Total Internal Reflection @TIR_scienceblog@qoto.org
Total Internal Reflection (https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) is a blog about the human side of science, written by Brooke Morriswood.
Postings include commentary, and how-to guides for young scientists to improve their soft skills.
Joined Nov 2022
New posting! This is the annual look at some great #scientists and great #moustaches in honour of #Movember2023. This year's style winner comes from Japan 
A massive thanks to @batroelens for nominating a couple of 2023's style exemplars...
New posting! This is a short riff on the importance of scientific supply chains. The departure point is the coronavirus pandemic, and the way it illustrated the vital need to have a domestic supply chain to complement outsourcing. The same lesson, I think, is true to science training. Hope you like it!
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/11/26/scientific-supply-chains/
The outrageously talented
Oliver Hoeller hasn't contributed to TIR in a long while (
) but he does have a new book out - now all you budding artists and #sciart fans can learn some tips & tricks if you'd like to try sketching the world around you
https://oliverhoeller.com/store/Pack-Your-Sketches-Full-of-Life-p597163060
One week in to #Movember2023 and it's time to celebrate some more great scientists with great #moustaches! Here's Part II of the TIR Movember series. Anybody you'd like to nominate for the 2023 edition?
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2018/11/19/great-scientists-great-moustaches-pt-2-a-movember-posting/
#Movember2023 is under way! For those not in the know, the #Movember foundation raises awareness of #MentalHealth, #ProstateCancer, #TesticularCancer.
To tie in with the event, TIR has an annual posting of "Great scientists, great #moustaches", and 2023 will be no exception!
First though, let's take a look back at previous iterations in the series... Got someone you'd like to nominate? Let me know.
It's an oldie but a goodie, re-upping it for #Halloween2023 - the #9types of horror lab. Happy Hallowe'en! 
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/10/31/the-9-types-of-horror-lab/
New #posting! This one suggests that good #mentoring offers an escape to the #RedQueen problem faced by many (most? all?) contemporary group leaders in #academia. Hope you like it!
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/10/29/a-riposte-to-the-red-queens/
Naive #biochemistry question: how would you define the difference between a steady state and a futile cycle?
It's out! This paper (FA:
D.Schichler
, A.Konle), now out in
@J_Cell_Sci is very much the story of the Morriswood group; it was started by one of my 1st rotation students, ended by other undergrads prior to the group's closure.
Massive thanks to
@ReviewCommons for handling the #preprint #PeerReview process, & also
@J_Cell_Sci
@Co_Biologists for providing the best journal service I've ever encountered - rigorous, courteous, friendly, helpful. The paper is now also part of then#ForestOfBiologists initiative.
Also, don't forget that the "director's cut" is still available as a reviewed #preprint on
@biorxivpreprint here, where aficionados can dig a little deeper if they're interested:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.15.484455v2
Daja Schichler, Antonia Konle, Brooke Morriswood @TIR_scienceblog and colleagues discover that entry of surface bound cargo in the trypanosome flag...
"More and more bitter, self-pitying, repetitive" - a regular reader slams TIR's recent content (ouch!). Reminds me of a similar discussion I had nearly a year ago that inspired the following posting ()...it's certainly difficult balancing scientific wonder with structural commentary. But point taken; let's see if I can provide a bit more sunshine
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/11/17/a-letter-to-a-friend/
Interested in #mRNA and #trypanosomes? My dear (Tootless) friend Susanne Kramer has a #DFG-funded #PhD position available now in my old home of the University of Würzburg. Full details (including contact email) in the pic below
New posting! This one riffs on a few talking points from my latest (not quite my last!) paper, namely the role of #preprints in accelerating research and providing a "director's cut" of papers, how NOT to do #PeerReview, and the importance of involving #undergraduates in frontline research.
Highlighting another posting from one of the best new blogs I've come across. Jess' descriptions of #LeavingAcademia are heartfelt and will resonate strongly with those in a similar situation.
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/09/05/jess-is-on-a-break-the-first-30-days/
New posting! After #LeavingAcademia at the end of April, my "jobseeker" status lasted exactly 2 weeks in the end. As of Friday I have now started a new career direction in #MedComms - some thoughts on that in the posting
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/09/03/a-new-direction-the-switch-to-medcomms/
New posting! This is the latest instalment in the #MySciMoment series, in which #BIPOC/#BAME scientists talk not about their research, but about what inspired them to pursue a #career in #STEM.
Here, Ko-Fan Chen 陳克帆 (@kofanchen) discusses the accidental path that led from art to design to #Drosophila. Can you spot the pattern in the example he includes? (I couldn't).
If you'd like to contribute to this series, send me a message
I should also thank @steveroyle for drawing my attention to Bruno's book in the first instance - much appreciated!
New posting! It was an honour and an absolute pleasure talking with Bruno Lemaitre about the impact of #narcissism on #science.
Bruno discovered the role of the #Toll pathway in the #Drosophila immune response to fungal infections, but the #Nobel prize went to his postdoc boss, Jules Hoffmann.
Besides the interview, there's also a link for the FREE download of his book on the topic.
I would really like to do a 2nd iteration (& regular series) of this posting concept.
I'm looking for #BIPOC/#BAME scientists to share their stories not of what they do, but of what inspired them to follow a career in #STEM. Maybe a teacher? A friend of the family? A TV programme?
Message me/reply if interested. #MySciMoment
Advice needed! With regard to submission of revised,#peerreview #preprints (via @ReviewCommons), does anyone have experience of directly contacting journal editors with the bundle? (i.e. manuscript+figures+R2R+cover letter)
I ask because I'm unwilling to go through the tedious manual data entry (author names, work phone, fax [!!] number) that the
ReviewCommons transfer function appears to necessitate at journal websites.
I'm looking for a fast yes/no answer, and would rather do the tedious stuff later on. Fair enough, or am I being entitled? 
New posting! This one is a #HowTo guide on how NOT to start a research group in #academia - in other words, all the things that I wish I'd done differently or that I wish I'd been more aware of when I started back in 2015. I hope that helps anyone else out there taking their first steps in this direction! (And any comments/additions very welcome).
Total Internal Reflection (https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) is a blog about the human side of science, written by Brooke Morriswood.
Postings include commentary, and how-to guides for young scientists to improve their soft skills.
Joined Nov 2022
