2021 ASAPbio Fellows

What are you excited about in science communication?

Science communication is a tool for disseminating ones’ research and an important skill to develop for an early-career researcher. In addition to developing communication skills, I am excited about promoting FAIR data principles.

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

The ASAPbio Fellows program offers a unique platform for me to learn about preprinting, understand the barriers of open access and changing landscapes of science publication, improve scientific communication, involve in career development activities, and connect with the scientific community. Further, working with a peer-group, I will be committed to open, accessible, and collaborative science communication.

Ask me about...

…behavioral neuroscience, hiking (NH 4000 footers), gardening, and parenting

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am excited about publishing innovations like preprints, about promoting effective communication of research throughout the research cycle (not just at the end), and about ensuring the trusted components of scholarly research are findable and linked up in the research ecosystem by using persistent identifiers.

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

For one, I want to promote the cool elements of preprints such as the ability to make research results public early and as soon as authors feel they’re ready, opening research results to scrutiny by the entire science community, and allowing authors to reap early kudos for work they’ve done.

Ask me about…

Ask me about careers in science or about my new lockdown hobby – crocheting amigurumi creatures  (from tapirs to aliens!)

What are you excited about in science communication?

In the realm of scientific communication I am most excited about emphasizing to actors in the research space (both funders and researchers) the importance of conducting science with a priority on honoring scientific values and best practice. Many would agree that a chief aim of scientific discovery is to enrich the lives of as many as possible – be that through tangible increases in quality of life or simply increased public knowledge of the world – and for science to serve that purpose incentives and structures must be aligned with certain standards of transparency, availability, and reproducibility. Thus, my primary interest is emphasizing the importance of these aspects of the scientific process to those entities that have the most ability to influence the paradigm.

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

My interest in the ASAPbio Fellow program stems from my interest in preprints and my desire to increase my understanding of how preprints can work to increase availability and transparency of research findings. My organization already co-hosts a preprint server but I am very interested to learn how we could expand its reach and potentially connect it with a larger network to increase accessibility and visibility of research.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I think the last year or so (The pandemic!!) has really shown us the need and necessity for science communication especially the effective need of outreach to increase faith in science. I have only recently started dipping my toes in science communication by doing science outreach activities with school students and I am excited to learn more about it.

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

I have often struggled with my colleagues to even discuss preprints for journal clubs. I strongly believe that the success of open science and preprints is possible if trainees are exposed to it as early as possible in their scientific careers. With becoming an ASAPbio fellow, I hope to work with other fellows and gather data about the perception of preprints at various career stages and would like to come up with strategies to address concerns based on scientists at different career stages. My goal of joining ASAPbio fellows is to be a part of a community that is open to discuss, address these biases and help me with coming up with strategies.

Ask me about…

Microscopy, Madhubani paintings, and online/video games….If not in front of a microscope, I like to spend my time either playing online board games, Mortal Kombat or painting especially one of the very old forms of Indian folk painting called Madhubani paintings.

What got you excited about science communication?

Communication plays a vital role in science: it is what enables establishing collaborations, sharing discoveries, and building communities. I believe that doing science involves not only creating new knowledge but also disseminating it, especially beyond the confines of academia. Science needs more advocates in order to reach wider and perhaps more influential audiences (policy makers, industries, educators). And by making science more understandable and open, society’s perception of the value of science and the importance of scientific careers can be influenced positively.

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

The academic publishing system, even after the creation of Plan S and Open Access models, still fails to be supportive of its own authors and readers. Preprints are the most compelling force to have arisen in recent years in such ecosystem and are accelerating the dissemination of scientific discoveries. I wanted to become involved in the ASAPbio initiative because it is acting to change the status quo in scholarly communication and is promoting the creation of a healthier research environment based on openness, trust, and transparency.

Ask me about…

The creative process — I like to think of it as being at the heart of every human endeavor, from science to art; Learning — virtually anything, but mostly languages; Music and movies — until the live music scene resumes, I will be enjoying my status of newly-converted cinephile; Plants — new to this club and loving it; Brewing beer—I am gearing up to start doing some applied microbiology at home.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am excited about all efforts to make science more open and accessible to the public, as well as innovative ways to share results.

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

I joined the ASAPbio Fellows program to be part of a community that is committed to making science transparent and accessible. I’m eager to learn more about the preprint landscape, to have conversations with preprint advocates, and to gain tools to promote the adoption of preprints.

Ask me about...

the locus coeruleus, R programming, and houseplants

What are you excited about in science communication?

I love talking about science with my students at the university. I like to see their look in their eyes when I share with them the latest breakthroughs in science.

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

I like to meet people and hear their views on preprints. I would like to increase awareness about preprints among early-career scientists and postgraduates and the ASAPbio would be ideal platform to bounce ideas on how to do this effectively.

Ask me about…

Lego. I love building all the different types of Lego models with my 6-year-old. We recently built a Rapunzel castle, and we will be building a Harry Potter Lego model soon.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I feel that communication is an integral component for the growth of scientific research. Transparent and open communication of science is crucial within the scientific community to exchange ideas and technology but is also important to raise awareness among the non-scientific crowd about the growth in the world of science. I am motivated to contribute towards and promote an easy, accurate and simple means of scientific communication.

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

With the help of the ASAPbio fellow program I would like to learn about various tools available to promote and implement open science in the scientific community. I think the process to publish and communicate our research should be faster and less complicated than the ‘classic publication’ that exists today. I would like to work with people who have similar interests in making science openly available and accessible and I feel this program would be a good starting point to contribute my bit towards this aim.

Ask me about…

Books, movies, philosophy/psychology, Indian culture…

Apart from lab work, I also supervise a Master student, and help professors with teaching at the institute (though now with COVID-19 it has been reduced to minimal and mainly takes place online).

What are you excited about in science communication?

There are two aspects that interest me a lot within science communication. First, how to make scientific knowledge more accessible and understandable to general public, and how to increase public’s trust in scientists. Next one, how to make a publication system more fair, efficient, and accessible to society that paid for it.

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

In hope to meet like-minded people and to see if we can somehow improve the publishing process.

Ask me about…

Anything really. I am a huge fan of cooking and Korean cuisine, healthy living. Interested in environmental issues.

What are you excited about in science communication

I am committed to bust through real or perceived barriers that may be keeping science stories secret
and exploring the art of science communication.

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

The fellowship aims to stimulate scientific discussion and collaborations in the field of biological sciences,
to grow a community of researchers, students and industry professionals working on cutting-edge
innovation, and transparency to improve science communication. These aims are in line with
my commitment to encourage and recognize the most responsible behaviors in science and
improve research communication through open science and open technology innovations.

Ask me about…

I enjoy playing badminton or going for long walks.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am fascinated with a variety of ways to communicate science. It is unfortunate that during my career as a chemistry researcher, I was not fully aware of preprints. However, I became very interested in preprints in my librarian role and recently posted my first bioRxiv preprint. I would like to bring awareness of preprints to young researchers at our University and beyond so that they would be able to take advantage of using them while advancing in their careers.

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

I am very enthusiastic about the preprints. I see this program as an opportunity to connect to people with similar ideas and interests. I also look forward to enhancing my current outreach in promoting preprints to appeal to a diverse audience. I am delighted to be selected as ASAP Fellow!

Ask me about…

…several things. One is crystallography. I used to do a lot of crystallography during my chemistry research career and I am always happy to explore some structure-related problems. You can also ask me anything about the librarianship and about transitioning from being a Chemistry Professor to being a Chemistry Librarian. It makes you see the scientific research from a different perspective and question the traditional practices associated with science communication and scholarly output

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am mostly excited about the evaluation of science by scientific discoveries and their benefits to humankind, how to educate scientific field and how to close obvious gaps between scientists and population.

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

I believe that the ASAPbio Fellow program is the best way to stimulate open science all over the world by having science-oriented minds aiming for scientific discoveries to shape the future of science.

Ask me about…

I push my science with an imagination. So it is an inevitable thing for my work and personal life. My another interest is gastronomy. Other than these points, I like reading about science, especially reading books of scientific leaders is like reading their minds.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I really enjoy talking about science to lay persons. My husband is a computer programmer and has made me realize how important it is for scientists to share what we do in the lab others that are not involved in research.

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

As an early career researcher I am interested in getting involved with preprints. I am currently a bioRxiv affiliate and really enjoy it. I want to increase awareness about preprints as well as the benefits.

Ask me about…

I love to bake and I also eat gluten free. If you have ever eaten a gluten free baked good, it can be very dry. Over the years, I have refined 2 recipes for delicious gluten free chocolate chip and shortbread cookies. If I was not a Neuroscientist, I would love to work in bakery.

What are you excited about in science communication?

I believe that science is for everyone and that everyone can be scientist and so I’m excited by the access that pre-prints provide between the academic science community and the greater public. I think making the results of cutting-edge research presented in preprints accessible to the greater public can help strengthen interest and confidence in scientific processes.

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

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellow program because I wanted to learn more about the landscape of preprints and how they are changing the publication landscape. I also have benefitted from preprints (my own work and seeing others) and wanted to give back to this community that had helped me.

Ask me about…

I am fascinated by epithelial biology and tissue morphogenesis. Outside of the lab, I can be found playing ultimate frisbee (in non-pandemic times).

What are you excited about in science communication?

I think communicating science within disciplines, across disciplines and to the public is incredibly exciting as it often leads to new perspectives and thus, facilitates new discoveries.  Creativity is truly critical to science and requires diverse voices – science communication can help by encouraging the pursuit of science by diverse voices as well as supporting collaboration across and within fields.

“We like to think of exploring in science as a lonely, meditative business, and so it is in the first stages, but always, sooner or later, before the enterprise reaches completion, as we explore, we call to each other, communicate, publish, send letters to the editor, present papers, cry out on finding.” – Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell

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

I am passionate about science communication, open-access and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data practices. I believe that pre-prints facilitate all three of these and thus, the ASAPbio Fellow program seemed like the perfect way to help disseminate knowledge about the benefits of pre-prints and open-access to the scientific community.

Ask me about…

Marine fungi – because yes, they exist and they are incredibly important for our oceans. Also cats, not marine cats, just the normal adorable terrestrial fur ball kind.

What are you excited about in science communication?

The ultimate goal of science is to generate knowledge. Our global knowledge will advance much faster if everyone contributes and collaborates in an open environment. Yet, scientists still do not share/communicate enough … Although preprints have introduced considerable changes to the way science can be shared (making it free to publish and to access), more work is still needed to change the well-established “pay-to-publish” and “pay-to-read” systems. Moreover, if we contemplate that most of the science is supported by public funds and that science works for the common good of everyone, then scientists have a duty to make the best of use of the resources available, and to share the knowledge as broadly as possible, both to other scientists (reducing redundant efforts) but also to the lay public.

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

I chose to enroll in the ASAPbio Fellows program because I believe it to be an amazing opportunity to learn how we can use better preprints to promote scientific knowledge in an open and transparent way (both amongst scientists but also to the lay public). I am also interested in finding ways to contribute to the much needed changes to the current publishing system, and to be engaged with other like-minded individuals committed to nurture a more inclusive, collaborative and open scientific environment.

Ask me about…

Lord of the rings and cats! Questions about plant centrioles, electron microscopy, the broken academic and publishing systems are also accepted. Twitter: @SniaGPereira1

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am keenly interested in experiments that disrupt the current scientific publication paradigm. Modern ways to share our research data quickly, clearly, and without as much work for the researcher will only speed up and democratize scientific research.

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

I love the idea and process of preprinting manuscripts. I have been frustrated by recent co-authors who are unwilling or uninterested in preprinting, and I want to learn more about the pros / cons of preprinting and so I can be more convincing next time!
I also want to reimagine the way post-publication conversation happens. Papers shouldn’t go to preprint servers or journal archives and die! We need new tools that leverage the power of the internet to make research articles living documents.

Ask me about…

In my non-research time I am currently making a science video game! At its best, research is fun, and I think that fun can be captured and shared with the broader public to help demystify the research process 🙂

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am excited about communication among scientists who come from different research fields and from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. I believe that with research teams becoming more interdisciplinary, as scientists we need to be aware of research in many different areas and the societal implications of our research. I am also passionate about science outreach with the general public and school students in order to raise awareness about STEM careers and life as a scientist.

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

My goal in joining the ASAPbio Fellows program is to engage in changing the current scientific publishing landscape for the scientific community at large.

Ask me about..

Open reviews, bias in peer-review, preprints, or being an international researcher in the USA.

What are you excited about in science communication?

As laboratory scientists, we spend most of our time trying to make an impact by discovery-making. We hope our findings could move science forward or provide the foundations for new technologies. However, making discoveries without the ability to share their importance to various audiences severely diminishes our work’s potential. I believe this is why science communication is critical for highlighting the value of our work.

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

I believe preprints achieve many science publishing goals, but within a much shorter time frame, while making science more accessible, open, and transparent. I advocate for their adoption, and ASAPbio is the leading organization raising awareness in biological sciences.

Ask me about...

History, cooking, fermentation and baking!

What are you excited about in science communication?

I am interested in two aspects of scientific knowledge transfer. First, I am excited about the use of preprints as channels to speed up the dissemination of discoveries and their potential as tools to promote collaboration, cooperation and enhance the cohesion of the scientific community. Second, I believe that the biological phenomena unravelled in the lab will remain of little value until this information is shared, transferred from person to person, and integrated into humanity’s knowledge. I am therefore also passionate about how can we fill the communication gap between scientists and the public so the wider population can benefit from the latest discoveries.

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

The worldwide fight against SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID19 pandemic has been fuelled by preprints rather than traditional peer-reviewed publications. In my view, this further highlights that traditional publication pipelines are obsolete and that the life sciences publishing culture needs remodelling. I decided to participate in the ASAPbio Fellow program to connect with other people enthusiastic about Open Science that want to make a change and are interested in building a more cohesive scientific community.

Ask me about..

Life as an immigrant in the Netherlands, UK and USA. Outside of my research, I am interested in braking gender-based cultural roles and I am passionate about boxing, ballet and running.

I am currently working as a postdoctoral research and development scientist for Solvotrin Therapeutics based in Trinity College Dublin. My job is concentrated on small molecule drug design and development for T-cell lymphomas but involves a broad spectrum of disciplines including medicinal chemistry, cell biology and computer-aided drug design. One of the main aspects I like is there is rarely a day that’s the exact same!

What are you excited about in science communication?

It has to be the drive towards open scholarship and the increased sharing of knowledge and information in recent times. Through promoting and enabling dialogue on scientific innovations, breakthroughs and developments as they happen, I believe that this not only benefits us in terms of scientific progress but also goes a long way to breakdown academic barriers which can hinder productive collaboration and teamwork.

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

I chose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellow program so that I could learn all I could about the pre-print landscape with like-minded scientists and help spread the benefits to colleagues and peers in the future.

Ask me about…

Karate!

What are you excited about in science communication?

Making science and the ‘scientific method’ accessible and understandable to lots of people instead of currently a privileged few so that people with different paths of life and views can be brought together and ensured a seat at the table for discussion.

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

I want to be a better advocate of preprints and emphasize how they can communicate science efficiently to both the interdisciplinary scientific community and the general public. I believe that the program will give me the tools to become a better communicator. ASAPbio helps to make the academic environment and publishing culture more inclusive and open, and I am excited to be a part of this change.

Ask me about…

How many islands does Estonia have

What it might sound like inside the nucleus

What are you excited about in science communication?

I have the opportunity to reach a broader audience apart from my fellow science peers, which makes my work easily accessible to relevant stakeholders and has the potential to influence decisions affecting the lives of people in communities around me. Also, given that my work is mostly funded by taxpayers, through science communication I become accountable to them.

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

Honestly, I chose to participate in the program as I was curious about ASAPbio as I only recently heard about it. I also want to learn more about preprints and how preprints can impact the publication streamline that my peers and I undergo during the different stages in our academic careers.

Ask me about...

Books I can recommend for leisure reading or hiking spots in South Africa should you decide to visit my beautiful country!

Being trained in molecular and cancer biology at Genetics and Regenerative Medicine Research Centre of the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and the Malaysia Genome Institute during my PhD has shaped my understanding and skills in experimental cancer biology. Here, I worked on a project that focused on developing targeted therapy for human bladder cancer with primary focus on genomics and transcriptomics through bioinformatics analyses of NGS data such as transcriptome (RNA-Seq) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) data.

What are you excited about in science communication?

To me, scholarly and scientific communications is intertwined with open science and preprints in the life sciences and biomedical research community. Designing an experiment in the laboratory, conducting the research and communicating the findings to the public is what really excites me. I would like to further explore how the publishing industry and preprint servers share these scientific findings to promote open science and open scholarly communication. I am also excited about sharing codes, and life science datasets publicly on Github repository to promote reproducibility and data science training. Translating scientific papers through science journalism to foster public understanding of science and remove the misconception among the general public is also something that I am passionate about. I am a strong advocate for community building that supports the data-intensive biomedical research community and preprints services among underrepresented groups in STEM.  You can occasionally meet me on Twitter, sharing science and most of the time on Github, organising codes and repositories.

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

I have been very passionate about open science and preprints since 2016, and that brought me to AfricArXiv. I applied for the ASAPbio Fellow Program to acquire more knowledge and skills about preprints and keep up to date with the current trend in preprints. Participating in this fellowship will create opportunities for me to connect with many scientists in the open science ecosystem, and will provide me with the necessary skills needed to raise awareness for preprints and further develop the existing preprints services to drive the conversations on their use in the scientific community. I would also want to share my experience and provide my support to my immediate communities, colleagues and collaborators who advocate as well for preprints and open science. I am excited to have been selected and accepted for this fellowship.

Ask me about…

….anything genetics, bioinformatics, computational genomics, open science, preprints, AfricArxiv, bladder cancer and data science 🙂

What are you excited about in science communication? 

I am excited about the possibility of creating/improving science communication modes that facilitate knowledge sharing to enhance scientific discovery in medicine and health sciences. I am also excited about improving science communication infrastructure in Africa and encourage language diversity and endogenous knowledge sharing.

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

ASAPbio fellowship program is an excellent opportunity for me to expand my knowledge on preprints and connect with like-minded individuals. This would allow me to help expand the use of preprints across African countries and help develop the supportive infrastructure.

Ask me about…

Health data management, AI in science communication, mental health, global citizenship, entrepreneurship, sociology and project management.