2020 ASAPbio Fellows

Jonny Coates has been the Associate Director at ASAPbio since 2023. His scientific interests have always been within immune cell biology and microscopy. However, in 2019 he began his journey into the world of preprints and metascience. First becoming a prelighter and member of the ASAPbio community before developing a research program and writing opinion pieces around the use of preprints. He now hosts the Preprints in Motion podcast focused on highlighting the benefits of preprints for early career researchers and sits on the scientific advisory board of Europe PMC. He is a strong advocate for change within research culture, believing that the lynchpin for this change lies with changing the publishing system. He is very excited to jump into preprints full time and drive forward the adoption of such an important advancement.

Jonny was also a fellow in 2020:

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am currently a postdoc at the William Harvey Research Institute (Queen Mary University of London, UK) in the lab of Mathieu Voisin. My current research focusses on neutrophil responses to ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI), neutrophil subtypes, T-cells and a heavy dose of microscopy. I also have independent interests in meta-research (how we do science), open-access and early career researcher (ECR) development and training. I also try to promote a healthier working environment for researchers. I’m very lucky to be able to combine my (sometimes very varied) interests in my current projects and to push myself forward learning new things.

What are you excited about in science communication?

The newer generation of scientists are the breath of fresh air that science is really in need of. We’re seeing a much greater focus on accessibility, inclusion and fairness. I strongly believe that science should be accessible and open to all and that part of my job as a scientist is to promote and encourage these practices. There has been a shift in recent years in terms of the general public taking a much greater interest in science and this is hugely exciting; though we need to ensure that we answer that interest with accessible and responsible communication. Most of all, I’m excited to share that wonderful feeling of discovering something new and getting to share that with the world.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I wanted to get a deeper understanding of the open-science landscape and how I can best promote these values in my career and with colleagues. Having developed collaborations and worked with like-minded scientists as part of my work with preLights, I was excited to dive into doing something similar but at a bigger scale.

Ask me about…

I like to think I slightly buck the trend of “stereotypical” scientist. I love adrenaline-fueled adventures (skydiving, or my latest plan – a wingwalk), I currently seem to be collecting guitars (5 and counting) and will be getting another 3 tattoos in the coming months. If you want to talk about trials and tribulations of an academic career and how I think we can fix this then I’m your guy. I also love dogs, so if you want to talk about anything that involves pictures of cute dogs you have my full attention!

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a graduate research intern at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya. At icipe, we study insects and other arthropods, the most abundant and diverse animals on the planet. Currently, I am a Bioinformatics graduate student and I study the evolutionary phylogenies and phylogeography of insects within Africa based on thousands of molecular data/meta-data retrieved from public data repositories.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am an open science advocate and I have been involved in pieces of training and research about open science in my region. Working as part of a group we often conduct training to nurture open science and its principles among young African scientists. My key interest is to promote open scientific communication through preprint, open access publishing and post-print usage. This is particularly important in our region where most young researchers do not have resources to access closed access publications. Additionally, as a bioinformatician, I rely heavily on FAIR data access and sharing, thus the need to champion open data publishing alongside preprint submission.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I committed to growing my knowledge of preprints, learning about their history and role in science. As an open science enthusiast, this will improve my competence in championing the usage of preprints among fellow scientists.  As a researcher, I will better exploit the power of preprints in advancing my career. Importantly, being part of the ASAPbio Community allows me to network with a group of well-experienced biologists in scientific communication.

Ask me about…

Why open science in Africa, in particular Kenya, is an urgent necessity and the crucial role preprints play in that. Also ask me about Africa, her diverse cultures and heritage, languages and wildlife

What is your current role?

Tell us a bit about your line of researchI am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon, in the lab of Dr. Luisa Figueiredo. I study African Trypanosomes, which are parasites that cause sleeping sickness among other complications, upon invading the body of mammalian hosts. My aim during my postdoc is to understand the host-pathogen interactions that allow these parasites to form reservoirs in different organs of mammals. Hopefully this will give us insight into what the role of those reservoirs is, how to prevent them from forming, and what effect this would have in pathology. My main area of interest is biophysics, which makes these parasites very interesting because they are free swimmers and display very different behaviours across the body.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I started loving science as a child because of excellent science communication- scientists who made their work understandable and accessible to everyone. I think it’s important that as scientists we not only communicate our work to other scientists but to all of society. This falls into two categories I have a strong philosophy about – open science, and inclusion.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I wanted to know more about how, as a scientist, I can promote open science, how I can reach people of any background, and how I can address various hurdles currently existing in our system of scientific publishing. I wanted to work with like-minded colleagues and together add our small grain into making science more inclusive, more impactful, and more diverse.

Ask me about…

My three passions in life aside of science are music, sports and languages. I love the violin since I was very little. Aside of the violin, since I became a globe trotter I have tried to learn to play musical instruments typical of the countries where I live- for instance the guitar in Barcelona, the bagpipes in Scotland, or the Portuguese guitar in Portugal. I think music, like sport and languages, unites us. As for languages, I also love learning – to me it opens a very important opportunity: to get to know people in their original language, and read classical literature in its original language. I find this fascinating. As for sports, I particularly like endurance sports, and also have tried to learn sports of the countries I’ve lived in. In Mexico I did a lot of horse riding. In Scotland I did rowing. In Switzerland I did cross-country skiing and diving. In Portugal I do free-diving. In general though, I practice and compete in the three triathlon sports for fun.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a research scientist at the Institute of Plant Pathology at the Center for Agricultural Research of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina, INTA. I obtained my training at the National University of Córdoba, Argentina and at the University of Ajou in South Korea. At our lab, we study the interface of viruses and crops from a holobiome perspective. I am interested in the development of novel approaches to reduce losses associated with plant diseases and passionate about understanding an expanding global virosphere.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am interested in open science practices and consider open access to scientific knowledge a Human right. I am an advocate on the use of preprints in the life sciences. I am interested in multilingual scholar communications and I have co-developed a tool dubbed PanLingua to search and provide access to automatically translated full versions of all bioRxiv preprints. I am excited about collaborative and community driven scholarly communications, non-commercially rooted and academy lead models where scientific literature is free to read and free to publish. I am interested in the asymmetries of scholar communications from a geopolitical perspective. More recently I have been involved in assessing how to improve scientific meetings and make conferences more equitable, effective and environmentally sustainable.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program to learn about initiatives to promote open and reproducible science and to discuss with a broad and diverse community how to improve scholarly communications. In turn, I believe this program will provide me tools to try to encourage and boost good practices in science at a regional level.

Ask me about…

Why I think scholarly communications should be a right and not a market, and why scientific conferences should shift immediately to virtual. Also, ask me about dogs, wine from Mendoza and asados.

California Institute of Technology, USA

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your work

I’m the Coordinator for Basic Science Services with the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh. For the Molecular Biology Information Service I provide bioinformatics support and training for researchers, helping them to access and use specialized analytical tools and databases. For Data Services I help populate a library-created Data Catalog and teach classes on electronic lab notebooks and data management plans. I developed a series offering postdocs an opportunity to practice teaching. I also support/teach on visual abstracts, command line basics, identifying appropriate data analysis resources, and, of course, preprints.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I’ve been promoting preprints since 2015, when my library’s MolBio team created atool to aggregate preprints and help make them more discoverable. We posted apreprint in bioRxiv followed by publication inF1000Research. Clearly we need to revise the article, but I’m still pleased that we were able to participate in the preprint discovery process at the early stages, prior to the availability of so many preprint servers. In addition to more inclusive preprint tools/search engines, I’m excited about open peer review and creating a new skills development service to help grad students (or whomever!).

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I have maintained an interest in and continued to advocate for preprints for the past 5 years, but I’d like to step it up a notch. I want to provide support to and be a part of a larger community of preprint advocates. I’m thrilled that I was accepted as a Fellow, and my experience has already exceeded my expectations.

Ask me about…

…what it’s like to transition out of bench research (I have a PhD in Neuroscience) and into a research support service within a medical library.  You’re still around science, you can still publish and present, you can still get funding (but you don’t have to), and you no longer have to go into the lab on nights and weekends!

What is your current role?

Tell us a bit about your line of researchI am currently a PhD Candidate in Nikolai Slavov’s Laboratory of Quantitative Biology at Northeastern University (Boston, MA, USA). In this role, I work on developing and applying single cell proteomics methods (SCoPE-MS/SCoPE2) that are based on mass spectrometry principles, allowing for the quantification of thousands of proteins across many single cells. With our high-throughput technology, we were able to confidently analyze >1000 single monocytes and macrophages, and discern the heterogeneous spectrum of macrophages. In addition, I am interested in exploring how ribosomes could be translational regulators rather than passive players of translation. The observations of differential protein stoichiometry of ribosomes across biological conditions, if linked to specific functions, gives credence to the model of ribosome specialization, in which different ribosomes can exert different functions.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am excited about the capacity to rapidly disseminate scientific findings. Sharing experimental results and analysis with other scientists through a faster manner, such as preprints, can perhaps pave fruitful collaborations, potentially leading to acceleration of research productivity. A wider acceptance of preprints can also perhaps push journals to increase the speed of traditional publishing pipelines. Along with preprinting, I am strongly enthusiastic for open sharing of all aspects of scientific works, including code to analyze the results and the raw data. This kind of  availability can make scientific discourse more transparent and start to address reproducibility issues. I am also excited about promoting scientific results to the lay public, as such public education can bring more transparency between scientists and the rest of the population.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to apply to the ASAPbio Fellows Program because I was interested in learning more about preprints and to understand what initiatives exist that push towards open sharing of scientific work.  I also joined to meet and connect with others who are also enthusiastic about Open Science, and to become involved in working collaboratively towards transparent science communication. I aim to share the information that I learn from ASAPbio with my institution’s Communication Lab, an organization devoted to graduate student scientific writing (in which I am also a Fellow), and others in my network.

Ask me about…

… anything, from ribosomes, open science, and proteomics to tennis, gołabki, and baking bread!

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a Senior Contributor at the OpenWorm Foundation and Head Scientist at Orthogonal Research and Education Lab, a distributed collaborative research organization.

What are you excited about in science communication?

My research currently spans computational developmental biology, neuroscience, and computational modeling. I am also interested in meta-science topics, including open data and community-building.

What are you excited about in science communication?

Alternative publication platforms (e.g. interactive publications) and alternative forms of presentation (e.g. infographics).

Ask me about…

…this preprint: https://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/4k3z6/

What is your current role?

Tell us a bit about your line of researchI’m a postdoctoral fellow in the Murray lab at Harvard University. I’m broadly interested in genome evolution. In my research I study how cells evolve and respond to genetic perturbations and how these adaptive processes change fundamental aspects of cell biology.

What are you excited about in science communication?

To me, nature is a source of inspiration and investigating it through science provides me with constant excitement. In my opinion, science communication is a tool for sharing this excitement as widely as possible and hopefully inspire young students, colleagues and citizens through the wonder of science.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I find preprints a revolutionary concept in scientific publishing. In addition to their effect in accelerating the exchange of ideas and discoveries, I believe their adoption will contribute to end some of the perverse incentives derived from the current publishing system. I joined the ASAPbio Fellow program as I want to play an active role in implementing what I believe to be a beneficial change for the scientific community at large.

Ask me about…

..my failures, for some genuine amusement.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, New York, working to understand the role that mitochondria plays in a variety of diseases. I used to study mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Currently, I’m focused on studying the mitochondrial alterations underlying a genetic form of muscular dystrophy. I’m specifically interested in how mitochondrial interactions with other cellular organelles can shape mitochondrial function.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I believe science is a community endeavor. As such, communicating the results of our research to other scientists and the broader society is part of being a scientist. Besides open science, I’m also really excited about initiatives that bring science to the people in a way that is empowering, accessible and engaging!

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I believe that science, especially the one conducted with public funds, should be openly available. That’s why I joined the ASAPbio Ambassadors program two years ago. Since then, I have been trying to have a more active role in changing the current policies that run scientific publishing. I joined the ASAPbio Fellows program because I wanted to work together with a group of people that are also committed to making science more open, accessible and collaborative. Moreover, the ASAPbio Fellows program will provide me with the tools and skills that I need to become a better advocate for open science.

Ask me about…

Why preprints are going to revolutionize the scientific publishing landscape. Also, ask me about mitochondria and beers!

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research.

I’m currently an MD/PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. My research interests are in cardiac tissue engineering and regenerative medicine – I’m particularly interested in the use pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac tissues for clinical application. My PhD work is focused on improving the maturation status of these engineered cardiac tissues for better clinical utility. A lot of my research revolves around using single-cell RNA-sequencing, and so I get a nice mix of in vivo and in vitro wet lab biology as well as computational biology. I hope to wrap up my PhD in the next year or so, and then get back to my clinical rotations!

What are you excited about in science communication?

I’ve been particularly thrilled by the emergence of multiple platforms for publicizing and critiquing studies. There’s no reason that peer review should be closed-off and hidden, and these platforms demonstrate the ideal of peer review as a living, breathing, shared process within the scientific community. From my personal perspective, I’ve also learned so much just by trawling preLights or the comments from various preprint journal clubs – hearing other people’s thoughts on a paper is a great way to be exposed to new ideas.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPio Fellows program?

Perhaps I am a bit on the extreme end, but I think that the current journal-driven peer review system has led to a strange ecosystem that favours the pursuit of “flashy” or “exciting” science at the cost of high quality research. I firmly believe that the combination of preprints (to enable rapid dissemination) and open peer review will lead to a better focus on quality science and improve incentives within the scientific community. Of course, it is one thing for me to complain about these issues on Twitter and quite another to take concrete steps towards implementing new publication structures. I have long admired ASAPbio’s progress on these fronts, and joined the Fellows program so I could get more involved in initiatives to promote preprints and open peer review.

Ask me about…?

1. My favourite organ? The heart. (There are other organs?)
2. Favourite single cell RNA-seq pipeline? Whooooo boy, I could go on for hours. Of course, the real answer is always “it depends on your project.”
3. Favourite music? At heart, I’m a blues and jazz guy, but I’ve definitely been getting in neosoul and Instagram rock (for want of a better term) recently – check out Mateus Asato, Kazuki Isogai, Melanie Faye, or Polyphia, Covet, and Ichika Nito if you want something a bit more band-like! (And also send me your music recs too).

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of autophagy as an intracellular route for pathogen defense and innate immunity. My current project aims to understand how activation of the STING pathway induces a unique form of lipidation that may mediate cell autonomous antiviral defense.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am very excited about the progress we are making as a scientific community to achieve open access to our research world-wide. With this, I am also excited about the ongoing critical examination of the publication system and whether the current processes we use to disseminate our research are still effective in modern day for scientific progress. There are many initiatives now asking important questions and actually innovating feasible solutions to improve the way we share our research, such as through preprinting and open and collaborative peer review. As an early career researcher, this mass movement we are currently seeing very much encourages me that we will soon break through some critical barriers and achieve a more fair and open system for scientific communication.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

ASAPbio is one of the organizations that is making real progress in preprinting as a solution to the barriers of open access and timeliness in our current publication process. I was interested in joining the Fellows program to learn more about preprinting and be a part of a community that is actively working towards resolving systemic issues that are impeding scientific progress. I have already learned more about how the current publication system works, how preprinting can improve scientific communication, and how I can help to affect change and adoption of preprints at the local level. I am happy to now be a part of such an enthusiastic, thoughtful community dedicated to open science through the Fellows program.

Ask me about…

Cell biology, microscopes, philosophy, in general, and philosophy of science, continual progress in society and science, coffee beans, all types of music.

Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. I’m fascinated by how organisms adapt to different nutritional environments. My project is focused on the study of lipid metabolism inside the cell. By using cellular and animal models, I’m studying the role of the peroxisome in lipid metabolism. Peroxisomes are compartments inside the cell with many functions but that we don’t completely understand yet.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I’m excited about making scientific knowledge open to everyone. Research and scientists’ salaries are majoritarily funded with public money coming from the taxes we all pay. However, the current journal system that we all use to disseminate knowledge is obsolete and makes science available only to a selected group of people who can afford it. This is unfair and needs to change now. Preprints in biology have been a milestone in the advance toward making science open to everyone, and I cannot wait to see how science communication evolves in the next few years.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I have been part of the ASAPbio Community for two years. This new Fellows program is exciting and has gathered an incredible group of very talented people that share the same values about open science. I could not miss the opportunity to join them and learn more about this topic.

Ask me about…

Politics, basketball, Granada, IPA beers, or how to make a delicious salmorejo (typical tomato cream from the south of Spain).

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I’m currently finishing my PhD in microbiology in the group of Pilar Junier at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Regarding my line of research, I’m interested in Bacterial-Fungal Interactions in the soil ecosystem and in human health, and for the latter more specifically in host-microbe/host-pathogen interactions. I’m currently working on developing a bacterial control alternative to fight against pulmonary aspergillosis, instead of using antifungal drugs.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I’m really excited about sharing and communicating science in all its forms: lay communication, posters, presentations, articles, but also in promoting a broader adoption of preprints in the life sciences as a means to share results quickly to the community.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program because I’m interested in learning more about preprints in order to be a contact point for questions related to preprinting at my institution, and also because I want to create and run a preprint journal club in my doctoral program as a means of training on how to review a paper, which is an important skill to acquire as an early career scientist.

Ask me about…

I like reading books, watching series, cooking and hiking.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research.

I am an Assistant Professor of Avian Genomics at Texas A&M University, USA. My research is guided by my personal belief of using science for the greater good. The research in our lab focuses on fundamental biological phenomena that also have relevance for society (animal agriculture, conservation, disease). We use a mix of experimental work, genomics approaches, and bioinformatics in our work. Current major focus areas are genome architecture of chicken, and microbiota assembly and regulation in birds.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I remember the role of great science books and articles in inspiring me to become a scientist, and I am most excited about helping others find and love science as I do. But today, science communication has an important role to play in ensuring a stable and sane society. The COVID crisis has exposed the chasm that exists between scientists and the public’s understanding of even the most basic scientific facts. I am motivated by the challenge of working harder to help close the gap.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I have found some of the most exciting new discoveries in preprints, but I have also run into academics who dismiss preprints. I have seen enough preprints that went on to get published that I am certain that preprints make science communication and dissemination stronger, and doesn’t undermine confidence in it. I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program to get the pulse on how people at different institutions and career stages perceive preprints, and what the challenges are to wider acceptance of preprints. I hope to take away some strategies on improve current peer review and publishing practices.

Ask me about… 

Birds. I am a lifelong birder (a.k.a birdwatcher), and birds drove my initial interest in science. Now as a professional avian geneticist, I don’t need to make excuses to go out and watch birds.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, working on the molecular drivers of cancer stem cells in an aggressive adult brain cancer called glioblastoma. Using normal neural stem cells and patient-derived cancer stem cells, I am investigating the role of a key neurodevelopmental transcription factor on self-renewal.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I think the uptake of preprints in recent months will be a catalyst for changing how science is communicated. It is exciting to see how the publication system is becoming more open and inclusive, and how new platforms are enabling early career researchers to contribute to a change in the status quo.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPBio Fellows program to increase my knowledge around preprints and open science communication. It is important for researchers to understand, and help to improve, the scientific publishing process – this program is increasing my own awareness and will enable me to have productive discussions with others around open science. It is also great to meet and learn from researchers from around the world.

Ask me about…

Brains, photography, mental health and baking!

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I’m currently finishing my PhD in Neurosciences at the Planar Polarity and Plasticity lab at the Neurocentre Magendie in Bordeaux, France. My work is focused on how planar cell polarity proteins modulate neuronal polarity and axonal function. For that, I use in vitro (cultured neurons) and in vivo (transgenic mice) models, together with a wide selection of techniques like immunofluorescence, super resolution imaging and molecular biology. I find the subject particularly interesting, as we know some of these proteins are involved in pathologies like epilepsy or autism. Knowing their basic roles in neuron and brain development is key to understand the onset and mechanisms of those conditions.

What are you excited about in science communication?

Communicating science is not only exciting, but a responsibility from researchers. I like to discuss my work with scientists – through posters or talks- but also with the lay public, in order to approach them to what we do in the lab. In the “post-truth” and “fake news” era, science needs to be told rigorously to the society, which has the right of being properly informed of its progress.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I want to learn how I can contribute to make the scientific publishing system more transparent and efficient. The current process is slow and relies on a “homogeneous” pool of peer-reviewers, which can condition the way science is analysed and perceived. I believe preprints are a solution to communicate scientific discoveries faster prior to publication in a journal. Regarding peer review, I think diversity is essential: this means boosting the inclusion of people from underrepresented groups (women, black, LGBT…) but also early-career researchers. Thanks to the ASAPbio Fellows program, I got to learn loads about the preprints system and the numerous initiatives dedicated to transform peer review.

Ask me about…

Neuronal polarity, open science, basic research, movies (specially the horror ones), books, languages, Twitter and electronic music.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your work

I work as project manager at FEMS (https://fems-microbiology.org/), a not-for-profit organisation publishing journals and investing revenues back into science. What I like the most in the job is that it is so diverse, involving meetings with the publisher, working with editors, supporting authors who want to communicate their research effectively, and building communities of microbiologists who wish to get involved with us to have a positive impact on society through science, reasons and facts.

What are you excited about in science communication?

When I was in the lab myself, I was excited when someone was interested in knowing more about the science, and when I realized that I was able to explain more without being too technical (or boring). In my new role, I am excited when authors of papers see the chances in communicating the results – not only as a way to promote their studies but also to make a positive change.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

To learn more about preprints, network with the community, and also to see how an effective community can be developed through online calls, meetings and group exercises (thanks Iratxe for making this happen!)

Ask me about…

The worst videogame to play during a pandemic, my cat, and how to grow basil and make your own pesto (it is super easy).

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

An early stage researcher working on interdisciplinary projects, at the interface of cell biology and biophysics. My academic training includes a Masters of Technology specializing in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, from NIT-Rourkela, India and a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology from SRM University-Chennai, India. Currently, I am a 4^th year PhD scholar working between the labs of Sandrine Etienne-Manneville at Institut Pasteur and Bruno Goud at Institut Curie. My PhD project is titled “Isoforms of Cdc42: function, localization and regulation” and is funded by the Marie-Curie Horizon 2020 network Polarnet-ITN. Cdc42 is a small GTPase protein regulating cell polarization events. Interestingly, Cdc42’s C-terminal which is differs for both the isoforms comprises of a CAAX box which allows it to anchor to membranes. My key objective is to understand the functions of these isoforms dependent on their subcellular localization dependent on their CAAX box sequences.

What are you excited about in science communication?

Science communication, the ability to share, educate and promote scientific studies is exciting in itself. However, what keeps me ticking in this field is the ability to raise awareness of science-related topics. One such polarizing topic is scientific publishing. I am always eager to understand what goes behind the arcane publishing process and what are the ongoing efforts to better this process and eventually be a part of the dissemination of information related to speeding up scientific publication.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

Open Science and instrumental tools such as preprints, I believe are the way forward within the biological scientific community. Mainly with the motive to accelerate the conventional publishing process in place. Therefore, I wanted to join the ASAPbio Fellows program to be able to learn more about preprints and initiatives behind open dissemination of scientific work. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and be part of a group working towards enabling faster scientific communication. I have previously been part of the ASAPbio Ambassadors community and have always learnt a lot from the projects carried out by the network in the past.

Ask me about…

Open science, preprints, Cell polarity, or even life in Paris.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Cell Cycle Regulation lab, at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in Portugal. I study how and why the centrosome – typically the microtubule organizing center in the cell – is lost in the muscle cells of some animal species but not others. I am also a prelighter, and mostly highlight preprints on my favourite subject: the cytoskeleton!

What are you excited about in science communication?

We are living in the “connected” age. Never before there were so many answers just a click away. The Life Sciences benefited greatly from this digital revolution, as we can now carry the vastness of the scientific literature in our pockets. Yet, science communication does not seem to be evolving at the same pace: we are performing more specialized research at a faster pace without a proportional investment in efficient communication to our peers and to the general population. Fortunately, we are becoming more aware of this gap and of its implications for society. I am happy to see a growing number of scientists joining efforts to improve the way we communicate at many levels, making this a fascinating moment to get involved and contribute.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

ASAPbio is at the forefront of promoting innovation and transparency in science communication, and preprints are obviously a key component towards a needed improvement. This program is a great opportunity to extensively learn from, and discuss with, some of the most preprint-savvy people out there! Hopefully, this will allow me to propagate this knowledge and start new discussions around me.

Ask me about…

Grant lottery, Journal-agnostic peer review, Eco-Friendly Lab Practices, DORA, Mentorship Assessment, Science Comedy, Prelights and obviously … Preprints! Twitter: @Maf_Pimentel

Neuroscience Centre, University of Helsinki, Finland

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I did my PhD in integrative structural biology and metabolism research. During that time, I performed a large number of NMR-based metabolomics experiments for different collaboration partners which was challenging to manage. Currently, I am employed as a postdoctoral researcher in data stewardship where I am deploying a cyberinfrastructure to ensure transparent, reproducible, biological research. In addition, I am also involved in biological research projects in the life sciences (e.g. caloric restriction mimetics) where I am mainly contributing with bioinformatics data analysis.

What are you excited about in science communication?

In my current position, I am working a lot with researchers to help them with research data management and data analytics tools. In this job, it is essential to transfer the knowledge about research concepts and data to technical staff in order to develop community-driven tools that offer exactly what researchers need. This science communication ensures that technical infrastructures are not only implemented, but co-creation and open participation of researchers in the implementation process foster the cultural change that is needed.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program to get involved in a community interested in improving transparency and communication of life science research. As a data steward, I am mainly focusing on research data management and reproducible research, however, I am keen to learn more about the preprint landscape and innovative ways to publish. This will help me spread the world amongst the research community I am working with.

Ask me about…

Big Data.

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research.

During my PhD in Biochemistry at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, I studied oxidative stress and energy metabolism, namely phosphoryl transference enzymes, in animal models of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), focusing on the brain, and a possible interplay between redox and energy balance, also testing antioxidant interventions as adjuvant therapies for IEMs such as phenylketonuria. I am currently managing the publishing of papers related to my thesis and collaborations and working as copyeditor.

What are you excited about in science communication?

What interests me the most in science communication are initiatives toward open science to promote collaborative, reproducible, and transparent science, fostering a healthy environment to share and discuss research findings.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program to learn tools and skills to communicate with peers and a broader, diverse audience to promote the use of preprints with the support and guidance of an organized community.

Ask me about…

Theories of knowledge (I am nowhere near being an expert, but this laid the foundation of my interest in science communication).

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

Currently I am a postdoctoral fellow in Seattle WA, USA at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Toshi Tsukiyama’s lab. My work aims to uncover mechanisms of rapid and broad scale chromatin and transcription activation as cells exit from dormancy.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am most excited about increasing inclusion and a sense of belonging in science through open science communication. I think if we can improve the way we talk about science and give access to all, science will move forward in a new and fantastic direction.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program because the way science is communicated needs to be changed. And ASAPbio has done tremendous work in opening the doors for better scientific communication. Preprints break away gatekeeping barriers to scientific careers that for-profit journals have held for so long. I believe that rapid access to scientific discovery is the best way to improve our scientific endeavors as a global society.

Ask me about…

… art, animals, and video games

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research

I just started my own research group in the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). My group focusses on the ‘evolutionary cell biology’ of the nucleus: searching for fundamental principles of nuclear organisation using comparative genomics, quantitative cell biology and experimental evolution in multiple microbial model systems. In the longer term, we are also interested in investigating the evolutionary origins of the nucleus and its starring role in the emergence of eukaryotes from an archaeal-bacterial symbiosis billions of years ago. I carried out my postdoctoral research with Buzz Baum at University College London and hold a PhD in systems biology from Stanford University.

What are you excited about in science communication?

The democratisation of tools and platforms for the dissemination of science – shifting the power balance towards the key stakeholders, the public that funds the research and the scientists themselves.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I’ve been a member of the ASAPbio community for some years, and am also involved in other initiatives to promote discussion around preprints (e.g. preLights). Participating in the programme has been a way to bring those interests and communities together!

Ask me about…

Evolution and the history of evolutionary biology, weird microbes, theatre, arthouse movies, photography

What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your line of research.

I obtained a PhD in Biotechnology from Free State University in 2015 and subsequently completed postdoctoral studies with the Agricultural Research Council and South African Sugarcane Research Institute, respectively. I joined the academic staff at the University of Pretoria (Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology) in September 2019, as a lecturer and a supervisor for postgraduate research projects.

I am part of a diverse research team based in the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, located on the University of Pretoria campus. My primary research interest lies in understanding the molecular basis of microbial pathogen interaction with plants. I am leveraging a molecular genetic approach in addressing this research area, particularly focusing on how small RNA molecules and extracellular membrane vesicles influence the virulence of forest pathogens.

What are you excited about in science communication?

Evolving technology (and partly the COVID-19 pandemic) have radically reshaped the way we think about communicating science, making it relatively simple for crucial scientific data to be shared globally and made public. These are certainly exciting times for me to be a scientist as they demand capacity to discriminate between science information and misinformation, the varying and weird interpretations of it, and matching or contrasting these with reality or wider relevance to society.

Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program to further improve my knowledge about the preprint landscape, to stay well-informed with latest developments around preprints and, ultimately, to raise awareness around the productive use and potential benefits of preprints in my country.

Ask me about…

Professional responsibilities outside of my job description, I serve in the advisory subcommittee conducting risk assessments of biotechnologies for the National Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries; as an ethics division coordinator for the University of Pretoria; as an invited peer reviewer at various science journals and Competitive Programme for Rated Researchers for the National Research Foundation of South Africa; and now as a Fellow and community member for ASAPbio.