Well, here goes.
This is the initial post for a new blog that we will use for 2 purposes. First, we will shamelessly promote recent events that are related to our research here at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. We are a group of biomedical researchers trained in developmental and stem cell biology, focussed on how organs develop during embryogenesis, with a goal of using this information to eventually develop new therapies for human disease. But anyway, please explore the rest of the website for that stuff. What about the blog? Well, science can be hard, slow and often quite frustrating (at least if you are doing it right!). So, we need to occasionally take the time to celebrate achievements, big and small. Members of our group include students and fellows, and so we may be celebrating papers being published, grants funded, graduations, promotions, etc.
Second, we will try to give some insight into what it is like to be a scientist in academia. It is not going to be highly technical (read our papers for that!) but more tuned to those who might be considering this alternative lifestyle. Fortunately, it can be a very fun and satisfying career, especially since your research group becomes like a second family.
Since the lab has been functioning since 1990, there is a bit of catching up to do. To summarize the past 25 years, we started out originally at the University of Pittsburgh, then moved in 1995 to Albert Einstein in "da Bronx", and then moved down here to the upper east side of Manhattan in 2006. I hope that you get to know many of the lab members through this blog.
A few recent publications need to be highlighted. Su-Yi Tsai's paper was recently published in Stem Cell Reports, where she describes how she discovered a way to make an important cardiac cell type from embryonic stem cells. This represents over two years of work and could only be done through collaboration with Shuibing Chen's laboratory here at WCMC and also our colleague Dr. Glenn Fishman at the NYU Medical School. We collaborate quite often, so get used to these shout-outs. Also, Miriam Gordillo's extensive review of liver development was published in Development, in collaboration with Dr. Valerie Gouon-Evans from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Great work everyone!!
We will supply links to these papers in our publication page (the website is currently being updated by Emily Mercer who is now officially our web-czarina). Thanks so much Em! BTW, when people are mentioned in the blog, you are meant to go find them in the "people" section of the website! Go ahead!
As a scientist it is not unusual to travel for work. I had the recent opportunity to visit Helsinki Finland, as an invited speaker for the University's Graduate School Symposium. It is a lovely city and a fun event. One of the things I noticed was how you can walk, jog, or bike everywhere, and the large sidewalks always have lanes marked off for safety. For example, walking lanes always show a large graphic of an adult and young person holding hands and walking. I wish I had taken a picture of it to show you, but I really liked it because it reminds you to stay out of the bike lane (which could otherwise be deadly) and it also reminds you that it should be perfectly normal for parents and kids to be out walking around together. Its a nice idea. I failed to snap a photo of that, but maybe someone can do that for me and I'll load it to the blog. Little help??
Meanwhile, I did snap a photo of a salmon appetizer, shown below with salmon done three ways. I bet you didn't expect to see this in a science blog, eh? Well, it turns out that they have discovered many many ways to do salmon in Finland, so I tried as many of them as I could.
Coming up next: Lab picnic later this week in Central Park. Injury report to follow. Todd
This is the initial post for a new blog that we will use for 2 purposes. First, we will shamelessly promote recent events that are related to our research here at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. We are a group of biomedical researchers trained in developmental and stem cell biology, focussed on how organs develop during embryogenesis, with a goal of using this information to eventually develop new therapies for human disease. But anyway, please explore the rest of the website for that stuff. What about the blog? Well, science can be hard, slow and often quite frustrating (at least if you are doing it right!). So, we need to occasionally take the time to celebrate achievements, big and small. Members of our group include students and fellows, and so we may be celebrating papers being published, grants funded, graduations, promotions, etc.
Second, we will try to give some insight into what it is like to be a scientist in academia. It is not going to be highly technical (read our papers for that!) but more tuned to those who might be considering this alternative lifestyle. Fortunately, it can be a very fun and satisfying career, especially since your research group becomes like a second family.
Since the lab has been functioning since 1990, there is a bit of catching up to do. To summarize the past 25 years, we started out originally at the University of Pittsburgh, then moved in 1995 to Albert Einstein in "da Bronx", and then moved down here to the upper east side of Manhattan in 2006. I hope that you get to know many of the lab members through this blog.
A few recent publications need to be highlighted. Su-Yi Tsai's paper was recently published in Stem Cell Reports, where she describes how she discovered a way to make an important cardiac cell type from embryonic stem cells. This represents over two years of work and could only be done through collaboration with Shuibing Chen's laboratory here at WCMC and also our colleague Dr. Glenn Fishman at the NYU Medical School. We collaborate quite often, so get used to these shout-outs. Also, Miriam Gordillo's extensive review of liver development was published in Development, in collaboration with Dr. Valerie Gouon-Evans from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Great work everyone!!
We will supply links to these papers in our publication page (the website is currently being updated by Emily Mercer who is now officially our web-czarina). Thanks so much Em! BTW, when people are mentioned in the blog, you are meant to go find them in the "people" section of the website! Go ahead!
As a scientist it is not unusual to travel for work. I had the recent opportunity to visit Helsinki Finland, as an invited speaker for the University's Graduate School Symposium. It is a lovely city and a fun event. One of the things I noticed was how you can walk, jog, or bike everywhere, and the large sidewalks always have lanes marked off for safety. For example, walking lanes always show a large graphic of an adult and young person holding hands and walking. I wish I had taken a picture of it to show you, but I really liked it because it reminds you to stay out of the bike lane (which could otherwise be deadly) and it also reminds you that it should be perfectly normal for parents and kids to be out walking around together. Its a nice idea. I failed to snap a photo of that, but maybe someone can do that for me and I'll load it to the blog. Little help??
Meanwhile, I did snap a photo of a salmon appetizer, shown below with salmon done three ways. I bet you didn't expect to see this in a science blog, eh? Well, it turns out that they have discovered many many ways to do salmon in Finland, so I tried as many of them as I could.
Coming up next: Lab picnic later this week in Central Park. Injury report to follow. Todd
Salmon three ways Helsinki Finland June 2015
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