Foundational Skills in Life Sciences

What does it take to prepare a single lecture?    In this episode, I will talk about months-long process for crafting a lecture on how to read clinical papers.    I am passionate about teaching this foundational skill.    The preparation includes choosing a paper that is best fit for the interest of the student body. It also includes making presentation slides tailor-made for the specific paper. ...

I have set up a training program for the postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) in my home department. Today, I would like to talk about: how and why I have done it, what we do in the program and what (positive!) feedback that I received.    This episode might help you if you are a student looking for training opportunities or if you are a mentor who is already guiding your immediate trainees.    Thi...

This podcast is now two years old. And it is the start of the third year! Thank you for listening and for your support!    I would like to give you my behind-the-scenes information, so that you will have some understanding about how I am preparing the scripts of the episodes for you.    This episode = podcast update 8.    This podcast is a product of my own thoughts, research, and voice. In other...

Let’s read the first paragraph of the Introduction section in a paper written by the Nobel Laureates. Specifically, we will read each sentence in the paragraph, and think about the meaning and the role of each sentence. One key point is that the structural components of the Abstract will help us understand the paragraphs and sentences of the Introduction.    We are reading the paper written by Dr....

The Introduction section of a life-science paper tells the main story, sometimes even multiple related ones. But without helpful subheadings, understanding its core points can be challenging. Then, how do we effectively read Introduction paragraphs to understand the section?     We will talk about it today, and we will keep reading one of the best papers as our example.    We are reading the paper...

In combination with the last episode, we will talk about an introduction to how to read the Introduction section. With these two episodes, we will be ready to analyze the content details, from the next episode.   We are reading the paper written by Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman, that led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023. We call it the Milestone Article 1. Here are tw...

Sub-sections and subheadings will be helpful.    The Methods and the Results sections of life-science papers are divided into sub-sections. And the sub-sections will have subheadings, i.e., the titles that serve as signposts of the sub-sections.    How about the Introduction section? What would this finding mean to us, the readers?    We will talk about them by scanning the Introduction of a paper...

The single-sentence rule for understanding research paper Introductions.   Have you thought about what the Introduction section of a life-science paper really does?    In this episode, we will address that question and discuss a simple rule.   We will share a single sentence that encapsulates the entire role of the Introduction.   It will make it easy to grasp the authors' intention and the p...

In today’s episode, we will learn which structural components will be minimally essential for an abstract, and which will be additionally necessary for a well-written abstract. These are the abstracts of primary research papers in life sciences, both in clinical- and basic-science fields.    There are very many variations in the structures of published abstracts. Why do we want to discuss the abov...

Let’s talk about an excellent abstract that I read this week. It was so well written, and I was so excited to read it that I wanted to talk about it with you today. The beauty of it is that the first 3 structural components guide us through the authors’ intention and question very clearly. But there was also a little twist to the structure: we will talk about it, too.    The abstract that we talke...

My students selected a paper to read in a journal club. The abstract (and the rest of the paper) was not written well. The abstract gave us two precious lessons. Lesson 1: Good structural organization will help the readers understand the content. Lesson 2: Abstracts of peer-reviewed papers can be disorganized. I hope you learn them in this episode, too! This episode = mini-series: reading-31. (My...

We have reached 50 episodes! Thank you for listening.    Today, we will briefly talk about how I have kept sustainable podcasting so far. The most important thing may be that I have set my goal simple and single: It is to create high-quality content for you. That’s it.    Here are links to two sources of podcast statistics that I mentioned in the episode. https://www.amplifimedia.com/blogstein-1/l...

We will talk about the second of the two, well-crafted loops of logic, in the Abstract of a paper written by the Nobel Prize Laureates.  Not all abstracts have this second loop. But when it is present, it gives a better overview of the impact of the presented work. We can find one of the best examples in our Abstract.  We are reading the paper written by the Laureates, Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr....

I can visualize two well-crafted loops of logic, in the Abstract of a paper written by the Nobel Prize Laureates. Can you?    We will talk about one of them in today’s episode. Such a loop, together with a linear progression, highlights the authors’ clear and logical thought process.    We are reading the paper written by the Laureates, Dr. Katalin Karikó & Dr. Drew Weissman, that led to the N...

Let's analyze a single sentence in the Abstract of an impressive paper. It is the paper that led to the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This is the paper that we call the milestone article 1 (Please see below for details).    We will analyze the second sentence. Why is this sentence important? We will discuss four of my approaches to see that this sentence is important, beautiful...

Today, we will analyze the Abstract of an impressive paper. It is the paper that led to the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This is the paper that we call the milestone article 1.    We will have two essential pre-analysis sub-steps, and then we will analyze each sentence. During this analysis, we will read each sentence of the Abstract, examine the role of each sentence, and assign ea...

Today, we will take a significant step towards understanding the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. We will read the Abstract of the Laureates’ most important paper that led to the Nobel Prize. This is the paper that we call the milestone article 1.    We will have two essential pre-reading sub-steps, and then we will conduct the initial readings. These sub-steps will set the stage for a...

How are you reading life-science textbooks?    My approach to reading textbooks has evolved significantly throughout my academic career, from student to researcher to instructor to course director. Today’s episode is part 2. We will discuss the last two phases of my experience.    I am now in the fourth phase. I fully appreciate how well the authors summarized a vast amount of knowledge in one fie...

How are you reading life-science textbooks?    My approach to reading textbooks has evolved significantly throughout my academic career, from student to researcher to instructor to course director. Today’s episode is part 1. We will discuss the first two phases of my experience.    My overall goal of the two-part episodes is to highlight the unique roles that textbooks play, different from those o...

Happy Holidays to you, and I wish you the very best in 2025! 

“Should I exclude irrelevant experiences from my academic CV?”    This is a question that students often ask. In this episode, I would like to give you my thoughts about this question.    In general, there is a way of creating a comprehensive CV: it will show that you have unique experiences, and you are a careful and a thoughtful writer. The key would be for you to be proud of what you did in the...

“Should my CV be short or long, when I apply for a research assistant position in a college/university lab?”    This is a question that students often ask. In this episode, I would like to give you my thoughts about this question.    The content in a CV depends on the person’s career stage. But I have one common viewpoint for CVs at all stages. I would like to view the descriptions in the CV, duri...

How do top-tier scientific journals, like Nature, make sure their abstracts are clear and impactful?    In today’s episode, we will identify the eight key components that make those abstracts effective, by naming the components in our own words, and clarifying their roles and order.    Our system was inspired by the Nature document for the Abstract guidelines that we discussed in the Episode #38. ...

What is the best way to learn how to read the Abstract of a scientific paper?    In my view, the best way is to learn how the Abstract is structured in any paper.    Today, we will learn it, by reading a very short document. It is a one-page document that describes the Abstract guidelines, provided by the journal, Nature.    Here is the URL that brings you directly to the Nature document:    https...

The 2024 Nobel Prize was announced! Two days ago, it was in Physiology or Medicine. Yesterday, it was in Physics. Today, it was in Chemistry.    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Dr. David Baker “for computational protein design”, and to Dr. Demis Hassabis and Dr. John Jumper, “for protein structure prediction.”    Their work is directly related to life sciences.    Let’s learn about the...