“When you learn the art of distillation, you will gain a lifelong skill that will impact every area of your life. Think of a storyteller who captivates you with every word. Their story is well distilled, with unnecessary details stripped away. Think about the last time you were entranced by a drawing or painting. Its... Continue Reading →
Unlocking the Potential of Organoids
We live in a three-dimensional (3D) world, yet so many things we face every day are two-dimensional (2D) representations of 3D objects. From paintings and photographs to maps and architectural blueprints, the majority of human creative processes begin on a flat piece of paper. The same goes for studying biological processes in vitro. For decades,... Continue Reading →
From childhood wonder to therapeutic oasis – How I got into creating art
I was recently asked what my first memory of wanting to create art is. Ever since early childhood, I have greatly admired my father for his artistic abilities. My dad is not an artist, but somehow art seeps through everything he does. He is a very aesthetic person. In his twenties, he spent quite a... Continue Reading →
Breaking the Cycle: How to Overcome a Negative Mindset and Focus on the Positive
During my gap year between college and graduate school, I found myself working as a lab technician at New York University. On our floor, there was a small room that housed the glassware washers and autoclaves. It was here that I met a kind-hearted but timid man who operated the machines. Whenever I entered the... Continue Reading →
Getting out of our own way
Illusion of control Today I want to talk about control. You might find it laughable after the last 2+ years we have been through, but all of us seek it nevertheless. While I am not the most organized person, I have always been big on scheduling. When it comes to my own schedule, I plan... Continue Reading →
Do you fear new challenges? Maybe you shouldn’t!
In spring 2017, I got laid off from my first job and spent the summer looking for a new one. While I knew what I wanted to do, I also realized that I had to be open minded in case my "perfect" job didn't exist in New York City yet. Neuroscience companies were hard to... Continue Reading →
Did you follow the herd and start using Zoom backgrounds? Maybe you shouldn’t!
Now that we are 2 years into working remotely (for the most part anyway), we have become experts in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack, you name it... At the same time we got sick of demonstrating our (occasionally messy) apartments. In fact, I recently attended a webinar (on Zoom!) talking about remote meeting etiquette. Putting... Continue Reading →
From Wilting Mind to Fragile Memory
In one of my recent posts, I wrote about how I felt at my previous job and why I created "Wilting Mind". Many people say that art often comes from pain. The greater the pain, the greater the art presumably. And that you should actually draw on that pain for inspiration. Over the past four... Continue Reading →
How do we choose what to remember?
Last week our kids had their winter school break and we went for a week-long ski trip in Mont Tremblant, Canada. Mont Tremblant has a great mountain and, perhaps more importantly, a really picturesque village at its base. My parents and I have come here several times when I was a teenager, but not in... Continue Reading →
Want to feel important? Surround yourself with meaningful art.
When we got married, my husband was entering one of the most challenging stages of his life - residency in internal medicine. He spent long days in the hospital and had a very rough night call schedule. I certainly don't miss that period of our marriage. Soon afterward, our first daughter was born and I... Continue Reading →