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Mental health chat: Progress

October 18, 2018June 14, 2019

Meet the Scientist – Dr Jaclyn Bell

October 8, 2018June 17, 2019

Meet the Scientist- Melanie Jackson

July 12, 2018June 17, 2019

Meet the Scientist- Kathryn De Abreu

June 20, 2018June 17, 2019

Real science vs movie science

June 8, 2018June 14, 2019

Skincare secrets

May 25, 2018November 28, 2018

The truth about hay fever

May 17, 2018November 28, 2018

Meet the Scientist- Kirsten Hawkins

May 10, 2018June 17, 2019

How do Plants know when to flower?

April 24, 2018November 28, 2018

Turning a bad day round

April 12, 2018November 28, 2018

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Its #worldsmentalhealthday - - Today is all about raising awareness for mental health, and showing kindness and support for those who are struggling- whether that is from stress, an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety ect ect - - Mental health is so important for our wellbeing, and unlike other illnesses is hidden. You can not see what is going on in someones head, you can not see what demons someone could be battling. Not everyone is affected in the same way, and this can lead to poor understanding of mental health problems. - I was first diagnosed with anxiety 5 years ago, but I now know it is something I struggled with way before my 'diagnosis'. It has been there in the background for a long time, and I am only now beginning to be able to actively work to change my anxious thoughts and turn them to more positive ones. - - We use the term "anxious" and "it gives me anxiety" a lot in everyday culture, but I think this (like other mental health terms used as slang- "that gives me OCD" " omg, she is so bipolar today") do mental health problems a disservice. - - My anxiety nearly stopped me going to university as I was so ill from worry. I have become at times socially isolated. I have stopped relationships in their tracks for fear of the future. I haven't travelled much as the stress and anxiety of travel makes me so ill. The other week I cancelled going to london to see a friend because the thought of visting london gave me a panic attack. - - People who don't know me too well don't see the anxiety on my face. They can't see my thoughts in turmoil. It is truly invisible. - And that's why it is so important to increase awareness of mental health. So this mental health day talk to your friends and family, open yourself up fully to others (it will be scary and upsetting the first time you do) and encourage kindness, support and a comforting ear to anyone who may need it. - Remember you are not alone, you are enough and you are strong. - - #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #anxiety #wellbeingwarrior #bekind #timetotalk #itsoktonotbeok

Guess who threw away the important part of her protein extraction... yeppp that would be me 🤦🏻‍♀️ - - I started the protocol for my protein extraction on tuesday, and yesterday I had a absolute brain fart and instead of collecting the elution washes I threw them away! Oooppssss. - - Yes my boss saw me do it. Yes I was super annoyed at doing it. But you know what? Everyone makes mistakes! Sometimes you will have a bad science day and everything goes wrong. You will add the wrong reagent, press the wtong button, forget to image a time point. Yes we are scientists, but we are also human! - - The mistake I made was annoying sure, I called myself a muppet many, many times. I had a sulk for a bit, but then I went "better start again then!". - I am posting this to remind you all to not be so harsh on yourself! We all make stupid mistakes- just ask around your lab, nearly everyone will have a story from their PhD/PostDoc about an experiment they did really wrong! And, if no one else has admitted a stupid mistake you can just remember this from me, pouring my precious protein away at the last step... 😭 (I am clearly not over it!) - Obviously it's not good to be doing mistakes alll of the time, but a mistake once in a while is life. You learn from it, write a note in big bold letters on your protocol saying "collect the elution you idiot!" And learn from it. - - - Care to share your silly lab mistakes below?! - - - #postdoclife #academia #postgrad #biology #science #phdchat #scicomm #labfail #phdlife #postdoc #plantscience #scientistsofinsta #scientist

This girl is officially on her holidays 🤗🤗🤗 - - - This is actually going to be my first proper holiday in 5 years 😱 - Let me explain! I took many holidays through my PhD but these were just to my family home ( which were lovely and relaxing) but this time I am actually *properly* going away. - - Why no *proper* holiday for such a long time?? In a nutshell... money. My masters used up all my monies. Then I bought a car which used anything I had saved in my first year of PhD. Then I moved house- again using my savings. Then tbh anxiety got the better of me and I felt I wasn't really able to cope with travel. Also I didn't have a partner, my friends didn't have enough money to go on holiday with their partner and their friends... and I didn't (at the time) feel ok with holidaying by myself. - - I started my postdoc and moved house which again drained my savings! 🙄 Being a single adult is expensive. - But, now I am about to go on holiday down to Cornwall with the family, and I am super looking forward to it!! 😁 - - As a side note about holidays- People are often very blase and say "just book cheap flights"- its not the flights that are the expensive bit! Its all the rest! And it takes a lot to be ok with going on holiday completely by yourself (often if you are single this is the only option, and this can be daunting) . Breaks are super important throughout your career, make sure you take them regularly - even if you will simply be having a staycation, or going to visit the family home. A holiday doesn't need to cost the earth and take you to the exotic places (although that is nice!). - - With all this I will be signing off from social media until after my holidays! Hope you all have an amazing week 🙂 - - #posgradlife #gradlife #postdoc #sciencecommunity #scientist #holidays

Bet you are all jealous of my blue hairnet 💁🏻‍♀️. - - Remember those little grains I was looking at the other week, well here are the baby wheat plants they grew in to! - These are about 3 weeks old now, and ready for genotyping! To do this I collect about 2cm of plant leaf tissue for DNA extraction. After I have the DNA I can use it with these special "KASP" primers which enable me to look for wheat plants which are homozygous mutants, heterozygous or wild type. Homozygous mutants are when the plants completely express the 'mutated' in this case non-functional form of the gene. In heterozygous plants, the plants will still be expressing one wild type fully functioning form of the gene. - Once I have done the genotyping I will get rid of all the plants which don't have the desired genotypes... 🌾 get pretty large and space in the controlled environment chambers is at a premium so we only go to full maturity with plants we really need for experiments. - The next stage of experiments will have to wait till grain start coming in which will be about another 2 months... - - - #plantscience #biology #plantbiology #postdoc #academia #science #whatascientistdoes #instascience #postdoclife #womeninstemm #scientist #scientistsofinstagram

***Meet the Scientist*** - - In this weeks meet the scientist I talk to Sarah, the lovely scientist behind @t.cell.sarah - - Sarah is a research assistant based in 🇦🇺 working on T-Cells. T-cells also known as T-lymphocytes are an essential part of our immune system, and play a big role in protecting our bodies against cancer, and so her area of research is pretty exciting! - - Before becoming a research assistant Sarah had been working towards a PhD, however in her second year she decided a PhD wasn't right for her and so swapped to a masters by research before persuing a career as a research assistant in a cancer lab. As a research assistant Sarah has her own research project to look after as well as lab admin work. - - In the full interview (link in bio) we discuss life as a research assistant, transferring from a PhD to a masters and persuing a career in science! - My fave quote from sarah was concerning her conversion from a PhD programme to a masters "Don't let other people tell you you are stepping down and what a waste it is... having a masters is not a step down, having any post graduate degree is amazing and don't let other people bring you down" 🔥🔥 - Make sure you check out the full "interview" and if you aren't already following her on here go show her some 💖 her insta is full of photos from the tissue culture lab, and showcases what scientists days are really like! As well as offering some super info about things to 💭 about when working with tissue culture to get the best results! - - Lastly, thank you so much Sarah for a great meet the scientist feature! - - #meetthescientist #biology #science #instascience #scicomm #sciblogger #research #womeninscience #womeninstemm #sciblog

Following my last post, here is a quick timelapse of me preparing my first 12 starch samples! In high speed you don't quite see all the faces I am pulling... I don't like screw cap tubes 😂 - - Some parts of science take a lot of time without seeming to do a whole lot! When you see that nice fancy graph in a research paper, its more than likely its the culmination of hours, days or months of work! - - - #instascience #sciencevideo #Postdoclife #plantsci #plantbiology #biology #sciblogger #scientist #reallifeexperiments #realscience

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Its #worldsmentalhealthday - - Today is all about raising awareness for mental health, and showing kindness and support for those who are struggling- whether that is from stress, an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety ect ect - - Mental health is so important for our wellbeing, and unlike other illnesses is hidden. You can not see what is going on in someones head, you can not see what demons someone could be battling. Not everyone is affected in the same way, and this can lead to poor understanding of mental health problems. - I was first diagnosed with anxiety 5 years ago, but I now know it is something I struggled with way before my 'diagnosis'. It has been there in the background for a long time, and I am only now beginning to be able to actively work to change my anxious thoughts and turn them to more positive ones. - - We use the term "anxious" and "it gives me anxiety" a lot in everyday culture, but I think this (like other mental health terms used as slang- "that gives me OCD" " omg, she is so bipolar today") do mental health problems a disservice. - - My anxiety nearly stopped me going to university as I was so ill from worry. I have become at times socially isolated. I have stopped relationships in their tracks for fear of the future. I haven't travelled much as the stress and anxiety of travel makes me so ill. The other week I cancelled going to london to see a friend because the thought of visting london gave me a panic attack. - - People who don't know me too well don't see the anxiety on my face. They can't see my thoughts in turmoil. It is truly invisible. - And that's why it is so important to increase awareness of mental health. So this mental health day talk to your friends and family, open yourself up fully to others (it will be scary and upsetting the first time you do) and encourage kindness, support and a comforting ear to anyone who may need it. - Remember you are not alone, you are enough and you are strong. - - #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #anxiety #wellbeingwarrior #bekind #timetotalk #itsoktonotbeok

Guess who threw away the important part of her protein extraction... yeppp that would be me 🤦🏻‍♀️ - - I started the protocol for my protein extraction on tuesday, and yesterday I had a absolute brain fart and instead of collecting the elution washes I threw them away! Oooppssss. - - Yes my boss saw me do it. Yes I was super annoyed at doing it. But you know what? Everyone makes mistakes! Sometimes you will have a bad science day and everything goes wrong. You will add the wrong reagent, press the wtong button, forget to image a time point. Yes we are scientists, but we are also human! - - The mistake I made was annoying sure, I called myself a muppet many, many times. I had a sulk for a bit, but then I went "better start again then!". - I am posting this to remind you all to not be so harsh on yourself! We all make stupid mistakes- just ask around your lab, nearly everyone will have a story from their PhD/PostDoc about an experiment they did really wrong! And, if no one else has admitted a stupid mistake you can just remember this from me, pouring my precious protein away at the last step... 😭 (I am clearly not over it!) - Obviously it's not good to be doing mistakes alll of the time, but a mistake once in a while is life. You learn from it, write a note in big bold letters on your protocol saying "collect the elution you idiot!" And learn from it. - - - Care to share your silly lab mistakes below?! - - - #postdoclife #academia #postgrad #biology #science #phdchat #scicomm #labfail #phdlife #postdoc #plantscience #scientistsofinsta #scientist

This girl is officially on her holidays 🤗🤗🤗 - - - This is actually going to be my first proper holiday in 5 years 😱 - Let me explain! I took many holidays through my PhD but these were just to my family home ( which were lovely and relaxing) but this time I am actually *properly* going away. - - Why no *proper* holiday for such a long time?? In a nutshell... money. My masters used up all my monies. Then I bought a car which used anything I had saved in my first year of PhD. Then I moved house- again using my savings. Then tbh anxiety got the better of me and I felt I wasn't really able to cope with travel. Also I didn't have a partner, my friends didn't have enough money to go on holiday with their partner and their friends... and I didn't (at the time) feel ok with holidaying by myself. - - I started my postdoc and moved house which again drained my savings! 🙄 Being a single adult is expensive. - But, now I am about to go on holiday down to Cornwall with the family, and I am super looking forward to it!! 😁 - - As a side note about holidays- People are often very blase and say "just book cheap flights"- its not the flights that are the expensive bit! Its all the rest! And it takes a lot to be ok with going on holiday completely by yourself (often if you are single this is the only option, and this can be daunting) . Breaks are super important throughout your career, make sure you take them regularly - even if you will simply be having a staycation, or going to visit the family home. A holiday doesn't need to cost the earth and take you to the exotic places (although that is nice!). - - With all this I will be signing off from social media until after my holidays! Hope you all have an amazing week 🙂 - - #posgradlife #gradlife #postdoc #sciencecommunity #scientist #holidays

Bet you are all jealous of my blue hairnet 💁🏻‍♀️. - - Remember those little grains I was looking at the other week, well here are the baby wheat plants they grew in to! - These are about 3 weeks old now, and ready for genotyping! To do this I collect about 2cm of plant leaf tissue for DNA extraction. After I have the DNA I can use it with these special "KASP" primers which enable me to look for wheat plants which are homozygous mutants, heterozygous or wild type. Homozygous mutants are when the plants completely express the 'mutated' in this case non-functional form of the gene. In heterozygous plants, the plants will still be expressing one wild type fully functioning form of the gene. - Once I have done the genotyping I will get rid of all the plants which don't have the desired genotypes... 🌾 get pretty large and space in the controlled environment chambers is at a premium so we only go to full maturity with plants we really need for experiments. - The next stage of experiments will have to wait till grain start coming in which will be about another 2 months... - - - #plantscience #biology #plantbiology #postdoc #academia #science #whatascientistdoes #instascience #postdoclife #womeninstemm #scientist #scientistsofinstagram

***Meet the Scientist*** - - In this weeks meet the scientist I talk to Sarah, the lovely scientist behind @t.cell.sarah - - Sarah is a research assistant based in 🇦🇺 working on T-Cells. T-cells also known as T-lymphocytes are an essential part of our immune system, and play a big role in protecting our bodies against cancer, and so her area of research is pretty exciting! - - Before becoming a research assistant Sarah had been working towards a PhD, however in her second year she decided a PhD wasn't right for her and so swapped to a masters by research before persuing a career as a research assistant in a cancer lab. As a research assistant Sarah has her own research project to look after as well as lab admin work. - - In the full interview (link in bio) we discuss life as a research assistant, transferring from a PhD to a masters and persuing a career in science! - My fave quote from sarah was concerning her conversion from a PhD programme to a masters "Don't let other people tell you you are stepping down and what a waste it is... having a masters is not a step down, having any post graduate degree is amazing and don't let other people bring you down" 🔥🔥 - Make sure you check out the full "interview" and if you aren't already following her on here go show her some 💖 her insta is full of photos from the tissue culture lab, and showcases what scientists days are really like! As well as offering some super info about things to 💭 about when working with tissue culture to get the best results! - - Lastly, thank you so much Sarah for a great meet the scientist feature! - - #meetthescientist #biology #science #instascience #scicomm #sciblogger #research #womeninscience #womeninstemm #sciblog

Following my last post, here is a quick timelapse of me preparing my first 12 starch samples! In high speed you don't quite see all the faces I am pulling... I don't like screw cap tubes 😂 - - Some parts of science take a lot of time without seeming to do a whole lot! When you see that nice fancy graph in a research paper, its more than likely its the culmination of hours, days or months of work! - - - #instascience #sciencevideo #Postdoclife #plantsci #plantbiology #biology #sciblogger #scientist #reallifeexperiments #realscience

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