“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 →
Childhood memories I was 9 years old when we moved from Russia to the U.S. I didn't speak English and found solace in watching Russian movies that my parents rented from a store nearby. It seems like it was ages ago, but many quotes from those classic Soviet movies stuck with me till today. One... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
In February, we went on a ski trip to Canada where we also celebrated our older daughter's 12th birthday. Her birthday always falls on the school winter break and virtually every year our family goes skiing during that time, which means that we tend to celebrate it for a whole week. This year, the kids... Continue Reading →
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 →
SciArt that’ll make you feel Smart 