PLoS Biology Team
Theodora Bloom
Chief Editor, PLoS Biology
Theodora Bloom has a PhD from Cambridge (working with Martin Johnson, on the cell biology of preimplantation mouse development) and worked as a postdoc at Harvard Medical School (with Joan Ruderman, working on cell-cycle regulation). She moved into publishing as an editor on the biology team at Nature, and in 1992 joined the fledgling journal Current Biology. After a number of years helping to develop Current Biology and its siblings Structure and Chemistry & Biology, Theo was drawn to join the beginnings of the open access movement. As the founding editor of Genome Biology she was closely involved in the birth of the commercial open access publisher BioMed Central, where she remained for several years, ultimately as Editorial Director for Biology. After a spell as a freelance publishing consultant working with a variety of clients she joined PLoS in 2008.
Catriona MacCallum
Senior Editor (also Consulting Editor, PLoS ONE)
Catriona MacCallum was the Editor of Trends in Ecology & Evolution for more than four years, from 1999 to 2003. At TREE, she was responsible for commissioning a diverse range of article types across the field - from news to reviews and opinions - taking them through peer-review and ensuring they were accessible to a wide audience. She brings this experience to her new role at PLoS, which she sees as a unique and challenging opportunity to work even more closely with the community and to ensure that high-quality scientific research is communicated more widely. Catriona grew up in Scotland and studied Zoology at Edinburgh University. She remained there to do a Ph.D. with Nick Barton, who introduced her to a broad range of population genetic, ecological and statistical work. Her thesis (October 1994) described how a habitat preference affected the genetic architecture of a hybrid zone. In 1995, motivated by a need to apply ecological and evolutionary research, she spent a year in South Africa as a postdoc with Rudi van Aarde researching the impact of edge effects on the restoration of a coastal dune-forest in KwaZulu Natal. Before returning to Edinburgh to take up a teaching post under Aubrey Manning, she also briefly helped with the meerkat project in the Kalahari, run by Tim Clutton-Brock. She became Assistant Editor of TREE in 1998, and succeeded Andrew Sugden as Editor when he moved to Science the following year.
Robert Shields
Senior Editor, PLoS Biology
Robert Shields went to Cambridge intending to do theoretical physics and swapped to biochemistry because it was easier. Postgraduate research at Sussex University was followed by research as UCSF on control of animal cell growth and at the then Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London working on the cell cycle. At ICRF he wrote numerous Nature News & Views articles which whetted his appetite for science communication. Moving into Industry and plant molecular biology Robert worked on projects as diverse as making transgenic plants, nematodes, manipulating lipid metabolism and enhancing the quality of tomatoes for pasta sauce and for five years was European editor of Cell. Robert moved into publishing full time and was for more than six years editor of Trends in Genetics before joining PLoS biology in 2006.
Jami Milton
Senior Editor, PLoS Biology
When asked why she was drawn to science, Jami cites the energizing effect of learning new ideas. This love of novelty fueled 12 years of neuroscience research spanning molecular and systems levels, including undergraduate research in neuroendocrinology. For her Ph.D. in Ed Callaway's lab at the Salk Institute, Jami shed light on the complexities of circuit organization in the mammalian visual cortex. Her discoveries continued as a postdoc in Cori Bargmann's lab at the University of California, San Francisco, using optical calcium imaging to understand how environmental and genetic factors regulate neuronal activity in the olfactory circuit of C. elegans. Now, she is impelled to direct her enthusiasm for science toward the effective communication of the most innovative explorations of biological phenomena that have interested her all these years.
Christine Ferguson
Associate Editor, PLoS Biology
Chris Ferguson is our Southern Hemisphere "representative" - born in Zimbabwe and educated in South Africa. She studied Microbiology and Immunology as an undergraduate at the University of Cape Town and discovered the joys of developmental biology as a graduate student at UCT's Medical School where her Ph.D. focussed on the onset of melanogenesis in neural crest cells. Chris moved to the UK in 1996 and undertook postdoc research in neural crest cell biology at Guy's Hospital, Kings College London, firstly in craniofacial development with Paul Sharpe's group and subsequently with Anthony Graham in the Developmental Neurobiology Unit. As a first step on the road to pursuing a career in scientific communication, Chris trained as a commissioning editor on the Trends review journals, after which she took up the role as Editor of Trends in Immunology and ran the journal for two and half years. She resigned to join the team of editors at PLoS Biology in March 2007. Chris is thrilled at the opportunity of being able to combine the love of these diverse areas of biology and communication in one job and all towards a very "open" and worthy end!
Ruchir Shah
Associate Editor, PLoS Biology
Ruchir earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine, while also spending some of his graduate years at Yale University after his lab moved. Here, he was interested in the mechanisms of sensory map development, specifically how synaptic maturation and synaptic plasticity mediate the activity-dependent strengthening of appropriate topographic connections in the mouse visual system. From here, he moved on to New York University as postdoctoral fellow to study the cellular properties of prefrontal cortical neurons using 2-photon microscopy and electrophysiology. Ruchir is very excited to bring his love of reading neuroscience literature to PLoS Biology, and is thrilled to be a part of a team devoted to making information freely available and that covers such a wide range of fascinating and important topics.
Elizabeth Williams
Associate Editor, PLoS Biology
Liz Williams received her Ph.D. in Genetics and Development from Cornell University and conducted postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University before joining the PLoS Biology editorial team in 2008. Liz brings thirteen years of research experience in cellular, molecular, and developmental biology to PLoS Biology, as well as broad interests across the life sciences. As an undergraduate, Liz worked with Dr. Rob Last at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research conducting genetic analyses of oxidative stress response and vitamin C biosynthesis in plants. As a graduate student working with Dr. Tom Fox at Cornell, she helped to identify and characterize protein factors and RNA elements responsible for translational regulation in budding yeast mitochondria. Her postdoctoral research with Dr. Phil Beachy at Johns Hopkins and Stanford investigated the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction by components of the Hedgehog pathway during fruit fly and mammalian development. Now, as an editor for PLoS Biology, Liz is very excited to be able to continue to satisfy her scientific curiosity, while at the same time contributing to the mission of making scientific literature available to everyone.
Liza Gross
Senior Science Writer/Editor
Liza
Gross comes to the Public Library of Science with over fifteen years of
publishing experience in areas ranging from wine appreciation to
particle physics. She was copy chief at Parenting magazine and specialized in toxics and environmental health at Sierra
magazine, where she produced a special report on the environmental
links to breast cancer. As a staff writer for San Francisco's
Exploratorium, she was inspired by founding director Frank
Oppenheimer's vision that giving people the tools to understand
scientific phenomena would help them engage with the world around them
and benefit society at large. Liza believes that facilitating this
understanding is especially important today, as sophisticated
technological advances trigger increasingly difficult public policy
issues, such as assessing the safety of genetically modified foods and
the risks of emerging infectious diseases. She's committed to the
Public Library of Science's mission of broadening access - physical as
well as intellectual - to scientific knowledge and discovery, both to
encourage public participation in scientific debates and to promote the
cross-pollination of ideas among scientists in different disciplines.
Stephanie Wai
Editorial Intern
Stephanie Wai grew up in San Diego and stayed put for her undergraduate degree, studying Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UC San Diego. Her undergraduate research ranged from cell signaling in tissue culture cells to wound healing in rats. Wanting a taste of the urban life, she moved out to Boston to pursue her Ph.D. at Harvard Medical School. Under the guidance of Rong Li, Stephanie studied mechanisms of cell polarity establishment in budding yeast. The lab recently moved to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, where Stephanie finished her thesis work. In her struggles to adequately explain her research to friends and family, Stephanie developed a deep interest in scientific communication. She is ecstatic to be back in California and a part of the PLoS team, broadening her scientific horizons and actively contributing to the open access movement.
Ines Alvarez-Garcia
Editorial Intern - UK
After graduating with a degree in Zoology in Madrid, Ines moved to Cambridge and became very interested in molecular biology and development while she worked as Research Assistant in a Drosophila lab. She was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge for her research in adhesion signalling pathways with Nick Brown at the Gurdon Institute. She subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University with Prof. William Gelbart, analysing TGF-β signalling in Drosophila. During this time she also studied the miR-2 family of microRNAs in collaboration with the group of Steve Cohen in Heidelberg (Germany), where she worked for several months. After a brief stint examining the role of C. elegans microRNAs in the laboratory of Eric Miska (University of Cambridge), she moved back to flies working with Isabel Palacios at the Department of Zoology where she analyzed the role of the Hippo tumour-suppressor pathway during epithelial proliferation and polarity determination. Ines joined the PLoS Biology team in April 2009 in what she considers to be an excellent opportunity to collaborate closely with other scientists to help them share their results with the rest of the community.
Catriona Silvey
Publications Manager
Catriona came to PLoS from the sheep-infested wilds of Scotland, via a degree in English at Cambridge University, and a year at the University of Chicago, where, outside of academic pursuits, she enjoyed being introduced to such novel concepts as Twinkies and the Superbowl. She is relieved that four years of literary study have not made her completely useless to society. In her spare time she enjoys playing the guitar incompetently and wandering Cambridge's pubs and cafés.
Patrick Goggins
Publications Manager
Pat graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2006 with a degree in Literature. Fresh from interning at a technology magazine where he learned about the bustling industry, he is excited to be working at PLoS. He is enthused by the youthful spirit of PLoS, and believes that open-access and free information is the way of the future. He is thrilled to be in San Francisco, and spends his free time writing fiction and playing music, which have been lifelong loves. An avid traveler, he has been abroad many times and lives to seek out new cultures.
Barbara Lau
Publications Assistant
Barbara Lau graduated from UCLA with a degree in Marine Biology. She likes water and tends to travel to places with lots of it. She enjoys running, hiking, exploring, and going to baseball games. Therefore, she is quite happy the PLoS (US) office is across the street from AT&T Park. She wholeheartedly supports PLoS and open access since knowledge should be enjoyed and shared by all.
Elliot Page
Publications Assistant
Elliot Page lived right next to Cambridge all his life, graduated in Physics from Lancaster, and eventually made his way back to Cambridge again to work for the Public Library of Science. Being a voracious reader, Elliot is very keen on Open Access as he can fill up his cramped bedroom with even more piles of reading material. In his spare time Elliot tries his hand at writing fiction, and listening to far too many podcasts to keep up with.
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