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

The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

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’ : https://jennyrohn.com/honestlook
• Her third novel ‘Cat Zero’ : https://jennyrohn.com/catzero
• Barbara Kingsolver : http://barbarakingsolver.net/books/
• Carl Djerassi : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Djerassi
• Allegra Goodman : https://allegragoodman.com/
• John William Waterhouse : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse

To find out more about Jenny visit her website or follow her on Twitter

• https://jennyrohn.com/
• https://twitter.com/jennyrohn
• Orcid : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8766-6056
• https://www.instagram.com/jennifer.rohn.3/

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/