OUR VALUES
Doing science means that we are making steps towards the unknown. Bringing up new ideas, testing them and revealing new insights is exciting and rewarding. However, doing science also involves hard work, uncertainties and frustrating moments. Growing up to be a good scientist means not only to conduct experiments or analyze data, but also to know how to navigate in a complex, often stressful environment. For this to happen, we first need to build the right environment in the lab. We believe in three core values: be honest; be rigorous; and be a team member.
Be honest
Our first mission in doing basic science is to find the truth, and report it in a way that represents the true findings. Often the data is complex to interpret at first or not coherent with our expectations. Sometimes we make mistakes. We all do. Good science means that we make the effort to reveal the truth despite these difficulties. It might be frustrating, it might take time, but it is important that our science will first hold up to our own internal standards.
Be rigorous
Having creative ideas is not enough. Doing good science also involves many small details. We need to know the relevant literature well, to master the tools we use, to solve annoying technical issues and dive deeply into the data analysis. The details matter. We want to be rigorous at each step of the process. We want to be sure that the results we publish are solid and reproducible. This is not easy, but at the end we will be proud of our work. It is worth the effort.
Be a team member
We believe that good science, especially in multidisciplinary fields like neuroscience, should be done collaboratively. Because we all have our strong and weak sides; because people have different points of view; and simply because it is more fun. Being transparent about your plans and needs, and having open communication with your peers and PI are key for solving conflicts early. In the complex and competitive scientific environment, we want the lab to be a safe place.