January 3, 2021
I earned a BA in English and an MS in biochemistry at UC Riverside and then worked as a tech in San Diego molecular biology labs and biotech companies at the dawn of the molecular age (when people sequenced DNA by Maxam-Gilbert!). After a brief stint at Houston's Baylor Medical College I returned to California to earn PhD in Biomedical Sciences at UC San Diego (UCSD).
In grad school, I dreamed Bill Clinton asked me if I could know EVERYTHING about one protein, what would it be? In the dream, I said "p53!" (the famous tumor suppressor). I took that dream as an omen. But UCSD p53 labs weren't taking taking rotation students so I did thesis work on a different transcription factor, one that regulates neuronal differentiation, an interest I extended as a postdoc at Salk Institute. There, I worked on transcriptional activity of the world's "second most-interesting" protein, Notch. My fellowship ended as the chromatin revolution hit with the advent of ChIP and high-throughput genomics. I left the bench to pursue writing but regretted I had never worked in a "hard-core" chromatin lab.
By luck, I landed a writing job in LA at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (COH), home of Art Riggs, a father of epigenetics. So I kept current on chromatin and learned exponentially about cancer, first in Communications and then as a grant writer of peer-reviewed proposals aimed at private funders, like The V Foundation, Stand Up to Cancer, and Sidney Kimmel. I left COH 10 years ago to work freelance doing pretty much the same thing, except independently. My work now, as then, involves helping scientists write effective grants and papers in cancer, cell signaling, stem cell biology and most recently immunology/vaccinology.
I believe first and foremost in BASIC science.
In the pandemic, front-line healthcare docs and nurses deserve HUGE credit. But so do nerds who labored in labs learning how RNA viruses replicate, debating feasibility of mRNA-based vaccines, and wondering what these spiky protuberances displayed by coronaviruses latch onto? They answered these questions late at night and for low pay WAY before Moderna was a household word.
Ditto for cancer researchers who moved treatment from "sledge-hammer" to "precision" by designing targeted- and immuno-therapies, even against intractable cancers like melanoma, which I had a bout with. Two of my heroes, Harold Varmus and Jim Allison, are pioneers in these respective fields. Both are Nobel laureates, but unlike Dr. Fauci, their names aren't household words.
They ought to be.
Working with people engaged in this work is a privilege. I have deep gratitude for every client who trusts me to read, edit or comment on their manuscript. It is a pleasure to work vicariously in your labs! Thank you!
I earned a BA in English and an MS in biochemistry at UC Riverside and then worked as a tech in San Diego molecular biology labs and biotech companies at the dawn of the molecular age (when people sequenced DNA by Maxam-Gilbert!). After a brief stint at Houston's Baylor Medical College I returned to California to earn PhD in Biomedical Sciences at UC San Diego (UCSD).
In grad school, I dreamed Bill Clinton asked me if I could know EVERYTHING about one protein, what would it be? In the dream, I said "p53!" (the famous tumor suppressor). I took that dream as an omen. But UCSD p53 labs weren't taking taking rotation students so I did thesis work on a different transcription factor, one that regulates neuronal differentiation, an interest I extended as a postdoc at Salk Institute. There, I worked on transcriptional activity of the world's "second most-interesting" protein, Notch. My fellowship ended as the chromatin revolution hit with the advent of ChIP and high-throughput genomics. I left the bench to pursue writing but regretted I had never worked in a "hard-core" chromatin lab.
By luck, I landed a writing job in LA at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (COH), home of Art Riggs, a father of epigenetics. So I kept current on chromatin and learned exponentially about cancer, first in Communications and then as a grant writer of peer-reviewed proposals aimed at private funders, like The V Foundation, Stand Up to Cancer, and Sidney Kimmel. I left COH 10 years ago to work freelance doing pretty much the same thing, except independently. My work now, as then, involves helping scientists write effective grants and papers in cancer, cell signaling, stem cell biology and most recently immunology/vaccinology.
I believe first and foremost in BASIC science.
In the pandemic, front-line healthcare docs and nurses deserve HUGE credit. But so do nerds who labored in labs learning how RNA viruses replicate, debating feasibility of mRNA-based vaccines, and wondering what these spiky protuberances displayed by coronaviruses latch onto? They answered these questions late at night and for low pay WAY before Moderna was a household word.
Ditto for cancer researchers who moved treatment from "sledge-hammer" to "precision" by designing targeted- and immuno-therapies, even against intractable cancers like melanoma, which I had a bout with. Two of my heroes, Harold Varmus and Jim Allison, are pioneers in these respective fields. Both are Nobel laureates, but unlike Dr. Fauci, their names aren't household words.
They ought to be.
Working with people engaged in this work is a privilege. I have deep gratitude for every client who trusts me to read, edit or comment on their manuscript. It is a pleasure to work vicariously in your labs! Thank you!