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 fo…

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 (…

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 h…

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 ro…

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, h…

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 ne…

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…

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…

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 abstract…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 w…

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 articl…

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 wi…

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 Pri…

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. To…