Foundational Skills in Life Sciences

Dr. Synaptologica

Students and scholars in life sciences need to use many skills to survive and excel during scientific training, which involves listening, reading, writing, and speaking.  But I have seen many of them struggle in understanding and learning those skills.  I am a professor in the U.S., a tenured faculty member with MD, PhD degrees.  I will assist you through the skills, so that you will learn and improve successfully in your professional life.  Please visit my website for more information (https://synaptologica.com/), and send me emails with questions, comments or ideas (ideas@synaptologica.com).

  1. JUL 13

    58. Paragraph 1 of Introduction, written by Nobel Laureates: meaning of each sentence therein

    Let’s read the first paragraph of the Introduction section in a paper written by the Nobel Laureates. Specifically, we will read each sentence in the paragraph, and think about the meaning and the role of each sentence. One key point is that the structural components of the Abstract will help us understand the paragraphs and sentences of the Introduction.    We are reading the paper written by Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman, that led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. We call it the Milestone Article 1. Here are two sets of links related to the paper.   Milestone Article 1:  - “Suppression of RNA recognition by Toll-like receptors: the impact of nucleoside modification and the evolutionary origin of RNA” by Karikó, Buckstein, Ni & Weissman. Immunity, 23(2): 165-75, 2005. - HTML: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2005.06.008    - PDF: https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(05)00211-6.pdf    - PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16111635/     Copyright of the paper (as of July, 2025): - See the pull-down menu “Article Info” near the top of the article webpage (Use the DOI above to reach it). - Check the “User License” section which lists the “Elsevier user license”: --- http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/    --- https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/open-access-licenses/elsevier-user    This episode = mini-series: reading-38.    (My email is active. But my website is under construction. Please wait for a while. Thank you for the patience!)

    17 min
  2. JUL 6

    57. How to read the main points of Introduction paragraphs

    The Introduction section of a life-science paper tells the main story, sometimes even multiple related ones. But without helpful subheadings, understanding its core points can be challenging. Then, how do we effectively read Introduction paragraphs to understand the section?     We will talk about it today, and we will keep reading one of the best papers as our example.    We are reading the paper written by Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman, that led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. We call it the Milestone Article 1. Here are two sets of links related to the paper.   Milestone Article 1:  - “Suppression of RNA recognition by Toll-like receptors: the impact of nucleoside modification and the evolutionary origin of RNA” by Karikó, Buckstein, Ni & Weissman. Immunity, 23(2): 165-75, 2005. - HTML: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2005.06.008    - PDF: https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(05)00211-6.pdf    - PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16111635/     Copyright of the paper (as of July, 2025): - See the pull-down menu “Article Info” near the top of the article webpage (Use the DOI above to reach it). - Check the “User License” section which lists the “Elsevier user license”: --- http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/    --- https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/open-access-licenses/elsevier-user    This episode = mini-series: reading-37.    (My email is active. But my website is under construction. Please wait for a while. Thank you for the patience!)

    19 min
  3. JUN 25

    55. Does the Introduction section have subheadings?

    Sub-sections and subheadings will be helpful.    The Methods and the Results sections of life-science papers are divided into sub-sections. And the sub-sections will have subheadings, i.e., the titles that serve as signposts of the sub-sections.    How about the Introduction section? What would this finding mean to us, the readers?    We will talk about them by scanning the Introduction of a paper written by Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman, that led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. We call it the Milestone Article 1. Here are two sets of links related to the paper.    Milestone Article 1:  - “Suppression of RNA recognition by Toll-like receptors: the impact of nucleoside modification and the evolutionary origin of RNA” by Karikó, Buckstein, Ni & Weissman. Immunity, 23(2): 165-75, 2005. - HTML: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2005.06.008    - PDF: https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(05)00211-6.pdf    - PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16111635/     Copyright of the paper (as of March, 2025): - See the pull-down menu “Article Info” near the top of the article webpage (Use the DOI above to reach it). - Check the “User License” section which lists the “Elsevier user license”: --- http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/    --- https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/open-access-licenses/elsevier-user    This episode = mini-series: reading-35.    (My email is active. But my website is under construction. Please wait for a while. Thank you for the patience!)

    13 min

About

Students and scholars in life sciences need to use many skills to survive and excel during scientific training, which involves listening, reading, writing, and speaking.  But I have seen many of them struggle in understanding and learning those skills.  I am a professor in the U.S., a tenured faculty member with MD, PhD degrees.  I will assist you through the skills, so that you will learn and improve successfully in your professional life.  Please visit my website for more information (https://synaptologica.com/), and send me emails with questions, comments or ideas (ideas@synaptologica.com).