Category Archives: Commentaries

Commentaries on papers that have appeared in related areas. Particular attention is focused on patterning, self-organization and related aspects of ‘systems’ level studies that attempt an integration.

Pausing and Reflecting on iGEM with former Students

Posted on 11/02/2021 by Chaitanya

A recently organized workshop at Pune university virtually invited me to speak about iGEM and synthetic biology. It was an opportunity for me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while- have a dialogue with some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentaries, Synthetic biology, Synthetic biology, Teaching, iGEM | Comments Off

How to succeed at interviews for research positions

Posted on 25/02/2018 by Chaitanya

Given that we work in a research institute, it is often our job to take on trainees, pre-PhD candidates, post-doctoral researchers and even fellow faculty applicants. I will focus currently only on the amusing incidents (that also highlight a potential … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog, Commentaries, Scientific methodology, Teaching | Leave a comment

News

Posted on 22/12/2017 by Chaitanya

Check out our “OpenPositions” page- an offer for a computational project paid as Project Assistant for training in Biological Image analysis under a BigData framework. Last date for applications 30/12/2017. To know more about the larger context, refer to Stephens … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog, Cellular computations, Commentaries, Reductionism vs. Systems, Research, Uncategorized, scientific_writing | Comments Off

On choosing a research problem

Posted on 06/04/2017 by Chaitanya

One of the big questions facing (especially) young researchers, at the anvil of choosing a research career, is finding a problem. There are many ways to go about doing this. Follow the leader: One can find a big and successful … Continue reading →

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Ethics in Science

Posted on 15/07/2014 by Chaitanya

A superficial reading of popular media on science plagiarism, doctored results, falsification, backstabbing, sabotage appear to suggest that these have spilt over only recently from other hyper-competitive professions. But appearances are deceptive. This (as with many other human traits) has … Continue reading →

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Pet physicist

Posted on 14/10/2012 by Chaitanya

#petphysicist2 is up! Enjoy #petphysicist1: The first in a series. Inspired by discussions with experimental biologists, physicists and close friends. None of the characters are meant to harm any person, animal or idea.

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Altschuler et al. (2008) On the spontaneous emergence of cell polarity

Posted on 04/06/2012 by Chaitanya

Altschuler SJ, Angenent SB, Wang Y, Wu LF (2008) On the spontaneous emergence of cell polarity. Nature. 454(7206): 886-889. The authors describe a model of spontaneous cell polarization with a positive feedback. Drawing on an evolutionary model of “stepping stone” … Continue reading →

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