This page provides a window into my professional activities, some personal thoughts and a way to contact me. I hope you find something interesting or enjoyable here.
What can we learn from cell and animal laboratory models?
Check out the ICOB YouTube channel. We added a series of short videos that introduce some of the different laboratory models used in the institute. You can see some cool animals and even cooler science. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChN2ANZIdeFXRrlhGvncsiw
The slow march toward a cure for Sickle cell disease
Despite the lifetimes of work that led to our current position on the cusp of a cure for Sickle cell disease, the basic molecular features and its potential cure were defined 70 years ago.
Reading Papers: Sketch out the argument
Reading scientific papers can be a chore. It is not uncommon for great scientists to be poor communicators, so it often requires a major effort by the reader to simply understand the logic of a paper. The most useful activity I have found for increasing comprehension of scientific papers is to sketch out the argument. …
CRISPR and Six Other Editors
With recent news dominated by CRISPR, it is easy to forget that gene editing can be accomplished with other platforms as well. In fact, two of these platforms preceded CRISPR in clinical trials, and at least three are under continued development by big pharma.
What is the take-home message, and where can I find it?
This morning as I left the house, I realized I had forgotten my ID. I went back inside and spent about five frustrating minutes searching for it, only to find it on a shelf that I almost never use. The experience reminded me very much of reading a scientific paper that is organized in an …
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Communicating your value in a CV/Resume
Last week, I wrote about communicating the value of a study, and the theme continued for me this week. As part of my job at ICOB, I have a scientific communication club, in which we discuss topics like manuscript writing, proposal writing and oral presentations. This week, we started talking about applying for jobs, so …
Communicating the value of your study
In the workshop I gave at NTU this weekend, a very interesting question came up regarding the way I teach writing the rationale for a study. The question was "What if my study is seeking to change or challenge an accepted paradigm? How do I communicate that without making enemies?" With this question sitting in …
Watch-list of Gene Editing Clinical Trials
So far, only two clinical trials have attempted in vivo gene editing, and more than ten have evaluated ex vivo or cell transplantation approaches.
Successful Phase 2 for new Huntington’s disease treatment
My Ph.D. project was related to Huntington's disease. It's a terrible neurodegenerative disease with no effective treatments. More than a decade after graduating, I am thrilled to see that one of the strategies some of my contemporaries were working on is gaining major traction in clinical trials. I wrote a short news piece about it. …
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MJC Scientific Writing and Editing 