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Corona times is what I am calling this state of existence. Human emotions are at an extreme high. There are so many things up in the air. There is an immense amount of loss and grievance. It's just such a weird time and everyday doesn’t seem real. As someone that strongly advocates for the use of correct information and detests the spread of false information; this period of time has highlighted the importance of science communication and a clear need for everyone to understand their bodys to some extent. There needs to be constant dialogue between the science world and the general public. The lack of trust pushes false messages and makes it incredibly difficult to change people's minds once these false narratives are out there. In today's post i just want to talk a little about Vaccinations Disclaimer: I am just a medical physiology graduate and do not work directly with vaccines but have a clear enough understanding to point you towards sources and where my knowledge lacks references are there for the doubters ! Vaccination is already an incredibly touchy subject and this isn't something I have been quiet about. Something I want people to be very mindful of is the information they take in and does it make sense? The media doesn’t make it any easier. Just recently when statements like this are made "It may be provocative. Should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it's been done for certain AIDS studies, where among prostitutes, we try things, because we know that they are highly exposed and don't protect themselves?" said Jean-Paul Mira, head of the intensive care unit at the Cochin Hospital in Paris. I am not justifying this statement but would like to bring some clarity on updates on current covid-19 vaccination trails and how vaccines are usually developed. It's also worth mentioning that Head of the World Health Organisation- Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is completely agaianst and stated that Africa will not be used as a tetsing ground. This post is lengthy and split into three parts How do vaccines generally work Covid-19 specific updates How are vaccine trials usually conducted How do vaccines work? What is a vaccine? Vaccines are designed to induce a protective immune response against a targeted illness ( e.g covid-19) without risk of getting the disease and its potential symptoms. Exposure - Innate Immunity - Adaptive Immunity - Vaccines In normal disease progression without a vaccine, when you are exposed to the disease/ infection your body will naturally try and fight it off ( this is known as the immune response/ innate response). This immune response allows your body to produce what it needs to fight against the infection. This type of response is usually one-off and just there to protect you. It is not specific and will do this for anything new / foreign that seems like a threat to your body. Later on in your infection, you can think of it like your body now has time to now think of a specific response, to the specific thing that is forgeign and starts building up a team to respond to this infection. This is called adaptive immunity. The adaptive immune response now holds a memory bank against this specific thing that was making you ill, and hence the next time you are exposed to this disease your body already knows how to fight it off and you don’t have to go through all the symptoms that comes with exposure. This adaptive immune response leads to the body remembering what to do when exposed and this is what vaccines aim to do. Why take vaccines? Vaccines are taken to prevent yourself from the adverse effects of a possible infection. A healthy individual taking a vaccine helps limit the spread of disease and protecet the select numbers of a population that may not be suitable to take the vaccine. How to settle your doubts when taking vaccines? Vaccines are not 100% guaranteed to protect you against infection after exposure to the disease but most times they do work. You do have a select number of people that have adverse reactions and are then put off by taking vaccines. Vaccines therefore come with their risks as with most medications or procedures that involve the highly complex human body. If in doubt - educate and find trusted healthcare professionals that can guide your reading and clear any questions you may have. Look at the evidence of vaccine use and make an educated judgement on what you want for your body or child's body. Covid-19 updates The coronavirus (COVID-19) follows the appearance of previous coronaviruses that have had lethal implications in the past but not on such as scale as covid-19 Currently there are no available vaccines but treatments are in place that are proving successful due to the amazing survival rate. The difficulty with this virus is that there are a lot of at risk individuals that if infected will make treatment difficult due to underlying conditions. There have been talks of an experimental vaccine being trialed, with a lady in the US being one of the first reported people to recieve it outside China. How are vaccine trials conducted? There are many stages in vaccine development before they are safe for human consumption. There are several unseen stages. Understanding of a diseases molecular mechanisms, identifying the populations that need it most and animal trials are all important steps. The most relevant for anyone wanting to learn more about the process is " how long does it take to be safe for human consumption" Most clinical trials are done in healthy individuals and a select few target the actual population that need protetction( i.e those that need the vaccine). Vaccines are also usually trialed in younger children as they are most in need of protection for later on in life. For common vaccines such as measles and polio, they are given once in childhood and to my knowlege new vaccines have not been devloped. For other vaccines such as the flu, these are produced more regularly due to the constant changes in the way the virus presents itself. The difficulty with flu viruses is that each time an individual is exposed the body has to go through the previously mentioned innate and then adaptive immunity processes again, hence the need for new vaccines regulalrly. In the context of Covid-19 vaccination trials there has been debate on what type of human trials should take place (nature) 1. The typical phase 3 study This usually ensures that the possible vaccines actually work using thousands of people and splitting them into two groups. One group usually gets the vaccine and the other doesn't. These groups are then monitored and comapared to see the differences between vaccinnated and non-vaccinated groups. 2. A human challenge study This is proposed to involve a much smaller group of healthy individuals who will all recieve the vaccine before being exposed to the virus and observe those that get infected. This is to quickly get results and test the potential of proposed vaccine. For more detail on the comparisons and potential ethical questions, read the paper here From the outside looking in, although the coronavirus is not new to the scientific community the mission to make a vaccine in this short time is challenging. The devlopment of the covid-19 vaccine would be a major breakthrough in science that will lead to new frameworks and innovative ideas coming forward due to uniqeness of this situation. If you enjoyed this post. Subscribe @ www.thecatalystinme.com To stop the spread of misinformation share WHO mythbusters page to family References https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/racism-row-french-doctors-suggest-virus-vaccine-test-africa-200404054304466.html https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07853890.2017.1407035 https://rupress.org/jem/article/217/5/e20200537/151597/Forty-years-with-coronavirusesForty-years-with?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=c2abefa324-briefing-dy-20200402&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-c2abefa324-43951333#.XoMsPc_yhVE.twitter https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068984/ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/record-setting-speed-vaccine-makers-take-their-first-shots-new-coronavirus?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=c2abefa324-briefing-dy-20200402&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-c2abefa324-43951333# https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-4939-8678-1_27 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00927-3?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=d84e71b528-briefing-dy-20200327&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-d84e71b528-43951333

It’s been a while since I’ve just written my thoughts down about science not relating to careers. I love the science world and the community it brings and there are many things that make the journey an interesting one. There is no better time to write about it all than scienceweek. This is part one of a three-part series; as to every story there are two sides and the truth. THE GOOD My REAL love for science began when I became actively engaged. This started in my first year of university. Before that I was interested, but I can admit I wasn’t heavily engaged. I mainly coasted through and knew I was good at biology; I did enjoy it during a levels but university really had me hooked. When I finally had my first lecture the “failure” of not doing medicine started fading away. I didn’t really understand science outside the way it was portrayed in medicine. Suddenly, I was thrown into the human body. From gcse, you learn that cells come together to form tissues and then tissues work together to form organs and finally all the organs do their thing and that’s how you are reading this post right now. It’s a mantra, an important one and one that stuck with me. My degree was like being in a blanket of knowledge and every turn you were wrapped up in more knowledge, sometimes a little suffocating that you would have to unravel, but overall an enjoyable experience. My favourite thing about biology is the ability to understand how the human body works and how intricate it is. There are so many possible areas to focus and when you think you know everything; another question pops up! That’s science for you! I became so heavily engaged that science found its way into my kitchen conversations. I was engaged outside lectures and you would find me trying to explain things and educate anyone around that me that would listen, whether that would involve explaining metabolic pathways around the ketogenic diet and figuring why I was sleepy after eating. More on the good things, outside the human body and understanding it to fight disease and prolong human life, science allows you to think of crazy things and prove them. It allows an in depth understanding of everything we interact with. In another life, I wish I understood physics. I remember my favourite lesson was learning about the induction stove in gcse. One minute its hot and the next its cold. Literally Magic!! Science is a field of unlimited possibilities and highly collaborative. I don’t think any single idea belongs to one person. You can’t really solve the big science problems without collaboration. It’s usually a team effort to piece the puzzle together with no reference image. Whether you are reading this because you are equally a science nerd or just pop-in and out of science field and only remember that “ the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, science is mostly a force of good and in the spirit of the week. The most important thing is that you actively engage with the science around you. You’ll be amazed at the things you could find. Adama x Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 .

This is part two of a three-part series. If you haven’t read the first, go on 😊 As mentioned, every story has three sides and as much as science is this amazing field with endless possibilities. I don’t want this post to be entirely depressing so it focuses on three main areas 1. Lack of public trust in scientists 2. Pursuing an academic career 3. Science accessibility Lack of public trust in scientists Its history hasn’t been so kind to ethnic minorities and disadvantaged countries. I haven’t done extensive research into every evil doing by a scientist, but you can’t enjoy certain discoveries without thinking about the communities that have suffered. A few topics include eugenics, scientific war fare, viral disease conspiracies, lack of diversity, exploitation, stolen ideas, gatekeeping and the list goes on. When the malaria vaccine was first announced, a mini debate sparked on my twitter feed. The sentiments of lack of trust and with the already worrying climate of decline in peoples trust in vaccinations. The problems that came about were the vaccines coming from the “west” and why should it be trusted, alongside the Ebola vaccine- during the roll out where foreign nationals were treated but nationals weren’t so lucky being treated as rapidly. This could be the fault of a bag of things, weak healthcare system, lack of infrastructure and more. More recently the coronavirus outbreak has personally left me thinking if disease spread is only treated with utmost global urgency when western countries are affected. Being someone that personally watched the development of the Ebola outbreak, the haste at which the corona virus is being declared an emergency in comparison to Ebola is questionable. You could say this is an argument of healthcare systems but shouldn’t human life across the globe be treated with urgency, but then again we live in a very selfish society and science/ healthcare is no exception in a lot of cases. Furthermore recent headlines surrounding the lack of covid-19 cases in africa is interesting. I understand that healthcare professionals will want to understand why - in a way to control the spread but with major publications hinting that nations with already struggling systems may just be incapable of controlling and recording numbers and lack of numbers may just be due to poor recording / incompetence is annoying. The tone of most of the articles i have read suggests that its impossible for Africa to actually have this under contrlol ! This leaves me somewhere in the middle when it comes to trusting ALL major science publications. As someone that studies within the healthcare field it can be hard to navigate when even with all the knowledge i may have now, i still have my own concerns. Pursuing a career in academia Pursuing academia or higher education is a very personal choice but the barriers to entry can be so off putting and the experience itself can push people out for many reasons that are totally understandable. Lack of diversity: since the beginning of time, a scientist was a white male in a lab coat, followed by a lovely head shot plastered all over a website. Would I say much has changed on a leadership level from the top research industries? Maybe not. Pursuing a career in academia is one led by extreme privilege. You need money to survive as the pursuit may leave your pockets dry with little reward. Let’s also not talk about the burn out and bullying that many suffer on their journey to the top. The lack of diversity is an extreme hinderance to amazing potential and coupled with the lack of mentorship is just a recipe for disaster. A passionate student can be put off doing a Phd and even questioned in their potential which leads to a deep feeling of imposter syndrome. It is easy to say go online and look for inspiration and connect- as someone that posts amazing people doing great in various fields but the reality if there are no direct physical spaces and people with a genuine interest in your progression, there is only so far personal motivation can take you. Science Accessibility I mention in my “science:good” post that science is a highly collaborative field. But what happens when major collaborations and investments only benefut one part of the world and a certain demographic? Most of the breakthrough science can only be done on one side of the world where government have the capability to heavily invest in science and research. I think what makes me sad is that although science is global, its aims will always focus on the dominating demographic within the industry. This means all the diseases and knowledge we know now, there is huge untapped potential in African countries- although this is changing and I do see hope for the future will it be more of a catch up game opposed to novel ideas and will there ever be a level playing field? To end this quite miserable post, the most heart-breaking thing for me is the lack of science engagement in many countries outside the west. With science communication and outreach expanding, countries across the globe are being left out, increasing the education and opportunity gap further! How I grew up in Sierra Leone, if you pursued science, it was limited to medicine and engineering. I am sure there are initiatives trying to change this but how can it really change when real life doesn’t reflect this. In order to aspire and develop healthcare systems or any industry you need real life people motivating the next gneration. In developing countries you need ALL the sciences developing and working together with a people centred approach. Adama x Make sure to subscribe to see the final post where I talk about the Realities of pursuing a career in science.

The final post of the Science Week three part series. To every story somewhere in the middle there is the truth. Everyone in science will have a different story. So here is my current reality: Are there things that grind my gears? Yes Has lack of good mentorship directly affected me? Yes Do I feel sick to my stomach sometimes due to imposter syndrome and anxiety? Yes My why On the flipside of my fear and the constant barriers the list of what drives me and why I do it is never ending. I am passionate and even with all the bad days (as frequent as they are) I latch on to my initial passion and desire. For the big dreams I have which include accessibility and creating more opportunities in Africa- specifically starting with Sierra Leone, my journey is influenced by the knowledge I can gain that is applicable to "home" and all the transferrable skills a science degree gives me. I find that with all the conversations I have, understanding “why” you do something keeps you on the straight and narrow! Personally my why doesn’t specifically change but it is adjusted to what is important to me. I will always love studying and studying science specifically but there are real life things that come into play. Understanding the lifestyle you want in the future and sometimes the typical scientific path may not give you that. The reality of doing science is that you aren’t just doing science, life has its way of interrupting and throwing loads of things at you. My perfect world would allow me to just do science and alongside a decent monetary reward shall follow- a girl has got to survive and afford an endless supply of Fenty Beauty. I ask everyone I interview why they chose to do science for a specific reason. Your why will keep you going on the days when everything feels like its failing. Your why will remind you that you can be that badass scientist! I stress about the future a lot, but pursuing science has really taught me how to still be at the top of my game even when the end point isn’t 100% clear. The transferrable skills gained from pursuing a science degree are endless. Just to name a few: 1. Organisation: if you do a lab based degree, there is no way you don’t come out with better organisation skills 2. Adaptability: science is forever changing and you have to welcome all the new ideas/ theories 3. Perseverance: things fail ALL THE TIME! 4. Problem solving: that is literally the aim of most sciences, problem solving for human benefit 5. Quick learning: you are often learning new concepts in a short amount of time. Most science fields overlap and you learn a little of everything that at worst you would have a basic level of something that can spark a new career. You are also so used to taking in a lot of knowledge and constantly learning something new, you can adapt to change, and I believe teach yourself almost anything. My current masters has me learning physics and I have a background in physiology, the combination allows me to be able to help diagnose heart diseases. My background in pharmacology means I can understand drug mechanisms and other clinical symptoms that patients may present even though I didn’t specifically study medicine. The community The reality of science is although it can be hard without guidance, the online community I mentioned before is AMAZING. This has to be my favourite part, ever since starting this blog and engaging more online, i have built so many connections and there is an endless amount of support and motivation. I have met the most amazing people through twitter specifically. The connections I have built are meaningful and it’s a great feeling, interacting with peers that are on the same wavelength as you. They understand your struggles and you can share things without judgement. I hope you enjoyed the series :) To stay up to date with all TCIM content subscribe to the newsletter :) Adama x

Should I take the covid-19 Vaccine With a rise in the antivaccers and notable celebrities coming out against taking of the vaccine, there are many reasons why the covid-19 vaccine should be at the forefront of our thinking process. This post is split into two main parts 1. What does current research look like for the covid-19 vaccine 2. Why take a vaccine COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATES A singular vaccine within the research community does not seem to be the main focus. While news reporting will focus on which country will be the first to produce a vaccine as nations fight for superiority to be seen as leaders in research and development, the reality is that different versions of the same vaccine will to be developed and distributed. In developing a vaccine, there are many concerns that need to be addressed. What percentage of the global population needs to be vaccinated? - The term herd immunity is something that was thrown around in the wrong context at the beginning of the outbreak in the UK and seems to be haunting us now. Herd Immunity "the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination." See how the above specifies the need to vaccination, context is always important.In order to determine the level of protection needed to achieve herd immunity, assumptions and calculations are made to get an Ro value. What does R0 mean? – this is the reproductive rate of the virus and is what will be used to determine the level of herd immunity that is needed to be achieved. In terms of the covid-19 vaccine, the percentage of the population that are predicted to need the vaccine varies and has been reported to be between 60-80% of the population. The number varies so much as R0 number is dependent on the variables used to calculate it. With many papers having values that differ the safer option will be to vaccinate as many as possible and leave no room for error. Take home: herd immunity is an immunological parameter and earlier assumptions by notable government figures were not accurate as this is still something that scientist don’t fully understand how to achieve. Who will need to take the vaccine? A vaccine is usually given to protect people from a known disease and prevent illness in the population. I came across an instagram post that highlighted vaccines are developed for diseases that are difficult to treat. What makes covid-19 difficult to treat? As much as the coronavirus covid-19 has a low mortality rate, the number of deaths worldwide is staggering. With more being announced daily and previously reported numbers changing, many healthcare professionals have expressed the weight this pandemic has. Covid-19 is a difficult disease to treat that puts a massive strain on healthcare systems. Will Covid-19 positive individuals need the vaccine? This question at first glance may seem quite silly but it is very important. Why would someone that has already had a disease need the vaccine. To understand this, scientist need to understand what level of infection provides immunity. Something that may be familiar in reports is that asymptomatic patients are reported for 44% of transmission of the virus. For this reason, you can categorise COVID-19 patients into two categories 1. hospitalised, symptomatic 2. asymptomatic The patients with a few symptoms that recover at home; leads to the question :do hospitalised groups produce more antibodies than patients that are asymptomatic? Refresh: antibodies are responsible for fighting of the disease in our bodies. There are two types of antibody responses in immunity (innate and adaptive). The level of antibody produced could determine the level of protection that the body has. A person that has been severely ill and recovered may have more antibodies produced and protecting them from a second infection, while an asymptomatic patient may have only be protected once and not for future infection. Headlines suggesting an immunity passport have come up in order to reduce travel restriction and to the WHO have confirmed that this will not happen .Recent reports have shown that recovery from covid-19 does not provide immunity 2. What will be in the vaccine? The teams developing the vaccines will help determine how the vaccine is delivered. Vaccines can be made of different things and The nature scientific journal - takes a look at the vaccines being developed and their different mechanisms. Since the west became the epicentre of the pandemic, many treatment and vaccine strategies have been thrown around.The contents of the vaccine are as important as the frequency as which it may need to be taken. Researchers predict that it may be common to influenza virus and as mentioned in vaccines part 1– viruses change over time and therefore similar to the influenza virus will be needed approximately every 2-3 years. Take home: the road to a new vaccine will be an interesting one. There are many ways a vaccine can work and real progress and timelines of mass production will only be known when initial safety tests and understanding which vaccines provide an immune response is properly understood WHY TAKE A VACCINE ? Majority voted that they will not take the vaccine and one interaction highlighted that there was no need as “ not in the at risk population”, which is a very important statement. The distribution of the vaccine will most likely be done in stages according to most reports with health workers and most vulnerable and at risk groups a priority. With that being said, you will eventually be given the option to take the vaccine in the coming years. What will make you take a vaccine? As I am currently living in the UK, I will focus on vaccination efforts based here. Recent news shows that the University of Oxford has started human trials, but what does this mean for you? The human trials involve healthy individuals in order to understand potential safety issues that needed and the ability of the vaccine to generate an immune response in the body. “ It was chosen as the most suitable vaccine technology for a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccine as it can generate a strong immune response from one dose and it is not a replicating virus, so it cannot cause an ongoing infection in the vaccinated individual. “ The beginning of human trials is a major step in vaccine development, but that does not mean it will be hastily offered. What are the next steps? 1. If unsuccessful – back to the drawing board 2. If successful, larger scale testing With the race to the production of a vaccine, it is easy to look at it at a country level but as the pandemic has shown, disease know no borders and therefore the distribution of the vaccine has to include the most at risk groups across the world. Mentioned in the LSTM symposium, the distribution is heavily dependent on governments cooperation and policies that support an equitable distribution of the vaccine to all groups and not just the most privileged Read Vaccines Part 1 Stay up to date with my Covid-19 research Refrences - Hyperlinked where necessary

By Sheeva Azma and Nidhi Parekh So you’re a newly minted science graduate, but the idea of becoming a professor is not alluring to you. You may wonder, “Are there any alternative careers in science that don’t involve the ivory tower?” Many people use the term “alt-ac” (short for “an alternative to academia”) to describe any jobs that don’t involve becoming a university professor or staff at a research institution. Sadly, the vast majority of people in PhD programs may feel like they are expected to continue on in academia to gain faculty positions. Given that such positions are increasingly difficult to come by, that’s not always possible. The good news is that there is no shortage of alternative careers in science, not only for PhD-level scientists but anyone with a science degree. The bad news, as we just mentioned, is that most science programs are focused towards academia, so you may not even know about these exciting jobs that allow you to apply critical thinking skills, communication skills, and a plethora of other skills and experience gained from a degree in science. Our Journeys to “Alt-Ac” Many people who have an alt-ac career did not even know such opportunities were possible at the outset of their studies. Allow us to detail our scicomm journeys so you can see what we mean: Nidhi: I earned an undergraduate degree in Biomedicine from the University of East Anglia in Norwich. I then converted from science to law, and currently work as an occupational disease paralegal at a law firm in the UK. Eventually, I would like to get into science/health policy or intellectual property law. In the meantime, I am focused on science communication (SciComm) -- both science writing and science art, which you can check out at my blog, The Shared Microscope. My focus is on SciComm because there is so much misinformation out there -- and so much that the general audience doesn’t seem able to grasp -- like why is sugar dangerous to a diabetic, the importance of SPF sunscreen, good versus bad bacteria, etc. Sheeva: After I graduated from college, I worked in a research lab so I could gain research experience and apply to graduate school. In graduate school, I was very interested in science policy (and a sharp writer) and I did various internships at local policy think tanks, was an SfN Early Career Policy Fellow, and took courses in science policy. I also served as Vice President of the local Society for Neuroscience chapter and helped organize “Careers Beyond Academia” panels and other career resources for local neuroscientists. Through this work, I learned that there was a whole other world out there beyond academic science -- one in which people were still doing important and world-changing things. After graduate school, I started freelance writing, and decided to pursue my dream of working in the U.S. Congress. Congress is a very fast-paced place and I would often write documents with a 1-hour turnaround. My science background helped me out a lot in science writing and its applications to science policy -- my research skills helped me branch out to health, business, finance, and other fields of writing, so I could get more jobs and adapt rapidly to the changing needs of the writing industry. And that’s how I got where I am today as founder of Fancy Comma LLC, a freelance writing company which has worked with some big names in industry, government, academia, law, and other fields. It takes effortful introspection to figure out what you really want to do in life. The first step is to know your options in terms of what’s out there for scientists who are seeking an alt-ac career. Read on to learn about a few alternative careers in science beyond academia. Government Scientists interested in government can work in science policy, applying their scientific content knowledge to help inform policymakers (e.g., the U.S. Congress or U.K. Parliament) and improve the laws on the books. Scientists can also work in regulatory affairs, which is a field at the intersection of government and big pharma. Scientists who are interested in working in government, especially in Washington, D.C., may be interested in a book Sheeva edited called The Young Leader's Guide to Internships, Scholarships, and Fellowships in Washington, D.C., and Beyond. The book features a special section about getting Science Policy jobs in DC and elsewhere. Industry Scientists interested in industry can work in big pharma or the biotech industry, conducting research and development. They can also start a tech startup or go into consulting. There are a lot of different options here. TCIM Career Profile: GSK Year in Industry experience Nonprofit Non-profit, too, is a place with many facets - here you could apply your science knowledge for the greater good. STEM majors commonly work at nonprofits such doing science writing or policy analysis, for example. You could be involved in writing for charities like the American Cancer Association or Cancer Research UK. The writing could be for patient leaflets, government policy makers, or even for fellow doctors and scientists. Many nonprofits are known to also improve the study of disease through the funding of grants, scholarships and PhD programs, so you would help raise awareness of the importance of science through your work. Writing Science communication and science writing is incredibly important in society today. Its importance could not be more easily illustrated by the ongoing pandemic. Science writers communicate complex information to the general public in a way that is easily understandable. The best thing about being a science writer is that you can use your research skills to branch out to other types of writing. Biomedical scientists can easily work in the health writing space, or can apply their research aptitude to quickly learn about technologies to perform tech writing -- something that is very in demand by Silicon Valley. There’s also technical writing -- which is distinct from tech writing -- which is a very specific, process-oriented kind of writing. If you want to level up in science writing, you can even pitch articles to major news outlets. The best part about being a science writer is that you can thrive in the gig economy, offering your freelance services on sites like Upwork. TCIM Careers Blog post: Scicomm vs the Lab Law The transition from biomed to law is a great one because of scientists’ strong research and critical thinking skills. We are also good at any form of analysis, be it words or numbers. Being a lawyer means you have to be able to make well-informed, compelling, insightful arguments based on facts -- which is what you’ve been trained to do in your science education. So, there’s a good crossover of skills between science (we mentioned biomedical science above, but really, any scientific background would be a great asset) and law. There are also many different subfields of law, including medical law, pharma law, intellectual property law, and occupational disease law (the latter is Nidhi’s field as a paralegal). TCIM Careers Profile: Biomed to Law Medicine If you are in it for the long haul, and can dedicate yourself to years of memorizing drug names, chemical formulas, metabolic processes, and the like, medical school may be for you. While medicine is one of the most stable careers out there, the training can be very long -- four years of medical school, followed by internship and residency, and then further specialization depending on your specialty. A science degree lends itself well to the rigor of medicine and can definitely be a great asset. Tcim Careers Blog post: Cancer Researcher to Medicine Conclusion The critical thinking skills you obtain from a science education can be used in virtually any industry. Being able to examine and analyze data is extremely important for a range of jobs, whether in science writing or science policy, in industry, government, nonprofits, law, medicine, or even data analytics. Regardless of the career route you decide to take, make sure it’s something you truly enjoy doing. We recommend trying to get some work experience or internships in the field that interests you before you fully commit to it. Follow up blog posts Getting through application season Can life science graduates earn high salaries? Add TCIM on LinkedIn CONTACT Sheeva Azma is founder of the science writing company Fancy Comma, LLC. Visit Fancy Comma on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Nidhi Parekh is a science blogger and illustrator who writes at The Shared Microscope. Find The Shared Microscope on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for informative, effective illustrations of concepts in biology.

The past 5 months have been a whirlwind . The seemingly race/ sprint for a vaccine is a thing of the past. It's now September, no vaccine but there are promising candidates. To date of writing this post there are more than 170 vaccine candidates being developed all at various stages and in different countries. 50 + of these vaccines are in human trials. There a few things I want to address in this post - feel free to skip to bits you find most relevant The Vaccine frontrunners Fair distribution of vaccines My thoughts: September to December Outlook You can look at the front runners in a few ways: their viral mechanisms, the institutions behind them or the pharmaceutical companies funding their development. Their mechanisms of action may be interesting for science enthusiasts but many people just want a vaccine that works. Europe Oxford Vaccine The oxford vaccine trials in humans was officially announced in April. I explain in an IGTV video the full mechanisms behind the vaccine in a simple way but you can also listen to the team talk about it .The oxford vaccine has gone through animal trials and now is at the point of large scale clinical trials across several countries: UK, USA, Brazil and South Africa. Their studies in healthy volunteers have shown no harmful side effects. The true test of protection is still unknown and the animal studies have shown to reduce the effects/ damage of Covid-19 infection but not completely prevent symptoms. The oxford vaccine is backed by AstraZeneca, and trials in South Africa were also supported by the Bill and Melinda gates foundation. Imperial Vaccine The Imperial vaccine is the second runner in the UK and hasn’t had an ambitious expectant date like the Oxford vaccine .In June 300 people had been recruited with a conservative date of spring 2021, so perhaps i'll be asking more questions again if a vaccine hasn’t already been shown successful. The trials are still in the early days and its studies are currently only being tested in the UK. This vaccine does not seem to be funded by a Pharma but instead university money and donations. Like the oxford vaccine it is also backed by the Bill and Melinda gates foundation. Russian Vaccine Now lets take the focus away from the UK. The Russian vaccine named “ Gam-COVID-Vac” has entered phase 3 trials and is not the only vaccine being developed in the country - It is quite a “controversial vaccine” as per reports and lack of data regarding efficacy and safety being published. The team have recently published results of a small study of 76 patients. They report it to be safe, but as it is in the very early stages larger trials are still needed. A second candidate “EpiVacCorona” is also in early trials. “Gam-COvid Vac” has had a quite interesting development with small phase one trials of less than 100 participants and now phase 3 with hopeful enrollment of 40,000 people. It has also been approved by the government being the “first” in that case. It is also planned to go for testing in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with requests being made from other countries. America The Moderna vaccine / mRNA-1273 is being developed in the US has been perfectly summarised - its last updates state larger clinical trials should have started in July. Early studies have shown it to also be “safe” . BioNtech and Pfizer BNT162 mRNA vaccine candidate is being trialed in Argentina, Brazil and Germany. The trials have also been extended to turkey to begin in september. These trials have shown to produce an immune response after giving two doses of the vaccine. This means the vaccine causes production of antibodies but it is still unknown if it provides protection. In summary, all the front runners are safe in not causing adverse reactions in heathy volunteers from phase 1 and 2 trials but investigators are still looking to see how many doses will be needed and how long protection if any actually lasts in humans and what type of protection is provided. Africa Africa has been in the news but never for developments of a vaccine. The world is more centered on how the continent has dealt relatively “well” with the pandemic. On the continent, South Africa has the highest number of cases with more than 500,000 reported. Other countries such as Algeria, Egypt , Ghana, Morocco and Nigeria have cases exceeding 20,000.Currently there are no vaccines to my knowledge being developed on the contitnent. In terms of vaccines, South Africa- the worst affected has trials being conducted using candidates from Europe such as the oxford vaccine . To date of this post South Africa seems to be the only country participating in clinical trials. The African Union is building a framework to get more vaccines trialed in Africa to ensure the vaccine candidate that does “win” is also effective in african populations. In an interesting turn, some African countries are exploring other means of testing and “antibody” testing has gained some interest in countries like Sierra Leone. The purpose of these tests are to see what percentage of the population have been infected with coronavirus. The antibody testing procedure is quite controversial with scientists not fully aware of their true benefits. The potential useful window of opportunity is unknown as antibody levels vary after time following an infection. Antibody tests will not replace the standard PCR test ( that uncomfortable nose and throat swab) but results will add to the pool of knowledge needed. There are loads of candidates but most in early stage phase 1 where results are to see if an immune response is generated and look for potential side effects. I have written posts on vaccine basics and trials that explain the whole process quickly including things you should consider if you want to take the vaccine . Who will be given the vaccine ? The “race “ for the vaccine has brought about a lot of concern.The hope of the World Health Organisation( WHO) was that vaccine access would be a fair and just process but as some countries come closer to the possible breakthrough, it will be naive to assume that governments wont give access to their nations first. It may seem dramatic to say but from the beginning, the UK saw large amounts of people fight over toilet roll and also the US buying out stock of Remdesivr a Covid-19 medication doesn’t leave you with much hope. The WHO are still trying and have set up a COVAX initiative to ensure the equitable access of vaccines. It aims to ensure low and middle income countries have access. It relies on governments doing the good things and is supported by vaccine candidates at different stages with Oxford/Astrazeneca and Moderna vaccine the furthest along. With all these trials in place there are many concerns around its accessibility and making sure it works for everyone. It is no surprise that the lack of diversity in science does not only span the structure itself but research rarely reflects global populations especially when the west is leading. When looking at the majority of vaccine candidates, there is a concern that the data may not be useful for those most affected in western countries i.e "BAME" in the UK. The candidates part of the COVAC initiative are all being developed outside Africa, at bare minimum data will be needed to test adverse effects and safety based on african populations. I don't want to end this in a gloomy way. The science is moving along and each day we get new data. The lack of data for black populations may be concerning but there are scientists and people working very hard to ensure that research done is representative and furthermore holding funding bodies accountable. As for the next few months, I think it would be VERY optimistic to think that the general population would be given the vaccine by december. At the very least, in line with reports healthcare workers will probably be offered it first to further test the effectiveness of the vaccine. The next few months will be what the past months have been... learning each day and adapting according to the situation in individual countries. To support fair and open research. Read the letter written by amazing scientist in relation to £0 of funding from the UKRI going to black academic leads for their " Covid-19 and BAME" fund.

Name:Allan Campbell Job:Molecular scientist Undergrad: Bsc (Hons.) Biology Journey in 3 Words :Been very exciting! Briefly describe your role I am the influenza point of contact at the central laboratory in Sierra Leone. My role is to test routine surveillance samples using molecular techniques. I also report to the Ministry of Health and the world health organization (WHO).Currently I am the team lead working or CoVID-19 Testing at the Central Laboratory How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your role? Currently work with Influenza testing is on-hold .Overwhelmed with CoVID -19 response What motivated you to pursue a career in science- It was my strength in school and comes naturally. I am a very curious individual. Work- Life Balance: This is a difficult period for me.I hardly see some members of my family. I come home very late and by the time I wake up in the morning they’ve gone to work.As the team lead I have decide that if we get samples after 5 or keep it for the next day What advice would you give on picking universities First know what career path you want to follow or if you are not certain then base it on your strengths and follow that direction as a guide to choosing a uni.In Sierra Leone there are limited options so it is easy to make a choice based on your career path. Even with clear cut career paths, it is still difficult to choose. . In Sierra Leone,courses like Molecular Biology are not offered in any uni as of now.If thats what you want to do you would have to adjust according to availiability to avoid the problem and look into doing subject specific areas like Biology and Chemistry. Its totally difficult out here to do what you really want to do.But that should not be a limitation.You can start someowhere and work your way to the desired goal. What advice would you give anyone wanting to follow your career path Firstly I must say Molecular Biology/Virology is a growing field. The CoVID-19. Pandemic has just shown how important laboratory science and the damaging effects of viruses and outbreaks, solidfiyng the role as a much needed one are . The good thing is the field is not crowded. So as some one wanting to pursue this role in Sierra Leone, you are a gem and when job opportunities come they do a direct man hunt and mostly when they reach out to you the job is already yours. Where do you see yourself in 5 years Firstly. Specializing in one discipline as. You may have observed in my responses, I love working with viruses so virology is my end goal and hopefully with aPhD. Also I love to work more with Organizations that take health decisions like WHO,Africa CDC or US-CDC.Good thing for me. I am already currently living in my dream as currently work for Africa CDC(African Union) How do you feel the Science world has evolved throughout your career? ( what are some hard truths you have had to face?) At the begining of my journey my options seemed limited but with two outbreaks in my career, i have been able to use my skills to help my country and pursue my passions. At u,niversity, I studied biology with limited opportunities for science in SL but then, when I graduated in 2014 and the Ebola epidemic came , it was an opening for me and an opportunity that allowed me to learn molecular skils and work during Ebola.With the skills i gained during this time I started Influenza testing and then became the Influenza Laboratory contact at the MoHS ( Ministry of Health). In this role I have represented the country in a lot of international meetings and conferences and also expanded the unit to incorporating non-Influenza viruses such as (RSV,HMPV etc).Because of my vast knowledge in respiratory viruses when the CoVID -19 pandemic came, i have also been a great asset to the team and a country with limited resources. What is your biggest pet peeve about how the world perceives science Science is ONLY for smart people Outside science how would you describe yourself ? An adventurer.A risk taker that. This Has landed me into different business although I am still learning but, I have the same passion for business as I do for science. Do you feel like scientist salaries reflect the amount of effort put in? In the begining it may seem small but as you climb and get up the ladder it gets way better. Virolgy in particular is not acommon field, So at the top it pays very very well. I hope this post inspires you to follow your passions and acknowledge that at every stage of your career will involve perseverance, consistency and discipline to help you achieve your desired goal. Never forget that “ no accomplishment is too small and no goal is too high” To never miss another career profile subscribe :) The following links will further help you with your career search: https://www.visibilitystemafrica.com/ https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles https://www.allaboutcareers.com/careers/career-path/life-sciences https://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/job-profiles/2418/what-jobs-could-i-do-in-life-sciences

Name: Anne Chisa Course/ job :Msc Agricultural Science graduate/ Founder & Host The Root of The Science Podcast A levels/ equivalent In South Africa we do not do A-Levels we instead have a “Matric”. This term commonly used to refer to the final year of high school and the qualification received on graduating from high school. Officially, the qualification obtained at the end of secondary schooling is the National Senior Certificate. Journey in 3 words :Brave, Self-starter, Resilient Briefly describe your role :I am the producer, director and host of the podcast. I search people to interview, do research, conduct the interview, marketing stratergies and the post-production. What motivated you to pursue a career in science: I really do not have that pinnical moment. It just that I enjoyed biology and geography in school. I was influenced by a family friend who was an Agricultural Engineer. I applied and I got in. Work- Life Balance:Currently as a host of the podcast and the founder I have to be the one to curate content, do the interviews, post production. It a lot! It was hard striking the balance but I have now made sure that I try my best to not work weekends, so that I can get time with my family and other things to relax. What advice would you give someone wanting to study the same degree? :Its okay if you have not figured out your net move. Every one will always ask you “what’s next?” and sometimes you can’t plan to the detail. If there is anything that the pandemic has taught us that we cannot be fully in control. Trust the process and in some cases opportunities find you as long as you are doing the work. What is most important when choosing a masters ? The supervisor! This is so important. Do not let the institution be the reason, find a supervisor. This is crucial advice I would give anyone in any postgrad journey. You have to have someone who believes in you and pushes you. I think the reason most postgrads go through so much is due to this. This stress can be avoided if you have the right supervisor support. I am thankful I learned this in my masters year. What were your perceptions of being a scientist before you started your course: When I thought “scientists” I had this stereotype of glasses and white lab coats. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? : As ambitious as this sounds but I would love to have the podcast grow into a premiere platform for Africans in STEM to share the story. So, basically, if you are an African and you are in STEM and you want your research heard you think The Root of the Science this will either still be the podcast or we grow into TV on an international platform. Furthermore, I hope to have gotten my PhD by then, be a speaker and a mentor for others to realize that following the non-academic/non-industry route can also be fulfilling. Outside science how would you describe yourself :I’m easy going and genuinely enjoy my Netflix shows, cooking, spending time with people I love and exercise. You run a podcast- what were your motivations behind starting them and how can readers follow : I have always believed that I am a good with people in general and when I was doing my masters I found it hard to accept that one can do so much work and it will only get seen or read by people in academia. I also realised that growing up, I did not have visible role models of people who looked, sounded, and came from Africa as role models to get into science. I wanted to change that. The purpose for The Root of The Science Podcast then is to give Africans in the STEM the opportunity to share their stories about their research/projects in their own voices. In the same light inspire others to get the into STEM field as well as create information on the vast career opportunities in STEM. You can listen to my podcast on the link provided or follow me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and everywhere else you listen to your podcasts. How can readers keep up with you on social media: Twitter: annelinda_c LinkedIn: Anne Chisa Podcast: https://rootofthesciencepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Name: Beauty Dhlamini A levels: Biology, Chemisty,Maths Undergrad: Global Health and Social Medicine (Neuroscience) BSc. Course/ job: Global Health and Development MSc Favourite science fact: Babies have around 100 more bones than adults! Journey in 3 Words: Unpredictable, uncomfortable, exciting Briefly describe your role or course: Multidisciplinary master's that aims to solve complex health issues, globally. We borrow knowledge from many different fields, including biomedicine, politics, anthropology and political science. What motivated you to pursue a career in science: I think I always wanted to do something related to science and health because I knew I wanted to help people in some capacity. In addition to this, I always saw science as a field with really broad and varying career prospects, and as someone who is quite indecisive, I liked that the subjects that I studied (Biology, Chemistry and Maths) all enabled me to pursue a variety of careers. Work - Life Balance: I think work life balance is one of those things you never really think about until you have to do it. I think as well, you don’t really think about it until you realise HOW important it is. For me, I like to organise myself with a to do list (you can never go wrong with a to do list). I also feel like finding time to have a work life balance motivates you and even causes you to work even better. What advice would you give someone wanting to study the same degree? I would say, go into it with an open mind. Global Health is very broad field with many interesting topics, so go in there with an open mind and don’t be afraid to try new things. I think to go with this advice, I would say don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Where this field is relatively new, even though there are a lot of opportunities you have to be proactive in finding them. What advice would you give on picking universities? I would say to prospective students, do not get caught up on university tables and rankings, because it really is about how well the course is suited to your learning time and your interests. I would say as well, if you can go to open days, talk to prospective students because you can ask them as many questions as you want but it’s also a form of networking. What do you enjoy the most about your masters course? I really like the independence that comes with postgraduate studies, everyone around you is really mature and focused on their studies so it’s a really positive learning experience. On top of the new content we learn and the depth at which we learn about it; I love how international my cohort is because everyone has such different backgrounds and they bring different perspectives and it pushes you to think about why you hold your own opinions. What is most important when choosing a masters? I think what you have to consider is what you want out of it, how it aligns with your future career plans and how it can contribute to your own personal development. Look at the modules, consider if they offer what is important for you, how is it taught and also if you actually learn something new. I also think the more technical things, perhaps finances and moving to a new city or place. Is there a way you can support yourself? If you have a part time job, it also means considering if you can do it alongside your masters full time and how you will manage these things. Don’t make the decision lightly and because you’re scared and you don’t know what you want to do after your undergraduate degree because it is very intense and you need to actually want to do it and be willing to do the work! How do you feel careers in your field have evolved / where are they heading to? With what’s currently going on with COVID-19 I want to say, firstly, the importance of our field is starting to be recognised so I feel like it is definitely going to increase in its demand in the next few years. If there is something you want to do in our field, there is probably a job or career pathway for it! I think careers are evolving based on a lot of what’s on health agendas globally, but also, on new emerging research interests. When considering your career path, how much has your potential salary affected your decision? Quite a fair bit. However, like most careers, the money is made the in higher positions. It also depends where you want to end up in the field of Global Health. Some careers will pay more than others, but for me personally I think I get more value in doing something I enjoy and hopefully my experiences can help me reach a place where money isn’t an issue, and how much I earn is reflected in the labour of my work. How can people find you? Social media links below: Twitter: @BeautyDhlamini Follow my podcast – Twitter/Instagram: Mind the Health Gap (@mthgpod) I hope this post inspires you to follow your passions and acknowledge that at every stage of your career will involve perseverance, consistency and discipline to help you achieve your desired goal. Never forget that “ no accomplishment is too small and no goal is too high” To never miss another career profile subscribe :) The following links will further help you with your career search: https://www.visibilitystemafrica.com/ https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles https://www.allaboutcareers.com/careers/career-path/life-sciences https://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/job-profiles/2418/what-jobs-could-i-do-in-life-sciences

Name – Gayathri Shukla Job – Digital transformation manager / Founder of Campfire Kinship (@campfire_kinship) Journey in 3 words – Kindle your Spark! Briefly describe your role – In my day job, I lead digital transformation and analytics programs in the Mining Industry. At Campfire Kinship, I share stories of amazing, diverse professionals pursuing their passions. What motivated you to pursue a career in STEM – the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others, industry, and society through engineering. Work- Life Balance – I am a mom of two beautiful kids and love seeing the world through their eyes. What is most important when choosing a masters – Ensure it is practical to the field of work you intend on pursuing. In my case, I chose to do a masters in business administration and the focus of my study was on how to bring about innovation and transformation in organizations. Could you expand on the parts of you role that aid healthcare? At the moment, I am in the Mining Industry, however digital technology and transformation concepts have a huge application in the healthcare industry as well, and I enjoy learning about it. At Campfire Kinship, I love featuring the stories of diverse healthcare professionals, their resilience and positive impact to the world around them. Please get in touch with me if you would like to be featured! When considering your career path, how much has your potential salary affected your decision? Salary plays a factor but what is more important is that the role aligns with your values, skills, and interests.

1. Name Asmaa 2. Course: Biomedical Sciences Student 3. A levels: Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry 4. Undergrad Biomedical Sciences 5. Journey in 3 words: super-motivation, time-management and self care 6. Briefly describe your role or course The course mainly focus on laboratory procedures and ways to diagnose each medical condition in addition to research aspects of various techniques, my role in the future would be testing samples and reporting results in addition to applying quality control, acceptance or rejection of various types of samples. 7. How has the covid-19 pandemic affected your course: In relation to the recent pandemic, university has gone on lockdown since the emergence of cases in here, although theoretical and practical sessions were continued remotely, its incomparable to actually being there on campus. 8. What motivated you to pursue a career in science I have been interested in science, especially biology for a long time before freshman year. I had a dream of working in the hospital and living in the atmosphere of a hospital without the pressure of meeting patients and be the first line in the treatment. 9. How do you maintain a healthy work- Life Balance At least once every week or every other week, I try to have some me time and give myself free days afters a bunch of exams are done. In addition to going out whenever I can and spend some time walking or with family. 10. What advice would you give to someone wanting to study the same degree? The most important advice would be extreme time-management and making a schedule with the topics that need to be covered every week so you are not left behind the syllabus, in addition to reviewing past material whenever you can, especially if you are planning to have an accreditation exam or a board exam. 11. When considering your career path, how much has your potential salary affected your descision? Due to the reason that I liked biology and hospital atmosphere, and wanting to study a major that I liked and not solely for the sake of having a degree, the amount of salary was almost not thought about. 12. What is your biggest pet peeve about how the world perceives science Something that I would consider as a pet peeve would be the fact that some people believe non-qualified people on their opinion of certain topics related to science and people’s health 13. Outside science how would you describe yourself Outside science I am the girl who likes learning languages, meeting people online and a coffee addict ☺ In addition to being an extrovert and like to spend time outside. where can we find you -> Instagram: @studygramby_a