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

This week, Elphege Nora shares personal thoughts on his journey from Paris to California
Elphege discovered at an early age that the best way to explain who we are is to look back at where we come from and our evolutionary trajectoriesFrom his earliest research experiences, Elphege was intrigued about the sociology of the lab and it’s unusual social etiquetteHe shares his memories of working with Edith Heard and what she taught him about mentoringHe claims that personality tests can be useful for understanding how to interact with colleagues and team membersElphege recommends that it is good to present your work early at conferences in order to gain visibility and attract recruitsHe shares thoughts about the different scientific approaches he has encountered in Europe and the United StatesElphege shares how his interaction with his (famous) father pushed his to think about the abstract and conceptual impacts of his workHe had to learn when it’s important to strive for perfection and when it is notHe stresses the importance of trust in mentoring relationshipsHe concludes ‘You need to understand what you're good at and what you suck at’He mentioned these institutions, researchers and resources
Curie Institute : https://institut-curie.org/Gladstone Institute : https://gladstone.org/Edith Heard : https://thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/11387623-tlp-12-science-without-frontiers-edith-heardMax Greenberg : https://thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/5520439-tlp-1-navigating-the-path-to-team-leader-maxim-greenbergBenoit Bruneau : https://twitter.com/benoitbruneauMoshe Yaniv : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosh%C3%A9_YanivFrancois Jacob : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_JacobPierre Nora (Elphege’s father) : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_NoraTo find out more about Elphege visit his websites or follow him on Twitter
Lab website : https://noralab.ucsf.edu/index.php/the-team/Twitter : https://twitter.com/elphegenoralab?lang=enYou 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, Christophe Lavelle shares his double passion for science and for cooking
Christophe left engineering studies for the freedom of research science. And then he jumped from physics to biology for his PhD studiesHe thinks science makes him a better cook and cites lots of specific examplesHe describes his very free mentoring style and questions what makes a good mentorHe describes his chaotic ‘schizophrenic’’ interdisciplinary interestsWhat has to be done has to be well done - else don’t bother doing itHe tells us that the ‘wow’ in the lab is when you finally understand something, but the ’wow’ in the kitchen is when you don’t understand something.He mentioned these institutions, researchers and resources
National Museum of Natural History : https://www.mnhn.fr/enHandbook of Molecular Gastronomy : https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Molecular-Gastronomy-Scientific-Foundations-Educational-Practices/Burke-Kelly-Lavelle-Kientza/p/book/9781466594784Je Mange donc Je Suis : https://www.museedelhomme.fr/fr/je-mange-donc-je-suisTo find out more about Christophe visit his websites or follow him on Twitter
Food Lab 2.0 : https://food20.fr/chercheur/christophe-lavelle/Lab website : https://biophysique.mnhn.fr/fr/annuaire/christophe-lavelle-9027Twitter : https://twitter.com/kristoflav

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, 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/