In which I salute the pioneers
Cell and molecular biology is a bit of a dark art. The way we perform our experiments has been passed down from generation to generation in sacred texts known as “protocols”. Like any recipe used and...
View ArticleIn which I question the 24/7 lab mentality
Is there a strong correlation between the number of hours you are physically present in a lab and the pace and success of your project? The furore over Nature’s 24/7 lab feature, published a few weeks...
View ArticleIn which I sort it out
All of my professional life, I’ve worked in affluent labs – in academic groups bolstered by multiple sources of grant money, or in a biotech setting flush with investor capital. More recently, I’ve...
View ArticleIn which they don’t make ‘em like they used to
Even though I initially trained as a virologist, it’s a little known factoid that I did my PhD in an old-fashioned Microbiology department – back in the days when “microbiology” really meant...
View ArticleIn which we’d like to acknowledge what’s-his-name
It is human nature to feel that you’re at the center of the universe, with all of life and experience revolving around your fixed point of view like a lazy orbit of galaxies. On a larger scale, this...
View ArticleIn which I am not worthy
I am still pinching myself. The good folks from the Edinburgh Book Festival have invited me to get up on stage with one of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson, to discuss the importance of science...
View ArticleIn which a classic tale of DNA and discovery is recast
As for many people in the molecular biology profession, my first reading of The Double Helix by James Watson was a revelation. I can’t recall how old I was – probably in my late teens. I had already...
View ArticleIn which I get my mojo back
So 2012 has drawn to a close, a new year is upon us and London’s seemingly endless broodiness gave way to brilliant sunshine today. Out in our local park this morning, strewn with spent fireworks and...
View ArticleIn which we make a mess of things
As a rule, when I’m trying to be creative, I have a hard time focusing if my workspace is not pristine and well-ordered. This holds true whether I’m working on a novel at my desk or performing an...
View ArticleIn which things flow naturally forward
I’ve been pondering the impermanence of things lately. Maybe it all started with the departure of a well-liked clinical researcher from our lab, an OB/GYN with a sense of the absurd who never failed to...
View ArticleIn which we make a move
There’s a lot of change going on in my life right now, all at once. In addition to giving birth sometime in the next fortnight and needing to finish up a major piece of work-related writing before...
View ArticleIn which I yearn for retro lab chic
They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Or at least, they don’t name ‘em. Harry and I recently stumbled across this beauty when we were clearing out some of the side rooms in our new lab space. Allow me...
View ArticleIn which I feel a bit too old for this game sometimes
Age is a slippery thing. Most days I still feel like that tentative new PhD student, pulling 80-hour weeks at the University of Washington Health Sciences Center in Seattle. By the red glow of the...
View ArticleIn which an era ends
She was decent and hard-working. She seldom complained, even when she got herself into a jam. She witnessed my awakening as a writer, from tentative, cliché-prone beginner to confident, stripped-down...
View ArticleIn which I present my third lab lit novel, Cat Zero – out soon!
Placeholder cover art…with thanks to Sergei, the neighbour’s photogenic felineI’m pleased to announce the imminent publication of my third lab lit novel, Cat Zero, with Bitingduck Press, a...
View ArticleIn which we wind down
I’ve been off work for a few days, but the incompatible clash of exhaustion and adrenalin which characterizes my life in academia has yet to ebb. These days it takes a full week to come down from the...
View ArticleIn which I evolve (or possibly, devolve) as a scientist
Tangled up in blue Last Thursday was a normal day. After a few hours at my desk working on a grant application and a paper revision, I ran to the tube station, threw myself into a train down to the...
View ArticleIn which I realize I am part of a select sci/art group
Me talking about the antimicrobial resistance crisis back in 2015 I haven’t written here for a gazillion years – life is just too full-on. But I found out an amusing fact that I wanted to share. I’m...
View ArticleIn which my mother stands behind me, and I mother in turn
The winter always belonged to my mother and me. We both loved the late autumn, when the last of the leaves plastered the pavements in a smear of color, and our breath fogged the morning air. November...
View ArticleIn which the pandemic unfolds: a postcard from The Big One?
Epidemics are works in progress. At any given moment in time, you can’t know how they will end. They are a curve on a graph of ultimately unknown trajectory; when you are just a dot on a growing...
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