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/jessicapolkaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicapolka/ASAPbio: www.asapbio.org

Scientist & entrepreneur, Dr. Erandi De Silva, grew up in the small country of Botswana, where she lived through an HIV epidemic. Seeing scientists and epidemiologists having a direct translational impact on public health inspired her to pursue a career in science. She immigrated to the US to go to college, and went on to get her PhD and did an industry postdoc at Genentech before founding Forge Biologics. In this episode, we discuss what it's like running a company that has both a 'platform' in the sense that they are a CDMO - they make AAV products for other companies, and a 'product'; they also have a clinical product they are evaluating. Erandi De Silva on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erandi-de-silva-phd-08076222/ Forge Biologics: https://www.forgebiologics.com/ Leave us a comment if you enjoyed this episode. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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 Subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts! Thank you for listening.

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/Subscribe to Lady Scientist Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts!

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.

Today, we’re sitting down with Ryan Brown, a psychology Ph.D. student from Rice University. She studies how relationships help people navigate stress during and after pregnancy and has published a study entitled “Anything He Can Do, She Can Do Better: Children's Attitudes About Gender And Occupations” on gendered media messages and their implications. She also shares her love and passion for science communication on her Youtube channel, Ryan’s Science, where she posts educational videos, her Sci-Tea series with fellow women in science, and other great primers explaining research in psychology!In this episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Ryan reveals her inspiration behind her passion for content creation on Youtube, all about her Ph.D. program, and her own fascinating research! You can find Ryan at ryanlinnbrown.com. Support the podcast by subscribing to our channels, signing up for our newsletter, and leaving a review or comment. Thank you for listening!Episode Highlights:[6:00] Ryan talks about how she got started uploading content on Youtube, her original goals with the channel, and how it helped her reignite her excitement about her work.[16:12] Ryan breaks down the components of her Ph.D. program, such as exams, teaching requirements, duration, and processes.[20:06] Ryan reveals her reason for pursuing a Ph.D. and how she chose her desired area of research, including the woman who inspired her.[23:48] Ryan talks about her learnings over the years, and how her thoughts about the field of research have evolved since.[25:47] Ryan shares her goals regarding her Youtube channel, its purpose, and her career plans moving forward.[31:06] Ryan discusses her research paper and findings on longitudinal changes in HRV, across pregnancy and postpartum, and how relationships affect navigating stress and seeking support.[35:50] Ryan explains how past stress affects future stress reactivity during pregnancy and how current and past relationships shape our response to stress.[50:15] Ryan talks about her published research study called “Anything He Can Do, She Can Do Better: Children's Attitudes About Gender And Occupations,” and her collaboration with Dr. Nancy Weinberger.[57:45] Ryan shares her experience designing and conducting her own study, including the use of statistical power and her recruitment methodologies.[1:03:29] Ryan reveals her next move and career plans.

Meet Celine Halioua, founder and CEO of Loyal, a biotech startup developing drugs to extend dog lifespan. In this episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Celine reveals how a single cold email landed her an internship and then later a full-time job with the Longevity Fund, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. This was the career shift that launched her into the biotech space where she later founded Loyal, which has raised $27 million and has already completed its first clinical study! You can find Celine at https://www.loyalfordogs.com/. Support the podcast by subscribing to our channels, signing up for our newsletter, and leaving a review or comment. Thank you for listening!Support our podcast through Patreon and get #LSP swag: https://www.patreon.com/ladyscientist...Episode Highlights:3:18 Celine made the difficult decision to leave Oxford, where she was previously a graduate student studying neuroscience and went all-in with Longevity.8:05 Celine speaks to the significance of Loyal’s first clinical study and summarizes the learnings.10:08 Celine breaks down the term ‘consumer-facing study’ and Loyal’s effort to both socialize the aging thesis and cultivate a consumer-focused pharma company18:06 Celine breaks down the basic thesis of Loyal - “The basic thesis of Loyal is that there is a pharmaceutical product out there that inevitably extends dog lifespan and healthspan safely and also has the variables to be a viable consumer product and the job of Loyal is to find that drug and bring it to market successfully.”18:10 Celine discusses the pros and cons of relying heavily on CROs for the experiments her company carries out.27:00 Celine opens up about what it was like fundraising for series A and shares tips for biotech founders going through that process.35:27 Celine talks about the negative impact she believes Theranos and Holmes trial has had on the current state of founder- led biotech. She chats about the role she feels sexism plays in media coverage on the biotech industry specifically.45:10 Celine discusses the work that goes into being transparent as a startup company49:00 Celine opens up about the challenging aspect of starting a company and what inspired her to get started and continues to inspire her to push forward with Loyal.

In this special episode of LSP, we sit down with not one but two women from the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies - Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC), where they study the use of MDMA and psilocybin to treat mental health disorders. Allison Coker, PhD is trained in neuroscience and is the regulatory affairs manager. She shares the intricacies of their latest, groundbreaking results from a Phase 3 trial studying the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, a study that resulted in 67% of participants no longer qualifying for a PTSD diagnosis. Alia Lilienstein, MD, is the Medical Director of MAPS PBC and shares her career journey from public health, to practicing physician to something unexpected. We think you will learn a lot from these two amazing women!Special thank you to my colleague, Alex Croft, who inspired me to do this interview and guest starred in it as well. Thank you Alex for your curiosity and inspiration! Links for the episode: Learn more about MAPS PBC here: https://mapspublicbenefit.com/ Allison’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisoncoker/ Alia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alia-lilienstein-b4926a97/ This episode is sponsored by Kendall Investor Relations. Check out their open positions here: https://www.kendallinvestorrelations.com/careers Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ladyscientistpodcast All links: https://www.ladyscientistpodcast.com

Shon joined the cancer therapy field a little later than most. She was older than her graduate school peers, where she studied the dynamics of cancer in mouse models with Dr. Martin McMahon. After getting her PhD, she felt an urgency to dive into industry and apply her knowledge to something that could have a real impact on the lives of cancer patients. But her first application to the company she wanted to work for was met with rejection. Shon didn’t let that stop her - she got advice from friends on how to revise her CV. She attended a talk by the CEO of the company she wanted to work for, asked good questions, and introduced herself. It was through a newfound love for good networking that she landed the job she wanted at Eureka Therapeutics. We get into this and other stories in this conversation with Shon Green who is now a senior director of translational research at Umoja Biopharma. We hope you enjoy Shon’s candor and advice in this latest Lady Scientist Podcast Interview. Thanks for listening! Links for Shon: https://www.umoja-biopharma.com/ Women in Bio: https://www.womeninbio.org/ WINGS for Growth: https://wingsforgrowth.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/shon-green-7a76909/ This episode is sponsored by Kendall Investor Relations: https://www.kendallinvestorrelations.comSupport the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ladyscientistpodcast All links + merch: www.ladyscientistpodcast.com

Nikhita Singh has had a fascinating career thus far. She once led product design at Palantir and demo'd robots as part of her research at MIT Media Lab, experience that led to her co-founding and leading product development at new startup Artificial Inc. In this episode we get into some of the interesting side projects she's worked on along the way (city boxes? and have you seen her notebooks?). We also go on a little bit of a reality show tangent (hint: she's actually not that into sci fi!) but trust us, its worth it to learn how Nikhita's brain relates story telling with pitching a company that is striving to improve automation for life science labs everywhere.Links for Nikhita:https://www.nikhitasingh.com/https://www.artificial.com/This episode is sponsored by Kendall Investor Relations: https://www.kendallinvestorrelations.com/www.ladyscientistpodcast.comFollow us on:Twitter: @LadyScientistP1Instagram: @ladyscientistpodcastSupport the podcast: patreon.com/ladyscientistpodcast

Dr. Caitlin Vander Weele is a neuroscientist and the founder and CEO of Stellate Communications, a science-first public relations agency. Caitlin studied brain pathways involved in motivated behaviors at MIT. During her PhD, she founded Interstellate - a neuroscience and art magazine that leverages research images for science education. She is an active advocate for alternative careers for scientists. On this episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, we dive into her research on dopamine receptors, her path to PR, the importance of good mentors and how Twitter plays an important role in both her career and support system.You can find Caitlin on Twitter: @caitvwSupport the podcast by subscribing to our channels, signing up for our newsletter, and leaving a review or comment. Thank you for listening! ladyscientistpodcast.com

Casey's 'mind was blown' (her words!) one day when she learned in her high school science class that a cellular function they were studying worked via an 'unknown mechanism.' She decided then and there that she wanted to study science. Casey went on to work in a lab washing glassware (how many of us got our start!) before studying signal transduction during her graduate school work. During her postdoc she recognized that academic research often confines you to one lane and she wanted to do more, to learn more. So she worked as a field application scientist for a microscope company before moving on to Benchling where she gets to do EVEN MORE! She shares these and other awesome stories from her career with us on the podcast. Thanks for listening!

Amal Katrib studied biomedical physics and computational biology for her Ph.D. from UCLA. She went on to learn about women's health during her postdoc at the Institute for Systems Biology. Now she's blazing her own trail; she founded a telemedicine platform to virtually connect doctors to Syrian refugees and other marginalized communities (eSAHA) and she's writing a book about how to understand health risks in a world full of fake news. She's incredibly passionate about making the world a better place using her broad skill set. I can't wait for you to hear this episode and learn about Amal's path.eSaha: https://www.sahadoc.com/Amal's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akatrib/Support the podcast on Patreon.