The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre
  • 5.0 (20)
  • LIFE SCIENCES
The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

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! 

  1. 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia To find out more about Ana visit these links  You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    56 min
  2. 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.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/immune-system-play.pdf You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    50 min
  3. 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 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    58 min
  4. TLP #31 : A recipe for resilience - Alicia Rojas Araya

    07/29/2024

    TLP #31 : A recipe for resilience - Alicia Rojas Araya

    This month Alicia Rojas tells us about her journey from Costa Rica to Israel and back, in search of pathogens and parasites Alicia shares the personal difficulties of being far from home and how she missed family and foodShe reflects on coming back to Costa Rica to explore its rich biodiversityShe recalls the challenges of returning from a luxurious postdoc at the Weizmann Institute to setting up her own lab in Costa Rica during a pandemicShe discusses the need to be resilient and creative and build collaborationsShe is proud to be “doing the best we can with the limited resources we have”As a mentor, she stresses that every student is different and she tries to keep a helicopter-view of everything that is going on Alicia gets up really early to complete work and make time for her family in the afternoonShe recommends to finish one task before you start the next one She mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions University of Costa Rica : https://www.ucr.ac.cr/ Hebrew University of Jerusalem : https://en.huji.ac.il/ Neta Regev-Rudzki laboratory : https://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biomolecular_Sciences/regev/ Weizmann Institute of Science: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/ Research Center for Tropical Diseases.  : http://www.ciet.ucr.ac.cr/en/about-ciet To find out more about Alicia visit these links Alicia’s lab : https://www.thetropicalwormlab.com/ Alicia’s LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-rojas-30215b1aa/ On Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetropicalwormlab_ucr/ On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thetropicalwormlabUCR/ You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    1h 2m
  5. TLP #30 : Don't hypothesize, just observe - Hans Clevers

    06/25/2024

    TLP #30 : Don't hypothesize, just observe - Hans Clevers

    This month Hans Clevers talks to us about his productive career and his pioneering work on organoid technologies. Hans admits that he initially found biology frustrating and disappointing But then he learnt to enjoy the rare spark of excitement from discoveriesHe managed to get his PhD in just one year!You need to trust yourself and learn to share with othersHans warns new group leaders not to expect too much from younger colleaguesIt’s important to give your students their own spaceHe paints a metaphoric image of research - Push against the dark wall until the window opens on a new valleyHis search for stem cells in the gut led his lab to develop organoid approaches and 3D culture technologiesHans describes his unexpected move to Roche and “large pharma”He describes his role bridging the gap between scientists and industry leadershipHans talks about the benefits of interacting with artistsHe warns about being too attached to your hypothesis and the importance of being wrong He mentioned these labs, institutions and companies Roche Pharma R&D (pRED):  https://www.roche.com/innovation/structure/pred Utrecht University : https://www.uu.nl/en Dana Farber Cancer Institute :  https://www.dana-farber.org/ Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences : https://www.knaw.nl/en Cox Terhorst :  https://immunologyphd.hms.harvard.edu/people/cox-terhorst To find out more about Hans visit these links    X-Twitter https://x.com/hansclevers?lang=en Hubrecht Institute https://www.hubrecht.eu https://www.hubrecht.eu/research-groups/clevers-group/ Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Clevers Utrecht University https://www.uu.nl/staff/JCClevers Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jTAHhTQAAAAJ&hl=en You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    59 min
  6. TLP #29 : Advocating for women’s health - Nour El Houda Mimouni

    05/28/2024

    TLP #29 : Advocating for women’s health - Nour El Houda Mimouni

    Today we chat with postdoc Nour El Houda Mimouni about her passionate commitment to improving womens’ health. Nour urges young scientists to get themselves a support group from the beginningShe also insists on the importance of developing interests outside of the labAddressing womens’ health issues is ‘not just a job’ for NourShe recommends students to not alway blindly follow other people's adviceShe discusses her advocacy work at the European Health ParliamentShe thinks that every scientist should play a role in public outreach, from a young age She mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies Cité des sciences et de l'industrie https://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueilZuckerman Institute https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/Columbia University https://www.columbia.edu/Bianca Marlin Jones https://www.biancajonesmarlin.com/L'ORÉAL-UNESCO Programs for Women in Science https://www.forwomeninscience.com/European Health Parliament https://www.healthparliament.eu/Collectif de Femmes de Santé https://www.femmesdesante.fr/Joëlle Cohen-Tannoudji https://bfa.u-paris.fr/equipe-3/team-members/?lang=enSimone Veil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_VeilJacinda Ardern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_ArdernTo find out more about Nour visit these links  X-Twitter https://twitter.com/NourMimouni5 Nour’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nour-el-houda-mimouni-2b9933a4/ Nour in the lab https://www.biancajonesmarlin.com/nour-mimouni You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee !  ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    1h 2m
  7. TLP #28 : Curing with a Community - David Fajgenbaum

    04/29/2024

    TLP #28 : Curing with a Community - David Fajgenbaum

    In this episode, we kick off our Season 3 guests with David Fajgenbaum who shares his extraordinary journey to cure himself from Castleman disease. David shares his very personal story of searching for a cure to his own diseaseHe describes how having a vision for the future helped him to surviveHe insists that patients can be part of the process and can be active collaborators in the search for curesHe pleads for a shift from an Investigator initiated model to a Community initiated model involving collaboration between researchers, clinicians and patientsDavid also insists that approved drugs could be used to treat additional diseasesHe tells us about why and how he wrote a book, “Chasing My Cure” about his journeyHe describes the value that good mentors bringHe advises to keep focused, surround yourself with good people, learn to delegate and to take important recruitment decisionsDavid recommends getting as much feedback as you can from many people He mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine : https://www.med.upenn.edu/Georgetown University : https://www.georgetown.edu/Castleman Disease Collaborative Network : https://cdcn.org/Castleman Disease : https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/castlemans-disease/University of Oxford : https://www.ox.ac.uk/National Institutes of Health (NIH) : https://www.nih.gov/Janet Woodcock from the FDA : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_WoodcockBrian Wallach : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_WallachI am ALS : https://www.iamals.org/Frits van Rhee : https://cdcn.org/leadership-team/frits-van-rhee/ | https://uams-triprofiles.uams.edu/profiles/display/127377Sharon Terry : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_F._TerryArthur Rubenstein : https://www.med.upenn.edu/endowedprofessorships/arthur-h-rubenstein-university-professorship.htmlBenjamin Castleman : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Castleman To find out more about David and Every Cure visit these links  X-Twitter  : @DavidFajgenbaum Every Cure https://twitter.com/EveryCure David’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfajgenbaum/ Every Cure’s LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/every-cure/ David’s Book “Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope Into Action” : https://chasingmycure.com/ 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    1h 12m
  8. TLP #27 : Time to refill the tip box !

    03/26/2024

    TLP #27 : Time to refill the tip box !

    In this episode Renaud and Jonathan share their excitement about the launch of Season 3 of The Lonely Pipette podcast. BUT this time, they are not the ones asking the questions. 💌 Subscribe and receive the next season in you mailbox 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 More about the soundtrack : Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

    1h 6m
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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! 

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