Chris Olsen

Graduate school interview season is approaching. After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back... #GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicTwitter 👇

Today, I would like to celebrate Christy Duvauchelle, PhD and Cece Hillard, PhD for International Women's Day (although I'm a day late). They are two amazing mentors of mine who have greatly helped shape my career.

Is Penn Vector Core still offering services for external users? If not, what are some reliable sources to have custom high purity AAVs for in vivo use made? #Neuroscience

The @mcwgradschool will be hosting a #TownHall this Thursday - for more information, please email dperea@mcw.edu

My wife’s commute soundtrack this morning: “Danger Zone.” Even by Wisconsin standards, that feels about right.

5. Missing the opportunity to connect with faculty. An interview is a chance to engage with a faculty member who has insight into their research program and the institution. If there's time at the end, ask an informed question about their work or the graduate program.

4. Not articulating motivation or long-term goals. Many applicants say they “like research” but struggle to explain why a PhD or MD/PhD is the right training path for them. Strong candidates can articulate their motivation, even if career goals are still evolving.

Graduate school interview season is approaching. After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back... #GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicTwitter 👇

Apply to join us for this immersive research program!

Dissertation and seed grant opportunities through the Brain Injury Association of America: biausa.org/professionals/…

@McwPharmTox Fantastic talk and wonderful conversation!

Join us Thursday, April 16th for a Seminar with Kathryn Reissner, PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her seminar is entitled: Astrocyte pruning by microglia following cocaine self-administration and stress.#mcwpharmtox

MCW Pharmacology & Toxicology celebrates the exceptional women in our department on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. #WomenInScience #mcwpharmtox

Fantastic seminar by @kwanalexc yesterday as the last @McwPharmTox seminar of the calendar year. It was great to see this and other work from his lab.

On this Veteran's Day, I encourage you to support the Military and Veterans in Parks Act. rei.com/action/network…

And if you just want to take a shortcut to apply to our programs, click here: bit.ly/MCW_Apply

One more call to join us for the biomedical PhD program fair tomorrow. Registration information below.

Please RT! We are very proud to announce LSFM 2025!  The light-sheet conference/workshop will be held this year June 1st-7th, 2025, at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) @MDIBL in Bar Harbor, Maine. Application portal open now! Application deadline (rolling) May 12th, 2025. Limited financial assistance is available. mdibl.org/course/lsfm-20… This is the only comprehensive conference/workshop of this length in the US. This year, the conference will be 1.5 days and the workshop will be 4 days (more time on the systems!). Workshop space is limited. First come! Confirmed Speakers; Reto Fiolka @RetoPaul - UTSW - Keynote Steve Ross @NikonInst -Nikon Instruments Simon Watkins @simoncwatkins1 -University of Pittsburgh Claudette St. Croix @ClaudetteCroix -University of Pittsburgh Kate McDole - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Holly Gibbs @holly_c_gibbs -Texas A&M Anna-Karin Gustavsson @gustavssonlab -Rice University Stephanie Kramer - Case Western Reserve University Ruixuan Gao @Ruixuan3 -University of Illinois, Chicago Bingying Chen @bingy_C -UTSW Fabian Voight @voigtvision -Harvard University Stephanie Rudolph @StephRudolphLab - Albert Einstein College of Medicine Melissa Cooper @MelCooperPhD -NYU Langone Health Doug Shepard @DougPShepherd -Arizona State Univesity Doug Richardson @Harvard_CBI -Harvard University Emmanuel Reynaud @ReynaudEmmanuel -University College Dublin Kara Cerveny @kara_cerveny -Reed College Carsten Wolff @carsten_wolff -MBL With more to come! Confirmed vendors:  12 systems! 3i ASI Leica Bruker MBF Zeiss Miltenyi LifeCanvas LIT Hamamatsu Abhishek Kumar (co-organizer) - MBL Kate McDole (co-organizer) - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Gary Laevsky (co-organizer) - Princeton University

Going to be an amazing year for expanding microscopy resources at MCW. First to arrive is the light sheet, next up is the @Abberior FACILITY line STED microscope and @AndorTechnology Dragonfly 620 SR with STORM/TIRF. Can’t wait to see how this will help researchers on campus.