Other Night Science Workshop
The formal scientific method tells you how to rigorously and objectively test a hypothesis. But where do hypotheses come from in the first place? Itai Yanai, New York University, and Martin Lercher, HHU Düsseldorf, have been exploring this hidden side of the scientific process in editorials and a podcast. In this workshop, participants learn and practice different tools for the generation of scientific ideas.
Speaker
Itai Yanai, Professor of Biochemistry at New York University, School of Medicine, Undergraduate degrees in Engineering and Philosophy of Science. https://yanailab.org/
Expertise:
● Single-cell RNA-Seq and spatial transcriptomics.
● Cancer biology and host-pathogen interactions
● Evolutionary and developmental biology
● Computational biology
Key publications:
Cellular adaptation to cancer therapy along a resistance continuum.
França GS, Baron M, King BR, Bossowski JP, Bjornberg A, Pour M, Rao A, Patel AS, Misirlioglu S, Barkley D, Tang KH, Dolgalev I, Liberman DA, Avital G, Kuperwaser F, Chiodin M, Levine DA, Papagiannakopoulos T, Marusyk A, Lionnet T, Yanai
On the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes.
Xia B, Zhang W, Zhao G, Zhang X, Bai J, Brosh R, Wudzinska A, Huang E, Ashe H, Ellis G, Pour M, Zhao Y, Coelho C, Zhu Y, Miller A, Dasen JS, Maurano MT, Kim SY, Boeke JD, Yanai I
Nature 2024 Feb;626(8001):1042-1048
Exploring tissue architecture using spatial transcriptomics.
Rao A, Barkley D, França GS, Yanai I
Nature 2021 Aug;596(7871):211-220
Host
Christoph Ziegenhain, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, KI
Registration
About the workshop
The formal scientific method tells you how to rigorously and objectively test a hypothesis. But where do hypotheses come from in the first place? Posing fruitful new questions, having ideas for novel hypotheses, and inventing new experimental technologies all require scientific creativity. Itai Yanai (New York University) and Martin Lercher (HHU Düsseldorf) have been exploring this hidden side of the scientific process in editorials and a podcast. In this workshop, participants learn and practice different tools for the generation of scientific ideas. Sessions explore, for example, how anthropomorphic language unlocks intuitive brain capacities; how new questions can be identified by honing in on contradictions; how a hypothesis can be a liability for making new discoveries; and how ideas can be imported and exported across research fields. Each of the sessions is integrated with exercises, allowing the participants to practice the tools for creative scientific explorations. The workshop is targeted at young researchers across the natural sciences and mathematics. But it is also highly relevant to seasoned investigators who are interested in a deeper understanding and further development of their scientific creativity.