“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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