The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre

This week, Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil tells us about her passion for science interfacing with physics and her journey from Santiago to Paris
Ana-Maria was inspired from a very young age by her namesake Ana-Maria LenonShe quickly left genetics because ‘DNA doesn't move enough’She stresses that every Principal Investigator needs to find their own way and warns against trying to imitate othersAna-Maria feels that the biggest mistake is to think that everyone in the lab is like you (instead of appreciating how different they might be)She stresses the need for optimized communication in the lab and the need to clearly articulate expectationsShe learnt the hard way that ‘management is not natural’Ana-Maria laughs about the fact that she was too short to be a chemistShe describes the challenges of finding a common language in interdisciplinary research collaborationsShe also insists on the role of parents in giving confidence to girls at an early age to become scientistsShe mentioned these institutions, researchers and resources
Pasteur Institute : https://www.pasteur.fr/enHarvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/Curie Institute : https://institut-curie.org/European Research Council (ERC) : https://erc.europa.eu/homepageHidde Ploegh : https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/ploegh-lab-research/hidde-ploeghCatherine Alcaide : https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-alcaide-5b165856/Matthieu Piel : https://curie.fr/personne/matthieu-pielGuillaume Dumenil : https://research.pasteur.fr/fr/member/guillaume-dumenil/If you are interested in buying a “zester” : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZesterShe is currently reading “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl,_Woman,_OtherTo find out more about Ana-Maria visit her websites or follow her on Twitter : 
Lab website : https://institut-curie.org/personne/ana-maria-lennonAn interview with Ana-Maria in JCB : https://rupress.org/jcb/article/215/1/2/38770/Ana-Maria-Lennon-Dumenil-A-dynamic-careerHer Wikipedia page : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana-Maria_Lennon-Dum%C3%A9nilon Twitter @LennonLabYou 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/

In this episode, we talk to George Church about his successful career in DNA repair and his entrepreneurial adventures translating research findings into biotech companies
George proudly describes himself as a biologist-engineerHe ponders whether his dyslexia may have helped him by making him realize he was different from others when he was growing upHe looks for projects in ‘exponential fields’ that combine pure scientific interest, technology breakthroughs and bring societal benefit.George cautions against using the word ‘impossible’He talks about how he has contributed to scientific and technology revolutionsHe emphasizes the important of considering ethics, safety and security at the outset of ambitious science projectsGeorge remembers how he reacted to having his genome sequenced and speculates about the future of digital genomics and NFTsWhen recruiting, he looks for people that are ‘nice’ and have deep knowledge in at least two different fieldsGeorge gets up at 4:30 a.m. and his head is immediately whizzing with new ideasHe tells us how much he learns from his grandchildren (and even mends their party dresses) 
He mentioned these projects, institutions, companies
Harvard Medical School : https://hms.harvard.edu/ Duke University: https://duke.edu/Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/NIH Brain Initiative : https://braininitiative.nih.gov/NIH Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS)  : https://www.genome.gov/Funded-Programs-Projects/Centers-of-Excellence-in-Genomic-ScienceWyss Institute  : https://wyss.harvard.edu/Personal Genomes : https://www.personalgenomes.org/TIME 100 Most Influential People : https://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4742749/george-church/Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves : https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/george-m-church/regenesis/9780465038657/Nebula Genomics : https://nebula.org/george-church/23andMe : https://www.23andme.com/Biogen : https://www.biogen.com/Gail Martin : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_R._MartinTo find out more about George :
Church Lab Website : https://arep.med.harvard.edu/George on Twitter : 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/

In this episode, we talk with the multi-talented Jenny Rohn about her journey zig-zagging from academia to a biotech-startup, to science publishing and then back into academia.
She tells us about her unconventional path and how she decided to go to a start-up and then come back to academic researchShe made long, agonizing lists about pros and cons of leaving or staying in academiaThis period of indecision led her to start writing novelsJenny admits that it was not easy to get back on to an academic pathShe warns people against giving negative advise and she always tries to be honest, but positive feedbackJenny says that In the ‘old days’ there used to be a myth that there was only one way to do science. She says that somewhere in the ‘90s there was a shift but it took a while for the old-guard to notice.“Do not ever turn away from an opportunity to network. You need to get out and talk to people”She tells us how she came up with the idea of ‘lab-lit’ and recommends some of her favourites“If you want to be a writer… you need to write a lot and read a lot”Jenny shares her thoughts about the place of narrative in scientific writing 
She mentioned these labs, resources and lab-lit authors
University College London (UCL) : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/The Lab Lit website : http://lablit.com/Science is Vital : https://scienceisvital.org.uk/Jenny’s blog ‘Mind The Gap’ : https://occamstypewriter.org/mindthegap/White Coats At Dawn on the Cosmic Shambles network : https://cosmicshambles.com/words/blogs/jennyrohnHer first novel ‘Experimental Heart’ : https://jennyrohn.com/exheartHer second novel ‘The Honest Look’ : https://jennyrohn.com/honestlookHer third novel ‘Cat Zero’ : https://jennyrohn.com/catzeroBarbara Kingsolver : http://barbarakingsolver.net/books/Carl Djerassi : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_DjerassiAllegra Goodman : https://allegragoodman.com/John William Waterhouse : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_WaterhouseTo find out more about Jenny visit her website or follow her on Twitter
https://jennyrohn.com/https://twitter.com/jennyrohnOrcid : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8766-6056You 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/

Get ready for 2023 ! In this special episode, we're going to change the narrative. We're going to dive into this original narrative-interview with 4 scientists who experienced an original meeting with us. Invited by Jean-Leon Maître in the south of France, are you ready to ask yourself why you go to science conferences?
Our special guests are : 
Jean-Léon Maître, the organizer of the meeting, CNRS research director at the Institut Curie, at Paris, FranceRita Mateus, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (TUD) in Dresden, Germany. Mariaceleste Aragona, associate professor and group leader of the tissue architecture lab at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.Tim Saunders, associate professor and group leader of an interdisciplinary group of the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology at Warwick University in England.This episode is linked to an article published by Jean-Léon Maître on The Node : https://thenode.biologists.com/present-and-future-of-quantitative-developmental-biology-in-les-treilles/events/ 
Note : The constraints of this episode allowed us to focus only on small-scale conferences. It goes without saying that none of the guests, nor we, think that this format should replace the classic meeting format which has other advantages. This episode only aims to bring a new perspective on how we interact as scientists. Small-scale formats are a way to inspire other ways of connecting the scientific community.
We thanks Jean-Léon Maître and the Fondation Les Treilles for the invitation.
To find out more about the guests : 
Jean-Léon Maître : https://institut-curie.org/team/maitre Rita Mateus : https://www.mpi-cbg.de/research/researchgroups/currentgroups/rita-mateus/research-focus Mariaceleste Aragona : https://renew.ku.dk/research/reseach-groups/aragona/ Tim Saunders : https://mechanochemistry.org/Saunders/MainSite/Saunders_lab_v4_3.htm 
To find out more about Renaud :
Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpreLinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/To find out more about Jonathan :
Twitter : https://twitter.com/EpigenetiqueLinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/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/

This week we have a surprise treat - a conversation with Jonathan’s twin brother, Matt. He discusses his energetic commitment to mentoring and grant-writing workshops. They share their genetics, but also a desire to “help scientists do better science”


Matthew comments on the usefulness of healthy competition in scienceMatt compares the joy of running a lab to cooking in the kitchenHe loves the flexibility of science and constantly stimulated by interactions with colleagues and young scientists and new ideasMatt makes a strong argument for peer-to-peer mentoring, cascade mentoring and seizing constant casual mentoring opportunitiesHe comments on the advantages of going to a small lab for graduate school and he advises students to look carefully at the type of scientific questions, the environment of the lab and the chemistry of the PI/mentor relationshipMatt describes his pioneering Grant Proposal Success (GPS) grant-writing program and the importance of collective, grant-writing communities. Matt dissects the grant structure and tells us what funding committees are looking forHe suggests that staggering projects and having work at different stages can help to integrate life and manage the labHe mentioned these institutions :  


University of Leeds, UK : https://www.leeds.ac.uk/University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) : https://www.chop.edu/National Institutes of Health (NIH) : https://www.nih.gov/Salk Institute for Biological Studies : https://www.salk.edu/University of California San Diego : https://ucsd.edu/To find out more about Matt visit his website or follow him on Twitter :
https://twitter.com/WeitzmanLab
https://www.chop.edu/doctors/weitzman-matthew-d
https://pathology.med.upenn.edu/department/people/517/matthew-d-weitzman


30 Second Genetics : https://www.amazon.com/30-Second-Genetics-revolutionary-discoveries-explained/dp/1782405097



To find out more about Renaud :


Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpreLinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/To find out more about Jonathan :


Twitter : https://twitter.com/EpigYou 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/

This week, we talk with Ashani Weeraratna about her inspiring path from apartheid South Africa to director, professor and activist.
Ashi cites good advice that she remembers “ read voraciously … and be engaged with the literature”She insists that mentoring is all about the trainees and hearing their individual needsAshi believes that diversity of thought needs diversity of population and stresses the importance of welcoming different groups into the labFor her, representation matters and it is key to achieving full equityShe also comments on the importance of the microenvironment (for cancer cells and for researchers)She shares her thoughts about juggling a life in two citiesAnd she encourages us to remember that “the most important trait is kindness”And Ashi concludes by telling us to enjoy the journeyShe mentioned these institutions, people and resources
St. Mary's College of Maryland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_College_of_MarylandGeorge Washington University : https://www.gwu.edu/Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center : https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/National Institutes of Health : https://www.nih.gov/Wistar Institute : https://wistar.org/University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health : https://publichealth.jhu.edu/National Cancer Institute : https://www.cancer.gov/Steven Patierno : https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/steven-patiernoJeff Trent : https://www.tgen.org/faculty-profiles/jeffrey-trent/National Cancer Advisory Board : https://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/ncab/ncab.htmTo find out more about Ashi visit her websites or follow her on Twitter

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/3918/ashani-t-weeraratna
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/ashani-weeraratna
https://research.jhu.edu/members/ashani-weeraratna/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashani_Weeraratna
on Twitter : @AshaniTW

“Is Cancer Inevitable?” by Ashi : https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/titl
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/