Hi, I am having some real problems with my Ph.D project. It's biological sciences based and I have made little progress due to technical problems constructing plasmids in the lab. I started my final year in October and my lab moved to another University so I lost a fair chunk of time being involved in the logistics of the move but I am still having technical problems. I work on my own as my supervisor is not really around the lab and there is no post doc support. I have no data so far for my project but I could potentially generate it reasonably quickly if I got the cloning to work.

Basically, I'd like some advise on time scale of how long I realistically have left in the lab. I have to submit in September (the university rejected my application to claim the move time back as an extension). I have my literature review and methods sections done, and I've written it in LaTeX so I can compile bibliographies and do formatting on the fly. I am struggling a bit with what I feel is stress at the moment (as with all Ph.D students), but I'm working about 13 hours a day in the lab at the moment so I'm not not doing the work, and I'm committed to getting through it. However, I'm just not sure how much time I can realistically keep ploughing away in the lab before I should really look for a job and consider not submitting. The move has left me isolated somewhat in the new university and I don't have any kind of progress examiner or advisor.

How far down to the wire can you go with this kind of thing?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.