Foundational Skills in Life Sciences
Students and scholars in life sciences need to use many skills to survive and excel during scientific training, which involves listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
But I have seen many of them struggle in understanding and learning those skills.
As a professor, I will guide you through the skills, so that you will learn and improve successfully in your professional life.
Please visit my website for more information (https://synaptologica.com/), and send me emails with questions, comments or ideas (ideas@synaptologica.com).
Episodes
34 episodes
34. Lessons learned from Nobel Laureates' work, about positive and negative controls (mini-series: reading-23)
We will complete the analysis of positive and negative controls in the milestone article of the Nobel Laureates of 2023. The article shows us one of the best examples of how to use positive and negative controls in life-science experiments. Thi...
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Episode 34
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31:10
33. How to do a good oral presentation? Hidden, but important tip (Q&A-2: presentation)
Question of today: What is a practical tip for effective oral presentations? There are many important things to do, for delivering oral presentations successfully. But I will be happy to give you my number one tip and the reasons why. And this ...
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Episode 33
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17:44
32. Is it important to include positive and negative controls in each experiment? Lesson from Nobel Laureates' work (mini-series: reading-22)
We will examine the positive and negative controls in the milestone article of the Nobel Laureates. The article shows us one of the best examples of how to use positive and negative controls in life-science experiments. We will compare a total ...
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Episode 32
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21:32
31. Is it OK to say, “I don’t know” in response to technical questions? (Q&A-1: interview)
The first Q&A session! Question of today: Is it OK to say, “I don’t know” in response to technical questions in an interview when you apply for a life-science research position in a laboratory? I will give you my answer and the reaso...
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Episode 31
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12:02
30. Positive controls in another experiment by Nobel Laureates (mini-series: reading-21)
We will keep analyzing the specific positive controls that the Nobel Laureates used in their milestone article 1 that led to the Nobel Prize. We will examine the four positive controls in the third figure of this paper, and in other figures as ...
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Episode 30
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32:41
29. Positive controls in experiments by Nobel Laureates (mini-series: reading-20)
Let’s analyze the specific positive controls that the Nobel Laureates used in their milestone article 1 that led to the Nobel Prize. We will look at the first two figures and four positive controls therein. As always, we are impressed by the me...
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Episode 29
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25:31
28. Defining positive controls in life-science experiments (mini-series: reading-19)
In this episode, we shift our focus from negative controls to their counterparts: positive controls. We will begin by defining what we mean by positive controls. Then we will refine that definition to encourage practical and cautious thinking.&...
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Episode 28
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13:11
27. One-year anniversary: I started podcasting to help you (podcast update 5)
One-year anniversary of this podcast channel! Thank you for listening. Why did I start podcasting? The motivation or the trigger was the students’ feedback to my teaching and training: they loved it. My goal is to help you learn and polish your...
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Episode 27
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21:02
26. Lessons learned from a failed experiment. Part 2 (mini-series: reading-18)
This episode continues from the last one. This will mark the end of our story about the life-science experiment that did not work at first, but worked well after extensive troubleshooting. We will talk about the remaining three lessons we can l...
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Episode 26
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34:47
25. Lessons learned from a failed experiment. Part 1 (mini-series: reading-17)
In the last episode, we finished discussing details of the life-science experiments in our story. We observed that negative controls can be powerful tools for troubleshooting and ensuring data quality. The story gave us invaluable learning expe...
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Episode 25
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31:30
24. Negative controls put the pieces together in troubleshooting experiments (mini-series: reading-16)
We will see how the experimenters implemented a good, troubleshooting idea into a protocol that appeared to be challenging at first. We are continuing to discuss the troubleshooting of a real, life-science experiment in our story. Sophisticated...
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Episode 24
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46:41
23. Refining a troubleshooting idea: the power of identifying unknowns (mini-series: reading-15)
We will discuss the fourth and final idea, for troubleshooting a real, life-science experiment in our story. This idea was based on the previous three ideas. Then the experimenters took an impressive step. They identified key unknowns about the...
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Episode 23
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25:11
22. Negative controls unveil a hidden culprit in a problematic experiment (mini-series: reading-14)
We continue our deep exploration into negative controls and their importance in troubleshooting life-science experiments. We follow a real-life story of an experiment that yielded unexpected results. Through the third troubleshooting experiment...
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Episode 22
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14:39
21. An exciting new way to stay connected (email newsletter; podcast update 4)
We will be happy to announce the launch of a new way to stay connected with the show - a FREE email newsletter! Sign up to get updates on upcoming episodes, behind-the-scenes insights, and more. Please join the community by sending an email to:...
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Episode 21
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1:34
20. Detective work of troubleshooting a puzzling experiment: negative control as a guide (mini-series: reading-13)
We will experience the fascinating world of scientific troubleshooting. In this episode, we will revisit a life-science experiment where researchers aimed to see if a specific chemical compound could enhance a particular function in cultured ce...
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Episode 20
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23:20
19. Negative controls are important: a story (mini-series: reading-12)
There are many reasons why life-science experiments do not work well. Today, I will tell you a real story about an experiment. It is an experiment that did not go well. We will explore the problem that researchers encountered. In the following ...
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Episode 19
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12:07
18. In-depth analysis of negative controls: using Nobel Laureates’ as example (mini-series: reading-11)
Today's focus: negative controls. In life-science experiments, negative controls play critical roles. In my view, they are more important than the positive controls! They form such a rich topic that we will spend at least a few episodes on disc...
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Episode 18
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30:11
17. Links to 3 milestone articles & YouTube video presentation: Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2023 (mini-series: reading-10)
I will list four sets of links mentioned in this episode. All are related to the Laureates, Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023.Milestone Article 1: Immunity, 2005- DOI:
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Episode 17
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6:01
16. Graph axis labels by Nobel Laureates: the secret method of scientific communication (mini-series: reading-9)
Today's focus: the power of text elements in figures. We explore how category axis labels in bar graphs, when meticulously organized, reveal key experimental conditions at a glance. For a prime example, take Fig. 2B from our milestone article 1...
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Episode 16
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28:58
15. Let's read a bar graph made by Nobel Laureates (mini-series: reading-8)
Dive deep into Step 11 of reading the milestone article written by Nobel Laureates. We will examine the most important bar graph. We will read the labels and the legend, and combine our knowledge with the Nobel Committee video. We will use the ...
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Episode 15
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22:42
14. Let’s read a paper written by Nobel Prize Laureates, 2023: Part 7 (mini-series: reading-7)
Visual elements in scientific papers often convey information faster than words. In Part 7 of reading mini-series, we will discuss previewing the paper content by scanning the figures and tables. This step will help us gain a quick overview of ...
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Episode 14
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17:00
13. Let’s read a paper written by Nobel Prize Laureates, 2023: Part 6 (mini-series: reading-6)
In Part 6 of reading mini-series, we will discuss key steps before diving into a paper. We will verify the paper's identity and map its structure. These simple actions will give us a bird's-eye view of the paper and set us up for a deeper, rewa...
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Episode 13
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14:06
12. Let’s read a paper written by Nobel Prize Laureates, 2023: Part 5 (mini-series: reading-5)
Welcome to Part 5 of our mini-series on reading. Today, we will discuss a crucial step before diving into a paper. This powerful step will shift your focus from passively absorbing the written content to actively engaging with the authors' inte...
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Episode 12
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15:12
11. 2023 Wrap-up (podcast update-3)
Thank you for listening. I started podcasting earlier in 2023. The total number of episode downloads reached 250 on the day of this recording. Please keep listening to the episodes to come!
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Episode 11
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3:03
10. Let’s read a paper written by Nobel Prize Laureates, 2023: Part 4 (mini-series: reading-4)
This episode is Part 4 of a multi-episode mini-series on reading. When we want to read a paper written by the Nobel Laureates, you might wonder which one to choose. We will discuss how to select the right paper from among the many that the Laur...
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Episode 10
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18:16