Show notes
The Xapiens Podcast (XPC) Episode 11:Join Xapiens Co-Director Bobby Johnston in a discussion with Fei Chen. Fei is a core institute member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and an assistant professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. During the course of his doctoral research, Chen co-invented Expansion Microscopy. He completed his undergraduate degree at CalTech in EE before coming to MIT for his Ph.D. in biological engineering. Fei can sometimes be found playing basketball around MIT, which is how Bobby first met him, and eventually convinced him to talk on the podcast. Check out the Xapiens podcast on our website! https://xapiens-at-mit.captivate.fm/Or listen to us on google podcast, spotify, amazon, apple podcasts or wherever you listen!RSS feed: https://feeds.captivate.fm/xapiens-at-mit/Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/12FjwjYf6NahxAuRwg7JUTAmazon:https://www.amazon.com/Xapiens-at-MIT/dp/B08JJS62YW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=xapiens+at+mit&qid=1647018254&sr=8-1google podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly94YXBpZW5zLWF0LW1pdC5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vcnNzZmVlZA?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiY8KaYrND2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQOther Xapiens Info:XPC Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCp2QLDdzA3nuhdkRkJwXQXapiens Home: https://xapiens.mit.edu/RELEVANT LINKS:Fei Chen Lab: https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/fei-chenDNA Dark Matter Detectors: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1206.6809.pdfTicker Tape Paper: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1306/1306.5709.pdfBionumbers: https://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/search.aspx?trm=ribosome+coliInflation Calculator: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/OUTLINE:0:00 - Expansion Microscopy in 120 seconds2:12 - Introduction3:12 - From EE to Biology6:37 - Transition to Graduate School9:53 - The Chen Lab11:17 - What Do You Look for In Undergrads?13:53 - Working as a Mentor16:15 - Overview of Expansion Microscopy26:02 - Does the Exact Expansion Factor Matter?28:05 - ExMic + Electron Microscopy?31:11 - Feeling of Discovery as a Grad Student34:08 - Difficulties Along the Way35:46 - From Grad School to Chen Lab39:19 - How are Abundances of Genes Measured?45:27 - The Cell as a State Machine53:40 - Where is the ROM?58:35 - Temporal Genomics and Dynamic Videos1:07:19 - Overview of Slide Seq1:19:31 - Are There Enough Tools in This Field?1:24:00 - Sources of Inspiration1:26:53 - OpenWetWare1:33:00 - Advice to Young People