about getting my school to let me use their lab space?
How do I go about getting my idea approved?
(I have previously done stuff with IRB, however since this deals with mice I am pretty sure that IRB does not have jurisdiction over approval.)
Would I be wasting my time doing this, or is there actually a chance it would get published in a small journal somewhere?

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[Minnerbelle]

Your best bet is to find a professor/researcher at your university with the same interest area of your project and be very tactful in pitching the idea to them. If your idea actually has merit, and you seem like a capable individual who can demonstrate that you CAN and will do everything needed for the project, then he/she might take you on. If the cost is really only $5000 (doubtful), it will be like pennies to labs used to working with mice, and the prof will likely cover it. You should realize that there are a ton of hidden cost to research, so adding up the cost of mice and supplies and reagents won't cover all your expenses. Nevermind the conflict of interest in funding yourself... There are also so many essential things that a PI provides to allow for projects to happen, that it would be pretty difficult for you to jump in without those.

It will be close to impossible for you to run this kind of study all on your own without faculty support, so definitely find someone to convince. I highly doubt IACUC will grant an undergrad with no training and no lab without a faculty sponsor permission to even go and pet a mouse... much less have a bunch to experiment on. Same thing for lab space and shared equipment use. But the second live animals are involved, things get pretty tough in terms of getting approval for your project.

 

[xoxx]

Your best bet is to find a professor/researcher at your university with the same interest area of your project and be very tactful in pitching the idea to them. If your idea actually has merit, and you seem like a capable individual who can demonstrate that you CAN and will do everything needed for the project, then he/she might take you on. If the cost is really only $5000 (doubtful), it will be like pennies to labs used to working with mice, and the prof will likely cover it. You should realize that there are a ton of hidden cost to research, so adding up the cost of mice and supplies and reagents won't cover all your expenses. Nevermind the conflict of interest in funding yourself... There are also so many essential things that a PI provides to allow for projects to happen, that it would be pretty difficult for you to jump in without those.

It will be close to impossible for you to run this kind of study all on your own without faculty support, so definitely find someone to convince. I highly doubt IACUC will grant an undergrad with no training and no lab without a faculty sponsor permission to even go and pet a mouse... much less have a bunch to experiment on. Same thing for lab space and shared equipment use. But the second live animals are involved, things get pretty tough in terms of getting approval for your project.

Thank you so much for the response! This is a tremendous help.

 

[bell stage]

hi evryone.does this research work will be relly helpful to gain dds seat.i am really confused.can anyone pls help me on this.