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Democratising access to research – our long-standing commitment to Open Access publishing

Updated 18 October 2023

The scholarly communication landscape has changed profoundly over the past two decades, with a profusion of new publishing and subscription models from commercial and not-for-profit publishers. The increasing importance of Open Access (OA) – making research immediately and freely available to all – has presented challenges as well as opportunities for libraries, funding organisations, publishers and researchers alike.

Sustainable menus at events: nurturing with less impact (part 1)

14 September 2023

Event catering can account for 7-17% of event carbon footprint 1 2 3 . Conferences and scientific workshops play a crucial role in the career development of researchers, helping them to spread awareness about their work and connect with like-minded peers 4. Equally crucial is environmentally friendly practices at these events. Organisers can make a difference with eco-friendly menus and encouraging conscious choices.

But what does it take to build a sustainable menu? This is a guideline on how to build a sustainable menu for your next scientific meeting.

Empowering early-career researchers: new initiatives revealed

15 August 2023

A collection of photographs portraying our large community of ECRs

The Company of Biologists supports early-career researchers (ECRs) in several ways across all five of our journals and three community sites. First Person interviews help primary authors to showcase their recently published articles, helping ECRs boost engagement and exposure of their work. A Year at the Forefront Reviews provide ECRs with an early opportunity to publish a review for free, helping them to boost their career prospects. Grants such as Travelling Fellowships enable ECRs to visit different labs around the world which specialise in many niche areas of scientific research.

Professional Internships for PhD Students at The Company of Biologists

2 August 2023

Erin Brown posing for a photograph in front The Company of Biologists and the slogan "supporting biologists inspiring biology".

Erin Brown recounts her recent internship experience with The Company of Biologists.

“I have been fortunate to have undertaken my Professional Internships for PhD Students (PIPS) at The Company of Biologists. The decision to choose an internship within publishing was driven by a curiosity to understand a different perspective of the academic process. From the application process to my arrival in Cambridge, I felt supported and excited with how my 12-week experience outside the lab would go.

The Forest of Biologists – an interview with Professor Steven Kelly

24 July 2023
Steven Kelly under an umbrella with trees in the background

The Forest of Biologists was launched on 13 March 2023. We recently caught up with Steven Kelly, Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford and former Editor-in-Chief of Biology Open, who planted the seed for this project several years ago.

Exploring regeneration in Woods Hole, Massachusetts

21 September 2023

Grace Holmes enjoying a boat ride to collect sea animals used for research purposes.

To develop her own understanding of tissue regeneration, Grace Holmes, a master’s student from the Royal Veterinary College, used a Travelling Fellowship from Development to visit the Echeverri lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. There, she explored the role of Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2 (LRRK2), a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease in humans, in regeneration.

Mapping Neuromodulator expression in Octopus vulgaris: Travelling Fellowship from Journal of Experimental Biology

30 August 2023

Federica the Travelling Fellowship recipient working at the host lab.

To develop her own understanding of neural mapping, Federica Pizzulli, a PhD student from the Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, used a Travelling Fellowship from Journal of Experimental Biology to visit the Seuntjens lab at KU Leuven, Belgium. The lab was the first to adapt in-situ Hybridization Chain Reaction (HCR) to Octopus vulgaris.

Exploring Skin Cancer Molecular Mechanisms: a Travel Grant experience at the Gordon Research Conference

10 August 2023

Darshan Mehta attending the Gordon Research Conference, posing for a photograph next to his research poster

Darshan Mehta is a PhD student studying the mechanisms behind skin cancer at the Tata Memorial Centre Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India. He took the opportunity to use a Conference Travel Grant from Disease Models & Mechanisms to travel to the 2023 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Stem Cells and Cancer – a meeting intended to explore cutting-edge research in the field of cell biology and cancer.

A Travelling Fellowship to explore ecotoxicology, PVC and the sea

24 July 2023

Rocío’s Travelling Fellowship have shown that there were no effects of pristine PVC leachates on the organisms tested. In the case of environmental PVC, PE and PP leachates, no effects were observed on P. tricornutum. However, there were effects on N. spinipes, including a 32% rate of mortality after 24 hours caused by leachates from PVC.

Plastic leachates are chemicals that migrate from plastics to the surrounding aquatic environment composed by mixtures of additives. These chemicals form a solution of organic and inorganic pollutants which represent a serious problem to the environment, as they can induce toxicity in both diatom and copepod populations at the base of the food chain. Rocío Soledad Pazos, a postdoc from National University of La Plata, used a Travelling Fellowship from Journal of Experimental Biology to visit the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Ostend, Belgium – here she was able to investigate the impact of leachates on the environment.

Join us on biologists.social

29 June 2023

Banner showing a compilation of biological images and the words Supporting biologists, inspiring biology

The Company of Biologists has launched a new server on Mastodon: biologists.social. It is a space for biologists to discuss science, research, teaching, life and more.

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