Before going to graduate school, I spent a year working at New York University as a lab technician. As a farewell gift, I received a popular book called “At The Bench”. It was supposed to act as my springboard into “real”research. In addition to helpful descriptions of common lab techniques, it also contained some practical... 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 →
“I am a cell biologist” T-shirt flashbacks
Science is hard. 98.5% of the time it doesn't cooperate. And that can really hurt your ego. Even knowing that it's normal to expect only a tiny percentage of your experiments to work often doesn't help. And while years of experience can help slightly stack the odds in your favor, science always catches you off... 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 →
Our internal landscapes – the 9th Wonder of the World
As most of you know, I work as a scientist during the day and art is more of a personal passion. Last October, I found a new job and this transition gave me a rare opportunity of taking a week off while my kids were in school (as opposed to a typical family vacation). I... 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 →
Do you suffer from Impostor Syndrome? Maybe you shouldn’t.
A few years ago, I got myself into a bit of a pickle at work. I am a secret self-improvement book/webinar/lecture junkie. I live by books like "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, "168 Hours: You have more time than you think" by Laura Vanderkam, and Austin Kleon's series of books for artists. It is... Continue Reading →