What is your current role? Tell us a bit about your research
I am a Senior Research Assistant in Dr. Ross Levine’s lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. I work on understanding the genetic basis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and their progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I also work on the preclinical evaluation of new targeted therapies for MPNs and AML in mouse models of disease that we have in the lab, which can then be translated back to the clinic.
Why did you choose to participate in the ASAPbio Fellows program?
I am very interested in learning more about the crowd preprint review program. I am also interested in getting more experience in peer reviewing. Having completed my PhD at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, I am very familiar with bioRxiv and some of the benefits of preprints. I am also from India, and I’m familiar with the financial challenge of publishing fees at journals. I’m hoping to increase my confidence level as a peer reviewer, and learn ways in which I can provide constructive feedback to researchers all over the world.
What are you excited about in science communication?
I am passionate about demystifying scientific research and making it more accessible to the general public. My family is very supportive and excited that I’m a cancer researcher, but they are not able to understand what I do or why I do it, and we are not taught the skills to be able to communicate this effectively in our scientific training. I am excited that science communication is finally starting to receive the attention it deserves, and I’m looking forward to contributing to this cause.
Ask me about….
Books, cooking, Taylor Swift, and video games.