I’ve been totally swamped lately but here’s a quick post on a neat little project Attila Csordas has put together that makes us science folks look hip and helps you keep up with the biotech hype (i think!).

If you happen to use twitter (who wouldn’t you…) then go meet biotecher – the uber-connected biotech twitter account that is concentrating and soon aggregating all the biotech twitterers in one location.

Just check biotecher’s list of friends and you will certainly find some familiar faces to start stalking… uhm… following!

I’m on my way to Boston and will be there for the next 6 months (at least). Hope to meet some of my NN buddies in due time.

I’m off… see you soon.

First encounter
When I first saw her she was a shy little thing. Her nickname was NN and she was trying her best to make new friends.

Baby steps
As time went by, her many friends began to gather in groups but always close together. (Boston & London)

Goo-goo Da-daa
Soon after, she began to talk and so did her friends. A bunch of them began chit-chatting away. (blogs) And shortly after the rest of them followed along in their one fashion. (forums & groups)

Kindergarten
She’s still a little girl but she’s already the main attraction at Kindergarten. (Network)

If she’s already managed all this and is only just turning 1 year old, imagine what the future has in store for this little lady named Nature Network.

Have a happy birthday little NN! :)

Here’s a photo of my laptop lid with some nifty NN stickers.

My previous post was focused on bad protocols and how the information that results from experiments gone wrong or with funky results.

Some discussion took place regarding how such information could be disseminated. It seems that reputable scientists always do things properly (and/or they prefer to keep their flaws to themselves).

Anyhow, I’ve found a blog that is doing the dirty work.It’s called Worst Result Ever and it’s a blog with information regarding experiments that resulted in not-so-great info.

Although it’s not the best form of archiving this type of info, I guess it’s a good start!

Thanks to Shirley Wu from OneBigLab for the link.

There has been a lot of talk about making scientific openness and the benefits from disclosing research with the scientific community.

One area of this openness that interests me is the disclosure of so called “bad protocols”. I’m still very new to science, but I know that a lot of researchers work hard on their projects and sometimes the theory just doesn’t match the reality and so, the mis-result brings them back to the drawing board.

Failed experiments are taking place all the time, and a way to help out is make such information available to the scientific community.

I saw the usefulness of such “no-no techniques” during a recent class where a professor told us to perform different steps than that of the protocol because he’d been there, and done that… and it wasn’t the best option.
So, by telling us that he’d failed before, we didn’t have to and could use his new findings to move forward.

This is just a small example of what I think could be a great resource. A “how to waste time in the lab” repository so researchers can avoid common pitfalls.

This could be a repository online with all the usual web2.0 paraphernalia but would probably require some anonymity for those afraid of showing their “bad protocols” :)

How early on in your academic path did you realize what your area of most interest would be?

This has been a topic of discussion that I’ve had with a few of my friends from time to time.

I’m a couple exams away from completing my Master’s degree in Biological Engineering and I’m still not sure what it is that I would LOVE to do in the future.

This may seem odd for some, but here in Portugal the academic pathway until one completes a degree can be very very wide spread.

My degree for example is anything but specific. I’ve had advanced levels of teaching in industrial downstream processing as I also have learned my fair share of molecular biology, genetics, immunology and even wastewater treatment!

Although this system is now changing with the Bologna Treaty, it makes it a bit difficult to focus on what I really can and will do in the future.

In an age where being very good at very little is probably better than being quite good at a whole lot, it breaks my heart that I like so many different areas and yet don’t know which one is MY area.

My friends tell me that I’ll find my spot when I complete my degree and start working, but how sure can I be that I’ll get a chance to work in every area that I’m interested in?

So, was it love at first sight for you? Or did you have to date around to find the right one? (scientific area of interest, that is!)

I’ve always been very interested in learning more about the field of bioinformatics. So, when I got the chance to take a “crash course” on bioinformatics, I grabbed it.

Although I tried to read a couple books here and there, I never really got past the first chapter for one reason or another. Either the book was focused on a specific piece of software or it was too code intensive with pages of programming language lined up (yawn!).

But this Monday, I felt the click! Yeah, I’m that type of student. I accumulate information and then suddenly I click! It all comes into focus and connects together.

So, in one 5 hour session I learned that by simply looking up a random gene or even a sequence (either DNA or Protein) I could find out interesting information regarding various aspects of my object of study. Namely, topology, inter cellular location, possible domain functions, just to name a few!

I know this is just the tip of the iceberg but it’s just opened my eyes to a field that I was curious about but now am VERY interested in.

I’ll be writing about this in more detail and in newbie baby step style to maybe show others the every-so-cool field of bioinformatics!

Just got a parcel in the mail today with some Nature Network goodies to spread around campus labs (thanks Corie!).

Here you can see the postcards and sharpies all displayed nice and tidy:

I tested one of the sharpies on my smiley foam ball. Now he’s all ready for Halloween! :D

I decided to make a little button or badge to place on my other blog ’s sidebar so that my readers could also stop by this blog.

So here’s the result:

Feel free to use it on your other blogs to attract more readers to the Nature Network.

Note: It’s good for white backgrounds but I can mix up another version for dark backgrounds too if requested :)