I've been doing my PhD for 3 months and I'm using a new technique which only my main lab supervisor knows how to use. We've been spending the last months optimising the experimental conditions but its not working and I'm getting very stressed. Especially as there are very few people that can help or offer advice. I'm also funding myself which makes things worse. Is this normal? or should I have been making progress by now? My supervisor has suggested changing the project if this continues but I am really interested in this one.

Lets say its not so unusual. Give yourself a fix time by when it should have worked (for example another 3 months) and then drop it if it hasn't. speak to your supervisor, you shouldn't be doing just one technique anyway. Ask him/her if there is a safe project you could do as a sideline.

In my lab another PhD tried for 6 months to get one technique working and then had to drop it. I had a similar problem which was solved after 4 months because someone else published, so you are not alone. Its great to be intersted in the technique- but at the end of the day you need results, so don't get fixed on this technique if it won't work.

What technique is the problem. Other people at other institutes will have expertise also.

Thanks for the comments. The problem is that this technique is the basis for my whole PhD. I have to get it to work before starting anything else becuase it will generate samples that I will be testing using more established techniques.

Please could you name the technique you are having problems with (if possible without giving away who you are). Whilst your supervisor may have 'invented' this particular procedure, other people may have experience. Nevertheless, it is normal for PhD projects to be dropped after 12-18months due to dead ends. Regards..

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You posted that only your lab supervisor knows how to use the technique, and then stated that after 3 months your lab supervisor suggests you should consider giving up if it won't work.

... If the project was, as I suspect, advertised as "developing a novel technique" or something along those lines, then it would likely also state that the lab has already pieced together the basics of the technique. Assuming that much is true, I'd say the onus really is on the uni to fulfill what they advertised. Did the PhD advertisement lead you into thinking that the technique was at a stage where a PhD student could come along and further develop it? If so, maybe that was misleading on behalf of the uni.

... On the other hand, you've committed yourself to 3 years researching this technique. If you believe in the technique and the science behind it, then it should be worth giving it more time.

If you've concluded after just 3 months that this technique is a waste of time, then drop it or request an alternative project. If you believe in it, you'll have faith that 3 months, even 6 or 9 months or more of frustration will be worth it in the end. Your call.