Ladies Who Lab – Female Nobel winners in Chemistry and Medicine

Ladies Who Lab – Female Nobel winners in Chemistry and Medicine

written by Mikaela Palandra and Heather Lau of the Biochem WIDE committee Across the Nobel awards in chemistry and medicine, which were both established in 1895, only 19 have been awarded to women, out of 185 Chemistry Nobel laureates and 222 Medicine Nobel laureates. That 

Model Homo Sapiens

Model Homo Sapiens

written by Kate Jiang “Doctor, why did you choose to be a scientist?” asked Carlie. I put down the syringe and turned around. The little girl sitting on the bench was staring at me, her wide eyes filled with curiosity. She wore a white hospital 

An Introduction to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM

An Introduction to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM

written by Alison Mao and Heather Lau of the Biochemistry WIDE committee Due to the collaborative nature of science, having diversity in our groups brings valuable differences in perspective that spark innovation. Our endeavours to solve problems and understand the world benefit greatly from the 

Killing flies with bacteria and other things I couldn’t possibly explain to my grandfather

Killing flies with bacteria and other things I couldn’t possibly explain to my grandfather

written by Dr. Justin Nodwell image by Andrew Zhai My grade 11 math teacher, Mr. Dimass, was a fan of short, elegant proofs. Conversely, he had an aversion for anything that was unnecessarily complicated. To indicate such excesses, he used to say, “it’s like you’re 

Woes of the Morning Shift: Research in the time of COVID

Woes of the Morning Shift: Research in the time of COVID

written by Raphaella So After three months of COVID shutdowns, research labs reopened for non-essential work in June. To abide by social distancing rules, all researchers are grouped into shifts. For our building, the Krembil Discovery Tower, the morning shift is 7 am to 1 

Stepping off the treadmill and into the park: A glimpse into the promising future of an alternative publishing platform

Stepping off the treadmill and into the park: A glimpse into the promising future of an alternative publishing platform

written by Claire MacMurray and Noel Garber We have written the following article due to our firm belief in the need of a total reform of the publishing industry in the natural sciences. Once having emphasized the shortcomings of the model/industry, we will proceed to 

Who Could’ve Predicted This? A Look at Biochem’s Decade Ahead

Who Could’ve Predicted This? A Look at Biochem’s Decade Ahead

Written by Em Miraglia Interviews by Claire MacMurray, Kate Jiang, Andrew Zhai We first envisioned this piece at the start of the year. We set out to talk to people in our graduate department about what they wanted to contribute, create, and see around them 

A Pledge

A Pledge

Written by Andrew Zhai Edited by Jethro Prinston Image courtesy of Christopher Michel Science has long been used as a tool to prop-up racist beliefs held against Black and Indigenous people of colour (BIPOC). Beginning with the use of eugenics as a justification for racial 

Demystifying COVID: One Publication at a Time

Demystifying COVID: One Publication at a Time

written by Kate Jiang image by Kate Jiang When Lasya Vankayala started the COVID19 Demystified website to write about ongoing research during the pandemic, she did not expect it to grow into a project with a team of more than 20 student authors and reviewers 

Quarter-life Crisis, Quarantine Style

Quarter-life Crisis, Quarantine Style

written by Raphaella So image by Andrew Zhai I celebrated my 25th birthday in the first week of March. In true faithfulness to my long-standing tradition of self-deprecating humour, I wrote “Raphie’s quarter-life crisis” as the tagline when I created the event invitation on Facebook.