The F factor

Got this interesting question from new scientist book I read recently.

Please read this sentence and count the Fs:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Ten simple rules for ...

a series of open access papers maybe of interest, I got it quite a while ago, read it and find it useful. You can refer to the paper below and references there in.

http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030213

Topics of interest are such as:-

Bourne PE (2005) Ten simple rules for getting published. PLoS Comp Biol 1: e57. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0010057.

Bourne PE, Chalupa LM (2006) Ten simple rules for getting grants. PLoS Comp Biol 2: e12. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0020012.

Bourne PE, Korngreen A (2006) Ten simple rules for reviewers. PLoS Comp Biol 2: e110. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0020110.

Bourne PE, Friedberg I (2006) Ten simple rules for selecting a postdoctoral position. PLoS Comp Biol 2: e121. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0020121.

Vicens Q, Bourne PE (2007) Ten simple rules for a successful collaboration. PLoS Comp Biol 3: e44. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030044.

Bourne PE (2007) Ten simple rules for making good oral presentations. PLoS Comp Biol 3: e77. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030077.

Erren TC, Bourne PE (2007) Ten simple rules for a good poster presentation. PLoS Comp Biol 3: e102. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030102.

good luck, happy sunday

#1Mejabulat discussion

Refer to our PM's tweet recently:
"Johan Merican of TalentCorp leads this week's discussion - future careers for Msians. I hope u participate. bit.ly/qIAuzb #1Mejabulat"

My views as follow:-

Going to share view on this week's 1Mejabulat discussion rgding future careers for Msians.Soli if contaminate ur tweet/fb. U can remove me if u wish

#1Mejabulat to attract talents,it's not about tax incentives/pr ship only, it's about the working culture/facilities provided.

#1Mejabulat if you put good people into poor system, you'll end up poor result,reduce red tape in grant application/career promotion will be great,

#1Mejabulat Should gv> allocation from GDP,previous budget showed RM 400million for R&D out of nation's $200billion GDP,merely 0.065%

#1Mejabulat developed countries focused on knowledge economy, not in mega tower: Sweden,korea,japan,finland spent>3% of GDP on R&D;USA,Spore,Germany>2.5%;UK>1.8%.China~3-5%

#1Mejabulat should foster innovative since high school,we should aim "barangan ciptaan msia" instead of "barangan buatan msia",

#1Mejabulat should establish world class research institute to offer more career options,recruit talents who prefer to do research than academia career, e.g. BGI(China),MaxPlank(Germany)etc.

#1Mejabulat state of the art facilities in research should follow by high standard of maintenance.

#1Mejabulat establish talent exchange program, encourage global collaboration

#1Mejabulat identify key research area and work on it! often we have fancy plan but end with nothing,e.g. Where's the Bio valley launched by pak lah?

#1Mejabulat encourage career in science,high prospect jobs are not doctor,lawyer only.

#1Mejabulat engagement between high school and university,I.e. Science fair, career talk, organize uni/lab visit,

#1Mejabulat placement/interns let students have chance to engage in lab activities

#1Mejabulat often local scientists have funding probs,host world class science conference in Malaysia,good chance for home scientist to exchange idea

#1Mejabulat encourage basic research, that's where novel idea come from.Also researchers working abroad mostly engage in basic research, that's the reason they can't carry out good works when come back to msia.

#1Mejabulat soft skills development and various transferable skills training+ career advice to uni students

#1Mejabulat courses offered by uni should meet job demand, few years ago "false hope" of biotech by the gov policy led to many biosciences graduates, but few related jobs available

#1Mejabulat after all, without fair and transparent policies, all these not going to work

#1Mejabulat if talents recruitment is merit based, please ensure all agencies, gov. servants really follow it, shouldn't have race based agenda

#1Mejabulat increase no.of PhD in the country is counter productive if we don't have the job market for them&if their quality is sub-standard

#1Mejabulat our edu syst is too result oriented and too much focus on academic. Often students don't have sufficient exposure to career world-> romanticize job prospect with their study

#1Mejabulat Would be good if in their final uni year, there's job talk from people working in the field related to their course

100 important questions in plant science research

I have opportunity to read a recent publication in the New Phytologist entitled "One hundred important questions facing plant science research", it is an open access paper (you can download freely from Internet without subscription) available at:

One hundred important questions facing plant science research - Grierson - 2011 - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library: http://bit.ly/o7VC1Z

These questions are grouped into 5 categories: society, environment & adaptation, species interaction, understanding & utilizing plant cells and diversity.

From my opinion, this is a well written thought provoking paper. It addressed questions and challenges facing in plant science research, and the needs to incorporate multi disciplinary approach. There is no rocket science in this paper, no extensive used of jargon, it's readable and comprehensible to anyone who has completed pre-u biology, a-level or stpm degree.

In oriental culture, students or parents tend do choose / encourage to pursue field which are regarded as high prospect like law, medicine, accountancy,pharmacy etc. Hopefully this paper will increase our awareness on the significance of plant science research and enhance our appreciation to plants. Also, hope this paper can encourage more people to involve in plant science research (according to my previous master supervisor, only 10% bioscience researchers are involved in plant science research!)

The following questions are my favorite pick:

How do we ensure that society appreciates the full importance of plants?

How can we attract the best young minds to plant science so that they can address Grand Challenges facing humanity such as climate change, food security, and fossil fuel replacement?

How can we translate our knowledge of plant science into food security?
Which plants have the greatest potential for use as biofuels with the least effects on biodiversity, carbon footprints and food security?

How can we use plant science to prevent mal-nutrition?

How can we use knowledge of plants and their properties to improve human health?

How can we translate our knowledge of plant science into food security?

What are the best ways to control invasive species including plants, pests and pathogens?

Can we increase crop productivity without harm-ing biodiversity?

 

Hope you enjoy reading this paper;)

Syst.Bio workshop

Attended CPIB Summer School: Mathematical Modelling for Biologists at Nottingham university recently. The Programme is as follows:-


Day 1: Data, Networks and Models
Day 2: Multi-variable models
Day 3: Parameter estimation and sensitivity; Stochastic models
Day 4: Multicellular modelling

More info please visit their website at

http://www.cpib.ac.uk/events/cpib-summer-school/

Definitely, this is a good introductory course for biology background researchers who want to discover or would like to expose to syst bio related research.

Also, I take this opportunity to explore the campuse.