Tanentzapf Lab @TanentzapfLab Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Tanentzapf Lab

5 years

1. One of formative experience of grad school for me was when our lab moved across the hallway to a bigger space & I realised my research didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of science & that this actually made me love science even more. So here is a thread about that.

21

469

2K

Last Seen Profiles

@Mason_Law_11

@WiCySorg

@GfxSoren

@stw_pdg

@Izzlit

@bokeplokalmalam

@Adel0540808

@StwGendut

@CambridgeUP

@akhan993

@stw_pdg

@0raJelas

@JunePrIncesstar

@Nurwahid152205

@ShekeyaVes43382

@slacksons

@vuuu

@BandarStw

@ibubohay2

@Varvara63554351

@BinorRaja

@Serieforn

@shotgun_chris7

@emlord

@KingPla49690556

@kipdrordy2u

@QarZhi68291

@Devil_lettuce0

@IntezerLabs

@stwmaniax

@Jstock__

@bokeplokalmalam

@TECHcomm_SAG

@lazarev_daniel

@BZ24pleasure15

@KasihLudah

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Virtually every aspect of the COVID vaccine, from the lipid nanoparticles to the mRNA technology, was developed in academic labs using public funds. But in the public's mind the credit goes to companies like Moderna/Pfizer. This is a missed opportunity to celebrate basic research

80

7K

21K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

As someone who is a slow thinker I've always thought we in science put too much emphasis on fast thinking, Q&As, chalk talks, thesis exams, many classroom interactions are geared towards rewarding speed. But in science what matters is not who thinks fastest but who thinks deepest

58

535

4K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

As a bright bright eyed batch of graduate students are set to start, here are the top 11 pieces of advice NO ONE gave me when i started grad school that I wished they did: 1. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS. No one will think any less of you, I've never regretted asking too many questions.

48

1K

4K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

1. One of the most delightful surprising things I learned as I progressed through my scientific training was realising that storytelling was a major & essential part of being a scientist. Whether writing papers, grants, or presenting a poster/talk, storytelling was a core skill.

36

737

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

I think it's imperative to tell young scientists that it is possible to have a wonderful successful career without ever publishing in Cell/Nature/Science, winning prestigious awards/fellowships, getting invited to give conference keynotes, or be elected to any academy or society.

67

279

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

9yrs ago a student in my lab spent months painstakingly building a tool. We published it in an obscure journal & nobody noticed. But a beautiful paper just came out that uses & cites the tool (it clearly helped them). That's what its all about folks, not glam pubs & keynote talks

29

191

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

6 years

I propose that from now we use "Theresa May" to refer to the act of repeatedly resubmitting a rejected paper without doing any revisions.....

36

790

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

My top four career tips for young scientists asking how to best prepare for a future career in the biomedical sciences: 1) Learn to code 2) Learn to code 3) Learn to code 4) Take all the Biostatistics courses available to you

43

432

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

A PI doesn't get many happy emails, Most emails are things you need to take care of (or rejections). So if a PI wrote you a reference & you got the award or accepted to your dream program please please please don't forget to send them an email telling them. It will make their day

18

325

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

1. Over my career I learned that the senior people in a field have an enormous influence over how well everyone else in the field treats each other. If they are collegial, helpful, open minded, fair then the field will be that way too, if they aren't it wont be. They set the tone

27

510

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Every paper should have a small section at the end called "Author speculation" where the authors get a paragraph or two to say anything they want about what they think the results mean without reviewer input & it's made abundantly clear that this is wild speculation on their part

52

184

3K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

“This grant proposal describes breeding experiments in peas. This reviewer remains unconvinced about the translational benefits. Applicant should switch to a more economically important crop like wheat. Applicant’s productivity also an issue, no paper published in last 8 years”.

32

420

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

One of the most universal experiences in science is seeing a so-so paper from a famous lab/PI get published in a top tier journal that is similar in terms of contribution to the field to a really good paper that you had a very hard time getting published in a middle tier journal.

28

109

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

We must work very hard to normalise showing raw data, ugly data, noisy data in papers, talks, & grants. Right now it's terrifying showing data that isn't "pretty" because reviewers will focus on that to the detriment of the story. Let us represent biology in its full messy glory.

34

276

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

1. Many of the most important papers in the history of biology are essentially "We have made a really cool observation that we don't really understand but here is a speculative model that might explain it". Such an approach stands 0% chance of getting funded or published in 2021.

37

300

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

I never understood the belief (shared by some scientists) that the only lines of research that should be funded or even pursued in biology are those that will lead to treatment/understanding of disease. Being motivated by a desire to understand how nature works is as worthwhile.

50

214

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

In our lab every person who needs maternity/paternity leave gets up to 12 months fully paid leave. The US system that fails to offer paid leave is inhuman. Having the opportunity to take care of a newborn or a newly adopted child is not a luxury it’s a human right.

18

136

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 months

Science is a career full of rejection & self doubt. Most scientists don't go around collecting awards & kudos but sit there wondering if anyone reads our papers. Telling a scientist whose work you like that you value & appreciate what they do is a small & very meaningful gesture.

11

318

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

An unfortunate consequence of the arms race of scientists overhyping their work is that those manuscripts now written in a cautious & honest way acknowledging previous findings & taking care not to oversell are often editorially rejected for "not being very exciting or novel".

23

410

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

My 1st dinner in my 1st conference as PI a famous scientist asked the other PIs around table where they went to school & what their parents did. Every one of them had a PhD/MD parent & spent time at an Ivy league institute. As a 1st gen university student It was a rude awakening.

59

93

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

In science it’s easier to generate data than insight. money & fancy technology can help generate lots of data but have no influence on how much insight is generated. Sometimes it feels like more & more papers in glam journals have lots of data but little insight. Not a good trend

45

290

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

1.What if we explored different models for how labs could run? For example? the multi-PI lab. Presently every PI is like a decathlete: paper writing, grant writing, project management, budgeting, mentoring, etc. It would be so fun to run lab w/ other PIs & divide these chores up!

80

123

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

For every one of those scientists who win fancy awards & give keynotes there's like 99 scientists out there that no one ever heard of who sit on grant panels, run grad programs, review papers, teach, mentor, volunteer on committees, organise meetings & generally make science work

11

153

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

The Sabatini affair is a great reminder why we should dismantle the award & prestige based cult of personality that dominates science. No single scientist is that special or essential for scientific progress & the success of the scientific endeavour. Science must be egalitarian.

12

186

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

1990:we can explain all of biology by cloning genes 1998:can explain all biology w/ microarrays 2000:can explain all biology by sequencing stuff 2002:can explain all biology w/ proteomics 2009:can explain all biology w/ RNAseq 2015:can explain all biology w/ single cell seq

50

219

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

In science we mostly talk about how to make things go faster, faster publication, faster communication, faster ways to generate lots of data but I usually find myself wishing things moved slower so that I would have more time to think, contemplate, process, plan, slow is good too

35

139

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

My 1st student, the brilliant Lin Yuan, finished an MSc in my lab & moved on to a PhD in Randy Schekman’s lab. He then promptly won the Nobel prize. After her PhD she joined the lab of David Julius & HE won the Nobel Prize. So looking at the track record her mentors…

18

76

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

A friend asked me what the best part of being a scientist is & I said: that indeterminate period of time between discovering something & telling others about it. In that short time, when you're likely the 1st person to know this, you feel like a link in a chain of great explorers

17

167

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

1)If you're a scientist you have to accept that the quality of the science we do doesn't necessarily correlate w/ how successful we are 2) we have no control over "success" but we have control over the quality of the science we do 3) We must focus on doing the best science we can

12

187

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

1. When people make announcements on science twitter they are typically joyous announcements about tenure, & grants & papers. But I think a key aspect of the job of being a scientists, maybe the most important one, is dealing with failure. So here are some thoughts about failure!

43

410

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Joe Biden keeps saying that the vaccine is a "miracle of science". But there's no "miracle" to science, just many thousands of scientists showing up to work day in day out, taking little baby steps, failing again & again but keeping at it, bravely tackling the mysteries of nature

13

222

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

There are many reasons to become a scientist. My reason wasn't & still isn't to cure diseases, start a biotech company, or win awards (all of which valid & worthwhile reasons). I always just liked being in the lab, solving problems, thinking & talking to people about science.

22

105

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 months

There's an epidemic of loneliness in science: Most Scientists move around & usually end up living far from friends they made in their youth. When they settle in a permanent place they're older & have busy lives/careers. All this means many scientists don't have a lot of friends.

39

143

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Important traits for a scientist according to popular culture: Super high Intelligence, innate genius, incredible memory, ambition. Actual most important traits for a scientist: perseverance, curiosity, ability to finish things you start, patience, good writing skills, humility.

21

236

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Success in grad school/postdoc is based on our ability to focus intensely on a problem for extended durations of time. In contrast, success as a PI requires the ability focus on a remarkable # of things simultaneously. This contradiction is behind the mental struggle of many PIs.

35

126

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

1. Aside from my mentors, when I was learning how to be a scientist, my science heroes, the people who inspired me the most were not a bunch of big shot Nobel prize winners but rather a group of PIs that affected me in diverse & meaningful ways. These are some of their stories.

23

385

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

1 year

In science we are in denial about how, like in everything else in life, a huge part, maybe the largest part, of being successful is just being the right person at the right place at the right time. Instead we pretend it's all about being a genius & hand out prestigious awards.

14

142

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

The point of grad school or a postdoc is not to learn a bunch of techniques or get some high impact factor papers (though that WILL help you get to the next stage). The point is learn how to think like a scientist: how to plan/design experiments, how to write, how to analyse data

38

143

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

1. These are my own personal 10 commandments of peer review: I the reviewer WILL write my review in a helpful, kind, & considerate voice. I will NOT sound angry, be snarky, make derogatory comments, be rude, be dismissive, or be condescending.

27

468

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

1 year

1. It's really remarkable how much of our scientific funding, hiring & tenure system is built on the fear that, left to their own devices scientists will waste their time studying the wrong things & if given any sort of good job security will just stop doing science altogether.

16

166

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

1 year

Every government & university science administrator should get a framed copy of these words of max perutz on the first day on the job.

22

392

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

My favourite scientists are those who work for decades on a subject that few are interested in & quietly do superb work & publish in field specific journals & don't get noticed. Then one day it turns out their work is absolutely essential to understanding some key area of science

11

89

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Same way 90% of an iceberg is underwater 90% of PI skills are unseen. PI's skills are judged on papers, talks, funding. But the other crucial skills: writing good letters, project/HR management, mentoring, financial planning, experimental design, leadership, are mostly invisible.

18

113

1K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

1. Listen science twitter we need to have a serious talk about what "mechanism" means because it's now basically a meaningless word that is mostly used to reject papers people don't like. But we have a chance to change/improve how we talk about this. Here is how that could happen

31

207

976

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Explaining how science works to a non-scientist: "you spend 15+ years becoming a world expert at doing something & afterwards you spend a majority of your time begging people to give you money to do the thing you are a world expert on. ~90% of the time they don't give any money".

15

132

970

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

I'm all for brevity in papers but in my opinion a good methods section should be so long & detailed readers would know what the experimenter had for lunch, what music they listened to while dissecting samples, & how many naps they had during the all night confocal section.

21

60

946

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

Sometimes I worry that we live in an era where we expend a huge amount of effort generating large datasets or lists of candidates or identifying targets/regions of interest. But then once we have all that data we undervalue & do too little to make sense of the underlying biology.

34

118

909

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Hot off the presses

22

113

892

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

This paper spent >4 yrs in peer review. You can get a lot done in 4 yrs for example I moved countries, met my wife, got married, got my PI job, moved again across the country, bought a house, & had my 1st kid (w/ 2nd on the way) in less time than this paper spent in peer review.

44

88

886

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 months

1. This summer I've been thinking a lot about "cognitive load" which is term that has multiple definitions but for me means something like "the amount of processing, analysing, thinking, & deciding I can do in a day before my brain stops working" here's a short thread about that

19

190

871

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

When conferences & seminars went virtual we could have literally invited anyone in the world to give talks but like the same 2% of people still got 90% of the invites. Hard to figure out why scientists, who are so incredibly creative, are so unimaginative in this one regard.

27

83

851

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

What single-cell RNA-seq papers look like to me, a non single-cell RNA-seq expert.

12

53

827

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Behind every PI that wins awards & makes big discoveries there's an army of other scientists who sit on committees, peer review, teach & train students, organise & do all this grey unheralded work that underpins the entire enterprise. In 2022 let's celebrate them. Happy new year!

3

56

827

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

You can either treat everyone else in your field as a potential competitor or a potential collaborator. Which of these is more likely to be true may vary somewhat depending on the field but treating them as potential collaborators will ensure you make more friends & have more fun

11

132

819

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

2. Be friendly, grateful, courteous, professional w/ the support stuff. The heart of science is the janitorial staff, secretaries, admin staff, stores & the workshop, building ops, media cooks, bldg. security. I cannot begin to tell you how many times they bailed me out of jams.

4

34

798

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 months

Jobs I have as a PI that I didn't know I'd have before I became a PI: accountant, financial planner, HR manager, conference & event organiser, grant manager, counsellor, meeting facilitator, course developer, academic administrator, facility manager, purchasing officer, AV tech.

24

108

810

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

What I naively thought an average day in the life of a PI would look like versus what an average day in the life of a PI actually looks like.

25

89

799

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

28 days

My general rule for estimating how long a project or an experiment will take to complete in science is to estimate, then double the estimate, then say to myself “really? it can’t possibly take that long!”, and then double the estimate again.

16

75

805

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

My proposal: every scientists gets assigned a universal reviewer ID #. After every review assignment authors answer 3-4 question about reviewer (was review helpful? reasonable? clear? fair?). When selecting reviewers editors access the database to see past assessments of reviewer

30

65

796

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

Most scientists have simple modest wants: a) stable decently paying job b) funding to pursue stuff they are interested in (& most PIs would be happy w/ a medium-small lab) c) for their work to be read & appreciated by other scientists c) to feel like they are part of a community.

13

83

794

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

It cannot be emphasised enough to young scientists that no matter how long you've been in science (24 yrs in my case) you still on occasion get the feeling that you have absolutely no idea what you are doing. It's normal to doubt yourself & important to not let that paralyse you.

10

134

784

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Things I always want to say in our papers that make them better but reviewers don't like: "we don't know at this point", "our data is currently insufficient to conclude", "we cannot resolve these 2 possible hypotheses", "we are unsure about the mechanism behind this observation".

22

53

780

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

One of my favourite genres of scientific discoveries is when someone uses genetics to knock out a gene or a process that, based on a vast body of literature, is just assumed to be absolutely essential for VERY IMPORTANT STUFF and they find that?...the animals are mostly fine.....

33

44

770

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

We have fostered a culture in manuscript reviews that equates asking for additional experiments w/ careful attentive reviewing. We need to pass the msg to young scientists, i.e. future reviewers, that asking for additional work should only be done when it is absolutely necessary.

15

191

766

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Once, in grad school I did an experiment that proved everything I had done for the preceding 1.5yrs was an abject failure. I'm obviously very lucky to have survived this setback but in some ways also lucky to have had it. Dealing w/ major failure is an invaluable learned skill.

22

37

759

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

11. Another important lesson was to always value & respect the work done by other scientists in the past. Not just the ones who won nobel prizes but those who failed, those who’s work will never get cited again. They gave their heart & soul to their work & that gives it meaning.

7

63

735

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Being a scientist means remembering in minute detail an obscure non sequitur observation from a paper written 30 years ago that is long forgotten but you read 10 years ago & it gave you a great idea but simultaneously not remembering what day it is or what you had for lunch.

12

64

736

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

To push science forward we must build a system that encourages risk. Encouraging risk means embracing failure & giving people multiple chances. But the current granting & publishing system does exactly the opposite, it punishes failure & discourages risk. This threatens progress.

15

137

734

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

1. As a PI who LOVES to give advice I think the question that I get asked the most is one the goes something like “how do I choose & apply for a postdoc”. I have a set answer & I have seen parts of it many times on twitter, but I wanted to write a thread that collates my thoughts

25

245

729

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

6 years

1) I often hear scientists talk about “big papers” and “little papers”. I’ve been in science for about 24 years now and during this time I’ve thought a lot about papers & their meaning & impact so I now wanted to say a few things about this topic. So a thread!

13

252

717

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Every scientist I know has a story about finding a paper from 30-40 years ago where they describe something that everyone in the field ignored & now 30-40 years later has been discovered again & is now considered a big deal breakthrough (but scientists knew this 30-40 years ago!)

28

49

711

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Things PIs do: Mentor students, manage a lab, budgeting/admin work, meetings/committee, educational development Things scientist receive no formal instruction in: mentoring, management, budgeting/admin work, facilitation of efficient meetings/committees, educational development

15

75

706

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

We scientists have no control over whether other scientists, editors, & funders find our work interesting & valuable. However, we CAN control the quality of the work we do. Doing high quality work is a source of pride & satisfaction & sometimes other scientists eventually notice.

9

97

704

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

One of my favourite moments as a PI was when my 1st student, the brilliant Lin Yuan, received a proposal full of changes & red ink.Worried about morale I asked if she was OK. She looked at me thoughtfully & said "in chinese we have a saying 'good medicine tastes bitter'" 良药苦口

3

48

692

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

13yr old: Why are you stressed me: im applying for grants 13yro: do you like applying for grants me: absolutely not, it's stressful 13yro: then why are you doing it me: so I can run a lab & do research 13yro: But if you keep doing research dont you just have to write more grants?

17

21

675

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

5 years

The current culture of science favours those who publicly project supreme confidence in their findings & impact. But caution/doubt are necessary traits for a 1st rate scientist. A worry is that young scientist who are careful & cautious will start thinking science isn't for them.

23

141

675

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Another landmark study.

9

65

677

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

6 months

1. My top imaging trick to trainees is that before they spend any time taking pictures of the data they just sit there for a while & look at the stuff. Like seriously, sit back, crank some tunes, get cozy & spend some quality time with your slides.

14

138

674

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

1. When you ask scientists why they became scientists you usually get a complicated answer listing many factors but over the years I noticed that one answer comes up more than any other. At some point they were lucky enough to have an amazing science teacher that inspired them.

30

82

663

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

When reviewing a manuscript that's good & there isnt much to add as a reviewer an internal voice says "if you don't make comments you are not doing a thorough job, the editor will think you are lazy". Well, w/ time I've learned not to trust that voice. Totally ok to let things be

16

26

665

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

During grad school I lived w/ my parents because my graduate stipend basically allowed them to keep a roof over their heads (my dad spent a lot of the 90s unemployed). We need to strive to create in science the kind of system that allows people w/ stories like this to become PIs.

6

40

664

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Seeing so many people have strong but poorly informed opinions about epidemiology, virology, & public health during the pandemic has crystallised in my mind the notion that true expertise in a scientific field is not just knowing things, but knowing what things you don't know.

18

102

639

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

A funny thing that happens in Biology is when a lab starts working on a field where there is like 25 years worth of literature, but they don't bother to talk to any of the other labs that did that work, so any observation they make is, a least in their minds, a major breakthrough

25

34

645

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

Legit question to all single cell RNA-seq people. So after you published your massive data set of your tissue or organ or organism of choice & we all admired the uMAPs what are the rest of us non RNA-seq people supposed to do w/ it? You did all this awesome work, now what?

70

50

636

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosalind Franklin. Happy birthday from Margot Rosalind Tanentzapf who got her middle name from one of my heroes and shares her curiosity & determination.

4

13

644

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

OMG twitter do I have a great publication story for you. We finally heard about our presubmission enquiry after 3.5 weeks. This is in one of the top journals in the field that makes or breaks careers. A story in 3 acts.

35

73

642

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

1. I wish we did a better job explaining to the public just how efficient investing in small scale lab focused science is. 80% of the $ is put back into the local economy as spending on salaries. Of that most of it is paying stipends to help people obtain advanced STEM training

8

133

638

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

We spend decades training scientists to be world leading experts w/ skills & abilities in research & teaching that few in the world can match. Then we drown them in a mountain of paperwork & committee work so that they have little time for research & teaching. It makes no sense.

9

67

632

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

Sometimes I wonder how productive Cajal, Monod, Crick, or McClintock would be if they spent as much time as a modern PI does on formatting their CVs, filling out requisition forms, doing mandatory online training modules, sitting on endless committee meetings, posting on twitter

18

50

626

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

The platonic ideal of a postdoc is not one where the PI gets an extra pair of hands in the lab or the PDF gets to have the brand name recognition of coming from a certain lab. It's setting up a true collaboration where both people contribute something that makes the other better.

9

65

626

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

I was taught that science is about careful interpretation, avoiding conclusions that exceed the strength of the evidence, humility, & being open to contradictory opinions. But too often we in science reward absolutist takes, hype, overconfidence, & ignoring contradictory opinions

11

51

621

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

2 years

There are many great mysteries in science but one of the greatest mysteries is why everything in publishing works at a glacial pace except when we get to the proof stage, our last chance to catch & correct mistakes, when it becomes an absolute emergency we return them IMMEDIATELY

16

20

607

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

1 year

I wish we normalised for PIs: 1. Being completely transparent w/ the lab about finances 2. asking people for their feedback about important lab decisions 3 making it clear sometime we have to make hard unpopular decisions 4 admitting we don't have all the answers & make mistakes

16

61

605

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

12 days

Yesterday a Nobel prize was given for alpha fold. Alpha fold could not exist without the Protein Data Bank (PDB), a public database funded by US taxpayers. Every structural biologist in the world that deposited their structure to the PDB indirectly helped train alpha fold.

15

303

2K

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

3 years

1.Our lab’s newest paper now online at @CurrentBiology explores a fundamental question in stem cell biology. How do 100s or 1000s of stem cells, dispersed throughout an organ,coordinate their behaviour to ensure the right # of differentiated cells are made

18

119

594

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

It's commonly done, but I wish that instead of saying "[PI name]'s lab showed this" we'd try to say "person Y working in [PI name]'s lab showed this". In many big famous labs the PI can have minor input into the project. Important to give credit to those who actually do the work.

17

27

601

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

3. It's totally OK to not know things. You will meet many people who will know more stuff than you, this shouldn't make you feel intimidated, realise the opportunity! they can teach you new things. You WANT to be in an environment where people know things you don't.

3

29

580

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

6 years

I know this is a minority opinion but I dearly wish alcohol consumption was a less ubiquitous feature of any social event involving scientists. Scientists are amazing, interesting, curious people & we can network just fine without using alcohol as a recreational social lubricant.

34

59

570

Tanentzapf Lab

@TanentzapfLab

4 years

I think the key part of learning how to be a scientist, particularly during grad school, is not so much to learn "things" (facts, nomenclature, techniques), but instead to learn how to THINK about things. But teaching "things" is easier than teaching thinking so we mostly do that

10

73

574