We haven’t featured any new members to the Lifeology community recently… Let’s change that!

This post features highlights from 8 new members that have joined Lifeology over the past few months.

Join our Slack channel & Lifeology website, write a short introduction post, & some of your SciComm/SciArt work for a chance to be featured in a future highlight.

Join Our Slack Channel

1. Molly Patton:

Hello all  :wave:

I’m a creative director with a background in biochem and a passion for using visuals to help create more opportunities for researchers – particularly surrounding collaborations and funding! I lead a dynamic design team choc-full of incredible talent including illustrators, animators, graphic designers and web developers – each ready to jump on any new challenge that comes our way. It’s a pleasure to be part of this community, please feel free to get in touch (even if it’s just for a chat) hello@pattondstudios.com :smiley::+1:

Molly Patton – Creative Director (Patton’d Studios)

2. Etienne

Hi all, I’m Etienne!

Great to meet you all. I’m a biochemist working in the biotech industry in the UK. In my (little) spare time I try to communicate about interesting biotech topics via infographics (lapipette.com) though I’ve been more active recently on instagram with fun illustrations (@lapipette.labs). I’m slowly considering switching career to scicomm actually and this is probably a great place to learn more about the ins and outs of it.

Etienne – Biochemist & Illustrator Nerd

3. Lisa Elena Kettemer:

Hi everyone! I’m Lisa, a PhD student in the arctic city of Tromsø in Norway :snow_capped_mountain: My work is on how and why animals migrate, particularly in the ocean. My PhD research is on humpback whale migrations :whale2: from the Norwegian arctic to the tropics :earth_americas: mainly using satellite tracking :satellite:  

Lisa Elena Kettemer – PhD student (whale migration)

This involves attaching a tracker that sends information from the whale to a satellite – to me!:female-technologist::skin-tone-2: My background is in biological oceanography, and my favorite thing in science is maps :world_map: of moving animals and ocean currents :ocean: So beautiful and mysterious! I wish I could accompany a whale on their journey:mermaid::skin-tone-2: I like studying whales because they’re interesting but mostly because people love :two_hearts: them and they’re important to the oceans. I think imagination and emotional aspects of science are underrated and important. In my spare time I do embroidery and often try to capture visuals from fieldwork or data. I’d love to start working more with artists to inform my research process, and to engage audiences on the imaginative side of my science. So, yay for everyone being here and it’s great to meet you!

Theresia the whale, art by Jessika Raisor

4. Alex Ip:

Hello everybody!

I’m Alex, an Environmental Engineering student. Currently, I’m working on a low-cost, carbon-neutral, portable snake incubator with Zoo Atlanta! I do both science journalism and illustrations, so I’d love to connect with you on twitter (please bear with my obsessions on basketball memes and political polling).

Alex Ip – Founder and Editor of The Xylom

I am also the Founder and Editor of The Xylom, where we create personal stories of science and humanity!

Read more at The Xylom

5. Mindy Takamiya:

Hi all!

I’m an artist mainly expressing science. I’m based in Kyoto, Japan, looking forward to collaborating with people all over the world!

Mindy Takamiya – Illustrator/Designer

6. Melinda Martinez:

Hello all!

I’m Melinda Martinez, and I am a scientist and artist. I am a PhD candidate at North Carolina State University. My research focuses on coastal forested wetland transitions from forest to marsh creating ‘ghost forest’ areas.

Melinda Martinez – PhD candidate (coastal forested wetland)

I am working to incorporate more art for better science communication on my research. I’d love to see what others have done to get a better idea on how to move forward. Thanks! I’m very excited to be part of this community! :heart_eyes:

Artwork Description – Ghost Forests:

“Many freshwater coastal forested wetlands are experiencing forest dieback due to saltwater intrusion causing rapid changes from forest to marsh. The transition from forest to marsh leaves behind many standing dead trees which have the potential to act as straws by facilitating greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) exchange from soils directly to the atmosphere. Methane and nitrous oxide are more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide because they have ability to absorb more energy (keep earth really warm). The painting depicted shows greenhouse gases are produced in soils therefore have much higher concentrations (stronger colors), and are transferred to the atmosphere at lower concentrations (more faint colors). Carbon dioxide – green, methane – red, and nitrous oxide – yellow.”

7. Sabela Rodríguez Lorenzo:

Hi all!

I’m a last year PhD candidate in neuro-immunology at Amsterdam UMC :female-scientist:. In the last year I’ve re-discovered my old passion for drawing and how I can use it to communicate science in a beautiful and engaging way. I’m now working on my portfolio (you can check it on Instagram and Twitter) and learning a lot so I can dedicate to scientific illustration!

Sabela Rodríguez Lorenzo – PhD candidate (neuro-immunology)

8. Rajamani Selvam:

Hi!

My name is Rajamani Selvam PhD and I am a regulatory research fellow at the FDA.  I am passionate science communicator and an artist. To that extent, I am a freelancer editor at ClubSciWri, content illustrator at Knowing Neurons, science writer at ASBMB.  Within my current role, I help my division as a graphic designer with the annual reports and other comms materials. I play with acrylics and pencil sketches

Rajamani Selvam – Regulatory research fellow (FDA)