Archive for the 'Society for Neuroscience' category

Sink or swim

May 10 2012 Published by under CPDD, Mentoring, Postdoctoral Training, Postgraduate Training, Society for Neuroscience

Approximately how much should the PI and postdoc or grad student attend meetings together versus separately?

I think the together part is obvious and should be the majority of the time. The PI is supposed to be introducing the trainee around.

But flying solo can be great for independence.

 

The big shottes *have* to talk to you if the PI isn't at the meeting. So I'd definitely be okay with a handful of meetings where the trainee is there without the PI.

Making it habitual, however, is MentorMalpractice.

 


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Finished story, discussion points or "huh, that's funny.."

May 10 2012 Published by under Society for Neuroscience

Which kind of poster do you prefer to see?

Which kind do you present?

Me, I don't want to see a finished story. If it is that wrapped up, meh, I can wait for the peer reviewed version to come out. I want to grapple with something new...and preferably *puzzling*.

The best possible outcome of a meeting presentation would be if three interested labs went home, took on an aspect of the puzzle (even if only a replication) and by year's end there were four new papers in print.

That's how meeting presentations should work.

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Thanks for dying!

Apr 13 2012 Published by under Society for Neuroscience, Staring in Disbelief

The new SfN award, named for the legendary Particia Goldman-Rakic, honors dead people.

That's right, the site emphasizes that it is a posthumous award for scientists who were fabulous, supported women in science, were active in SfN or other academic organizations....all that good stuff.

Plus, dead. Not living. A sort of ex-scientist.
This is nuts.

Honor people while they are still alive. If someone dies tragically early, sure make the award posthumously. But let's put our focus on recognizing people while they can still receive the accolades.

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SFN11: The unbearable fear of scoopage

Nov 23 2011 Published by under Scientific Meetings, Scientific Publication, Society for Neuroscience

Interesting post up at the haydenlab blog:

In the post-SFN hangover phase, many neuroscientists are in a slightly more anxious state about the possibility that they are about to be scooped. Surely with all those posters, you must have seen someone who has the same brilliant idea in their head as you, right?

With a few exceptions, these fears turn out to be silly. Why?

The author then goes on to list a number of reasons why getting scooped* is not as bad as is usually imagined. I tend to agree** with the points being made. One that is obscured is that in most areas of real science, the paper that does the best job is going to rack up the the respect and citations. Even if it appeared after the very first report of the general phenomenon.

So I tend to think scientists should remember they are playing the long game. And not get too concerned about the possibility that they are about to get scooped.

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*someone else manages to publish an experimental finding that you are working on before you get your paper published.

**the pursuit of GlamourMag science prioritizes the first publication of something over many other factors, including scientific quality and genuine impact, for example.

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SfN11: Optogenetics for the masses

Nov 10 2011 Published by under Neuroscience, Physiology, Society for Neuroscience

The Backyard Brains folks are at it again.

Presentation 22.17SU/YY91 will be on display Saturday 1:00 p.m. – Sunday 5:00 p.m. with their presentation time scheduled for Sunday. It is entitled:

The blue light special: a portable, low-cost optogenetics kit for the classroom

The abstract reads:

Optogenetics is an innovative technology for studying brain circuits, but to date the lay public has had little exposure to its potential and limited access to low-cost tools to do experiments. What if you have an interest in cutting-edge neuroscience but you aren’t near a university? What if you prefer to do science in your garage, in a truck-bed, or on a plane on a boat? What if you are a high school biology teacher who wants to keep your students abreast of the most current neurotechnology but the latest millage did not pass? We can help you! We have designed a low-cost, easy-to-build, and portable electrophysiology rig for simple optogenetics demonstrations. The rig consists of a extracellular amplifier (our SpikerBox), a 3D-printed 3-axis micromanipulator, an off-the-shelf monocular 30X microscope, a high intensity blue LED (light-emitting diode), and an LED control circuit that can be precisely controlled with a tailor-made iPhone application or simple tone generator. We have successfully used our first clunky prototype to record blue light-evoked electromyograms from channelrhodopsin-2 expressing Drosophila larvae. We plan to spend the summer refining our prototype (making it more stable, improving control of light emission) and genetic tools. We plan to begin demonstrations in high school classrooms by Fall 2011. We also have other low-cost neurotechnology inventions to show you, so come by our poster to participate in real-time peer review!

Right? RIGHT? You know you think this is cool. Go see their presentation folks, they always amuse, entertain and educate.

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Update for additional reading on Backyard Brains and Marzullo and Gage
The $100 Spike
The $100 SpikerBox v1.0
Backyard Brains

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Are you attending the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting?

Nov 08 2011 Published by under Society for Neuroscience

I will extend my usual no-promises offer. If you care to offer up your presentation details in the comments or by email (drugmnky at the gmail) I will endeavor to stop by. Who knows? If it is really cool I might even blog it.

(Don't forget to visit NIH Row)

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Repost: Put NIH Row on Your Itinerary

Nov 03 2011 Published by under Careerism, NIH Careerism, Society for Neuroscience

As those of us in the neurosciences prepare for our largest annual scientific gathering, we should attend to a certain little task to assist with the odds of obtaining NIH grant funding. Part of that process is a long game of developing interpersonal relationships with the Program Officers that staff the NIH ICs of interest to our individual research areas. Many scientists find the schmoozing process to be uncomfortable and perhaps even distasteful.

To this I can only reply "Well, do you want to get funded or not?".

This post originally went up Nov 12, 2008. I've edited a few things for links and content.

One of the most important things you are going to do during the upcoming SfN Annual Meeting in Washington DC is to stroll around NIH row. Right?

I have a few thoughts for the trainees after the jump. I did mention that this is a long game, did I not? Continue Reading »

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Yo #sfnbanter and #sfnposterface peeps

Nov 20 2010 Published by under Society for Neuroscience

Book these guys for #sfn12 in New Orleans. The lead singer Woodie can let his postdocs take care of the posters..


Direct Link

--
COI notification: He may have bought me a beer or three now and again...

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Posters, FTW!

Nov 15 2010 Published by under Conduct of Science, Scientific Meetings, Society for Neuroscience

Just two days in and already I've had a ton of useful chats at posters during the SfN Annual Meeting. Most of the useful conversations are about matters other than what is on the poster the person is presenting at this time.

  • Reminders of what people did in the past, that I had forgotten or never knew about.

  • Exchange of info about the reality behind the polished papers.
  • Talks about the data not yet published because a slightly unexpected finding (we share) makes tradition-minded reviewers get the collywobbles.
  • Collegial sharing about the current directions and progress for a topic of interest.
  • Revelations about just who is breathing down our neck on which project.

The poster floor at a meeting is where it is AT. I can talk to people I know really well anytime via phone or email. If you are upstairs outside of the platform presentation rooms glad handing your best buds you see everywhere you are missing out.

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You know you want your very own Robo-Roach

Nov 11 2010 Published by under Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience

I'm always eager to see what the Backyard Brains braintrust has been up to this past year by visiting their presentation at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. Looks like you'll also want to join Drs. Gage and Marzullo at posterboard 206.7/LLL42 Sunday Nov 14 at 10am to find out how you can get your own remote navigation system for your common household pest, the cockroach.

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