The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

By Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre

The Lonely Pipette is a podcast where scientists share tips to help you do better science. The episodes include conversations with researchers around the world. Renaud Pourpre and Jonathan Weitzman

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· Society & Culture
· Science
· Education
· Self-Improvement
· Life Sciences

2020 ratings

FAQs about The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science:

How many episodes does The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science have?

The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.

The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science episodes:

November 26, 2024TLP #34 : The "right" To-Do list - Ana Boskovic
This month we talk with Ana Boskovic about her experience of setting up her own lab and hiring a new team
Ana began studying languages and literature… but found it too easy, so she switched
She questions whether you are ever ‘ready’ to set up your own lab
It’s important that you find the right ‘fit’ for the place you want to work and this should be a supportive environment
She learnt early that it is important to hire people with diverse personalities who each fill a gap in the skills the lab needs
Ana also says it’s important to always be yourself and not pretend to be something you are not
She remembers that hiring was the biggest challenge in setting up her own team
They need to be dedicated but also well-integrated into the team and the lab culture
She balances ambitions with pragmatic considerations to avoid biased approaches
Ana loves ‘to do’ lists as a source of satisfaction and to help planning
She says you need to be able to trust and respect your mentor because you know they want you to succeed
Mentors need to learn to have a conversation and be sensitive to mentees’ needs
Ana insists that mentors need to be able to apologize if they get it wrong
Ana uses her train ride to plan her day and write her To-Do list
She tells us about her favourite Roman emperor, Diocletian
She reminds us that “The plural of anecdote is not data”

She mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions

University of Zagreb https://www.unizg.hr/homepage/
EMBL Rome https://www.embl.org/research/faculty/rome/
Maria Elena Torres-Padilla (podcast episode from Season 1)
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1356877/episodes/6624301-tlp-6-just-go-for-it-following-your-curiosity-and-excitement-maria-elena-torres-padilla
Maria Elena Torres-Padilla (lab)
https://www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/ies/pi/maria-elena-torres-padilla
Oliver Rando
https://www.umassmed.edu/randolab/
Edith Heard (podcast episode from Season 2)
https://thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/episodes/11387623-tlp-12-science-without-frontiers-edith-heard
F Scott Fitzgerald
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald
Diocletian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian
Split, Croatia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia

To find out more about Ana visit these links
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/
...more
57min
October 29, 2024TLP #33 : The stories behind the retractions - Ivan Oransky
This month Ivan Oransky joins us to talk about his work as a journalist and advocate for monitoring scientific misconduct.
Ivan confesses about his beginnings as a young playwright of the immune system
He discusses how and why he left medicine to become a journalist
Ivan’s mentors encouraged him to develop by getting experience as a journalist and editor
Ivan reflects on how his training as a physician was helpful and allowed people to trust him
He stresses how important it is to read in order to develop story-writing skills
Ivan explains that curiosity and attention can help to hunt for good stories
He thinks the trend to ‘weaponization’ is central to what’s wrong in science and science communication today
He suggests that going ‘upstream’ might help to explain the methodology and not just the results of science
Ivan describes the origins of Retraction Watch and looking for the stories behind the retractions
He also insists that we need to look upstream to understand what leads to the fraud (or sloppiness) behind the retractions
Finally, learning to say NO is an important skill to keeping focused

Ivan mentioned these scientists, writers and institutions
Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/
The Harvard Crimson https://www.thecrimson.com/
Yale University https://www.yale.edu/
The Scientist https://www.the-scientist.com/
Journal of American Medical Association https://jamanetwork.com/
New York University’s Carter Journalism Institute https://journalism.nyu.edu/
The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com
Lawrence Altman MD https://www.nytimes.com/by/lawrence-k-altman
George Lundberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_D._Lundberg https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1114712/

To find out more about Ivan and his work visit these links
at NYU https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/profile/ivan-oransky-md/
on Twitter/X https://x.com/ivanoransky
Retraction Watch https://retractionwatch.com/
The Transmitter /Spectrum magazine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transmitter
Ivan’s first play about the Immune System (aged 11) https://theoranskyjournal.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/immune-system-play.pdf
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/
...more
51min
October 01, 2024TLP #32 - Storytelling : turn science into inspiring narratives - Arjun Raj
This month we enjoyed talking to Arjun Raj about his interdisciplinary approaches to studying biological systems
Arjun shares how he almost became a truck driver and experimented with a career in an (unnamed) rock band
He tells us about his journey from mathematics to quantitative biology and he shares thoughts about comparing biology with physics and what they can learn from each other
He says we all struggle with how to teach creativity and how to evaluate the most promising ideas.
Arjun discusses how to improve mentoring and practical auto-mentoring. He gives specific examples about learning how to peer-review papers.
He recommends a narrative-based approach to science communication so that you can leave the audience with a feeling of wonder
He is inspired by Star Wars storytelling as a science communicator
He says it's important to go through a period of really paying attention to the small details
Arjun argues that scientists have become overburdened and that increasing scope creep creates a lot of pressure

He mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions
University of Pennsylvania https://www.upenn.edu/
UC Berkeley https://www.berkeley.edu/
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University https://cims.nyu.edu/dynamic/
Massachusetts Institute of Technology https://www.mit.edu/
Fred Kramer https://phri.njms.rutgers.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty/fred-russell-kramer/
Sunjay Tyagi https://phri.njms.rutgers.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty/sanjay-tyagi/

To find out more about Arjun visit these links
Raj Lab https://rajlab.seas.upenn.edu/
on Twitter/X https://x.com/arjunrajla
Random musings Blog https://rajlaboratory.blogspot.com/
Tools for Science resource https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jBGk-u5auVCvI5EMaQnptMWbxHHl3ncIhKgIgEzjylw/edit

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/
...more
59min
July 29, 2024TLP #31 : A recipe for resilience - Alicia Rojas Araya
This month Alicia Rojas tells us about her journey from Costa Rica to Israel and back, in search of pathogens and parasites
Alicia shares the personal difficulties of being far from home and how she missed family and food
She reflects on coming back to Costa Rica to explore its rich biodiversity
She recalls the challenges of returning from a luxurious postdoc at the Weizmann Institute to setting up her own lab in Costa Rica during a pandemic
She discusses the need to be resilient and creative and build collaborations
She is proud to be “doing the best we can with the limited resources we have”
As a mentor, she stresses that every student is different and she tries to keep a helicopter-view of everything that is going on
Alicia gets up really early to complete work and make time for her family in the afternoon
She recommends to finish one task before you start the next one

She mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions
University of Costa Rica : https://www.ucr.ac.cr/
Hebrew University of Jerusalem : https://en.huji.ac.il/
Neta Regev-Rudzki laboratory : https://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biomolecular_Sciences/regev/
Weizmann Institute of Science: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/
Research Center for Tropical Diseases. : http://www.ciet.ucr.ac.cr/en/about-ciet

To find out more about Alicia visit these links
Alicia’s lab : https://www.thetropicalwormlab.com/
Alicia’s LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-rojas-30215b1aa/
On Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetropicalwormlab_ucr/
On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thetropicalwormlabUCR/
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/
...more
1h 3min
June 25, 2024TLP #30 : Don't hypothesize, just observe - Hans Clevers
This month Hans Clevers talks to us about his productive career and his pioneering work on organoid technologies.

Hans admits that he initially found biology frustrating and disappointing
But then he learnt to enjoy the rare spark of excitement from discoveries
He managed to get his PhD in just one year!
You need to trust yourself and learn to share with others
Hans warns new group leaders not to expect too much from younger colleagues
It’s important to give your students their own space
He paints a metaphoric image of research - Push against the dark wall until the window opens on a new valley
His search for stem cells in the gut led his lab to develop organoid approaches and 3D culture technologies
Hans describes his unexpected move to Roche and “large pharma”
He describes his role bridging the gap between scientists and industry leadership
Hans talks about the benefits of interacting with artists
He warns about being too attached to your hypothesis and the importance of being wrong

He mentioned these labs, institutions and companies

Roche Pharma R&D (pRED): https://www.roche.com/innovation/structure/pred
Utrecht University : https://www.uu.nl/en
Dana Farber Cancer Institute : https://www.dana-farber.org/
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences : https://www.knaw.nl/en
Cox Terhorst : https://immunologyphd.hms.harvard.edu/people/cox-terhorst

To find out more about Hans visit these links
X-Twitter https://x.com/hansclevers?lang=en
Hubrecht Institute
https://www.hubrecht.eu
https://www.hubrecht.eu/research-groups/clevers-group/
Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Clevers
Utrecht University
https://www.uu.nl/staff/JCClevers
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jTAHhTQAAAAJ&hl=en

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/
...more
59min
May 28, 2024TLP #29 : Advocating for women’s health - Nour El Houda Mimouni
Today we chat with postdoc Nour El Houda Mimouni about her passionate commitment to improving womens’ health.
Nour urges young scientists to get themselves a support group from the beginning
She also insists on the importance of developing interests outside of the lab
Addressing womens’ health issues is ‘not just a job’ for Nour
She recommends students to not alway blindly follow other people's advice
She discusses her advocacy work at the European Health Parliament
She thinks that every scientist should play a role in public outreach, from a young age

She mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies

Cité des sciences et de l'industrie https://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/accueil
Zuckerman Institute https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/
Columbia University https://www.columbia.edu/
Bianca Marlin Jones https://www.biancajonesmarlin.com/
L'ORÉAL-UNESCO Programs for Women in Science https://www.forwomeninscience.com/
European Health Parliament https://www.healthparliament.eu/
Collectif de Femmes de Santé https://www.femmesdesante.fr/
Joëlle Cohen-Tannoudji https://bfa.u-paris.fr/equipe-3/team-members/?lang=en
Simone Veil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Veil
Jacinda Ardern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_Ardern
To find out more about Nour visit these links
X-Twitter https://twitter.com/NourMimouni5
Nour’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nour-el-houda-mimouni-2b9933a4/
Nour in the lab https://www.biancajonesmarlin.com/nour-mimouni

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/
...more
1h 2min
April 29, 2024TLP #28 : Curing with a Community - David Fajgenbaum
In this episode, we kick off our Season 3 guests with David Fajgenbaum who shares his extraordinary journey to cure himself from Castleman disease.
David shares his very personal story of searching for a cure to his own disease
He describes how having a vision for the future helped him to survive
He insists that patients can be part of the process and can be active collaborators in the search for cures
He pleads for a shift from an Investigator initiated model to a Community initiated model involving collaboration between researchers, clinicians and patients
David also insists that approved drugs could be used to treat additional diseases
He tells us about why and how he wrote a book, “Chasing My Cure” about his journey
He describes the value that good mentors bring
He advises to keep focused, surround yourself with good people, learn to delegate and to take important recruitment decisions
David recommends getting as much feedback as you can from many people

He mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine : https://www.med.upenn.edu/
Georgetown University : https://www.georgetown.edu/
Castleman Disease Collaborative Network : https://cdcn.org/
Castleman Disease : https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/castlemans-disease/
University of Oxford : https://www.ox.ac.uk/
National Institutes of Health (NIH) : https://www.nih.gov/
Janet Woodcock from the FDA : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Woodcock
Brian Wallach : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wallach
I am ALS : https://www.iamals.org/
Frits van Rhee : https://cdcn.org/leadership-team/frits-van-rhee/ | https://uams-triprofiles.uams.edu/profiles/display/127377
Sharon Terry : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_F._Terry
Arthur Rubenstein : https://www.med.upenn.edu/endowedprofessorships/arthur-h-rubenstein-university-professorship.html
Benjamin Castleman : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Castleman

To find out more about David and Every Cure visit these links
X-Twitter : @DavidFajgenbaum
Every Cure https://twitter.com/EveryCure
David’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfajgenbaum/
Every Cure’s LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/every-cure/
David’s Book “Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope Into Action” : https://chasingmycure.com/

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/
...more
1h 12min
March 26, 2024TLP #27 : Time to refill the tip box !
In this episode Renaud and Jonathan share their excitement about the launch of Season 3 of The Lonely Pipette podcast. BUT this time, they are not the ones asking the questions.

💌 Subscribe and receive the next season in you mailbox
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/
...more
1h 7min
August 22, 2023TLP#26 - Season 2 wrap-up - Jonathan & Renaud
Dear Lonely Pipetters,
Season 2 has been an amazing journey, BUT Season 3 will be awesome. We are so proud to be still here, with you supporting us. Thank you! In this final episode, we take the chance to give you untold stories about Season 2 making-of, personal stories and what you can do to help us build Season 3. Don’t miss it out !

Subscribe to be updated when Season 3 starts : https://bit.ly/NLTLP
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/
...more
40min
July 25, 2023TLP #25 : Excellence at the ERC - Maria Leptin
This week, we talk to Maria Leptin about her path to the head of the European Research Council
Maria claims she didn’t receive any formal mentoring advice, but rather absorbed and learnt along the way
Against the perceived wisdom, Maria warns against the advice to be continually networking. She advises to listen to what others say and then add your own thoughts.
Maria is sure that if you really enjoy the stuff you're doing, then you will do it well and you'll get something out of it.
She says that sabbatical breaks can be good to ‘put your brain to air a little bit’
She says the ERC aims to select the very best researchers across Europe, across all disciplines, and allow them to make wonderful discoveries.
To attract ERC funding, organizations or countries or regions need to create an environment where researchers are happy to work and have good conditions.
Maria makes a passionate plea for fundamental research and better access for science journalists
After a lie-in, Maria starts the day with a coffee and a cookie in the office
Maria likes our question “if you had $100 million or euros to spend in science, how would you spend it?” She uses it herself in interviews.
She mentioned these institutions and researchers
University of Bonn : https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/university
University of Heidelberg : https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/en
Basel Institute of Immunology : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_Institute_for_Immunology
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology : https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology : https://www.mpg.de/151769/biology-tuebingen
European Molecular Biology Organization : https://www.embo.org/
European Research Council (ERC) : https://erc.europa.eu/homepage
Fritz Melchers : https://www.tbvi.eu/team/prof-georg-friedrich-fritz-melchers/

To find out more about Maria visit her websites or follow her on Twitter
Website : https://erc.europa.eu/erc_member/maria-leptin
Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Leptin
ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7097-348X
Maria on Twitter :https://twitter.com/mleptin
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/
...more
42min

FAQs about The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science:

How many episodes does The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science have?

The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.

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The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

FAQs about The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science:

How many episodes does The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science have?

The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science episodes:

FAQs about The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science:

How many episodes does The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science have?

More shows like The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

The Bill Simmons Podcast