The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre

Science

Education

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/44d. Total Eps: 42

The Lonely Pipette is a podcast where scientists share tips to help you do better science. The episodes include conversations with researchers around the world. Renaud Pourpre and Jonathan Weitzman will talk to inspiring people to learn about their habits and recommendations for all scientists. Don’t stay alone, come join The Lonely Pipette community!

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇫🇷 France - lifeSciences
17/08/2026
#69
🇺🇸 USA - lifeSciences
15/08/2026
#82
🇫🇷 France - lifeSciences
15/08/2026
#93
🇫🇷 France - lifeSciences
14/08/2026
#75
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
19/07/2026
#97
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
18/07/2026
#86
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
17/07/2026
#75
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
16/07/2026
#62
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
15/07/2026
#53
🇩🇪 Germany - lifeSciences
14/07/2026
#49

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette
12 shares
https://www.harvard.edu/
6 shares
https://www.upenn.edu/
6 shares

https://twitter.com/LePourpre
104 shares
https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
101 shares
https://twitter.com/amariamusique
14 shares

https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/
102 shares
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20
89 shares
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/
7 shares

RSS feed quality and score

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RSS feed quality

Good

Score global : 72%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

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TLP #31 : A recipe for resilience - Alicia Rojas Araya

Season 3 · Episode 5

Monday, July 29, 2024 • Duration 01:02:02

This month Alicia Rojas tells us about her journey from Costa Rica to Israel and back, in search of pathogens and parasites

Alicia shares the personal difficulties of being far from home and how she missed family and food
She reflects on coming back to Costa Rica to explore its rich biodiversity
She recalls the challenges of returning from a luxurious postdoc at the Weizmann Institute to setting up her own lab in Costa Rica during a pandemic
She discusses the need to be resilient and creative and build collaborations
She is proud to be “doing the best we can with the limited resources we have”
As a mentor, she stresses that every student is different and she tries to keep a helicopter-view of everything that is going on
Alicia gets up really early to complete work and make time for her family in the afternoon
She recommends to finish one task before you start the next one

She mentioned these labs, scientists and institutions
University of Costa Rica : https://www.ucr.ac.cr/
Hebrew University of Jerusalem : https://en.huji.ac.il/
Neta Regev-Rudzki laboratory : https://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biomolecular_Sciences/regev/
Weizmann Institute of Science: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/
Research Center for Tropical Diseases. : http://www.ciet.ucr.ac.cr/en/about-ciet

To find out more about Alicia visit these links
Alicia’s lab : https://www.thetropicalwormlab.com/
Alicia’s LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-rojas-30215b1aa/
On Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetropicalwormlab_ucr/
On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thetropicalwormlabUCR/

You want to support our work ? Buy us a coffee ! ==> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lonelypipette

To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan :

Twitter : https://twitter.com/LePourpre
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaudpourpre/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/Epigenetique
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanweitzman/%20

More about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/

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TLP #30 : Don't hypothesize, just observe - Hans Clevers

Season 3 · Episode 4

Tuesday, June 25, 2024 • Duration 58:41

This month Hans Clevers talks to us about his productive career and his pioneering work on organoid technologies.

Hans admits that he initially found biology frustrating and disappointing

But then he learnt to enjoy the rare spark of excitement from discoveries
He managed to get his PhD in just one year!
You need to trust yourself and learn to share with others
Hans warns new group leaders not to expect too much from younger colleagues
It’s important to give your students their own space
He paints a metaphoric image of research - Push against the dark wall until the window opens on a new valley
His search for stem cells in the gut led his lab to develop organoid approaches and 3D culture technologies
Hans describes his unexpected move to Roche and “large pharma”
He describes his role bridging the gap between scientists and industry leadership
Hans talks about the benefits of interacting with artists
He warns about being too attached to your hypothesis and the importance of being wrong

He mentioned these labs, institutions and companies

Roche Pharma R&D (pRED): https://www.roche.com/innovation/structure/pred
Utrecht University : https://www.uu.nl/en
Dana Farber Cancer Institute : https://www.dana-farber.org/
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences : https://www.knaw.nl/en
Cox Terhorst : https://immunologyphd.hms.harvard.edu/people/cox-terhorst

To find out more about Hans visit these links
X-Twitter https://x.com/hansclevers?lang=en
Hubrecht Institute
https://www.hubrecht.euWikipedia pageUtrecht UniversityGoogle Scholar

TLP #21 : Find your own way - Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil

Season 2 · Episode 11

Wednesday, February 22, 2023 • Duration 01:17:41

This week, Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil tells us about her passion for science interfacing with physics and her journey from Santiago to Paris

Ana-Maria was inspired from a very young age by her namesake Ana-Maria Lenon
She quickly left genetics because ‘DNA doesn't move enough’
She stresses that every Principal Investigator needs to find their own way and warns against trying to imitate others
Ana-Maria feels that the biggest mistake is to think that everyone in the lab is like you (instead of appreciating how different they might be)
She stresses the need for optimized communication in the lab and the need to clearly articulate expectations
She learnt the hard way that ‘management is not natural’
Ana-Maria laughs about the fact that she was too short to be a chemist
She describes the challenges of finding a common language in interdisciplinary research collaborations
She also insists on the role of parents in giving confidence to girls at an early age to become scientists

She mentioned these institutions, researchers and resources

Pasteur Institute : https://www.pasteur.fr/en
Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/
Curie Institute : https://institut-curie.org/
European Research Council (ERC) : https://erc.europa.eu/homepage
Hidde Ploegh : https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/ploegh-lab-research/hidde-ploegh
Catherine Alcaide : https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-alcaide-5b165856/
Matthieu Piel : https://curie.fr/personne/matthieu-piel
Guillaume Dumenil :

TLP #20 : Have you tried multi-plexing ? - George Church

Season 2 · Episode 10

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 • Duration 01:07:03

In this episode, we talk to George Church about his successful career in DNA repair and his entrepreneurial adventures translating research findings into biotech companies

George proudly describes himself as a biologist-engineer
He ponders whether his dyslexia may have helped him by making him realize he was different from others when he was growing up
He looks for projects in ‘exponential fields’ that combine pure scientific interest, technology breakthroughs and bring societal benefit.
George cautions against using the word ‘impossible’
He talks about how he has contributed to scientific and technology revolutions
He emphasizes the important of considering ethics, safety and security at the outset of ambitious science projects
George remembers how he reacted to having his genome sequenced and speculates about the future of digital genomics and NFTs
When recruiting, he looks for people that are ‘nice’ and have deep knowledge in at least two different fields
George gets up at 4:30 a.m. and his head is immediately whizzing with new ideas
He tells us how much he learns from his grandchildren (and even mends their party dresses)

He mentioned these projects, institutions, companies

Harvard Medical School : https://hms.harvard.edu/
Duke University: https://duke.edu/
Harvard University : https://www.harvard.edu/
NIH Brain Initiative : https://braininitiative.nih.gov/
NIH Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) : https://www.genome.gov/Funded-Programs-Projects/Centers-of-Excellence-in-Genomic-Science
Wyss Institute : https://wyss.harvard.edu/
Personal Genomes :

TLP #19 : “Should I stay or should I go?” - Jenny Rohn

Season 2 · Episode 9

Tuesday, January 24, 2023 • Duration 01:10:47

In this episode, we talk with the multi-talented Jenny Rohn about her journey zig-zagging from academia to a biotech-startup, to science publishing and then back into academia.

She tells us about her unconventional path and how she decided to go to a start-up and then come back to academic research
She made long, agonizing lists about pros and cons of leaving or staying in academia
This period of indecision led her to start writing novels
Jenny admits that it was not easy to get back on to an academic path
She warns people against giving negative advise and she always tries to be honest, but positive feedback
Jenny says that In the ‘old days’ there used to be a myth that there was only one way to do science. She says that somewhere in the ‘90s there was a shift but it took a while for the old-guard to notice.
“Do not ever turn away from an opportunity to network. You need to get out and talk to people”
She tells us how she came up with the idea of ‘lab-lit’ and recommends some of her favourites
“If you want to be a writer… you need to write a lot and read a lot”
Jenny shares her thoughts about the place of narrative in scientific writing

She mentioned these labs, resources and lab-lit authors

University College London (UCL) : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/
The Lab Lit website : http://lablit.com/
Science is Vital : https://scienceisvital.org.uk/
Jenny’s blog ‘Mind The Gap’ : https://occamstypewriter.org/mindthegap/
White Coats At Dawn on the Cosmic Shambles network : https://cosmicshambles.com/words/blogs/jennyrohn
Her first novel ‘Experimental Heart’ : https://jennyrohn.com/exheart
Her second novel ‘The Honest Look’ :

TLP #18 : Why do we go to conferences? - Jean-Léon, Rita, Mariaceleste, Tim

Season 2 · Episode 8

Tuesday, January 10, 2023 • Duration 43:45

Get ready for 2023 ! In this special episode, we're going to change the narrative. We're going to dive into this original narrative-interview with 4 scientists who experienced an original meeting with us. Invited by Jean-Leon Maître in the south of France at the fondation Les Treilles, are you ready to ask yourself why you go to science conferences?

Our special guests are :

Jean-Léon Maître, the organizer of the meeting, CNRS research director at the Institut Curie, at Paris, France
Rita Mateus, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (TUD) in Dresden, Germany.
Mariaceleste Aragona, associate professor and group leader of the tissue architecture lab at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Tim Saunders, associate professor and group leader of an interdisciplinary group of the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology at Warwick University in England.

This episode is linked to an article published by Jean-Léon Maître on The Node : https://thenode.biologists.com/present-and-future-of-quantitative-developmental-biology-in-les-treilles/events/

Note : The constraints of this episode allowed us to focus only on small-scale conferences. It goes without saying that none of the guests, nor we, think that this format should replace the classic meeting format which has other advantages. This episode only aims to bring a new perspective on how we interact as scientists. Small-scale formats are a way to inspire other ways of connecting the scientific community.

We thanks Jean-Léon Maître and the Fondation Les Treilles for the invitation.

To find out more about the guests :

Jean-Léon Maître : https://institut-curie.org/team/maitre

TLP #17 : Brothers in arms : building a collective grant-writing community - Matthew Weitzman

Season 2 · Episode 7

Tuesday, December 6, 2022 • Duration 01:06:07

This week we have a surprise treat - a conversation with Jonathan’s twin brother, Matt. He discusses his energetic commitment to mentoring and grant-writing workshops. They share their genetics, but also a desire to “help scientists do better science”

Matthew comments on the usefulness of healthy competition in science
Matt compares the joy of running a lab to cooking in the kitchen
He loves the flexibility of science and constantly stimulated by interactions with colleagues and young scientists and new ideas
Matt makes a strong argument for peer-to-peer mentoring, cascade mentoring and seizing constant casual mentoring opportunities
He comments on the advantages of going to a small lab for graduate school and he advises students to look carefully at the type of scientific questions, the environment of the lab and the chemistry of the PI/mentor relationship
Matt describes his pioneering Grant Proposal Success (GPS) grant-writing program and the importance of collective, grant-writing communities. Matt dissects the grant structure and tells us what funding committees are looking for
He suggests that staggering projects and having work at different stages can help to integrate life and manage the lab

He mentioned these institutions :

University of Leeds, UK : https://www.leeds.ac.uk/
University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) : https://www.chop.edu/
National Institutes of Health (NIH) : https://www.nih.gov/
Salk Institute for Biological Studies : https://www.salk.edu/
University of California San Diego : https://ucsd.edu/

To find out more about Matt visit his website or follow him on Twitter :
https://twitter.com/WeitzmanLab:

TLP #16 : Campaigning to change the culture - Ashani Weeraratna

Season 2 · Episode 6

Tuesday, November 22, 2022 • Duration 58:04

This week, we talk with Ashani Weeraratna about her inspiring path from apartheid South Africa to director, professor and activist.

Ashi cites good advice that she remembers “ read voraciously … and be engaged with the literature”
She insists that mentoring is all about the trainees and hearing their individual needs
Ashi believes that diversity of thought needs diversity of population and stresses the importance of welcoming different groups into the lab
For her, representation matters and it is key to achieving full equity
She also comments on the importance of the microenvironment (for cancer cells and for researchers)
She shares her thoughts about juggling a life in two cities
And she encourages us to remember that “the most important trait is kindness”
And Ashi concludes by telling us to enjoy the journey

She mentioned these institutions, people and resources

St. Mary's College of Maryland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_College_of_Maryland
George Washington University : https://www.gwu.edu/
Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center : https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/
National Institutes of Health : https://www.nih.gov/
Wistar Institute : https://wistar.org/
University of Pennsylvania : https://www.upenn.edu/
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health : https://publichealth.jhu.edu/
National Cancer Institute : https://www.cancer.gov/
Steven Patierno : https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/steven-patierno

TLP #15 : Enjoy the journey - André Choulika

Season 2 · Episode 5

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 • Duration 52:44

In this episode, we speak with André Choulika about his exciting journey from a bench scientist to a biotech entrepreneur taking genomic engineering to the clinic

André shares his fascination about the logic of biological systems and his admiration for experimentalists
“You can always do something else if it fails” insists André
André stresses that the boss has to take responsibilities for decisions
“You don’t hire people to tell them what to do, but they should tell you what needs to be done”
“Cash is more important than your mother”(we hope Andre’s mother isn’t listening)
“Success has thousands of fathers but failure is lonely” (lonelier than a pipette!)
André is modest about success; “None of us are VIPs” and he insists that the people who wash the dishes are as important as the CEO of the company
He describes the collective contributions and the shared success that characterize the biotech industry
For André “Leadership is more important than management”
He insists that a successful meeting is one than lasts less time than allocated

He mentioned these labs, scientists, institutions and companies

Richard Mulligan : https://genetics.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/richard-charles-mulligan
Institut Pasteur : https://www.pasteur.fr/en
Maxime Schwartz : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxime_Schwartz
Margaret Buckingham : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Buckingham
HEC Business School : https://www.hec.edu/en
New England Biolabs (NEB) : https://international.neb.com/
Steve Jobs : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

TLP #14 : How to get good at failing - Jen Heemstra

Season 2 · Episode 4

Monday, October 24, 2022 • Duration 01:10:53

In this episode, we step beyond the life sciences to talk with Jen Heemstra, a professor of chemistry who brings much energy to thinking about mentoring and improving academic culture

Jen tells us how early failures drove her to strive for success in science
She shares how she overcame early doubts about an academic career
She talks about how different students need different mentoring styles and how important it is to adjust each time
She admits that she is so excited about all her roles that she struggles with focusing and setting priorities
Great teams are made up of people with different perspectives and different ways of seeing the world - and they are a group of equals
Jen has a lot of thoughts about how to embrace failing and taking comfort from failures
She thinks it’s important to recognize cognitive distortions to overcome imposter syndrome narratives
Jen shares personal thoughts about her approach to self care practices and to improving academic culture for others
Don’t make your decisions based on other people’s expectations

She mentioned these institutions, people and resources

Washington University in St Louis : https://chemistry.wustl.edu/people/jennifer-heemstra
Emory University : https://www.emory.edu/
Jen’s Blog - Things that change the way I think : http://thingsthatchangethewayithink.blogspot.com/
Lynn Hill : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hill

To find out more about Jen visit her website or follow her on Twitter
https://chemistry.wustl.edu/people/jennifer-heemstra
https://www.heemstralab.com/To find out more about Renaud :

The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Twitter27

LinkedIn11

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Twitter27

LinkedIn11

Apple Podcasts

Spotify