Decoding Life Kathryn Murie and Sophie Belman

For the final episode of this season, we spoke to Professor Anna Middleton. Anna is Head of Society and Ethics Research at the Sanger Institute and has spent her career investigating the ways in which genomics research impacts society. It was amazing to hear about the groundbreaking research that Anna has done, from her PhD research into attitudes of the deaf community to genetic testing to embedding the ethics research group into the Wellcome Genome Campus, Anna has led the way and is now dedicating her career to figuring out the best way to socialise disconnected public audiences with genomics. 

If you are looking to find out more, Anna has recommended the following TED talk: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability?language=en


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This week we had the opportunity to speak with Em Dixon. Em loved science growing up, but discovered that it was seeing the benefits of communicating the research that got her really excited. We had a lovely conversation covering the paths into science communication, why it is so important, and how it can be used to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM. If you want to learn about the ways in which you can use sci comms to both engage the public and improve your ability to communicate your research, this is the episode for you!

Some 

Genomics Lite: https://publicengagement.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/genomics-lite


Gender-inclusive biology: https://www.genderinclusivebiology.com/


Scicomm101 Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/notsoscify/status/1387458410552168452?s=20


Scicomm guide: https://www.hindawi.com/resources/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=owned%20referral&utm_campaign=HDW_MRKT_GBL_AWA_TWTR_OWN_OSOC_HIND_X_10436

Becoming a STEM ambassador: https://www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors/join-stem-ambassador-programme 



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Lindsey Crosswell is Head of External Relations at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), an organisation that sits on the Wellcome Genome Campus alongside The Wellcome Sanger Institute and many others. Lindsey has had an extensive career spanning many industries, this vast experience is something she has brought to her current role. It was really interesting to talk about such a different aspect of working in science. Lindsey also reflected on how things have changed for women in the workplace over the years. We tend to focus on the present when pushing for equality and how much there still is to do, but it was lovely to think about how far we have come! If you’re interested in learning more about EMBL-EBI, how they adapted to the pandemic, and their work on public engagement and EDI then this is the episode for you!

Find out more about EMBL-EBI here: 

https://www.ebi.ac.uk/

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Dr. Sarah Teichmann is a group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in cellular genetics, and co-founded the Human Cell Atlas. We start with the science of protein structure and move into single cell genomics and the human cell atlas. We discuss the global perspective that has motivated her research from her PhD to now. We also dive into what it’s like to go from mentee to mentor and championing those that come after you. It was a really enjoyable conversation, in which we learned a huge amount of biology as well as what it takes to be an impactful and inspirational female leader.

Resources!

The Human Cell Atlas - https://www.humancellatlas.org/

The Teich Lab Webpage - http://www.teichlab.org/

One thousand families for the molecular biologist by Cyrus Chothia - https://www.nature.com/articles/357543a0

SARS-CoV-2 entry factors are highly expressed in nasal epithelial cells together with innate immune genes - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0868-6

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Dr Alena Pance has had an incredible career traversing neuroscience, cancer, and tropical parasite research. She has always had a focus on transcriptional regulation and it was incredible hearing about how she adapted to these very different fields. Alena was very honest in this interview about her two very different experiences of having children in research. It was very interesting to hear how these fed into policy changes that women on the Wellcome Genome Campus were driving and, although there is still work to be done, how much better these women made it for the parents coming after them.

Some Resources!

Alenas Sanger Page: https://www.sanger.ac.uk/person/pance-alena/

Alenas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alena-pance-a4930620/

Alenas ResearchGate profile https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alena-Pance

Some of her most recent papers include:
Pance, A. The Stem Cell Revolution Revealing Protozoan Parasites’ Secrets and Paving the Way towards Vaccine Development. Vaccines 9, 105 (2021).

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/2/105/htm

Pance, A. Diversify and Conquer: The Vaccine Escapism of Plasmodium falciparum. Microorganisms 8, 1748 (2020).

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/11/1748/htm

And one of her landmark research papers:

Bentrari, F., Chantôme, A., Knights, A., Jeannin, J.-F. & Pance, A. Oct-2 forms a complex with Oct-1 on the iNOS promoter and represses transcription by interfering with recruitment of RNA PolII by Oct-1. Nucleic Acids Res. 43, 9757–9765 (2015).

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0158238 https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/43/20/9757/1400090

She’s also been part of a great series called as part of public engagement called Talking Cells taking you through the life of a cell. I’ve linked below “The Life of a Cell”, “The Odd Neighbor Best”, and  “A Tumultuous Affair”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIHqaCm7xZo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SI0hisPQgw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZKsQ_vDx0I

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Dr Gosia Trynka is a group leader at the Sanger Institute and Experimental Science Director at Open Targets. Her group works on immune genomics as they study how human genetic variation impacts the immune system and predisposes people to develop autoimmune diseases. In today's episode we hear not only about this science, but also about her transition into leadership and the people she has held as role models along the way. 

Below are some resources that you may find useful after listening to our conversation with Gosia: 

Information about Gosia's group: 

https://www.sanger.ac.uk/group/trynka-faculty/

Publications surrounding GWAS studies:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20188-y

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.00424/full

Open targets website:

https://www.opentargets.org/

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