Family and Science

Look into my father’s eyes: On the joy and trouble of becoming a father during the PhD

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Sigmund Freud once stated “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.” This was some time ago but nonetheless the role of the father is a very current issue as researchers and society are just finding out how important fathers are for the development of their children (here and here). Managing parenthood during the PhD is … Continue reading Look into my father’s eyes: On the joy and trouble of becoming a father during the PhD »

PhD Life, Scientific Community

Keep Calm and Janeway!

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When I started my PhD I was a “newbie”. I was THE DEFINITION of newbie: inexperienced beginner, making the first steps in the wild and scary PhD world! I was driven by curiosity, passion and motivation and I was hungry to know more, to learn more, to develop my own ideas and find my own way to push forward the project I was assigned to. … Continue reading Keep Calm and Janeway! »

Personal Opinion, PhD Life

The Travel Ban: Are We All Affected?

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About the author: US President Donald Trump’s travel ban is aimed to suspend the issuance of immigrant and non-immigrant visas of over 135 million people, from seven countries. This article is written by one of those 135 million people. A talented junior researcher from Germany, who was awarded by the Immunosensation travel grant in order to present her work in the Conference of American Society … Continue reading The Travel Ban: Are We All Affected? »

Family and Science

Mother and early career scientist – how to combine parallel roles?

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About the author: Nóra Balzer is a 27-year-old Hungarian-German bio-informatician, married to a German scientist, and mother of 2-year-old David. In her doctoral studies, she aims at finding epigenetic changes in the offspring related to maternal obesity. She likes reading, writing and spending as much time with her family as possible. The desire to have a child and the wish to begin an academic career … Continue reading Mother and early career scientist – how to combine parallel roles? »

Family and Science

How to square the circle – our new series: Family and Science

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You might know the movie “Groundhog Day” (German: “Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier”), in which Phil (Bill Murray) experiences the same day over and over again. Well, sometimes our typical Monday morning lab seminar reminds me of this movie: We never really start at the scheduled 9 o’clock; we initially have some 15 min chit-chat about the previous weekend, talk about general lab business and, … Continue reading How to square the circle – our new series: Family and Science »

Hard Science

To eat or not to eat – thoughts on nutrition from past and present

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While browsing through my grandparents’ house, I happened to stumble over a ‘Kalorientabelle’ – a calorie chart from a magazine (“Freundin”) from 1977. Curious how perception of food might have changed over the last 40 years, I took a closer look. The chart basically lists the number of calories per 100g of each food in a format ‘to carry with you all the time’ – … Continue reading To eat or not to eat – thoughts on nutrition from past and present »

PhD Life

How meditation strengthens the immune system – healthier by not doing anything

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Do you know these days when you are incredibly stressed out of your PhD? You feel that you are completely out of balance? You try to hold on and suddenly, just when you cannot afford it, you get sick. As if your body gives you the signal to slow down. Nowadays, it’s always about performance. Many even feel bad when they are less productive than … Continue reading How meditation strengthens the immune system – healthier by not doing anything »

Scientific Community

Interested in Immune regulation, big data modelling, and networking?

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Immunology is such an exciting field – in recent years, tons of new developments and theories have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. Interestingly, just as there are different trends in the fashion world, scientific research also has different hotspots every year. Various annual international scientific conferences certainly provide the stage for current research trends in Immunology. One of the high-level meetings is the European … Continue reading Interested in Immune regulation, big data modelling, and networking? »

PhD Life

Lab Fails – your pain is our gain! (part 3)

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… it’s lab fail-time again! No, I’m not talking about the epic lab fail that just happened to you before you sat down and started reading this article. No worries. After all, I don’t possess clairvoyant abilities. I’m talking about all the lab fails that happen on a daily basis in laboratories all over the world. Thus, there’s plenty of material for us to read … Continue reading Lab Fails – your pain is our gain! (part 3) »

PhD Life

If you can’t work it out, do a workout!

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A quick guide on becoming physically and mentally active for your Phd. You’re in the final year of your PhD and feel like you are just a few steps away from a total burnout? Your PI wants you to do more experiments to finally generate significant results after two or three – more or less – chaotic years of PhD? You want to start writing … Continue reading If you can’t work it out, do a workout! »