Recently, we asked whether labs should operate more as a family unit or as a group of individuals and the overwhelming majority of respondents came down on the side of family. It seems people do best in a lab environment where ideas, questions and support can flow freely among members for the good of both the individual and the group. However, while it’s easy to say things should be like a family, our reality in the lab may prevent it.
How Much Do You Really Like Your Labmates?
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Dear Dora: Happy One Year Anniversary!
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This week we’re excited to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Dear Dora column! We’ve been extremely fortunate to have worked with Dr. Dora Farkas and are thrilled she’s been a part of BenchFly from the early days. We sat down with Dora to find out if there was any advice she’d like to take back, if her own grad school experience was a breeze and if there are particular challenges that she sees facing students and postdocs in the coming years.
Write Grants Like Kenny Rogers?
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Had Kenny Rogers been an academic, the refrain to his legendary song, The Gambler, may have turned out differently as The Grant Writer: “You’ve got to know when to write ’em, know when to spite ’em / Know when to walk away, know when to run / You never count your funding, till it’s written in your ledger / They’ll be time enough for counting, when the deadline’s done.” Of course, that version of the song probably wouldn’t have vaulted Kenny to the wild success that ultimately gave us Kenny Rogers Roasters – and that’s a lose-lose for everyone.
Beware of the Graduate Student
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As kids, a trip to the zoo is like steroids for our imagination. We walk around in wonder and awe of the incredible animals – Where did they come from? Do they ever sleep? Why does that one seem so cranky? What’s that smell?!
And then we become graduate students and it all makes sense…
How to Become a Great Graduate Student
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Following-up on What Makes a Great Student in the Lab?, we asked our panel of experts about specific actions we could take to set ourselves up for a successful graduate career. The PIs help set our expectations for how many years we should plan to be in school, how much initiative we should take and what to expect if we decide to leave the bench.
Mastering the Human Body: How Much Longer?
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If we could jump in Michael J. Fox’s Delorian and travel back to 1950 to share the list of major scientific discoveries to come over the next 60 years, we’d sound crazier than new grad students who think they’re going to graduate within three years. Since Watson and Crick first published their helical model for the structure of DNA in 1953, the pace of biochemical research has been astounding. We sequence entire genomes, we clone live organisms and we have multiple drugs on the market to help old men get erections. Ah, modern science.
How Many Postdoctoral Fellowships Should I Tackle?
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Dear Dora,
How many postdoctoral fellowships do most people apply for when starting their postdoc?
– Dom, grad student
What Makes a Great Student in the Lab?
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Nobody starts graduate school thinking, “I’d like to be average. I’ll be happy just blending into the background and having to remind my PI of my name on my graduation day.” We all want to do our best, become a great graduate student and ultimately blossom into great scientists. Yet, there’s often one little wrinkle in executing the plan – what exactly is a great student and how do we become one?
The Qualifying Exam: The Earlier the Better?
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Ben Franklin famously declared that two things in life were guaranteed – death and taxes. For scientists, Ben may have updated it to “death, taxes and the qualifying exam.” Although graduate programs vary with regard to degree requirements, the qualifying exam seems to be one hurdle they’ve all agreed to include.
Toaster-Oven Trail Mix Biscotti
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A healthy, on-the-go breakfast is a challenge anywhere, let alone the Food Desert. I love biscotti, and had been searching for a recipe that yielded the light, crispy cookies I like best but they eluded me. Finally, one day, I asked the owner of a local upscale Italian bakery – she smiled and said, in her lilting accent “you know, it’s only cake!” Of course – biscotti (Italian for twice-cooked) is really toasted cake, and the lightest cake there is is angel food cake, based on healthy, protein rich, fat-free egg whites!
