New tips and tools for “scicomm” courtesy of ComSciConCAN

by Farah Qaiser | Jul 29, 2019

On July 18th, 50 graduate students (including yours truly!) descended upon McMaster University to attend the first national ComSciConCAN: a three-day science communication event consisting of four panels, six workshops, one keynote and over 25 different experts, with...

Five amazing ways redesigning biological cells could help us fight cancer

by Stacey Johnson | Jul 26, 2019

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. Julio C. Valencia, NCI Center for Cancer Research, CC BY-SA  Synthetic biology is an exciting discipline that, according to SynBio Canada, “represents a maturation of genetic engineering and...

Crowdfunding and the global marketplace for unproven stem cell interventions

by Guest | Jul 15, 2019

Jeremy Snyder, PhD, is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Leigh Turner, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Center for Bioethics, School of Public Health and College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. You can find them...

Got “sciart”?

by Guest | Jul 12, 2019

Eleni Kanavas is the Acting Communications Specialist at CCRM. She has more than eight years of corporate communications experience working in the academic and health science fields. She graduated with an Honours BA in Journalism from the University of Toronto and...

Right Turn: PR, propaganda, science, storytelling and a soupçon of stem cells

by Stacey Johnson | Jul 5, 2019

Propaganda is everywhere these days. Even (especially?) at a conference for public relations professionals. La Generalista, aka Alicia Wanless, was the opening keynote speaker at the recent Canadian Public Relations Society’s (CPRS) “Evolving Expectations” annual...

Right Turn: Announcing a new blog for the cell and gene therapy industry

by Stacey Johnson | Jun 28, 2019

There’s a new blog in town and it’s in direct competition to Signals. Or is it? In our information saturated world, there is a great deal of competition for your attention. In 2015, Netflix users had streamed 42.5 billion hours of video and its users collectively...

Right Turn: Are stem cell documentaries aiming to lend legitimacy to unproven stem cell treatments?

by Stacey Johnson | Jun 21, 2019

In our hyperconnected world, video is king. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that for marketers video helps convert visitors (to a website for example) into customers. Videos also bring testimonials to life. Real people are telling us why we should...

Right Turn: Viewer discretion advised when regenerative medicine goes to the movies

by Stacey Johnson | Jun 14, 2019

Writers will know that inspiration can come from the strangest places. Earlier this week I came across a Twitter thread from “Dr Esther @EstOdek” who was amusingly upset (I think that’s an oxymoron) that she learned, too late for her PhD on starfish, that The Hulk’s...

Right Turn: Ethics, Australian culture and more when ISCT 2019 goes to Melbourne

by Stacey Johnson | Jun 7, 2019

Australian culture and pride were very much on display at ISCT 2019, the annual meeting of clinicians, regulators, researchers, technologists and industry who claim membership in the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT). While it was my first time...

Science Outside The Lab North 2019

by Farah Qaiser | May 27, 2019

What is science policy? How do I translate my research expertise into policymaking? And what does working in the federal public service involve? These were some of the questions swirling around in my head as I set off to attend the Science Outside The Lab North (SOtL...