About me/this blog

I am a molecular biologist by training (mainly interested in genetics/genomics), and former goddess of small laboratory equipment, although my career has taken me away from the bench. I currently work as Scientific Coordinator at a Max-Planck-Institute in Germany, but consider myself a citizen of Europe, with roots in Hungary, the UK, and Germany. As a postdoc I also worked in France and the US.

This blog contains my ideas and musings about the scientific life, including the ups and downs that accompany this mobile lifestyle. The blog title symbolises what I would like this blog to be about: how much of biological research is basic and yet simultaneously might have applied uses, how young biologists therefore often have to straddle the divide between these two worlds, and also how we can (and do) leave our Ivory Tower from time to time, and partake in science communication, thus building a public understanding of our work.

In my free time I translate and subtitle talks for TED and Scientific American. And I am one of the co-founders of the LilBUBome, a crowdfunded, open science project that aims to sequence the genome of Lil BUB, an “internet celebrity” cat with very special looks.

Comments and feedback are always welcome!

E-mail: usymmons[at]yahoo[dot]com

Twitter: @usymmons