Entries by Ángel Vergara Cruces

Setting Up A New Lab: PI Perspectives

Starting a new lab can be a challenging endeavor: there is research to plan, people to manage, and resources to organize. The process from getting a PI position to actually having everything up and running is a long one, and often changes from institution to institution. To offer some insight on the path to setting […]

Career Planning for Graduate Students

Managing your career is an essential skill for graduate students. However, it is often neglected in favor of research responsibilities. Proper management of personal development is paramount to achieving one’s own professional goals and part of the responsibilities of a good researcher. The following is the synthesis of the insights and advice I have received […]

To stripe or not to stripe in monkeyflower leaves

In biology nothing makes sense but in the light of evolution. However, understanding how new traits can appear through modification of pre-existing elements has been a complex question in evolutionary biology. LaFountain et al. studied a population of a species of monkeyflower (Mimulus verbenaceus) which displayed a novel trait: a coloured leaf stripe. They found […]