EpiGenie is a team of folks who scour through PubMed, watch out for interesting epigenetics press releases, conduct interviews with epigenetics researchers, and work closely with the technology providers to stay on top of the most applicable work driving epigenetics-related research. Some of us have held marketing positions, developing and promoting products at tool companies, while others have held R&D and technical writing positions. Some of us have PhDs while others have ADD. At some point we’ve all held a pipet, but traded it in for a wireless mouse and a different type of carpal tunnel.
Want to visit us? We’d love to have you, so if you’re ever in Del Mar (CA), please look us up and we’ll buy you a beer or coffee or something. Actually, Del Mar is where our P.O. Box is located, but there’s a really nice copy machine next to it that doubles as a cocktail table for social events. Most of our team is scattered all over the country and thanks to this neat invention called the internet, it works.
Epigenetics Research Community
Dang you look good!
That’s right…the most important component of EpiGenie is the researchers in academic and industrial labs that bust their buns every day giving us something to write about. We know you didn’t go into the field for fame, but we also know it’s nice to be recognized for your contributions. So if you want to share your stance on a topic or call attention to a new method you developed step up to the mic and let us know about it.
Pete J :: Founder
It took Pete a few years of research at Indiana University and various R&D positions at Abbott Laboratories, Immunogenex, and Gen-Probe to realize he had 10 thumbs in the lab and that it was safer for himself and the broader research community if he head into marketing. After seven years marketing and leading strategic product development for research tool companies Genset and Invitrogen, Pete got the entrepreneurial itch, ditched the cube, and headed to the beach town Florianopolis, Brazil to help a friend stoke the marketing furnace of his surf tour operation.
It was during this time that the foundation for EpiGenie was conceived and developed. After hundreds of caipirinhas and late nights of samba, Pete returned back to Del Mar, California to be closer to the research community in San Diego and the States in general, where he works closely with his all-star cast of technical writers, web developers, and most importantly, the innovative researchers that give EpiGenie something to broadcast. When Pete isn’t working on EpiGenie, you can find him surfing in North County, San Diego or juggling his two sons.
Ben L :: Epigenetics Editor
Ben is a fellow researcher on both the computational and experimental ends. After a B.Sc. in Genetics from Western University (Canada), he went on to pursue his love for epigenetics. He completed his Ph.D in the lab of Shiva Singh at Western, where they and a talented team investigated fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. After convincing the Canadian government to send him to a land without winter, he’s continuing on with his neuroepigenomic passion as a postdoc in the lab of Janine LaSalle at the University of California, Davis.
Ben’s been reading EpiGenie ever since Professor Singh pointed him that way. Then, on a spring’s day, during some intense manuscript writing, the impulse to contribute kicked in and Ben decided to shoot Pete an e-mail. One phone call lead to another and an eventual trip to the land of sunshine, which had him California Dreamin’. Ben’s been a part of the team since 2013 and can’t get enough of your research into Epigenetics, Stem Cells, and Synthetic Biology. Outside of the research world, when he’s not busy taking photos, out for a bike or swim, or consuming excessive amounts of sushi, you can usually find him with his wife and their cats.
Stuart A :: Aging Editor & Technical Writer
While not out biking, and running through the streets, parks, and beaches of sunny Valencia (Spain, not California!), Stuart is chained to his desk writing about everything and anything in the stem cell world. Hailing from the icy tundra that lies between Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland (think Mordor), Stuart was a huge Nirvana fan, but the long hair and ripped jeans went missing a long time ago, and he swapped them for a lab coat and goggles.
A PhD in cancer epigenetics in Glasgow was followed by post-doctoral studies in ESCs and iPSCs in Newcastle (UK) and Valencia. After doing far too much Q-PCR, he traded the pipette for the pen, and now dedicates most of his time to sitting on the beach drinking ice cold Spanish beer, ahem……..writing, reading, and enjoying the fantastic daily occurrences in stem cell research.
Eric D :: Technical Writer
Eric completed his PhD in Genetics at Western University (Canada) and is currently a postdoc at SickKids (Canada). While his projects and interests have shifted over time, epigenetics has captured his interest and will no doubt become the star to guide his scientific career. After finishing top of his class in the honors genetics program, Eric joined the lab of Shiva Singh as a grad student to bring an epigenetic focus to the lab’s fetal alcohol project and has now taken a more clinical focus as a postdoc in the lab of Rosanna Weksberg.
Eric thought he was giving up his love of creative writing by going into genetics, but EpiGenie has provided an e-home to keep the love alive. But Eric’s not ready to hang up his pipette just yet; he still enjoys using many of the techniques he writes about for EpiGenie. At home in Toronto, Eric spends his down time walking his Great Dane and navigating new roles as a husband and father.
Kathryn V :: Technical Writer
Kathryn earned her PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She first heard the word “epigenetics” years ago, during her undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta, and it piqued her interest so much she flew across the country to learn more! Her current work looks at the role of epigenetics in cocaine addiction, using post mortem brain tissue, from DNA methylation up to 3D chromatin architecture.
As a long-time subscriber to the newsletter, and a compulsive e-mail checker, Kathryn’s quick reply skills landed her a spot covering a conference for Epigenie, and the rest is history. If you can’t find her hunched over her lab bench or in front of her keyboard, she’s probably engrossed in a horror movie or reading a book about space.
Bonnie A :: Technical Writer
Bonnie just finished her Ph.D. at Western University (Canada) where she studied how early life environment impacts postnatal neurodevelopment using a mouse model. She is particularly focused on epigenetics as an interface between the environment and the genome in the brain. Before that, she completed her undergraduate training in Neuroscience at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. In her free time, she loves yoga, discovering new restaurants with friends, and pampering her two cats.
Elizabeth E :: Technical Writer
Elizabeth is a PhD student from Montreal, Quebec. She studies developmental epigenetics in the McGraw lab at the Sainte-Justine Research Centre (University of Montreal). Her work focuses on understanding the epigenetic regulation of early embryonic development and how epigenetic dysregulation can lead to developmental and neurological disorders. Elizabeth is also specializing in CRISPR epigenome editing technologies to develop novel models of epigenetic dysregulation, bridging an important gap in the study of epigenetic disease. Elizabeth is passionate about the scientific, technological, and communications aspects of epigenetics research. When she is not in the lab or writing articles, she loves exploring the great outdoors, stargazing the midnight sky, and enjoying the exciting and delicious Montreal restaurant scene.