Technological advances in a variety of scientific disciplines are being applied in the life sciences leading to an increase in the number scientists who see themselves or are classed as being multidisciplinary. Although their diverse skills are celebrated and needed to understand the immense complexity of life, being a multidisciplinary researcher can pose unique challenges. We asked multidisciplinary researchers and the director of an institute that fosters multidisciplinary research for their thoughts on what they see as the challenges or obstacles that multidisciplinary scientists can often face.