survivingscience-blog

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How I got a job in #medcomms

I first realised I didn’t want to carry on in research when I was writing my first year report. My supervisor at the time wanted me to get back in the lab as soon as possible, but I was really enjoying taking the time to write up everything that I’d done in the year. Once I realised that I didn’t see myself continuing in the lab post-PhD, I started investigating careers in science writing.

When I…

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Experiments that I've tried and failed

Experiments that I’ve tried and failed

Something that they don’t tell you when you see the cool science headlines is exactly how much time, effort and failure went into getting that exciting paper published. A lot of people that I’ve spoken to, myself included, say that their moods are massively impacted by their results. While it’s easy to say that we shouldn’t let a negative result, or one that doesn’t ‘fit’ with our hypothesis,…

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Getting your paper published: Reviewers' comments

Getting your paper published: Reviewers’ comments

I recently attended a talk given by the editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, who gave his best tips and things to look for when you’re trying to get published. This is part 3 of 3. Check out part 1, cover letter and abstract, and part 2, how to write your paper.

Hopefully by now, you know what not to avoid when writing, and how to perfect your cover letter and abstract for the editors.

Time…

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Getting your paper published: How to actually write it

Getting your paper published: How to actually write it

I recently attended a talk given by the editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, who gave his best tips and things to look for when you’re trying to get published. This is part 2 of 3. Check out part 1, cover letter and abstract, and stay tuned for the next instalment, what to say to the reviewers.

Now we’ve got the cover letter and abstract sorted. Time to look at the actual paper.

Over time,…

[survivingscience-blog]

Getting your paper published: Cover letter and abstract

The first in a new mini-series, getting your paper published, inspired by a talk given by editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, John McConnell

I recently attended a talk given by the editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, who gave his best tips and things to look for when you’re trying to get published. As this was starting to get pretty long, at your request (cheers, Instagram) this is part 1 of 3. Stay tuned for the next instalments; How to write the damn thing, and what to say to the reviewers.

What editors are looking for

Editors…

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A year ago, I was asked to write a review for a journal, and today it's FINALLY been published! 🎉 • It's been written, rewritten and rewritten again. Yours truly got the humongous task of editing, which was an experience. • Head over to my profile for the link, it's open access 🐭 • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #review #acwri #mouse #mice #cancer #metastasis #animalmodel #openaccess

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I love getting mail! 📬 • Today's was from @gibcocellculture, and contained some mini DMEM magnets 😊 • DMEM is the name of one of the foods that we give our cells to keep them happy. It contains all the nutrients and minerals that they need to keep growing so we can use them for all our experiments. • Safe to say, everybody in the lab now wants a cute little magnet. • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #tissueculture #cellculture #cultured #cells #hood #littleDMEM #DMEM #gibco #miniatures

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Most of my experiments are done on cells in culture. • To keep them alive, we need to 'passage' them, basically split them, so that they have enough food and room to grow. • If the cells become too dense and packed in together, they can change their expression of loads of different proteins. This isn't great, because it can mean that results will be different. • We keep them at a level where they aren't tightly packed together, but aren't too lonely either. Cells love having their friends around them 👯 • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #tissueculture #cellculture #cultured #cells #hood

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Checking my mice for signs of anaemia • Here's some blood from a healthy mouse 🐭 All of the red blood cells (pink circles) are a similar colour all over. • Another thing to look for is their size. These cells are all a good size, not too big or small. They also don't have any inclusion bodies, or left overs from their development. This can signify that the body is trying to make a lot of red blood cells very quickly, and not letting them develop fully before releasing them. • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #histology #pink #anaemia #splash #colour #stain #blood #giemsa

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Making a splash with a new stain today • To look at the morphology (size and shape) of blood cells, we use a specific stain that colours different cells so we can distinguish them. • This part of the stain will colour the DNA in cells. In blood cells, the size and shape of the nucleus, that holds the DNA, can help to distinguish between different cell types. • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #histology #blue #splash #colour #stain #blood #giemsa

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Friday mash ups • Today I mashed up 16 spleens, and 16 livers to extract RNA from 😰 this is a chunk of liver tissue from one of my mice. • RNA gets degraded super quickly, so we have to keep everything nice and icy to slow the enzymes that break it down. • This will let me look at changes in gene expression between controls and experimental mice 🐭 • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #western #iceicebaby #ice #cold #pcr #RNA #DNA #enzymes #liver #friyay #tgif #mashup

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7 reasons your western isn't working (again) #ontheblog now, 🔗 in bio. What are your best reasons for a western not working? • • • #phd #phdlife #phdchat #biology #STEM #womeninSTEM #science #STEMsquad #actuallivingscientist #bloggers #sciencebloggers #student #lablife #protein #western #fail #womenwhoscience

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7 reasons your Western didn't work (again)

Western not working? Is the answer in this weeks post? '7 reasons your Western isn't working (again)'.

Western blotting is the bread and butter of many a molecular biologist. It is also frequently the most loathed of all techniques. Last week, it was working just fine. But this week? No such luck, but WHY?!

1. You did it on a different day than last time

Last week, you set everything up to run on Tuesday at 10AM. This week, it was Wednesday at 2PM. Western’s know what day of the week it is. They…

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How to stop a reaction? • Ice. Part of the PCR process is adding all of the ingredients together and putting them through a series of temperature changes. • This involves an enzyme, but we don't want it to start working as soon as we add all the ingredients, it needs to be regulated. • To stop it, we keep everything on ice before putting it into the thermocycler (basically a machine that will keep changing the temperature). • My favourite new lab item is this metal tube rack. It gets super cold, really quickly. Scavenged when a postdoc left last week 🔬 • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #western #iceicebaby #ice #cold #pcr #RNA #DNA #enzymes

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Another week, another western. • Western blotting is probably the most common method I use. It's a really easy, relatively speedy, way to check protein levels in cells and tumours. • While it can tell us what proteins are present and active, it doesn't generally tell us where they are, which can be just as important. • So, while it's good to know, using this with other methods can give a better idea of what exactly is going on in there. • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #western #protein #blots

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Making buffers 👩🏼‍🔬 • All of our methods use different buffers to keep the pH constant during reactions. Like this one, they're mostly different salt solutions. • Because we use tons of it, we make it up in big batches, more concentrated than we need it. That way, when we need more, we can dilute it to the concentration that we need, with water 💦 • In our lab, tris buffered saline (TBS) is the most used by far. • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #salt #TBS #buffer #boomerang

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More bloods today 💉 • I'm looking for any signs of anaemia in my mice, and looking at blood is a really easy way to do it. • Check out my earlier blood post to read about what I'll be looking for 👀 • • • #phd #phdlife #science #womeninscience #weareSTEMsquad #stemsquad #womeninSTEM #STEM #research #scientist #scientistlife #lablife #womenwhoscience #phlebotomy #hematology #blood #red (at Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre)