The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre
  • 5.0 (20)
  • LIFE SCIENCES
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The Lonely Pipette is a podcast where scientists share tips to help you do better science. The episodes include conversations with researchers around the world. Renaud Pourpre and Jonathan Weitzman will talk to inspiring people to learn about their habits and recommendations for all scientists. Don’t stay alone, come join The Lonely Pipette community!  💌 Subscribe for free and get the next episode directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL

  1. ALBA Limited-Series #4 : Navigating power dynamics - How to lead through troubled waters

    FEB 4

    ALBA Limited-Series #4 : Navigating power dynamics - How to lead through troubled waters

    Even the best captain cannot control the weather. But they can control how they navigate the storm. In Episode 4 of the ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast, we sail into the darker waters of academia: power dynamics, bullying, and toxic environments. We often talk about the "dream lab," but what happens when that dream becomes a nightmare? When the hierarchy is used to silence rather than support ? Or when systemic barriers put researchers in danger ? Renaud and Jonathan sit down with three courageous scientists, Alicja Puścian (University of Warsaw, Poland), Dori Grijseels (Max Planck Institute, Germany), and Angeline Dukes (University of Minnesota, USA) who share powerful personal stories and navigation strategies. This podcast series is a limited-series from The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast, a guide that will help you to adress the difficult issue of transitioning from postdoc to team leader.  The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast 'From Postdoc to PI' is organized with the support of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), a founding partner of the ALBA Network. Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    29 min
  2. ALBA Limited-Series #3 : Beyond the bench - Building inclusive lab cultures

    JAN 21

    ALBA Limited-Series #3 : Beyond the bench - Building inclusive lab cultures

    What is the most valuable "invisible skill" of a group leader ?  In Episode 3, we tackle the difficult question : how to build a research culture where people don't just survive, but thrive. Science is not a solo trip. It is a group expedition. Yet, most group leaders are never trained to manage humans, resolve conflicts, or foster inclusivity.  Renaud and Jonathan sit down with four inspiring scientist Dori Grijseels (Max Planck Institute, Germany), Angeline Dukes (University of Minnesota, USA), Adrian Liston (University of Cambridge, UK), and Denise Fitzgerald (Queen’s University Belfast, UK) to decode the DNA of a healthy lab. This podcast series is a limited-series from The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast, a guide that will help you to adress the difficult issue of transitioning from postdoc to team leader.  The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast 'From Postdoc to PI' is organized with the support of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), a founding partner of the ALBA Network. Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    38 min
  3. ALBA Limited-Series #2 : Setting Up a Lab with Limited Resources

    JAN 7

    ALBA Limited-Series #2 : Setting Up a Lab with Limited Resources

    What if constraints could fuel your lab instead of limiting it ? Episode 2 dives into the realities and opportunities of building a lab in resource-constrained settings. Renaud and Jonathan talk to Daniela Di Bella (Harvard, USA), Vatsala Thirumalai (National Centre for Biological Sciences, India), and Sahba Besharati (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) about how determination and creativity can turn restrictions into scientific excellence. From Argentina to India and South Africa, they share how starting with less taught them to think bigger, act smarter, and stay true to their vision. This podcast series is a limited-series from The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast, a guide that will help you to adress the difficult issue of transitioning from postdoc to team leader.  The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast 'From Postdoc to PI' is organized with the support of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), a founding partner of the ALBA Network. Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    28 min
  4. ALBA Limited-Series #1 : Facing fears by building communities

    12/10/2025

    ALBA Limited-Series #1 : Facing fears by building communities

    Making the leap from postdoc to group leader is both exciting and terrifying. Episode 1 offers the postdoc perspective on this journey. Renaud and Jonathan from the Lonely Pipette talk with Florencia Fernandez-Chiappe (Boston University, US), Mayank Chugh (William & Mary, US), and Ashley Bourke (MPI for Brain Research, DE) about the fears, anxieties, and uncertainties that come with this transition. They share their personal experiences, discuss common challenges, and offer insights on how to navigate this crucial career step with confidence. This podcast series is a limited-series from The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast, a guide that will help you to adress the difficult issue of transitioning from postdoc to team leader.  The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast 'From Postdoc to PI' is organized with the support of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), a founding partner of the ALBA Network. Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    26 min
  5. From Postdoc to PI : a limited series from ALBA Network

    12/03/2025

    From Postdoc to PI : a limited series from ALBA Network

    We had the great honour of producing a podcast for the ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast. This podcast series is a unique resource, a guide that will help you to adress the difficult issue of transitioning from postdoc to team leader. We hope it will inspire you as much as it has transformed our vision of academia ! The ALBA-IBRO Diversity Podcast 'From Postdoc to PI' is organized with the support of the International Brain Research Organization, a founding partner of the ALBA Network. This podcast is hosted by The Lonely Pipette, produced by Exaltia and organised with the support of IBRO. Enjoy listening and see you next Wednesday for the broadcast of this limited series, which will be released every two weeks!  The ALBA Diversity Podcast interviews neuroscientists from underrepresented groups to better understand their hurdles and victories, and what keeps them going in today’s brain research community. In season 2, with IBROs' support, we focus on the transition from postdoc to PI, highlighting the unique challenges faced by postdocs and early-career PIs worldwide. By sharing their experiences and strategies for overcoming obstacles, the podcast aims to provide valuable insights for scientists navigating this critical career stage. Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    10 min
  6. TLP #34 : The "right" To-Do list - Ana Boskovic

    11/26/2024

    TLP #34 : The "right" To-Do list - Ana Boskovic

    This month we talk with Ana Boskovic about her experience of setting up her own lab and hiring a new team Ana began studying languages and literature… but found it too easy, so she switchedShe questions whether you are ever ‘ready’ to set up your own labIt’s important that you find the right ‘fit’ for the place you want to work and this should be a supportive environmentShe learnt early that it is important to hire people with diverse personalities who each fill a gap in the skills the lab needsAna also says it’s important to always be yourself and not pretend to be something you are notShe remembers that hiring was the biggest challenge in setting up her own teamThey need to be dedicated but also well-integrated into the team and the lab cultureShe balances ambitions with pragmatic considerations to avoid biased approachesAna loves ‘to do’ lists as a source of satisfaction and to help planningShe says you need to be able to trust and respect your mentor because you know they want you to succeedMentors need to learn to have a conversation and be sensitive to mentees’ needsAna insists that mentors need to be able to apologize if they get it wrongAna uses her train ride to plan her day and write her To-Do listShe tells us about her favourite Roman emperor, DiocletianShe reminds us that “The plural of anecdote is not data” She mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions University of Zagreb https://www.unizg.hr/homepage/ EMBL Rome https://www.embl.org/research/faculty/rome/ Maria Elena Torres-Padilla (podcast episode from Season 1) https://www.buzzsprout.com/1356877/episodes/6624301-tlp-6-just-go-for-it-following-your-curiosity-and-excitement-maria-elena-torres-padilla Maria Elena Torres-Padilla (lab) https://www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/ies/pi/maria-elena-torres-padilla Oliver Rando https://www.umassmed.edu/randolab/ Edith Heard (podcast episode from Season 2) https://thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/episodes/11387623-tlp-12-science-without-frontiers-edith-heard F Scott Fitzgerald https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald Diocletian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian Split, Croatia ht You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    56 min
  7. TLP #33 : The stories behind the retractions - Ivan Oransky

    10/29/2024

    TLP #33 : The stories behind the retractions - Ivan Oransky

    This month Ivan Oransky joins us to talk about his work as a journalist and advocate for monitoring scientific misconduct. Ivan confesses about his beginnings as a young playwright of the immune systemHe discusses how and why he left medicine to become a journalistIvan’s mentors encouraged him to develop by getting experience as a journalist and editorIvan reflects on how his training as a physician was helpful and allowed people to trust himHe stresses how important it is to read in order to develop story-writing skillsIvan explains that curiosity and attention can help to hunt for good storiesHe thinks the trend to ‘weaponization’ is central to what’s wrong in science and science communication todayHe suggests that going ‘upstream’ might help to explain the methodology and not just the results of scienceIvan describes the origins of Retraction Watch and looking for the stories behind the retractionsHe also insists that we need to look upstream to understand what leads to the fraud (or sloppiness) behind the retractionsFinally, learning to say NO is an important skill to keeping focused Ivan mentioned these scientists, writers and institutions Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/ The Harvard Crimson https://www.thecrimson.com/ Yale University https://www.yale.edu/ The Scientist https://www.the-scientist.com/ Journal of American Medical Association https://jamanetwork.com/ New York University’s Carter Journalism Institute https://journalism.nyu.edu/ The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com Lawrence Altman MD https://www.nytimes.com/by/lawrence-k-altman George Lundberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_D._Lundberg https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1114712/ To find out more about Ivan and his work visit these links   at NYU https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/profile/ivan-oransky-md/ on Twitter/X https://x.com/ivanoransky Retraction Watch https://retractionwatch.com/ The Transmitter /Spectrum magazine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transmitter Ivan’s first play about the Immune System (aged 11) https://theoranskyjournal.wordp You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    50 min
  8. TLP #32 - Storytelling : turn science into inspiring narratives - Arjun Raj

    10/01/2024

    TLP #32 - Storytelling : turn science into inspiring narratives - Arjun Raj

    This month we enjoyed talking to Arjun Raj about his interdisciplinary approaches to studying biological systems Arjun shares how he almost became a truck driver and experimented with a career in an (unnamed) rock bandHe tells us about his journey from mathematics to quantitative biology and he shares thoughts about comparing biology with physics and what they can learn from each otherHe says we all struggle with how to teach creativity and how to evaluate the most promising ideas.Arjun discusses how to improve mentoring and practical auto-mentoring. He gives specific examples about learning how to peer-review papers.He recommends a narrative-based approach to science communication so that you can leave the audience with a feeling of wonderHe is inspired by Star Wars storytelling as a science communicatorHe says it's important to go through a period of really paying attention to the small detailsArjun argues that scientists have become overburdened and that increasing scope creep creates a lot of pressure He mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions University of Pennsylvania https://www.upenn.edu/ UC Berkeley https://www.berkeley.edu/ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University https://cims.nyu.edu/dynamic/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology https://www.mit.edu/ Fred Kramer https://phri.njms.rutgers.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty/fred-russell-kramer/ Sunjay Tyagi https://phri.njms.rutgers.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty/sanjay-tyagi/ To find out more about Arjun visit these links   Raj Lab https://rajlab.seas.upenn.edu/ on Twitter/X https://x.com/arjunrajla Random musings Blog https://rajlaboratory.blogspot.com/ Tools for Science resource https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jBGk-u5auVCvI5EMaQnptMWbxHHl3ncIhKgIgEzjylw/edit You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette Support the show 💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan : Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

    58 min
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The Lonely Pipette is a podcast where scientists share tips to help you do better science. The episodes include conversations with researchers around the world. Renaud Pourpre and Jonathan Weitzman will talk to inspiring people to learn about their habits and recommendations for all scientists. Don’t stay alone, come join The Lonely Pipette community!  💌 Subscribe for free and get the next episode directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL

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