Recent Entries

• Does having a female mentor affect success of mentees?

  by Kerry McPherson Wed at 7:27 PM
    A wave of controversy and outrage followed the recent publication of a study by AlShebi et al. from the New York University of Abu Dhabi on November 17th. In their Nature Communications paper, the authors analyzed 3 million mentor–protégé pai...

• The Power of Good Mentorship

  by Kerry McPherson Jan 14
  “What made you want to be a Scientist?”This question always takes me aback. I have been in science so long it’s hard to pinpoint that exact moment where I went from not-a-scientist to the path I’m on now. I was always good at science… but that didn’t make me want...

• Why is there no Cure for Cancer?

  by Kerry McPherson Jan 6
  In less than one-year, scientists created not one, not two, but three vaccines with over 90% efficacy for Covid-19. Which begs the question, what gives? Why don't we have cures for all our other ailments? After spending billions of dollars on cancer research for decades, where is that cure...

• Channeling the characters of Schitt's Creek

  by Kerry McPherson December 21, 2020
  If the Rose Family of Schitt's creek can have their estate repossessed and forced to live in a motel within a one-horse town, you can survive any misfortune your research career throws your way. Rough patches are a given in research. Grant rejections, failed experiments, and criticisms; oh my! So, h...

• Lessons from training for marathons during my PhD: I can do an

  by Kerry McPherson December 17, 2020
  You learn a lot about yourself in graduate school. The same is true while running a marathon. Signing up for either is a great way to realize your masochistic tendencies. Jokes aside, continually working towards two immense challenges has taught me several valuable lessons that I share here. ...
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• mRNA delivery: from bench to clinics

  by Kerry McPherson December 10, 2020
  Recent developments of mRNA vaccines to protect people from SARS-COV-2 are making headlines. The first two successful mRNA vaccines, the immunization jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and a second vaccine developed by Moderna, are turning mRNA vaccines into a household topic. For many scienti...

• Evolving your Science Outreach Passion into a Career

  by Kerry McPherson November 18, 2020
  Performing science outreach has become a common alternative career for many classically trained scientists. Whether it’s running a popular YouTube channel where you perform chemistry experiments for kids or writing articles for medical magazines, there are plenty of ways in which you can work ...

• To what extent are we “hard-wired?"

  by Kerry McPherson November 5, 2020
  Author: Clayton Mansel Just about anyone who has come into contact with popular neuroscience and psychology has surely heard of the trendy notion that our brains are "hard-wired" in certain ways. A simple search of "hard-wired" in Google News demonstrates how pervasive this idea is:  Hard-w...

• How women's colleges prepare students for careers in STEM

  by Kerry McPherson October 29, 2020
  “So, where are you thinking of applying for college?” The dreaded question every high school senior is asked around this time of year. As deadlines for early and regular decision applications loom in the not-so-distant future, most students are looking at co-ed colle...
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• Parenting and Research

  by Kerry McPherson October 15, 2020
  HAVING A BABY DURING A PHD When my husband and I started chatting about having kids, I was in the first year of my PhD. We went back and forth, trying to decide between having a baby during my PhD or waiting until I submitted my thesis. My PhD supervisors, who were all mothers, gave me great ad...