Hi - I'm about to embark on my second attempt at gaining a PhD (long story but dept lost funding)..in Molecular Biol, but will involve some cell culture too. I think the most important thing to get to grips with as soon as you can is perfect lab technique to save time wasted because of experiments not working as a result of human error/contamination etc. I don't know how you are fixed for technical support but in my experience, fostering an excellent relationship with your research technician is vital! In terms of reading about how to get a PhD, hm, these generally seem to be a bit broad- if you are a scientist doing predominantly quantitative research you'd be better off getting a good book on statistical analyses and learning it! Good luck.

Hi! I've recently completed a similar form (molecular biol PhD)- was successful so must have done something right! In my case they wanted to know about relevant skills outside academia which could be useful to me as a researcher. I do a lot of climbing which involves careful planning and attention to detail, both of which I feel are useful in scientific research when you are designing and carrying out experiments, so I put that on the form. At my interview they used this as the 'ice breaker ' question before they moved onto the more serious stuffm so I think that's why the question is on your form- it's so they have something you are familiar with to talk to you about to put you at ease. So may ve a good idea to remember what you wrote when you go for your interview! Good luck, by the way.