The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

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

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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

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

Support the show

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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

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/

Support the show

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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

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.

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Support the show

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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

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

Support the show

💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL

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

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

Support the show

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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

This week, we meet our first philosopher guest - Thomas Pradeu tells us what scientist can learn from philosophers 

• Thomas shares his journey navigating from philosophy to immunology and biology
• He explains the difference between ‘philosophy IN biology’ compared to ‘philosophy OF biology’
• He mentions ‘mutual ignorance’ - that scientists often don’t know about philosophers who would be interested in their science
• Thomas argues that philosophers should be brought in at the beginning of a project rather than at the end. He describes his model for embedding philosophers within a biology research environment
• He gives lots of specific examples, from immunology and beyond, where philosophers made an impact on science by intervening upstream
• Thomas stresses the importance of challenging the foundations (in the lab and at home)
• He also stresses the importance of reading every day
• Thomas talks honestly about the difficulties of improving life-work balance and gender balance in academia
• Thomas is proud of his success in creating examples of the Philosophy IN Biology networks as a model for interdisciplinary collaboration 

He mentioned these researchers/philosophers

• Jean Gayon : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Gayon
• Edgardo Carosella : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgardo_D._Carosella
• David Hull : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hull_(philosopher)
• Elliott Sober : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Sober
• Ernst Mayr : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Mayr
• Richard Dawkins : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
• Stephen Paget : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Paget
• Lucie Laplane : https://www.cnrs.fr/fr/personne/lucie-laplane
• Francis Bacon : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon
• Dick Lewontin : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lewontin

To find out more about Thomas visit his websites or follow him on Twitter

• Website : https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/universite/espace-presse/repertoire-dexperts/thomas-pradeu
• ImmunoConcept Lab : https://immunoconcept.cnrs.fr/conceptual-biology-medicine/
• PhilInBioMed:  Institute for Philosophy in Biology and Medicine : https://www.philinbiomed.org/
• Thomas on Twitter : https://twitter.com/pradeu?lang=en

Support the show

💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL

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

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 trajectories
• From his earliest research experiences, Elphege was intrigued about the sociology of the lab and it’s unusual social etiquette
• He shares his memories of working with Edith Heard and what she taught him about mentoring
• He claims that personality tests can be useful for understanding how to interact with colleagues and team members
• Elphege recommends that it is good to present your work early at conferences in order to gain visibility and attract recruits
• He shares thoughts about the different scientific approaches he has encountered in Europe and the United States
• Elphege shares how his interaction with his (famous) father pushed his to think about the abstract and conceptual impacts of his work
• He had to learn when it’s important to strive for perfection and when it is not
• He stresses the importance of trust in mentoring relationships
• He 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-heard
• Max Greenberg : https://thelonelypipette.buzzsprout.com/1356877/5520439-tlp-1-navigating-the-path-to-team-leader-maxim-greenberg
• Benoit Bruneau : https://twitter.com/benoitbruneau
• Moshe Yaniv : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosh%C3%A9_Yaniv
• Francois Jacob : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Jacob
• Pierre Nora (Elphege’s father) : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Nora

To 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=en

Support the show

💌 Subcribe to our newsletter and receive the episodes and news directly in your mailbox : https://tinyurl.com/TLPNL

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

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 studies
• He thinks science makes him a better cook and cites lots of specific examples
• He describes his very free mentoring style and questions what makes a good mentor
• He describes his chaotic ‘schizophrenic’’ interdisciplinary interests
• What has to be done has to be well done - else don’t bother doing it
• He 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/en
• Handbook of Molecular Gastronomy : https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Molecular-Gastronomy-Scientific-Foundations-Educational-Practices/Burke-Kelly-Lavelle-Kientza/p/book/9781466594784
• Je Mange donc Je Suis : https://www.museedelhomme.fr/fr/je-mange-donc-je-suis

To 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-9027
• Twitter : https://twitter.com/kristoflav

Support the show

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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

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 Lenon
• She 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 others
• Ana-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 expectations
• She learnt the hard way that ‘management is not natural’
• Ana-Maria laughs about the fact that she was too short to be a chemist
• She describes the challenges of finding a common language in interdisciplinary research collaborations
• She also insists on the role of parents in giving confidence to girls at an early age to become scientists

She mentioned these institutions, researchers and resources

• Pasteur Institute : https://www.pasteur.fr/en
• Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/
• Curie Institute : https://institut-curie.org/
• European Research Council (ERC) : https://erc.europa.eu/homepage
• Hidde Ploegh : https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/ploegh-lab-research/hidde-ploegh
• Catherine Alcaide : https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-alcaide-5b165856/
• Matthieu Piel : https://curie.fr/personne/matthieu-piel
• Guillaume Dumenil : https://research.pasteur.fr/fr/member/guillaume-dumenil/
• If you are interested in buying a “zester” : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zester
• She is currently reading “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl,_Woman,_Other

To find out more about Ana-Maria visit her websites or follow her on Twitter : 

• Lab website : https://institut-curie.org/personne/ana-maria-lennon
• An interview with Ana-Maria in JCB : https://rupress.org/jcb/article/215/1/2/38770/Ana-Maria-Lennon-Dumenil-A-dynamic-career
• Her Wikipedia page : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana-Maria_Lennon-Dum%C3%A9nil
• on Twitter @LennonLab

Support the show

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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