Melissa Walker
Articles by Melissa Walker:
Turn a Smartphone into a Digital Microscope for Only 3 Cents
Want to build your own microscope for almost nothing? You probably already have most of the tools that you need right in your lab or at home! If you have a smartphone, then you already have the camera for your new microscope!
How 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…
7 Types of Software Apps You NEED in Your (Science) Life
Technology has advanced to the point that most of us check our phones the first thing every morning. Software apps allow us to have technology at our fingertips throughout our daily lives. But, what about our science lives? Yes, apps are just as useful for our science lives! Here are 10 that caught my eye.…
7 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…
Early Career Stage Funding – Advice for Graduate Students and Post-Docs
Are you stressing about applying for grant funding early on in your career? Are you worrying about lack of preliminary data or lack of experience in your current field? Here are some tips that can help. Why Apply at an Early Stage of Your Career? All of your experiences build upon each other to strengthen…
Need a Few More Hours in the Day? Here Are Some Timesaving Tips
Are you constantly looking for ways to squeeze more lab hours out of the day? Here are some timesaving tips that can help. Figure out Where Your Time Goes Not sure where you are losing those valuable hours? Use a website like Toggl to help you keep track of your time. This will make it…
Advocacy for Scientists – Why and How
Advocating for the research that scientists perform is important. Your advocacy helps politicians and the general public understand why funding is needed. In fact, many funding agencies require a disease to be associated with the research, because citizens and politicians do not typically care to fund projects unless they foresee a cure or treatment. Scientific advocacy…
Can You Stand the Cold? Cryosectioning for Beginners
Before you can perform histology on your tissue samples – you need to prep them. This means you must fix them, embed them and section them into thin slices for analysis. A great way to slice your tissues is cryosectioning. But cryosectioning is not so great when it your tissues melt, fold, curl, wrinkle, tear,…
How to Avoid Feeling Isolated During Graduate School
Try to recall the last time you were not alone in the lab at 11pm on a Friday night running an experiment. If you found that to be difficult, then this article is definitely for you. Here are ways to avoid feeling isolated during your Ph.D. studies. Build a Network of Friends and Colleagues Building a…
