 |
|
Meet Meet Robert Greenberg
- Cell Physiologist, Lillie 219
|
|
Last May, Rob Greenberg picked up his laboratory at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory and moved it to Lillie, where he is now an associate scientist in the MBL’s Program in Molecular Physiology.
Rob studies parasitic flatworms called schistosomes that can live and mate in human blood vessels. The flatworms cause the tropical disease schistosomiasis, which afflicts 200 million people worldwide with early symptoms including rash, fever, chills, and muscle aches, while chronic schistomiasis can lead to serious illness from organ damage, and sometimes death. The disease occurs when a person spends time in contaminated freshwater habitats, where snails that carry the parasites are living. Infected snails release a free-swimming larval form of the parasite which first attaches to the skin of the human host and then penetrates through it. Schistosomiasis is most prevalent in Africa, but is also found in South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia. It is typically treated with a drug called praziquantel, the best and essentially only medicine currently available to treat this disease.
Rob is working to understand how the drug impairs the electrical wiring of the worms’ muscle and nerve cells, something scientists don't currently understand. "Relying on one drug that isn't well understood is dangerous," he says. "There is also some evidence that the worms may be developing resistance to it. So the idea is to understand how the drug works, which may lead to the development of other treatment options."
Though he’s bracing for his first New England winter, Rob says he's settling into his West Falmouth home and his new work life He was drawn to and appreciates the MBL because it promotes interaction among scientists with common interests. So far, he's found many kindred spirits in the Bay Paul Center's Global Infectious Diseases group as well as in the Molecular Physiology group, and says he finds the work going on in both areas fascinating. "I think there are good opportunities to learn new research approaches, techniques, and strategies here," he says.
|
|
On December 31, Michael J. Greenberg will retire as editor-in-chief of the MBL's scientific journal, The Biological Bulletin. Mike held the post for 15 years, and learned a thing or two about writing while on the job. Below are some writing tips he recently provided, which might help you polish up that next memo or scientific paper.
Mike's Quick Tips for Better Writing
- Don't separate your subjects and verbs with too many extra words. The verb must come six to nine words after the subject. If it doesn't, the reader stops reading and goes to the verb, and they've lost all of the information in between.
- When your writing is finished, read it over to make sure the events it describes are in order. If they're in order, the piece is focused.
- Don't repeat key information. Decide where it should go and put it there and only there. Many writers repeat themselves. The trick is to either know you're going to do this and stop yourself or go back and remove the repetition later.
- Need to write a prologue for a scientific paper? Read the prologue to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It's a great example of a good prologue. And write the prologue last. It should name your characters and tell your readers what you're going to do.
- Seek out good writing references. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams is a great place to start.
Milestones
Celebratory events and announcements from our employees:
- Mary Beckwith (Director of Housing and Conferences) was married to Jill Baroni on November 25, in Northampton, MA.
- Happy 77th birthday to Senior Scientist Lionel Jaffe, December 28!
If you have a milestone you would like to share with your colleagues, or you would like to be profiled (or want to suggest someone who should be profiled) in an upcoming issue, please e-mail us at
|
|
