D. Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the creation of your own laboratory.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal is, probably, the most important scientist in Spain's history. He was not only the author of decisive conceptions and extremely comprehensive anatomical descriptions. He was also the creator of a very important scientific school and even so, he had time to be an excellent photographer and a wonderful illustrator, some of his drawings being master pieces widely reproduced today.

In 1897, Ramón y Cajal, on the occasion of his entry in the "Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales" (Royal Academy of Physical, Exact and Natural Sciences) read his lecture on "Rules and advices on scientific investigation". This lecture was subsequently extended and can be read nowadays under the title of "Advice for a Young Investigator".

Ramón y Cajal was a man of his time and some of his opinions , especially those referred to the position of Spain and the role of women in Science, have to be considered in this perspective. The book covers a lot of extremely important aspects in the life of a man of science, including many encouraging sentences such as (non-literal translation): "No problems have been exhausted; instead, scientists have been exhausted by the problems", "...if you have doubts in the writing of a scientific text, it is time to return to the laboratory" or "in Science the means are almost nothing and the men almost everything".

Recently, I sent this book as a Christmas present to some friends, so I had a good excuse to read it again. I found the reading, once more, full of intriguing suggestions. One of them was especially interesting:

"... if the young... has created his own laboratory where he tries to improve his technical skills... then the professor must intervene with determination to support him."

The economic cost of the creation of a laboratory dedicated to Clinical Neurophysiology

Ramon y Cajal had a very practical mind, so he analyzed the cost of a laboratory on Botanic, Biology, Physics..., detailing the main acquisitions that should be included. Certainly, the estimated cost of a "home laboratory" is difficult to translate to present currencies and I know almost nothing on these fields, but, following his steps, I would like to detail the cost of a domestic laboratory on Clinical Neurophysiology nowadays.

We are very interested in knowing your comments, opinions or experiences about this topic (English, Spanish and French languages can be understood). We will try to answer any question.

	Neuro Traces (www.neurotraces.com)

		Each man is the sculptor of his own brain. (Ramon y Cajal)
	Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the creation of your own laboratory A practical book: "Advice for a Young Investigator" Santiago Ramón y Cajal is, probably, the most important scientist in Spain's history. He was not only the author of decisive conceptions and extremely comprehensive anatomical descriptions. He was also the creator of a very important scientific school and even so, he had time to be an excellent photographer and a wonderful illustrator, some of his drawings being master pieces widely reproduced today. In 1897, Ramón y Cajal, on the occasion of his entry in the "Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales" (Royal Academy of Physical, Exact and Natural Sciences) read his lecture on "Rules and advices on scientific investigation". This lecture was subsequently extended and can be read nowadays under the title of "Advice for a Young Investigator". Ramón y Cajal was a man of his time and some of his opinions , especially those referred to the position of Spain and the role of women in Science, have to be considered in this perspective. The book covers a lot of extremely important aspects in the life of a man of science, including many encouraging sentences such as (non-literal translation): "No problems have been exhausted; instead, scientists have been exhausted by the problems", "...if you have doubts in the writing of a scientific text, it is time to return to the laboratory" or "in Science the means are almost nothing and the men almost everything". Recently, I sent this book as a Christmas present to some friends, so I had a good excuse to read it again. I found the reading, once more, full of intriguing suggestions. One of them was especially interesting: "... if the young... has created his own laboratory where he tries to improve his technical skills... then the professor must intervene with determination to support him." The economic cost of the creation of a laboratory dedicated to Clinical Neurophysiology Ramon y Cajal had a very practical mind, so he analyzed the cost of a laboratory on Botanic, Biology, Physics..., detailing the main acquisitions that should be included. Certainly, the estimated cost of a "home laboratory" is difficult to translate to present currencies and I know almost nothing on these fields, but, following his steps, I would like to detail the cost of a domestic laboratory on Clinical Neurophysiology nowadays. Basically, the next elements would be needed: 1. A modest computer with 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard-drive and a CD-RW recorder. It could be acquired by €800 to €1400, perhaps some more with a printer and a scanner (1 euro is, more or less, equivalent to 1 US dollar). 2. A Linux distribution. Let us name some of them: Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse, Debian... Each of them includes literally hundreds of packages covering most needs you can imagine: compilers, editors, databases, graphics editors... Some of them are among the best programs ever created. All the packages are configured to avoid incompatibilities. Its cost is about €100 . 3. A fast Internet connection. Perhaps this is the most expensive element of your laboratory. It is much better to have a modest computer with a fast connection than a slow connection with a fast computer. You can download and install the packages not included in the distribution. Some of them: Scilab, Java and Physionet's WFDB software package. You will need a fast connection to read the PDF documents of CiteSeer as if they were HTML pages, to download the files of Physionet and to see the BBC news when you are tired. The cost of an ADSL connection in Spain is about €45 a month (you will not increase your phone bill). With these elements you can do much more than you imagine. You will have a completely legal system with cutting-edge technology. Two elements are also very convenient: 4. A host service to store your contents. This must not be necessarily located in your own country. Even if you have institutional storing facilities, it is very convenient because, by hiring a host, you will not be linked to any external compromise. You will be completely free to decide your contents. A basic hosting of 100 MB can be found at a monthly fee of about €10. You will have to work very hard to fill your space. 5. Your own domain will make you even more independent allowing the displacement of the whole site to any other location and will act as your visit card. It costs about €30 per year. In summary, at the time of writing this text, an initial cost of around €1000 and a monthly fee of about €60 allows you to create your own institution. You will not be able to record your own signals (you would need an old neurophysiological equipment and an A/D converter) but you will be extremely well placed to follow the scientific progress in Clinical Neurophysiology and to create and check your own research, ranging your scope from simulation models to statistical analysis. I imagine that similar laboratories can be created in many other disciplines. A paradigm shift: become the Director of your own Institution. The whole content of Neurotraces is designed to give you the tools needed to achieve this goal. In certain sense, many open source developments follow similar outlines. If you feel that this modest equipment precludes any important contribution, listen to Ramon y Cajal comparing institutional and home laboratories: "...the labor in common has a lot of inconveniences, ...conversation and noise, the continuous interference of other people, the fight for the use of the scientific instruments, ...besides producing a continuous loss of time, will create a dispersion of the focus of your attention, that is not ideal for the scientific research." " We could distinguish two sciences: one of them expensive and aristocratic, needing sumptuous buildings, and the other cheap and democratic, accessible to persons with little resources...To those persons, the mind is almost everything and the material means almost nothing". I hope that these thoughts will encourage you to begin somewhat similar. As Stephen Covey taught us, "Begin with the end in mind". Imagine yourself as the director of your own institution defining your own priorities... and tell us about your achievements. Jesus Olivan MD We are very interested in knowing your comments, opinions or experiences about this topic (English, Spanish and French languages can be understood). We will try to answer any question. Name e-mail
Date January, 2003