Bioscience Mastery
Teach Yourself Python: A Guide for Biologists
Automate almost everything by learning Python. Discover why Python is a useful language for Biologists and discover how you can teach yourself!
Read MoreScience Housekeeping Tasks to Tackle When You Aren’t in the Lab
Working away from the bench doesn’t mean your research has to suffer. Read more on how to take advantage of time away from the lab so you can return better than ever.
Read MoreExcelling With Excel: Analytical Method Validation Using LOD and LOQ
Don’t be fooled by bad data. Make sure your results are reliable with this quick guide to determining LOQ and LOD in Excel.
Read MoreTime Blocking for Productivity in a Busy Lab
How can you tackle work when it seems daunting or even impossible to know what will happen and when? Take things one bite at a time and try time blocking!
Read MoreHow to Maintain Motivation in the Lab During an Existential Crisis
How does one maintain the motivation to get out of the bed, do all the lab work, bear the supervisor and the colleagues one doesn’t gel with, and also maintain personal life? Here are a few ways to deal with stress and maintain motivation.
Read MoreUnder Pressure: How to Stay Sane in a Publish-Or-Perish World
Working in a lab can be stressful—experiments, grants, coursework …oh my! Here are some tips for staying sane when you feel like the pressure is driving you crazy.
Read MoreFrom Dull to Catchy: How to Transfigure Your Manuscripts
When you are an avid reader, you can’t help but find similarities between your research and favorite novels. Here are some ways you can cite or quote your favorite fiction author(s) in your manuscript and make it more memorable.
Read MoreHow to Reduce Your Use of Animal Products in the Lab
Did you know that there are many alternatives to the animal-derived products we use in the lab? Read more for how and why you might want to make the switch.
Read MoreKeep Calm and Spin On: The Whats and Whys of Centrifugation
Don’t let centrifugation scare you. Learn how to properly balance, when to use the brake and what the difference is between RCF and RPM!
Read MoreVideo Conferencing Services for Scientists
If to you Zoom is just a feature on a camera and BlueJeans is what you wear to work, then let us enlighten you.
Read MoreThe Meditative Scientist: The Nitty-Gritty of Cultivating Awareness
Are you frazzled? Constantly rushing from task to task? Stop and learn how cultivating awareness can make you calmer and happier in the lab.
Read MoreHow to Optimise Your Intern
Are you mentoring an intern and nervous about how to be a good boss? This quirky and offbeat article has got some great tips!
Read MoreThe Tidy Lab: An In-Depth Guide
Want to organize and tidy your lab? Read this detailed guide to a clutter-free and stress-free lab.
Read MoreHow to Publish Negative Results (And Everything Else in Your Lab Notebook)
Get your data out here! Learn about several venues that publish solid data, even if they don’t support your hypothesis or tell a story.
Read MoreOnline Learning Resources for Scientists Working From Home
From bad weather to rail strikes or global pandemics, there are several reasons you may find yourself working from home. After writing up any outstanding grant proposals or papers, reviewing the literature, and perusing the endless field of coronavirus news updates, what’s a scientist to do? Brush up on your non-lab skills, of course! We…
Read MoreHow to Prepare for Working From Home as a Research Scientist
Are you facing working from home? Find out how to prepare and stay productive.
Read MoreWhat is a DOI and Why Should You Care?
DOIs got you confused? Find out what they are and how to use them.
Read MoreThe Happy Scientist presents The Art of Going Slow
The Happy Scientist presents The Art of Going Slow Nick Oswald Kenneth Vogt While Bitesize Bio has always been your favorite mentor in the lab, and we have also helped you with soft skills to enhance your career, we realized something was missing. That’s why we are now sponsoring a webinar series called The Happy…
Read MoreScientists Working from Home – Practicalities and Wellbeing
Scientists Working from Home – Practicalities and Wellbeing Nick Oswald Kenneth Vogt Laura Grassie In this webinar you will learn: Further perspectives and strategies for effective home working, from Bitesize Bio staff who have being doing so for years Ideas on maintaining productivity and focus Advice on looking after your mental and physical wellbeing during…
Read MoreOut With the Old: New PubMed Search Tips
PubMed has had a makeover. Find out where your favorite features have moved to and what’s changed in this shiny new version.
Read MoreShare Your Samples at a Reagent Repository
Have you got a plasmid that others are begging to use? Perhaps your cell line is in high demand? We’ll show how using a repository can take the hassle out of sharing your reagents.
Read More10 Ideas for Researchers Working from Home
Working from home but don’t have a garage lab? We’ve got 10 ideas to keep you productive while you’re working away from the bench.
Read MoreThe Art of Working from Home, for Scientists
The Art of Working from Home, for Scientists Nick Oswald Kenneth Vogt Laura Grassie The current restrictions that are in place due to COVID-19 mean that many scientific researchers will be working from home for some time. Maintaining focus, morale and productivity without a social workplace structure is easier said than done. Working from home…
Read MoreTalking When Terrified: Tips for a Nervous Presenter
When I was in school, I absolutely hated giving talks. I was a really nervous presenter, my heart would start beating faster, my face would go red, my hands would shake…even my voice would tremble! Since then I’ve made some big breakthroughs, and now I absolutely love giving talks and lectures. Here are my top…
Read MoreHow to Read a Scientific Paper Efficiently
We show you how to read a scientific paper efficiently, so you can make the most of your reading time.
Read MoreHow to Share Your Lab Protocols and Why It Benefits You
Reproducibility is a cornerstone of scientific research and your results need to be reproducible not only by yourself but also by others, both in and outside of your laboratory. This reproducibility is key for validation of your results as well as to further expand on the knowledge gained during the experiment. In order to accurately…
Read MoreDIY Centrifugation-Based Purification of cfDNA
We’ve created an alternative, centrifugation-based method for the purification of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) that utilizes a benchtop clinical centrifuge.
Read MoreHow to Write an Effective Lab Protocol
We’ve all been there. You’re looking to replicate a result you have read in a paper, or maybe even one that has come from someone else in your own lab. But try as you might, you can’t get your head around the less than effective lab protocol that’s been provided. Or, worse still, you are…
Read MoreHow to Organize Your Lab Space for Better Productivity
The physical arrangement of a laboratory can have a strong effect on a bioscientist’s efficiency; those extra steps and seconds of time can really add up! Here is a compilation of tips to help you organize your lab space to minimize inefficiencies and maximize your productivity in the lab. Organize Your Lab Space with Stations…
Read MoreThe How and Why of Limit of Detection
When developing an assay, whether it is for basic research or for use in diagnostics, you will often be asked about your assay’s sensitivity. This is perhaps one of the most important performance characteristics you can determine for an assay, and in regulated work, such as in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development and clinical diagnostics, it…
Read MoreTips for Choosing Your Lab Notebook Pen (and Why You Need to Choose Carefully)
Keeping a meticulous lab record of your experiments is a necessity. And it’s drilled into us to back up our computers, including backups stored in different locations to ensure vital records don’t get lost. But how do we protect the hard copy information in our lab books? You may not have given much thought previously…
Read MoreUse ddRAD-seq to Study Non-Model Organisms
Reduced-representation genome sequencing has been one of the most important advances in the last several years for enabling massively parallel genotyping of organisms for which there is no reference-grade genome assembly. An implementation of the approach known as ddRAD-seq, first conceived in the Hoekstra lab at Harvard, has been widely adopted by the plant and…
Read MoreHow Scientific Researchers Can Write Effective Emails
Have you ever found yourself wondering why your emails don’t get quite the response you expect? Or no response at all? It is very easy to overlook the importance of constructing clear and concise emails that deliver the right message. In this article, we’ll cover key aspects of emails for your purposes as a scientist.…
Read MoreStruggles of a Life Scientist
Working late nights or weekends in the lab—we’ve all been there. Why isn’t your cell culture considerate enough to get to exponential phase during normal business hours, anyway? Maybe you just need utter peace and quiet while you pipette hundreds of wells worth of stinky beta-mercaptoethanol. Or perhaps you’re using your wealth of microbiology knowledge…
Read MoreHow to Get a Scientific Research Job in the US (If You Are Coming from Elsewhere)
Growing up in Australia, I remember a common phrase: ‘only in America’. Sometimes this was in reference to bizarre cultural events or phenomena but it was generally accepted that the USA was an extraordinary place, where everything was bigger, brighter, and more outrageous. America has fostered a culture of big ideas and innovation, partly because…
Read MoreWhat to Expect When Working with a Scientific Recruiter
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if someone helped you step-by-step through your job search? A good recruiter does exactly that! Recruiters provide value to job-seekers by reviewing resumes, finding jobs that may be a good fit, and providing interview tips. But how does that process work? In this article we’ll cover…
Read More7 Types of Software Apps You NEED in Your (Science) Life
Here we take you through 7 of the best science software apps that can save you time and money!
Read MoreHow to Marie Kondo Your Laboratory
Does your laboratory resemble the nest of an overly enthusiastic laboratory rat that went on a scavenger hunt and squirrelled away all that it has found? Do you find yourself playing Jenga with stacks of Petri dishes and freezer boxes? Have you ever attempted to decipher the meaning of the mysterious string of numbers on…
Read More7 Tips to Keeping Your Undergraduate Student Volunteers Interested in the Lab
Although we do our best to keep undergraduate students involved in experiments, they are often just in it for a letter of recommendation. Here are some ways to help them enjoy their lab experience and keep them invested in the projects. 1. Maintain Mutual Respect: The relationship between primary investigators (PI) and undergrads differs slightly…
Read MoreWhy Early Career Scientists Should Care about Mentoring Undergraduate Students
Let’s be honest: the mentoring of undergraduate students is sometimes the lowest on the list of priorities for a busy postdoctoral research fellow. Amidst experiments, research progress meetings, reviewing of literature, manuscript writing, grant applications, and convincing your PI to let you attend that conference in Hawaii, your undergraduate charges may be just mere afterthoughts.…
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