The metal has left me.
I navigate like an empty protein
And lacking its energy
And best buddy.
No activity in sight.
I eat my chocolate and store my iron,
Like a well educated smiling kid.
Thank me
I am a
Rigid and versatile molecule
Of thousands of units.
I vibrate in the liquid.
I catch and release,
Selectively.
I make your cells work
And progress.
Protein army
To which protein
I owe my day?
To the social that makes me breath?
To the tiny that shuttle energy?
Or to the millions outside my body?
Many and unique,
Little soldiers with limited life and a focused target,
Proteins give me everyday
That molecular food
I cannot find on my table.
Crystal
Regular and precise
Like a shiny Salt Crystal
Feel the changes in the air around me.
Melting away I let my energy spread
While strongly I hold on to the skills and ideas
Hiding inside but not vanishing.
Burning in/out
Noise and broken sentences
Crawl in my mind
Worrying why the job I used to enjoy
Is now a reason off dark dreams and tears.
Have I seen a part of it that disgusts me?
Is it just this broken environment I am in?
Is it inside me? Is it the situation?
I reject the whole package
And my life gets impossible,
and gets on.
Mutagenesis
The invisible fragments
Swim free in pure sterile water
Ready for the magic.
The monstrous plasmid is coming
and the reaction will start
Hot, agitated, repetitive.
A single mutation will change the course of the experiment.
A tiny step of in vitro evolution.
Protein sun
I lye satisfied on the concrete
Washed by the sea and the sweetness of reward
After a year of thoughtful work.
The heat unfolds my thoughts
and my skin relaxed,
finally breathing.
Limitless corner
Reason alone in a corner,
Curled up in thoughts of limitless costs
And added your innovation bloom
Like when you were
A just arrived first-year student.
Thoughts of Time and money
Chain your unique ideas
To a desk at the end of the classroom
Buy few steps
Will take you forward.
Protein pray
Dear Lord,
Make me a protein today
To express myself in all settings.
I wish for time to make me more resistant.
I demand the stability
In a simple watery situation.
I yearn to be hard-working
And fast reaching
While selecting my companions
For a perfect fit.
Lab day
Another day has passed
Through my clicks and my printings
In the busy lab
Who looks forward.
Lab animals feed on planning the future
And snack on tiny bites of promising mistakes
While the mission proceeds.
Night protein party
The illusion of organization
Is fooling us
On our benches, in our offices,
In our freezer.
The uncontrollable magic happens
When the light is switched off and the drawer closed.
Our proteins in their tubes
Initiate the revolution
Out of our sight, behind our back
And subvert the order we imposed
To samples supposed to respond to our command
And follow our hypotheses.
The geometric rationally organized drawer
Is each night the land of anarchy
And the cause of headaches and endless hunts
In the morning.
Risky science
You cannot predict or imagine
The science that takes life
Outside the lab.
When the background changes
Innovation is born
And the colours of bravery and craziness
Become feasibility and will to risk.
Each risk is a step you take
And a chance to yourself
You cannot miss.
Heroes in the lab
Proteins come in families
And ask you to choose your favorite,
As families do.
You value efficiency, you appreciate stability,
But colour and shape can dictate their popularity
Like little heroes in a fantasy novel
That becomes reality.
Hunting and chasing in the lab
Science and life in the lab
Proceed by steps and jumps
Hunting and chasing
Unnoticed Connections and timid molecules.
Each day writes a paragraph
And each manuscript a chapter
To your autobiography of science.
Each phase of your life is reflected
In a discovery and a struggle
You soon forget even if it steers your life and career.
You will write it
One day
Your personal biography in science
Of when an uncontrolled temperature
Took you a new protein
And when that old enzyme
Played a new trick.
Next year
Powder sugar on the cake,
The last working day has arrived.
Fireworks in the lab
Are mysterious proteins and high yields.
They enlighten the way
And reveal the happy corners
in the winding sunny path that next year will be.
Green protein with glitter
Dear Santa
hanging from that balcony
Be brave and purify my protein
That is really what I want.
You know my heart and see the future
You know that green protein can really help me.
All proteins are equally pretty
And with functions of majestic importance
But only the green one has glitter on its wings
that can cheer up my 2017.
Unexpected again
The unexpected happened
Once again under your eyes
At the most inappropriate moment
Of course.
What to do is not clear.
Smile for the surprise
And start chasing the mystery.
Super
Superpowers hide
In the folds of small papers
And in the bars of your graph.
Superscientist runs and calculates
With hands and mind
Digging for gold in a pile of errors.
Superboss imagines and visualize
The scene behind the corner
Before tomorrow comes.
SuperStudent looks deep and polishes
The corners that unattended bring shadows to the investigation.
Caring today and imaging tomorrow
Make the story.
Unknown science
The unknown is always there
Written its power and its curiosity
It pulls you towards the edge
Of knowledge and creativity.
The call is rhythmic
And white noise to a life in science.
You cannot avoid it
And you fear where out takes you.
Protein hunt
What looks abundant
Is sometimes useless
In a way you cannot perceive.
Proteins are there
But they do not behave
According to your plans
Like stubborn donkeys.
You make them, you treat them,
You feed them
Yet they rebel.
Small molecules can tame them
But the discovery is not immediate.
Elegance chasing
Delight is in the small things,
In the vivid color of solutions,
In the panicky stirring of a magnet,
In the regular wobble of a shaker.
Brief moments staring at the beauty
Rewards you for the effort
And make you chase your scientific elegance.
Chasing
I see myself chasing the time
That unfolds quickly
Hungry of events and demands
For us
Who run clueless
Believing of being in charge
But short of breath.
Solution 2
Mixing and stirring
I introduce chaos and
I pace the event
To give the world a new solution
And a stepping stone to this long experiment.
Balloon
In the big glass balloon
I partition with patience
The rich mysterious solution
To uncover the molecule
Peeking from the liquid
And learn science and myself
At each step.
Pre-presentation
Giant and buffing the monster has me
Again at the door of the achievement.
His presence fills my room
And lays imperfections on my slides
Of no importance
While others breath freedom.
Lens
Tapping on the floor
I pace the value of my time
And train my patience.
External observers can judge my work
And evaluate my knowledge
Like a rough diamond under the lens
But no eye can know it all.
Ah ah
Everybody laughs and dies a bit inside
Thanks to your loud senseless sexist humor.
Many makes can stupidity have
Yours is comedy,
The lowest one
With no imagination or word game.
An airy circle will form
Around you
Amber I will watch it.
Chair
My brain figuratively sits
On a wooden chair in the back of my head
And stares around
To acknowledge the reality and the dynamics
In front of its feet.
Relaxation comes, as energy at a minimum
Is necessary during the day.
Fire
When the fear sets in
Reasoning is a far weak flame
Fighting timid to set a luminous fire
To restore control and confidence.
Patience and focus are rewarded.
Northern
Hypnotized by the changing lights
I forget this is a meeting
And dream of northern lights
And traveling north
to the land where I am asexual
And my words build my credibility.
Manuscript zone
The blank manuscript on front of me
Initiate my travel to the zone
Of connections with no turns
And statistical facts with hidden fascinations.
In a line they arrange,
And the tale of this manuscript
Takes shape
To project quantitative results
In the light of passion
And scientific curiosity.
public speaking
Words come out and silence enters
liberating the energy and welcoming the confidence.
Public speaking is a walk
in the land of thorns and poppy seeds.
Your journey begins, the andrenalin fuels you
warm hands reassure you.
Forecasting
The decision is taken
And the result is bound
To the conditions, solutions, and timing.
Forecasting the future
Looking at the past failures and sneaking possibilities
Is the talent of the good ones.
nm
I see yellow, you say green
shedding doubts over reason and logic.
Trust yourself and look straigth,
you will not fool yourself again
by wasting time for unrealistic hypothesis
that undermine you
and your mind.
At night
The night comes and the carousel
Of ideas and conjectures
Starts spinning.
What impossible in the lab during the day
Becomes glamorous and knitted with discovery and potential for the future.
Written down, it will be judged tomorrow
In the sunlight.
Sonicator
Wave on wave
The disruption comes
In seconds or instants
Under my eyes.
Control over it is just fool
And no time is left
To waste.
mL
The few milliliters that make a difference
Make me realize of the importance
of moments and gestures.
Richness and purpose
Can hide in the drops
You don’t consider.
Waiting
My heart in my throat
Tells me a danger is at the door
And this warning sign
Shines a blue light over me.
Cold and anxious I wait
For My destiny to come
While meditating and wondering
about my role and power.
Monday chaos
The day starts with a late awakening,
With purchasing the wrong ticket,
And forgetting the breakfast.
The day of planned success
Begins with the fog and chaos
Of the Monday mind.
Tempting
Temptation comes in many forms.
A coffee smell on the bus to work,
A red tomato colour at lunch time
And a crisp chocolate snap after dinner
All text your strength and your determination
In a material world.
Dots
Commas and digits describe my day
Typing and aligning
Tasks of different value.
Tasks to connect dots
That take me forward
And draw the borders of tomorrow.
Enjoy more
At My desk I protect myself
With a broad screen and massive keyboard
But crazy ideas and hurry penetrate
At moments
Just to make me enjoy my coffee more.
Slides
My mind drives away
while results and errors are projected
connceting the points of a young scientific career.
A spark strikes and I can help,
the day is rich.
Menopause
Heat flashes and palpitations,
Sweaty palms and anger,
Is it menopause or group meeting?
The extremities of biology
Summarize the extreme of human dynamics.
Energy bloom
A Low Energy transfer
Of projects and results
Streams through the lab
Engulfing the ideas at the benches.
It has reached now its maximum
And bloomed in a rich
And vibrant plan
For the most elegant experiment.
Autoclave
Under pressure we remove
The bacteria that harm our experiment
With enthusiasm
For the coming investigation.
A whisper tells me
the solutions address ready
For hosting the mutant cells
And trigger the fluorescence.
Bad news and kcat
My kcat lingers today
And an extra effort is needed to reach the bus
Under the intense rain.
I will reach out for distractions
And unavailable hugs.
Like in a movie,
Bad news and waterdrops holds hands
Waiting for time to pass.
Hunting
Work seems from a challenging hobby,
A hunt for a treasure few have seen.
The treasure is a sealed bottle
Lying under nitrogen in a closed hood
With no label.
Only the brave will reach it
And recognize its value,
And break the seal.
The essence
Stand up and go
Your idea is leading you.
You will figures out the steps
Under the light of excitement
Day by day.
The question that woke you up
Will come back in your head
And hunt you
Until you can reach the full stop.
This is the fun and the essence of research.
