Connecticut’s continuing role in advancing stem cell research
September 2009
New Haven was the proud host of StemCONN 09, Connecticut’s International Stem Cell Research Symposium, in March. Buzzing with academic researchers, students, and biotech entrepreneurs, it was the second such conference in the state since Connecticut became the third state to devote funds to stem cell research.
The symposium highlighted work that otherwise would have required private money. Under President George W. Bush, policy limited federal funding to research on human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines derived prior to 9 p.m. on August 9, 2001. That federal ban on funding the creation of and work with new hESC lines, given that the available lines were far fewer than initially expected and lacking in genetic diversity, first galvanized New Jersey and California to open up their own coffers to researchers in 2004.
Genomas: Battling Side Effects with PhysioTypes
December 2007
In a building nearly 80 years old tucked on the campus of Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, the biotechnology company Genomas has a surprising amount of wall space dedicated to art. In one corner, the startling whiteness is interrupted by Gene Collage #1, in which microarray data has been transformed into a modernist-style collection of colorized squares. Removed from this impromptu gallery space, the walls resume their institutional flavor, and a pair of large doors open to reveal a lab performing state-of-the-art science. It is here that the red, white, and black landscape of the artwork is fully realized in nanotechnological bliss: Gene chips, each the size of a stick of gum and containing one million single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs, rest on the lab bench. Using these DNA microarrays and other recent advances in genomics, the aptly named Genomas aims to usher in the era of personalized medicine with its trademark PhysioTypes.
Co-Editor-in-Chief (2008-2009),
Original Contributions Editor (2008) at Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine (YJBM)
The YJBM is a student-run biomedical journal that publishes original science, scientific reviews, and related arts and humanities articles on a quarterly basis on PubMed Central. My work with the YJBM has included commissioning articles from students and faculty, leading and participating in the peer-review process, and working with authors throughout to improve manuscripts.
In addition to these leadership positions, I also had the opportunity to write for the journal, doing a profile on a local biotech company and attending the StemCONN conference. Below are two commentaries that appeared in the 2007 and 2009 Special Issues on Genomics & Proteomics and Stem Cells, respectively. While indexed in PubMed, these articles are intended for broad scientific audiences, and are similar to the front magazine sections of other academic journals.
