Career Paths

Kate
Sleeth

The Satisfaction of Planning

I have had the pleasure of planning numerous events, initially as the social chair of the postdoctoral association (PDA) at my research institute, and now as the chair/president of the PDA.  That is correct, I said pleasure!  When people at my institution or other organizations comment on ...


Christine
Crumbley

Starting The Interview Process

I had a previous post about the hunt for a postdoctoral position and the advice that I had received. I have emailed many different professors since that post. They are all generally involved in GPCR research. I think that combining my nuclear receptor experience with GPCR experience will make me mor...


Maida
Taylor

The Risk Benefit Balancing Act: Doing the Math

The FDA held hearings on Dec 8 and 9 on two birth control methods: oral contraceptives containing a progestin called drospirenone  (DRSP) a spironolactone analogue)  and a contraceptive patch marketed in the USA as Ortho EVRA. Several post market studies suggest that pills containing drosp...


Sayali
Kale

Blogging is in my blood

‘Blogosphere’. The place where an opinion, however obscure reaches an audience of millions ,heard, uncensored and in its true form . 


Wenny
Lin

No swag in the government

In the anxious era of government budget cutbacks, everything is on the table: federal employee salaries have been frozen; postdoctoral fellow contracts have not been renewed; research projects have been scaled back; and my travel funds have been cut by 33%. Yet, at the NIH, we persevere, doing the b...


Kate
Sleeth

An Effective Postdoc

Everyone knows that while you are a graduate student you are in a training program.  I think that people tend to forget that a postdoctoral position is also supposed to be a training position.  Often people use this to branch into new research areas, or expand their technical skills.  ...


Richard
Gardner

The business of academic science

One of the most overlooked aspects of academic science by graduate students and postdocs is the actual cost of conducting science in an academic lab. Before we take a look at what an average molecular biology lab costs to run, it is first best to frame the discussion in terms of running a small busi...


Wenny
Lin

Aggressive Asian

As an undergraduate, I was once interviewed by a female (Caucasian) professor who exclaimed mid-interview that she’d never before “met such an aggressive Asian woman!” I was flabbergasted by her comment and was not sure how to interpret it.Had I impressed or disappointed her with my goals and ...


Maida
Taylor

Home with the flu (or something like it)

This month I am living in a plague house. Someone should mark the door posts.  Or fly a yellow quarantine flag over the house.  My son came home from Singapore, where he is working for a start up, but he did not bring home some exotic communicable disease like the Hong Kong flu.  No, ...


Christine
Crumbley

2011: The Year of Scandals and Retractions

I read the news online daily and follow several science news organizations on Twitter. I’ve really enjoyed Nature News & Comments’ focus on retractions this year. I’ve learned a lot about the causes for retractions and the frequency of such events. An article with some really informative g...