Why hello there
I thought I’d take this opportunity to re-introduce myself.
First of all, welcome to my Blog, ‘A Bug’s Life’.
I started this Blog two years ago while I was still doing my Ph. D in Bacteriology, with the intention of writing about what life was like as a Ph. D student. I guess the main aim of it was to give people some insight into what types of things a research student (and more broadly speaking, a researcher) does on a day to day basis.
But on a more personal level, it was mostly started as a way to de-stress from the rollercoaster that is a Ph. D, because I just enjoy writing stuff.
Since then, I’ve finished my Ph. D and can now call myself a Doctor (of Philosophy).
And work as a ‘Medical Scientist’ (it’s actually admin 😂) at an undisclosed, Australian location (okay it’s Melbourne).
Nowadays I tend to write retrospectively of what life was like back then, as a lowly Ph. D student, with some hobby stuff thrown in as well for good measure.
So with this in mind, here’s a large index of my posts so far, categorised for easy reading.
I’ve also marked posts that were popular in bold
Ph. D STUFF
How I became a Ph. D student:
My Ph. D project:
- The summary for my first manuscript/scientific paper
- The summary for my second manuscript/scientific paper
- My Oration series:
General day to day stuff:
- Indoor life
- Indoor life 2
- Teeny lab equipment
- Moth stuff
- Making Bacterial culture media
- Making Bacterial culture media 2
- Science conference
- Science conference 2
- Student retreat
- Moth infection day
- Being so tired that I read Pureau as Ponceau
- My anxiety taking over while I wait to hear back about my submitted manuscript
- The importance of friendships
- My first manuscript acceptance
- Moth infections 2
- On the importance of family support
- The last break (and overseas trip) I took during my Ph. D
- And then coming back to work, followed by the first day back
- On the importance of making sure you have a place to call home
- How science is not a solo effort (and is in fact, an amalgamation of a lot of teamwork)
- When I realised that life is hard in general, and that as a Ph. D student, I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed
- When I seriously started writing my Thesis
- When I submitted my second manuscript/scientific paper
- Thesis writing continued
- Stupid, never-ending experiments
- A big summary of 2019
- A note on the crazy start that began 2020 (oh how little I knew of exactly how f***ed up the year was going to be…)
- A little update on manuscript 2
- Passing on the Moth Mantle
- Bushfires and moths
- Trying to explain how plasmid cloning works
- Me, slowly losing my mind over the fact my cloning wasn’t working smoothly
- First mention of COVID-19
- Me, trying to bring back readers by trying to give an update in the midst of depression
- Me, having a little more time to give an update
- Me, freaking out because I was almost ready to submit my Ph. D Thesis
- The last experiment I ever performed as a Ph. D student
- My Thesis submission
- Re-submitting my second manuscript after review
- Manuscript 2 being accepted
- Feeling a tremendous loss of sense of self after finishing everything
- When lab shutdown a week and a half after I finished all my experiments, and I thanked my fortunes for not copping it
- Me, slowly going insane while waiting for the results of my thesis examination
- My post-it note summary of my Ph. D
- Finally receiving my examination results
- What the immediate aftermath of having my Thesis accepted felt like
- Noting that my Ph. D was now officially completed, but then realising that I needed to wait until I graduate to be able to call myself the Doctor (and being really disappointed)
- Me, waiting ‘patiently’ for my graduation in absentia
- MY PRECIOUS BABY!!!
Actual important information about Ph. Ds (less on my own life to stoke my ego😂):
- What a typical day looks like
- What a scientific conference is
- What a manuscript, or scientific paper, is
- How a typical lab is structured
- What the hell is a Ph. D?
- Things I wish I knew before I started my Ph. D (a.k.a clickbait)
- The overall structure of a Ph. D thesis
- What it was like to write a Ph. D thesis
- Some tips for writing
- The things that occur after you submit a Ph. D thesis
- Things to SERIOUSLY consider, if you really want to do a Ph. D
- The dangers of lab toxicity (people issues)
- But also the benefits of lab people
- The most useful skill after a Ph. D (a.k.a more clickbait)
- Ten transferable skills from a Ph. D
- How to cite and reference properly
- When to decide to leave the Ph. D behind
- Don’t do a Ph. D
Career STUFF
- Is a career in the lab (or research) for you?
- How do you choose the right lab to work in?
- A link to a very useful website that lets you analyse career pathways
- Whether it’s worth getting a LinkedIn profile
- Is Industry really better than academic research?
Science STUFF
- March for Science Day
- Science comics
- Science funding (or lack thereof) in Australia
- The first post I did on western blotting
- Western blotting 2
- Alternatives to ‘I love you’, as a Scientist
- Visualising DNA
- FRICKEN LASER BEAMS
- Me trying desperately to learn R
- The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology (also to mark my 100th post)
- International day of Women and Girls in Science
- Yeast Balloon experiments (yeasty bois)
- National Science Week 2021
- A little post to new lab students
- What makes a really good scientist?
- How does a rapid antigen test (RAT) work?
- How does a COVID PCR test work (extraction)?
- How does a COVID PCR test work (basics of PCR)?
- How does a COVID PCR test work (basics of RT-PCR)?
- How does a COVID PCR test work (tying it all together)?
- Yeast Balloon experiments (yeasty bois) part 2 – fun with inhibitors
Hobby STUFF
- Miniature house making
- Desk gardening
- Food porn
- Getting really into bread baking
- Lockdown bread and LEGO
- More LEGO
- How to make Ramen 🍜
- Miniature house making and colouring in cards
- Arsehole rodents eating my plants 😡
- Ongoing battle between me and the rodents
- My coveted (but readily available) Gyoza recipe 🥟
- Me going on a ‘Whisper of the Heart’ type writing blitz
- Me, finishing the writing blitz and going, what the hell do I do with it?
- My pork bun recipe
- My gardening spree (summer crop 2020)
- Gardening spree 2 (when I moved my strawberries) 2020
- Gardening spree 3 with my new gardening beds and cool clouds 2020
- Gardening spree 4 (summer crop 2020)
- Gardening spree 5 (summer crop 2020)
- Introducing my new fish tank
- One fish
- More fish
- Autumn garden 2021
- What to do with the last of your tomato crop
- Autumn garden update 2021
- Camping
- Autumn garden update 2 2021
- RIP Miele, hello Hoover 🐟
- Fish tank upgrade
- More fish and Gary
- When our camping trip got interrupted by another lockdown 😂
- An overview of our camping gear
- Spring garden 2021 and a little vent about COVID stuff
- Pork and prawn gyoza 🥟 and a cute earthquake
- Late spring garden 2021, Garden of St Erth trip
- How we picked out favourite camping spot
- Early summer garden post 2021
- Aquarium 2.0 (29 L)
- Summer garden 2022
- Summer garden 2022 part 2
- Autumn 2022
Post-Ph. D STUFF
- Me, trying to adjust to life after the intensity of the last six months of the Ph. D
- Briefly returning to the lab environment to help with optimising COVID-19 testing
- Using Adobe Illustrator to draw molecules
- A big summary of 2020
- A note to mark the beginning of 2021
- A continuation of my Ph. D project
- When conference organising almost broke my soul
- A big summary of 2021
- When I found out people were plagiarising my figures 😡
- When I inevitably got COVID (but I didn’t die from it! 🎉)
Miscellaneous STUFF (because you always need this category)
- Spring snaps 2019
- Emergency accommodation for bushfire afflicted people (started by the son of one of my high school teachers)
- Australian Bushfires 2020
- Australian Bushfires 2020 2
- Student surveys on how lockdown has impacted their work
- Student surveys on how lockdown has impacted their work 2
- Student surveys on how lockdown has impacted their work 3
- A post to mark the one year anniversary of my Blog
- Spring time 2020
- An old status update declaring that I wanted to do a degree in Microbiology
- Moving house
- My battle with hay fever/pollen allergies
- Why I didn’t go into Medicine (and become a Medical Doctor)
- My Ghibli-Tree
- Why being able to take the right sort of criticism is important
- That it’s totally okay to not know what to do in life
- My first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine
- My genuine fear of spreading COVID into regional Victoria
- MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL OUR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
Enjoy!!
Categories: Careers General General Lab Ph D posts
ABugsLife
A Ph. D graduate in Microbiology, residing in Victoria, Australia. Currently working in multiple locations but still in the STEM field. 👀 🦠 🧫 🧬
A Bug's Life 
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