Deppmann Lab
The Field Guide
A Compass for Scientific Discovery
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan
The Way Forward
We're trying to understand the only thing in the universe that understands. You will spend most of your time not knowing. That is the job, and it is why the wins feel the way they do. We study a structure more complex than anything we've ever encountered, using tools we're still inventing, in service of people we may never meet but whose suffering gives our work meaning.
Most experiments fail. That is the price of working on questions nobody has answered yet. Build your week so that a failed experiment still tells you something.
Foundation
Our True North
Mission
We decode how the nervous system assembles, functions, takes itself apart, and heals. Our work runs from molecular conversations between cells to the circuits that shape behavior, metabolism, and survival.
Vision
We want basic discoveries to become the foundation for better treatment of neurological disease.
Development Focus
Every project here is also a training plan
Mission-Driven Focus
We improve the human condition through the discovery of truth. Along the way, we find joy in the pursuit.
Core Values
The Five Principles
Integrity Above All
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.” — Richard Feynman
Research without integrity is building on sand. Every data point, every interpretation, every claim must rest on honesty.
Courage in Discovery
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” — John A. Shedd
Breakthrough discoveries require intellectual risk-taking. We encourage bold hypotheses, novel approaches, and the willingness to be wrong.
Generous Collaboration
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton
Share your knowledge freely. Credit generously. Help abundantly. Science advances through collective effort.
Curious Humility
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” — Albert Einstein
Approach everything with genuine curiosity rather than ego. Every person here is both teacher and student.
Universal Access to Truth
“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity.” — Louis Pasteur
Science is for everyone. A lab where everyone trained the same way asks the same questions, and misses the same things.
Mindfulness
Mindful Science
The hours at the bench are the job, and the attention you pay there is where the surprises show up. Give the experiment your full attention. Observe before you explain. Stay open to being surprised; that is usually where discovery begins.
The Practice
- Name the question before you name the task
- Write down what a failure taught you the same day
- Judge the week by what you learned
- Remember: you are not your results
“Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.'” — Lao Tzu
Productivity
Working Wisdom
The 80/20 Principle
Twenty percent of your efforts will drive eighty percent of your results. Find that vital twenty percent and protect it.
First Things First
Important work often feels less urgent than trivial tasks. Guard your peak hours for your most meaningful work.
The Deep Work Ritual
Schedule uninterrupted time for thinking and creating. Treat these blocks as important appointments with your future self.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw
Communication
Communication as Connection
Establish your credibility through preparation and honesty
Connect to what matters—why should anyone care?
Support with evidence, but don't bury the story in data
“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it's hard to see it yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey
Mentorship
The Mentor's Path
Model
Demonstrate excellence in your own work
Guide
Show the path, but let them walk it
Challenge
Push them beyond their comfort zone
Support
Be there when they stumble
Release
Celebrate when they surpass you
Resilience
The Resilient Scientist
“The obstacle is the way.” — Marcus Aurelius
Three Questions of Resilience
- What can I control in this situation?
- What can I learn from this experience?
- How can this make me more capable?
Reframing Setbacks
- An experiment that fails still teaches you something, if you record it carefully and ask why
- A rejected paper comes back with three reviews you did not have before
- A difficult collaboration is how most people first learn to run one
“Be So Good They Can't Ignore You” — Steve Martin
The Excellence Imperative
Excellence is measured against your own last attempt. Small improvements, sustained over time, compound into work you could not have done a year ago.
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” — Ernest Hemingway
The nervous system reveals its workings slowly, to those who approach with patience and precision. You're joining a conversation that began long before you and will continue long after.
Embrace the uncertainty. Find satisfaction in small discoveries. Remember that every expert was once a beginner, and every breakthrough started with someone willing to ask a difficult question.
Welcome to the lab.