Talking About Cell Biology Effectively with Different Audiences: What I Wish I’d Known Sooner

In this webinar, five experts will share practical strategies to engage people from diverse contexts in cell biology. This roundtable is part of #CellSpeak, a weeklong initiative led by ASCB’s Public Information Committee (PIC) to promote public engagement with science.

Learning Objectives

Attendees will learn:

• How to implement tailored communication styles to engage different audiences
• How to communicate cell biology concepts in clear, plain language
• How to approach areas of complexity

Panelists

• Alison Dell, Lead Community Scientist, Biobus
• Jaye C. Gardiner, Assistant Research Professor, Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Michael D. Onken, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University St. Louis
• Justine M. Pinskey, Ph.D., Sr. Scientific Writer, UMass Chan Medical School
• Barbara C. Sorkin, Program Director, NIH (Moderator)

Bios

Alison Dell is a molecular biologist and artist. Alison likes creating drawings and designs based on living materials and systems, and likes thinking about how neurons make connections and communicate through cell signaling. Alison believes that science is everywhere and everyone should be welcome in lab, which is one reason she’s so excited to join the Biobus team. She is co-founder of Art in the Lab – an ongoing series of free public events that mix drawing and laboratory work and is the incoming co-chair of the ASCB’s Education Committee. Alison received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she now teaches Biodesign in the department of Fine Art and Design.

Jaye Gardiner is currently a postdoc in Dr. Edna Cukierman’s laboratory at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Her project focuses on understanding the signaling that arises from cell-cell interactions in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. Outside of research, she loves teaching, mentoring, science communication, and fostering inclusive spaces in STEM. She has been an instructor in the Teen Research Internship Program (TRIP) Initiative through Fox Chase, was a program organizer and part of the Leadership Team for the Communicating Science Conference (ComSciCon), and creates science comics to increase science exposure, access, and literacy through JKX Comics, a group she co-founded in 2015.

Michael Onken studies ocular melanoma, an aggressive form of eye cancer, by developing new tools to model metastatic spread and identify genes and pathways that can be targeted therapeutically. Before becoming an associate professor, Michael served extensively as a moderator for the MadSci Network, a platform where scientists collaborate to answer various science-related questions. He earned his PhD in Molecular Cell Biology and completed his postdoc at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Justine Pinskey has a background in cell and developmental biology with expertise in grant writing, professional development, and scientific communication. Prior to her role at UMass, Dr. Pinskey was an F32-funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she worked with Dr. Daniela Nicastro to characterize cilia structures from diverse organisms using cryo-electron tomography. She also worked as a freelance science communicator for Arcadia Science, where she developed short blog posts and videos to explain scientific concepts. Dr. Pinskey has experience teaching at a variety of levels and co-founded Developing Future Biologists – an educational outreach program to engage historically underrepresented undergraduate students in developmental biology. In addition, Dr. Pinskey has facilitated professional development workshops through organizations like the Association for Women in Science and Dress for Success Michigan. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Northern Michigan University and her Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from the University of Michigan, where she was supported by NIH T32 and F31 mechanisms, among other fellowships.

Barbara C. Sorkin, Ph.D (she, her) received her B.S. and M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Developmental and Molecular Biology from the Rockefeller University where she was appointed Assistant Professor. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Sorkin was on faculty at the Scripps Research Institute in California and at the Forsyth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, where she was a successful NIH grant applicant. She administered extramural research on healthy aging, cancer and sleep at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) from 2001-2011, when she moved to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Dr. Sorkin has been an ASCB member since the 1980’s and has published on topics ranging from cell adhesion molecule structure to health effects of dietary supplements. Recently she has focused on ways to improve the rigor, replicability, and potential for clinical translation of natural products research.

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