This article is for women who ask whether it is possible to combine motherhood with academia and still be successful and happy. It is also for those working with, bosses of, or married to such women, giving them a better feel for the challenges mothers in academia face, and the strategies that can be used to survive and thrive in both of these worlds.

1 Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 2 Taiwan International Graduate Program in Molecular Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 3 Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, 5 Graduate Institute of Medicin...

The current emphasis on translational research is starting to blur differences between research environments in academia and industry. This has opened up a two-way street for academic researchers to go to work in industry and, in some cases, to then return to academia.