00:12
Alright, so we were talking about what sort of like lab culture you wanted to create,
and we were just about to go on to talking about what I would like in a lab. Yeah, that's pretty
much, I mean, I might have talked about this already in some other episode, but I think I
shared a similar sentiment with you, Masako, in that I also would like sort of an environment where
people can talk freely, point out each other's mistakes, no problem, and that kind of thing.
Maybe on top of that, I would especially want shy people to be able to talk, because
I feel like that's sort of some of the most missed opportunities that happen in lab, especially
perhaps because I'm in a lab in America where sort of being able to speak up and being able
to be kind of like the loud voice in a meeting is almost part of the skill, and it's kind of
you are expected to become good at doing that, which is not, like a Japanese part of me still
feels like that I disagree with that, like just because you're the loudest person, just because
you're the most chatty person in a meeting doesn't mean you have a lot to contribute, and
I know so many people who are very quiet, very smart, doesn't say a lot, but when they do,
it means something, and I feel like if the lab can make these people feel more comfortable
to share their thoughts a bit more openly, a bit more freely, like that's when I know that
like it's a good lab, you know, like even a shy person can talk their mind. Yeah,
I think that's definitely one of them. Yeah, I also, you know, have this kind of Japanese
shy me always. Yeah, I feel like a lot of scientists are like, you know,
we're not really trained on public speaking. No, not at all, and I think I am a shy person
in nature, in general, so I'm not like the person who wants to, you know, stand out,
be, how do you say, 目立ちたがり屋? I'm not that kind of person. I want to,
03:09
yeah, I just want to do science, but not like, you know, 目立つ way.
Yeah, well, you kind of have to now that you're a PI, right? Exactly, yeah, I have to,
I have to, but that's because I have to. It's not because I want to. Yeah, I just want to do,
you know, I want to think about my science. I want to do data collection,
do analysis, write papers, but giving talks is not, I'm not, I don't think that's,
yeah, I'm not, it's hard to say, it's, I know that I have to, but still I'm not good at it.
Yeah, or something I, yeah. That is something that I am grateful that
this, like, American education had really drilled in me, like, whether you like it or not, you do
have to talk a lot, right, in, like, public seminars or in the meetings and stuff, like,
the expectation is there. So, yeah, but having said that, I don't like meetings for no reason.
I hate when there's just, like, a regular meeting that happens because that's the time that people
decided to do. Like, some weeks I have a lot of things to share and some things, some weeks I
don't, and I'm so grateful that my lab only do, like, what, there's maybe, like, 12 weeks in a
semester, and we are currently about six to eight people, so we only have to present, like, once
a semester, and that's, like, you know, plenty. And then we meet with bosses or team, like, the sub
team member individually as needed, but as a group meeting, it only happens, like, once a semester,
which, you know, you should have something to say once a semester. So, like, I'm so glad that it
doesn't happen too, too often, but I know that some other labs, they do, like, they schedule the
group meeting such that everyone has to give a, like, 15-20 minute talk every week or every other
week, and it's, like, do you have that much to talk about every week? Like, it's not guaranteed for me.
Yeah, so, like, yeah, it's, like, different labs do it differently, I guess, or, like,
I know some labs, they do, like, they have twice a week group meeting,
06:04
one for journal club, so they just talk about papers of other people and review,
and then one for, like, the actual lab group meeting. Sounds like a lot. Yeah, sounds like a lot.
Because my lab is still so small that we don't have to, you know,
set up, like, official lab meetings. We discuss every day, almost every day with each of the,
yeah, lab members. I still have that kind of time. Yeah, and also, I myself didn't like
meetings, and I still not, don't really, you know, like meetings. I'm not sure.
So, I try not to. It's so painful. It's so painful to sit through a group meeting when you know that the
person was like, oh, I just put this together last, like, last minute yesterday. Yeah, so,
I do, like, meetings, like, individual meetings with my lab members where we actually discuss a
lot of, you know, science, but I don't want to set up too many meetings just to have meetings.
Yeah, I don't think it works. Yeah, I did, like, so, I
I started doing this thing where, like, if I have, if I'm doing a meeting, a group meeting,
I try to make it, you know, not just about, like, look at what I've done, and kind of things.
I try to, like, have, like, every few slides, I have a question for the audience, like,
what do you think about this figure? Or, like, just so that, one, I want to avoid a situation
where I'm just, like, one-sided, giving a talk. And then, two, I also want to avoid the situation
where it's just a back and forth between me and my PI. It's like,
you know, so, I want to make sure that, like, people have a room to sort of, like, I provide,
I stopped my, I stopped my presentation to, like, do you guys have any question? Or, like,
I wanted your opinion on this. And, yeah, like, that's, that's sort of, like,
that's what I try to do. And I feel like it only takes, like, one person doing it
to, like, let everyone else in the lab know that, like, oh, like, that's a thing, like,
we are going to do this thing where, like, we make sure that people are participating in a meeting.
And I hope that, like, that kind of culture gets carried over. Because, like, I've been to some
09:05
of the, like, a bigger collaboration meeting where, like, student A is giving a talk about
the updates. And everyone else is, like, black screen. And, like, no one's, like, you know, no,
you can never tell if that person is, like, actually, other people are actually participating
in. And you're just talking to the black screen on zoom. This is so sad.
Yeah. So, yeah, in terms of the, like, love culture or environment,
do you have any thoughts on whether you want to be in a really large big lab or, like, small lab?
Oh, that's a good question. I've never been in a big lab in my entire life. So I don't know what
it's like. I know that, you know, if you go to Harvard, for instance, it's like, and if you work
for, like, Nobel laureates, they have one PI who is super famous, but have zero time for nobody. And
they have 10 postdocs each have their, like, mini lab of their own. And so, like, all together,
they're, like, 40 people. But it's actually just one lab. I've never been in that kind of lab. So
I wonder what it's like. If the postdoc is really good, I guess that might work. But I feel like
postdocs are more often than not under too much pressure to, like, very rarely, people have
enough bandwidth to be a productive scientist, as well as a good, like,
mentor, leader. Yeah, like, or like, good, good mentor. Yeah. So I don't know what it's like. I
like being in this small lab that I have right now. I never had an issue where, like, my PI
is inaccessible, like, right, you know, I can always reach him with email, he always responds
to me within, like, a day, at least. And he, I guess, pre COVID, he was traveling a lot
for conference and things. So that was like, oh, this month, he's only here for this week kind of
thing. But now that he's become more available since COVID, actually. So that's a plus for sure.
And I don't have to, like, sort of remind him what I what I was doing. You know,
we can just take a take, we can pick up where we left off. Yeah. Because, you know,
he only has five students or something. Okay, so he can keep track of it. So I like that about it,
12:03
I guess. But it's also been new. Like, I've never had postdoc in my entire grad school life until
this year. So oh, that's been Yeah, it's it's I think it's a pretty rare situation. Like most
everybody, I think, have interacted with postdocs to a certain capacity. But in my lab,
either we didn't have money, or we used the money for something else. And we never really
had postdoc until this year. And suddenly, we have two postdocs. And that's also been very
interesting. Yeah. Okay, so I think it's about time. Yeah, maybe we can also talk about,
yeah, like postdocs too. Because yeah, that's what I'm gonna be next. Okay. All right.
That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening and find us
at Eigo De Science on Twitter. That is E I G O D E S C I E N C E. See you next time.
