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Thanks for making 2011 a great year! We’re going to step out of the lab for the next week to recharge our batteries and to prepare for a number of big announcements we have prepared for 2012! Have a happy holiday season and we’ll see you in the new year!
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Becoming more efficient as a scientist is constant struggle. This post will touch upon a couple of methods to help increase productivity that only take a few minutes to setup, but can pay serious dividends – standardization and delegation. While you may not find yourself in this exact situation, hopefully there is something you can take away. If you have any tips, tricks or systems of your own you’d like to share feel free to leave a comment.
It’s hard enough to finish holiday shopping for friends and family, so the idea of adding another person to the list, who likely does not fall into either of those categories, may seem to defy logic. But our PI is not just some stranger we met on the bus. For three to five (or six, or eight) years, they are the steward of our career and our relationship with them will govern the professional opportunities we will enjoy for years to come. So sure, they may have chewed us out when we accidentally performed the assay on the wrong cell line, but they also gave us a chance to do research in their lab and made sure the paychecks didn’t bounce. What better way to show our appreciation and let bygones be bygones than by closing out the year with a holiday gift for the PI…right? Bueller?…Bueller?…Bueller?…
Basal stress level feel twice as high as normal? Bank account looking unusually meager? Energy level feel like 2011 was a marathon and you’re just trying to roll across the finish line? Of course they do – it’s holiday crunch time, we’d expect nothing less. For many of us, this weekend promises house cleaning, grocery shopping, menu planning and gift purchasing all in anticipation of the coming holiday festivities. And if we’re lucky, a holiday party or two will add some eggnog to the mix. So we’re especially thankful to Jean Calvert, who contributed this delicious – and easy – appetizer that will impress friends and family alike.
Dear Dora,
With all of the talk about kids getting bullied in school these days, do you think the way some PIs treat their students would be characterized as bullying?
-Den, postdoc
We know that acids can generate some pretty stunning results when mixed with the right agents. However, the wrong combination of acids can also generate the none too pleasant result of stains and wretched breath. None of us are immune and all of us are affected when this reaction occurs. With the holidays upon us, gluttonous eating and drinking is inevitable. Cranberry sauce, red wine, coffee and sufganiyah bring merriment and joy, but also deleterious acidic aftereffects. Whether you plan on cozying up next to a Thanksgiving fire with someone, kissing someone under the mistletoe, or lighting the menorah candles next to a special someone, it is imperative that you eliminate all residue of gastronomic chemical reactions. This holiday season give the gift of inhalation intervention. Leave the stink to Mr. Scrooge.
Today our efforts here at BenchFly to makeover the image of the scientist take a huge leap forward and we couldn’t be more excited. We are completely honored to announce that one of New York’s premier make-up artists and stylists has agreed to help with the transformation. In her new monthly column FlyGirl (as she will be known to avoid contractural disputes with current employers), will share industry-insider information, tips and tricks for seriously updating our image with minimal cost and effort – clearly, she understands scientists…
Having a well-stocked pantry has never been something I’ve had, a fact that is brought home to me every time I’m in my mum’s kitchen. She reaches into her baking cupboard and pulls out all sorts of spices and powders and sugars, and half an hour later has created a cake. Me, on the other hand? Well, I have half a bag of flour, a can of Dominoes granulated sugar, and some brand new baking powder and vanilla extract that I had to run out to the store and buy so I could attempt a batch of cupcakes. By the end of the (two-hour) baking process I had wasted one batch of batter due to forgetting to add the egg before the flour, covered myself and the countertop in said flour, and generated nine slightly over-cooked cupcakes.
What, by definition, is capable of response to stimuli, growth and development, reproduction, and maintenance of homeostasis? That’s right, a lab! Wait, isn’t the answer ‘an organism’? Sure, but in many respects a lab is an organism. It responds to stimuli (getting excited about the arrival of a new piece of equipment), grows and develops (increasing the size of lab and the complexity of questions asked), reproduces (creating scientific offspring that go on to start their own research careers) and maintains homeostasis (not letting that one obnoxious labmate ruin the group for everyone).
Dear Dora,
I was wondering if you could settle an argument for me – what came first: the grad student or the PI?
-EJ, grad student
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