Category Archives: PhD Life

PhD Life

It’s Quiz Time – the first ImmunoSensation Quiz

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Quizzes are becoming more and more popular. Conferences often have an immunology quiz on their agenda and at Christmas parties we like to torture our PIs with some difficult lab questions. 😉 So – we thought now it’s YOUR turn!!! Solve our ImmunoSensation Quiz! This quiz will reveal whether you’re an expert in immunology, show how familiar you are with our lab instruments, and might … Continue reading It’s Quiz Time – the first ImmunoSensation Quiz »

PhD Life

Lab Fails – your pain is our gain! (part 2)

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A heartfelt laugh helps us to learn and remember things – that’s scientifically proven! Thus, I recently started our new series on lab fails. We’ve all been there and we’ve all done that – life in general but especially as a lab beginner is tough. Luckily, failure and – even better and probably way more amusing – studying other people’s misfortunes is a precious educational … Continue reading Lab Fails – your pain is our gain! (part 2) »

PhD Life

Lab Fails – your pain is our gain!

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Success is everywhere. At least this is what everybody likes to tell me. Grants are permitted, experiments work, history is made. Still, it’s 2018 and even three years after the predicted launch of hover boards I find myself walking to my work place by foot – how frustrating is that? The reason for this delay in scientific progress is very simple: Success is always also … Continue reading Lab Fails – your pain is our gain! »

PhD Life

Blogging live: Jonas goes Down Under – part 2

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Jonas Möcking is a PhD student participating in the Bo&MeRanG project, a joint programme of the Universities Bonn and Melbourne. After two years of research in Prof Matthias Geyer’s Lab in Bonn working on the molecular basis of the inflammasome complex, he continues his studies in Melbourne with Prof Seth Masters. We accompany Jonas on his journey, which began on Wednesday, 28th February, and his … Continue reading Blogging live: Jonas goes Down Under – part 2 »

PhD Life

Blogging live: Jonas goes Down Under

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Jonas Möcking is a PhD student participating in the Bo&MeRanG project, a joint programme of the Universities Bonn and Melbourne. After two years of research in Prof Matthias Geyer’s Lab in Bonn working on the molecular basis of the inflammasome complex, he continues his studies in Melbourne with Prof Seth Masters. We accompany Jonas on his journey, which begins on Wednesday, 28th February, and his … Continue reading Blogging live: Jonas goes Down Under »

PhD Life

A workshop series traveling around the world

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My first encounter with the workshop series “Antigen Processing and Presentation” (APP) is quite a long time ago. It started more or less by accident. While I was looking around on the EMBO homepage for some financial support for the next conference participation, I found an immunological workshop named “Antigen Processing and Presentation” which was exactly what my research is about. This workshop series had … Continue reading A workshop series traveling around the world »

PhD Life

Catch the moment – Networking at a conference

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I guess many young scientists know that feeling: They collected their first useful data in the lab and are finally allowed to go to their first big conference in their field.   But what is going to conferences all about? You must spend a lot of money in advance, you have to arrange your travels by yourself, you spend much time on preparing your data … Continue reading Catch the moment – Networking at a conference »

PhD Life

Are you a typical PhD student?

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Have you ever doubted your decision to pursue a PhD? We’ve found that most PhD students we’ve talked to, at one point or another, experience uncertainty of some kind. Have you ever doubted whether you correspond to what a “typical PhD student” is supposed be? Because we know that life as a graduate student can at times be chaotic and taxing, we’ve set out to … Continue reading Are you a typical PhD student? »

PhD Life

How afraid are you of your supervisor?

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A dry mouth, excessive sweating, aphasia – hopefully that is not what you experience when you need to talk to your PI. For some, however, the benign stress response ahead of meetings that you may be familiar with turns into an unbearable condition. Recently, Dr. Diamandis, professor at the University of Toronto, addressed what he recognized as a “growing phobia” in a Nature article sparking … Continue reading How afraid are you of your supervisor? »