About Jenny
By day: cell biologist at UCL. By night: novelist, broadcaster, science writer, sci-lit-art pundit, blogger and Editor of LabLit.com. I blog about my life in science, not the facts and figures.
Author Archives: Jennifer Rohn
In which I question the 24/7 lab mentality
Is there a strong correlation between the number of hours you are physically present in a lab and the pace and success of your project? The furore over Nature’s 24/7 lab feature, published a few weeks ago, is still sending … Continue reading
In which there’s no cure like a good geeky read
With the arrival of September, autumn has arrived in London with a vengeance. The air is crisp and cold, marigolds wither on my back porch, and the campus is full of robed, jubilant undergraduates ready to accept their diplomas and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
6 Comments
In which I salute the pioneers
Cell and molecular biology is a bit of a dark art. The way we perform our experiments has been passed down from generation to generation in sacred texts known as “protocols”. Like any recipe used and abused by generations of … Continue reading
In which I seek the evidence – and ideas
A post I initially wrote about the consequences of putting arbitrary sell-by dates on post-docs seeking fellowships has been rebutted by my esteemed OT colleague Athene Donald. It’s an interesting post and I encourage people to have a look at … Continue reading
In which my heart goes out to Postdoc B
What a difference a few words make. Compare this: With this: A modest difference, you might think. But your average postdoctoral stint in the life sciences is probably something like 3-4 years. So the difference between 8 and 12+ years … Continue reading
In which science kicks caterpillar ass, and other tales
Sometimes I can go an entire day without seeing most of my fellow lab mates. I’ve been stuck at the computer in my office recently; various other colleagues are holed up in faraway microscope rooms or sequestered in the Fly … Continue reading
Posted in Gardening, Scientific thinking
7 Comments
In which I find acceptance
A happy ending – just the way I like them. Can I go collapse now?
Posted in Careers, The profession of science
28 Comments
In which I can put it off no longer
Summer has slipped away from London, as it seems to do every year around this time – the air has an autumnal coolness and raindrops patter against lab windows. We Londoners work around this, as we do around so many … Continue reading
Posted in Careers, The profession of science
20 Comments
In which I surface briefly
Greetings, Earthlings: just emerging from my self-imposed laboratory exile for a quick update. I do still exist, and my radio silence can be explained by the fact that I’m in the home stretch of my resubmission. For those of you … Continue reading
Posted in Careers, Scientific method, The profession of science
21 Comments
In which I scrape by
I’ve been pondering the theoretical maximum number of simultaneous cell biological experiments that one person can do without losing it. I’ve also been testing the theory on a practical basis – on myself. And I can safely report that, by … Continue reading
