The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

In this episode, we talk to George Church about his successful career in DNA repair and his entrepreneurial adventures translating research findings into biotech companies

• George proudly describes himself as a biologist-engineer
• He ponders whether his dyslexia may have helped him by making him realize he was different from others when he was growing up
• He looks for projects in ‘exponential fields’ that combine pure scientific interest, technology breakthroughs and bring societal benefit.
• George cautions against using the word ‘impossible’
• He talks about how he has contributed to scientific and technology revolutions
• He emphasizes the important of considering ethics, safety and security at the outset of ambitious science projects
• George remembers how he reacted to having his genome sequenced and speculates about the future of digital genomics and NFTs
• When recruiting, he looks for people that are ‘nice’ and have deep knowledge in at least two different fields
• George gets up at 4:30 a.m. and his head is immediately whizzing with new ideas
• He tells us how much he learns from his grandchildren (and even mends their party dresses) 

He mentioned these projects, institutions, companies

• Harvard Medical School : https://hms.harvard.edu/ 
• Duke University: https://duke.edu/
• Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/
• NIH Brain Initiative : https://braininitiative.nih.gov/
• NIH Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS)  : https://www.genome.gov/Funded-Programs-Projects/Centers-of-Excellence-in-Genomic-Science
• Wyss Institute  : https://wyss.harvard.edu/
• Personal Genomes : https://www.personalgenomes.org/
• TIME 100 Most Influential People : https://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4742749/george-church/
• Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves : https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/george-m-church/regenesis/9780465038657/
• Nebula Genomics : https://nebula.org/george-church/
• 23andMe : https://www.23andme.com/
• Biogen : https://www.biogen.com/
• Gail Martin : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_R._Martin

To find out more about George :

• Church Lab Website : https://arep.med.harvard.edu/
• George on Twitter : https://twitter.com/geochurch

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

In this episode, we talk with the multi-talented Jenny Rohn about her journey zig-zagging from academia to a biotech-startup, to science publishing and then back into academia.

• She tells us about her unconventional path and how she decided to go to a start-up and then come back to academic research
• She made long, agonizing lists about pros and cons of leaving or staying in academia
• This period of indecision led her to start writing novels
• Jenny admits that it was not easy to get back on to an academic path
• She warns people against giving negative advise and she always tries to be honest, but positive feedback
• Jenny says that In the ‘old days’ there used to be a myth that there was only one way to do science. She says that somewhere in the ‘90s there was a shift but it took a while for the old-guard to notice.
• “Do not ever turn away from an opportunity to network. You need to get out and talk to people”
• She tells us how she came up with the idea of ‘lab-lit’ and recommends some of her favourites
• “If you want to be a writer… you need to write a lot and read a lot”
• Jenny shares her thoughts about the place of narrative in scientific writing 

She mentioned these labs, resources and lab-lit authors

• University College London (UCL) : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/
• The Lab Lit website : http://lablit.com/
• Science is Vital : https://scienceisvital.org.uk/
• Jenny’s blog ‘Mind The Gap’ : https://occamstypewriter.org/mindthegap/
• White Coats At Dawn on the Cosmic Shambles network : https://cosmicshambles.com/words/blogs/jennyrohn
• Her first novel ‘Experimental Heart’ : https://jennyrohn.com/exheart
• Her second novel ‘The Honest Look’ : https://jennyrohn.com/honestlook
• Her third novel ‘Cat Zero’ : https://jennyrohn.com/catzero
• Barbara Kingsolver : http://barbarakingsolver.net/books/
• Carl Djerassi : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Djerassi
• Allegra Goodman : https://allegragoodman.com/
• John William Waterhouse : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse

To find out more about Jenny visit her website or follow her on Twitter

• https://jennyrohn.com/
• https://twitter.com/jennyrohn
• Orcid : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8766-6056
• https://www.instagram.com/jennifer.rohn.3/

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

Get ready for 2023 ! In this special episode, we're going to change the narrative. We're going to dive into this original narrative-interview with 4 scientists who experienced an original meeting with us. Invited by Jean-Leon Maître in the south of France  at the fondation Les Treilles, are you ready to ask yourself why you go to science conferences?

Our special guests are : 

• Jean-Léon Maître, the organizer of the meeting, CNRS research director at the Institut Curie, at Paris, France
• Rita Mateus, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (TUD) in Dresden, Germany. 
• Mariaceleste Aragona, associate professor and group leader of the tissue architecture lab at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Tim Saunders, associate professor and group leader of an interdisciplinary group of the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology at Warwick University in England.

This episode is linked to an article published by Jean-Léon Maître on The Node : https://thenode.biologists.com/present-and-future-of-quantitative-developmental-biology-in-les-treilles/events/ 

Note : The constraints of this episode allowed us to focus only on small-scale conferences. It goes without saying that none of the guests, nor we, think that this format should replace the classic meeting format which has other advantages. This episode only aims to bring a new perspective on how we interact as scientists. Small-scale formats are a way to inspire other ways of connecting the scientific community.

We thanks Jean-Léon Maître and the Fondation Les Treilles for the invitation.

To find out more about the guests : 

• Jean-Léon Maître : https://institut-curie.org/team/maitre 
• Rita Mateus : https://www.mpi-cbg.de/research/researchgroups/currentgroups/rita-mateus/research-focus 
• Mariaceleste Aragona : https://renew.ku.dk/research/reseach-groups/aragona/ 
• Tim Saunders : https://mechanochemistry.org/Saunders/MainSite/Saunders_lab_v4_3.htm 

To find out more about Renaud :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/

To find out more about Jonathan :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique

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

• Matthew comments on the usefulness of healthy competition in science
• Matt compares the joy of running a lab to cooking in the kitchen
• He loves the flexibility of science and constantly stimulated by interactions with colleagues and young scientists and new ideas
• Matt makes a strong argument for peer-to-peer mentoring, cascade mentoring and seizing constant casual mentoring opportunities
• He comments on the advantages of going to a small lab for graduate school and he advises students to look carefully at the type of scientific questions, the environment of the lab and the chemistry of the PI/mentor relationship
• Matt describes his pioneering Grant Proposal Success (GPS) grant-writing program and the importance of collective, grant-writing communities. Matt dissects the grant structure and tells us what funding committees are looking for
• He suggests that staggering projects and having work at different stages can help to integrate life and manage the lab

• University of Leeds, UK : https://www.leeds.ac.uk/
• University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) : https://www.chop.edu/
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) : https://www.nih.gov/
• Salk Institute for Biological Studies : https://www.salk.edu/
• University of California San Diego : https://ucsd.edu/

• 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

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 with Ashani Weeraratna about her inspiring path from apartheid South Africa to director, professor and activist.

• Ashi cites good advice that she remembers “ read voraciously … and be engaged with the literature”
• She insists that mentoring is all about the trainees and hearing their individual needs
• Ashi believes that diversity of thought needs diversity of population and stresses the importance of welcoming different groups into the lab
• For her, representation matters and it is key to achieving full equity
• She also comments on the importance of the microenvironment (for cancer cells and for researchers)
• She shares her thoughts about juggling a life in two cities
• And she encourages us to remember that “the most important trait is kindness”
• And Ashi concludes by telling us to enjoy the journey

She mentioned these institutions, people and resources

• St. Mary's College of Maryland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_College_of_Maryland
• George Washington University : https://www.gwu.edu/
• Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center : https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/
• National Institutes of Health : https://www.nih.gov/
• Wistar Institute : https://wistar.org/
• University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health : https://publichealth.jhu.edu/
• National Cancer Institute : https://www.cancer.gov/
• Steven Patierno : https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/steven-patierno
• Jeff Trent : https://www.tgen.org/faculty-profiles/jeffrey-trent/
• National Cancer Advisory Board : https://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/ncab/ncab.htm

To find out more about Ashi visit her websites or follow her on Twitter

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/3918/ashani-t-weeraratna
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/ashani-weeraratna
https://research.jhu.edu/members/ashani-weeraratna/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashani_Weeraratna
on Twitter : @AshaniTW

“Is Cancer Inevitable?” by Ashi : https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12767/cancer-inevitable

To find out more about Renaud :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/

To find out more about Jonathan :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique

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

In this episode, we speak with André Choulika about his exciting journey from a bench scientist to a biotech entrepreneur taking genomic engineering to the clinic

• André shares his fascination about the logic of biological systems and his admiration for experimentalists
• “You can always do something else if it fails” insists André
• André stresses that the boss has to take responsibilities for decisions
• “You don’t hire people to tell them what to do, but they should tell you what needs to be done”
• “Cash is more important than your mother”(we hope Andre’s mother isn’t listening)
• “Success has thousands of fathers but failure is lonely” (lonelier than a pipette!)
• André is modest about success; “None of us are VIPs” and he insists that the people who wash the dishes are as important as the CEO of the company
• He describes the collective contributions and the shared success that characterize the biotech industry 
• For André “Leadership is more important than management”
• He insists that a successful meeting is one than lasts less time than allocated

He mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies

• Richard Mulligan : https://genetics.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/richard-charles-mulligan
• Institut Pasteur : https://www.pasteur.fr/en
• Maxime Schwartz : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxime_Schwartz
• Margaret Buckingham : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Buckingham
• HEC Business School : https://www.hec.edu/en
• New England Biolabs (NEB) : https://international.neb.com/
• Steve Jobs : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
• Bernard Dujon : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Dujon

To find out more about André visit his website and his companies :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Choulika
https://www.linkedin.com/in/choulika/
Cellectis : https://cellectis.com/en
Calyxt : https://calyxt.com/

To find out more about Renaud :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/

To find out more about Jonathan :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique

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

In this episode, we step beyond the life sciences to talk with Jen Heemstra, a professor of chemistry who brings much energy to thinking about mentoring and improving academic culture

• Jen tells us how early failures drove her to strive for success in science
• She shares how she overcame early doubts about an academic career
• She talks about how different students need different mentoring styles and how important it is to adjust each time
• She admits that she is so excited about all her roles that she struggles with focusing and setting priorities
• Great teams are made up of people with different perspectives and different ways of seeing the world - and they are a group of equals
• Jen has a lot of thoughts about how to embrace failing and taking comfort from failures
• She thinks it’s important to recognize cognitive distortions to overcome imposter syndrome narratives
• Jen shares personal thoughts about her approach to self care practices and to improving academic culture for others
• Don’t make your decisions based on other people’s expectations

She mentioned these institutions, people and resources

• Washington University in St Louis : https://chemistry.wustl.edu/people/jennifer-heemstra
• Emory University : https://www.emory.edu/
• Jen’s Blog - Things that change the way I think : http://thingsthatchangethewayithink.blogspot.com/
• Lynn Hill : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hill

To find out more about Jen visit her website or follow her on Twitter
https://chemistry.wustl.edu/people/jennifer-heemstra
https://www.heemstralab.com/
https://twitter.com/HeemstraLab
https://twitter.com/jenheemstra

To find out more about Renaud :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/

To find out more about Jonathan :

• Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique

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

In this episode, we speak with Steve Jackson about his successful career in DNA repair and his entrepreneurial adventures translating research findings into biotech companies

• He remembers his early passion for innovation and for dark heavy rock
• He was even turned down by the University of Cambridge when he first applied
• Steve reminisces about the serendipity that led him into the DNA repair field 
• How important it is to create a collaborative, cooperative and fun lab environment
• “The highs become higher… and the lows become higher”
• Steve speaks openly about the importance of honesty and trust and how he establishes his key lab values
• He tells us how he chose the names for his biotech companies and what drove him to become an entrepreneur
• A hot tip from Steve: “Never be afraid to ask for advice”
• Steve thinks it might be good not to have TOO much money in the lab
• Another hot tip “The enemy of the best is the good”
• Steve’s work has led to the treatment of tens of thousands of patients

He mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies

• University of Cambridge
• Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
• Gurdon Institute
• Jean Beggs
• Robert Tjian
• Ron Lasky
• Sir John Gurdon
• KuDOS Pharmaceuticals
• Mission Therapeutics
• Adrestia Therapeutics

To find out more about Steve visit his website and look for him in the bar at meetings

• https://www.stevejacksonlab.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jackson_(scientist)

To find out more about Renaud :

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

To find out more about Jonathan :

• Twitter
• LinkedIn 

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique
And Bab Tista - Text Me Records / GrandBankss

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

In this episode, we were honoured to kick-off Season 2 talking to Edith Heard about her journey to become the first woman to lead the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
She tells us about her early experiences of patients with diseases
Edith emphasizes the importance of doubt for a scientist
She says “mentoring is about caring” and mentions TLP guest Susan Gasser
She stresses the importance of changing environments (like taking a sabbatical) and stepping out of your comfort zone
She lays out her version for running a lab and encouraging collaboration
Edith tells us why she moved to the EMBL in Heidelberg - the challenges and the self-doubts
There is something magical about bringing researchers together from such different backgrounds and origins to serve European science
She gives us lots of insights that she has never shared before
She tells us about the importance of stepping out to disconnect and have time to think
Edith tries to put herself in other people’s position to become a better leader
And she shares how important her husband Vincent has been during their scientific journeys together

She mentioned these labs, institutions and scientists
University of Cambridge
Institut Curie
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
College de France
Susan Gasser
Mike Fried
David Spector
Christine Petit
Daniel Louvard
Vincent Colot

To find out more about Edith visit her website or follow her on Twitter
https://www.embl.org/groups/heard/
https://www.college-de-france.fr/chaire/edith-heard-epigenetique-et-memoire-cellulaire-chaire-statutaire (in French)
https://twitter.com/heard_lab?lang=en
Edith Heard is a laureate of the 2020 For Women in Science Award

To send us feedback, comments & ideas :
https://bit.ly/TLPVoice
https://twitter.com/LonelyPipette

To find out more about Renaud
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/
https://twitter.com/LePourpre

To find out more about Jonathan
https://linktr.ee/epigenetique
https://twitter.com/Epigenetique

Soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler

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

In this episode Renaud and Jonathan share their excitement about the launch of Season 2 of The Lonely Pipette podcast

• They look back at Season 1 and what they learned from the tips of the TLP guests
• Renaud and Jonathan share their thoughts about science communication
• They update The Lonely Pipette community about what we have been up to over the last year
• Renaud describes his Cell Worlds immersive cell biology show
• Renaud explains how important it is to be persistent in science communication
• Jonathan talks about the challenges of mentoring and student supervision
• Renaud and Jonathan share some teasers and hopes for Season 2

We mentioned these projects

• Season 2 Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTjPXEhnfOo
• Cell Worlds website : https://www.cell-worlds.com/en
• Cell Worlds immersive exhibition : https://www.bassins-lumieres.com/en/node/1145
• Cell Worlds the documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR3tXKHE6-A
• La Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale : https://www.frm.org/
• Jonathan on RadioFrance (in French) : https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-methode-scientifique/une-these-le-debut-de-la-fin-6103875
• Renaud is reading ‘Atomic Habits’ : https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
• Jonathan is reading ‘Being Mortal’ : http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/
• Jonathan mentioned ‘Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting’ : https://www.calmerparenting.co.uk/calmer-parenting-book.html

Subscribe and receive the next season in you mailbox

To send us feedback, comments & ideas :

• https://bit.ly/TLPVoice
• https://twitter.com/LonelyPipette

To find out more about Renaud 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/
• https://twitter.com/LePourpre

To find out more about Jonathan 

• https://linktr.ee/epigenetique
• https://twitter.com/Epigenetique

To learn more about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/
https://twitter.com/amariamusique

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