Lady Scientist Podcast

“Science can only progress if others are able to read and build off of what has been learned in the past.” Jessica Polka shares this insight and many more in this conversation with LSP about the current state of scientific publishing. As the executive director of ASAPbio, an organization battling the slowing of the sharing of scientific knowledge, she’s played a key role in catalyzing change when it comes to how and when scientific articles are shared. We dive into the White House memo calling for all scientific papers to be open access by 2025, what some of her key concerns are for the space, and that explosive eLife announcement about preprints. You won’t want to miss this great conversation!

Links for Jessica:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicapolka

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicapolka/

ASAPbio: www.asapbio.org

In this episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Dr. Jocelynn Pearl hosts Emily McGinnis, Chief of Patient Advocacy at Taysha Gene Therapies, and Claire Aldridge, Chief Strategy Officer at Form Bio (spun out of Colossal Biosciences - the company that wants to de-extinct the dodo bird!) Together, we discuss challenges and advancements in gene therapy for rare diseases, emphasizing patient advocacy in drug development, and the need for optimization and scaling. Emily and Claire share their career journeys to the C Suite. They also recommend resources and organizations for patients seeking information on potential therapies. This episode provides valuable insights into gene therapy, patient advocacy, and the career journeys to the C Suite.

Dr. Madeleine Oudin knew she was interested in medicine and biology from a young age. She took a science track of courses in high school in France and went on to do her undergraduate studies at McGill University. Despite a lack of advising, she found that she loved research and continued on to get a Masters and PhD in neuroscience. She shifted gears in her postdoc, studying cancer and tumor biology, and was surprised to learn of some of the overlaps with studying neuroscience. These two fields merged to form her research niche when she founded her own lab at Tufts University. But her research focus would shift once again after she discovered the diagnosis of her daughter Margot, who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy caused by gene mutations in SCN8. Together with her husband, she now also studies these types of disorders in mice and is working towards a cure for her daughter. Join us on this episode of LSP to learn from Dr. Oudin's impressive career journey and her inspiring dedication to help her daughter.

Guest links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleine-oudin-56769529/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MadeleineOudin

Donate to Epilepsy Research: https://give.tufts.edu/campaigns/22193/donations/new?designation=scn8aepilepsyresearchfund

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Today we’re joined by another awesome scientist, Dr. Christine Cucinotta. Christine studies gene regulation in yeast in her postdoctoral studies in the Tsukiyama Lab at the Fred Hutch. She also organizes Fragile Nucleosome, a Discord community of scientists and researchers that puts on a seminar series (available to watch on YouTube). We chat about the importance of community in science and what she considers to be groundbreaking work in the field of gene regulation in the last decade. We also get into how she felt about the recent eLife decision to publish preprints (hint - she’s a fan of change!) and the importance of open science!

Christine’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrstn_e

Fragile Nucleosome: https://twitter.com/FNucleosome

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In today’s episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Jocelynn chats with Yolanda Hagar, Associate Director of Bioinformatics and Clare Paterson, Director of Clinical Research, both at SomaLogic. Somalogic was founded in 2000 with the goal of improving the well-being and quality of life of every individual by transforming how diseases were detected, diagnosed and managed. Built on decades of aptamer research, SomaLogic scientists developed a ground-breaking proteomics technology that overcomes the significant challenges of existing protein measurements. Clare and Yolanda share their career journeys and the unique working environment, a collaboration of minds and expertise!

Learn more about Somalogic: https://somalogic.com/

Yolanda’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yolanda-hagar-9076b7137/

Clare’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-paterson-81627556/

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Kathy Lee-Sepsick founded Femasys, a women’s health technology company, 18 years ago. Since then, she’s been the primary leader and inventor behind the company’s expansive patent portfolio and is dedicated to minimally invasive technology that can improve options for infertility. From the Femasys website, more than 9 million women contend with infertility in the US, and innovation in this medical area has been relatively stagnant for 30 years. We dive into Kathy’s career path, leadership style, and observations in the women’s health space over the course of her career. An inspiring conversation!

Kathy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-lee-sepsick-6b680b7/

Learn more about Femasys: https://femasys.com/

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Research suggests that diabetes affects men and women quite differently! But did you know that the current standard treatment for type 2 diabetes is exactly the same for both men and women? Well, today’s guest Dr. Stacey Gorniak is on a mission to change that! Listen in as she dives into the key findings her research group has uncovered surrounding sex-based differences in diabetes. Plus, hear about her journey to becoming an associate professor and catch her best tips for early career researchers and postdocs who are considering a career in academia!

You can connect with Stacey on Twitter @ProfGorniak.

Episode Highlights:

8:23 Dr. Stacey chats about how her internship in the biomechanics lab at a children's hospital led her to fall in love with the field of biomechanics.

9:54 Dr. Stacey dives into the makeup of her current research team and the large collaborative research piece she is a part of that brings a lot of different techniques together to try to understand type 2 diabetes, which she considers to be a non-traditional movement disorder.

12:07 Dr. Stacey explains the sex-based differences associated with the presentation of type 2 diabetes. She explains how women were previously excluded from biomedical studies, which means that more research needs to be done in order to better understand the sex disparities and health outcomes.

15:20 Dr. Stacey discusses the tools such as treadmills and infrared cameras that she uses in her lab to collect data.

20:15 Dr. Stacey uncovers the essential, critical skills that she looks for when she is bringing someone on to her research team.

28:48 Dr. Stacey discusses her love for the academic environment that led her to ultimately decide to pursue a career in academic research.

30:51 Dr. Stacey opens up about her job search process in 2009, which was right after the 2008 crash. She explains how the timing was not ideal because there were not many jobs available in the years following the recession as most institutions had frozen hiring.

Meet Dr. Alina Chan, a molecular biologist and author of Viral, a book she co-wrote with renowned science writer Matt Ridley, where they go on the hunt for the origin of COVID-19. The book is educational and at times shocking, covering everything from pangolins and horseshoe bats to internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers.

Alina is also a postdoc fellow at the Broad Institute, a biomedical and genomic research center that evolved from research collaborations among MIT and Harvard scientists.

In this episode of the Lady Scientist Podcast, Alina shares her tumultuous journey as she wrote her debut book, her discoveries in the process, and the fascinating research that led to it. You can find Alina at https://twitter.com/Ayjchan. Support the podcast by subscribing to our channels, signing up for our newsletter, and leaving a review or comment. Thank you for listening!

To purchase a copy of Viral:

Harper Collins

https://t.co/IsBR0oGJud?amp=1

Amazon

https://t.co/0MVf2PeN6V?amp=1

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