Drumroll Please… One Figure contest winners

November 19, 2008 – 12:58 am

As promised, Epernicus.com is happy to announce the winners of our first One Figure contest, recognizing the ten people whose Figures have been complimented the greatest number of times in the month preceding Marie Curie’s birthday (Nov 7). This year’s winners will each receive a (BPA-free Camelback) Epernicus water bottle. Our congratulations go to:

 

Here’s a sampling of the winning figures:

onefigs1

(A) “Developing zebrafish pancreas and liver” – Duc Dong
(B) “A 10.5 day old mouse embryo, stained to show canonical Wnt signaling. Wnt signaling is seen here in the forebrain, midbrain, limb buds, and neural tube.” – Vanessa Horner
(C) “Obstruction of the ammonia channel by the T-loop of GlnK as determined by the 1.96 Angstrom crystal structure 2NS1. “ – Franz Gurswitz
(D) “Gecko Feet” – Jeff Karp
(E) “Nitric Oxide production in Arabidopsis taliana mitochondria” – Maria Cristina Palmieri

Thanks to everyone who complimented these figures, and to the hundreds of members who have put up One Figures of their own. We hope you will agree that these figures are a great way to share something special about your work. You can add one to your profile under the Edit Profile tab. And browse the latest, most complimented, or in-your-network One Figures in the One Figure Gallery.

By Mikhail Shapiro | Posted in Epernicus | Comments (0)

Harvard Professors Join Epernicus Scientific Advisory Board

October 2, 2008 – 12:03 pm

We are happy to announce that Pamela Silver, Ph.D. and Angela DePace, Ph.D. have joined the Epernicus Scientific Advisory Board. In addition to their rich scientific experience, Professors Silver and DePace bring a keen interest in the use of web technology to advance science. We’re looking forward to their input and advice!

Pamela Silver is a Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California Santa Cruz and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California Los Angeles. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Dr. Silver served as an Assistant Professor at Princeton University where she was an established investigator of the American Heart Association and a recipient of the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. At Harvard, Dr. Silver’s work is directed at understanding the principles of natural biological design. Her lab hopes to develop principles for building novel cells and subsystems that act as sensors, memory devices, bio-computers, and energy producers. Dr. Silver has received many research and mentorship awards, and she serves on a number of editorial boards including Nature Molecular Systems Biology and Genes and Development. She is an avid runner, having participated in several Boston Marathons.

Angela DePace is an Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. She conducted her postdoctoral work at the University of California Berkeley with Michael Eisen, Ph.D. before coming to Harvard Medical School. Dr. DePace’s work focuses on the evolution of transcriptional networks in animals. Using early development in multiple Drosophila species as a model system, her lab applies biochemistry, comparative genomics, molecular biology and quantitative imaging techniques to understand how regulatory information is encoded in the genome, how it is deciphered as gene expression patterns in space and time, and how it changes during evolution to contribute to organismal diversity.

You can learn more about Professors Silver and DePace through their Epernicus profiles.

By Vivek Murthy | Posted in Epernicus, Team | Comments (0)

Epernicus in the News

September 29, 2008 – 3:33 pm

Nice article on Epernicus in Mass High Tech on Friday!

 

By Eric Silberstein | Posted in Epernicus | Comments (0)

New BenchQ features

September 21, 2008 – 11:25 pm

We recently launched some new BenchQ features we hope will make your experience using BenchQ more productive and enjoyable.  The genesis of these features is user feedback — please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

Flagging
You are now able to flag BenchQ threads.  Flagging a BenchQ thread will ensure it stays in your list of BenchQ’s, and will make it visually distinctive in the list (a red flag icon will appear next to the subject).  You will also have the option of having replies to that BenchQ thread emailed to you (this feature can be turned on or off via the “Email Preferences” pane) and of displaying only flagged BenchQ’s (by selecting the “Flagged” option in the new “Show” filter).

Marking multiple BenchQ threads as read
You are now able to mark multiple BenchQ threads as read.  Select the checkbox next to the BenchQ threads you’d like to mark, and then click the green “Mark selected as read” icon.  (This, combined with the “Select All” option, allows you to reset your unread BenchQ count)

General interface improvements
The BenchQ interface has been enlarged a bit and you can now scroll through the list of BenchQ’s even while the detail pane is open (previously you needed to close the detail pane to scroll through the list).

By Ezra Freedman | Posted in Features | Comments (0)

Get your custom public profile web address

August 20, 2008 – 4:31 pm

When we first launched public profiles on Epernicus, we looked to implement a simple and egalitarian system for deciding on a user’s public profile web address.  I thought back to my first university network account username — your initials followed by a number!  Simple, right?  Limited typing!  Fair!

Well, the feedback has been clear…  While some of you appreciate the simplicity of the current scheme, others want some freedom of expression. In response, we’ve added the option of specifying a custom public profile web address.  This will work *in addition to* your originally assigned address, so no need to update old references.

Visit http://www.epernicus.com/account/public_profile to reserve your first pick today!

Oh, and my new profile address — http://www.epernicus.com/people/ezrafreedman

By Ezra Freedman | Posted in Features | Comments (0)

Video: Epernicus Talk

July 24, 2008 – 3:59 pm

Mikhail and I frequently give talks on Epernicus to labs and departments.  In case you missed one of our presentations, you can watch the short video below.

By Vivek Murthy | Posted in Epernicus | Comments (0)

Mikhail Defends

July 21, 2008 – 11:46 pm

Mikhail (Epernicus co-founder) gave a fascinating and very well-attended talk today on genetically engineered sensors for non-invasive brain imaging for his thesis defense.  Now we’ll get his brain back on Epernicus!

Mikhail Thesis Defnese

By Eric Silberstein | Posted in Team | Comments (1)

Why should you join Epernicus if you’re on LinkedIn?

June 23, 2008 – 11:55 pm

Recently, we received the following in an email:

“I am already on LinkedIn - which I find useful.  How is this site different?”

I really like LinkedIn as well as Facebook, and I find them incredibly helpful.  I’ve used LinkedIn to learn about business contacts and research potential hires.  And I spend more time than I’d like to admit on Facebook connecting with friends from all parts of my life (including long lost elementary school buddies). 

Mikhail and I started Epernicus because we realized that the social networks to which we belonged weren’t able to serve our needs as scientists.  The profiles didn’t capture what was important to scientists.  And equally as important, we couldn’t use these networks to help us find expertise in real world scientific networks. 

For example, I have hundreds of contacts on Facebook and LinkedIn.  But neither site can help me find a person in my department who has who expertise with dynamic light scattering or siRNA delivery.  This is why we built Epernicus.

Epernicus connects you automatically with your real world scientific network.  Your real world network is not just the people who you know directly – it’s also the people to whom you’re connected through your department, institution, and advisors (current and past).  This is one of your most valuable resources.  Some of these people you’ve never met before, but you share a kinship with them through your common affiliation.  When you register on Epernicus and enter your affiliations, you are automatically connected with this network.

Epernicus also captures people’s assets – the specific topics, materials, and methods in which they have expertise.  Assets give you a more detailed understanding of a scientist’s skill set, and they make searching on Epernicus a rich experience.

With Epernicus, I can now search quickly through my scientific networks for a specific topic or technique to find the people that I need.   It might be someone I know peripherally in my department, someone I’ve never met at my institution, or a former labmate.  It might also be someone I know (Epernicus can help you learn new things about people you see all the time!).

By Vivek Murthy | Posted in Epernicus | Comments (2)

Locating expertise in your scientific network

June 5, 2008 – 11:30 am

When we’re not doing experiments at our bench or practicing in the clinic, we’re often looking for information: What’s the latest with adult stem cells? How do you identify phosphoproteins on a gel? What polymers swell when heated? To find answers, we often have to spend hours searching resources like Pubmed or Google. Occasionally, we get lucky and remember that someone we know has relevant expertise. Getting help from a colleague is often the fastest way to answer our question or solve our problem.

But why should finding a person who can help us be a matter of luck? We all have rich networks of scientific expertise comprising our current and former labmates and people in our departments and institutions. The average scientist’s network contains hundreds of years of research experience; and chances are that someone in your network has exactly the knowledge you need.

We built Epernicus to help you locate the right person in your network with the right expertise at the right time. And with our new and improved search, you can do so more easily than ever.

For example, if you’re looking for someone who could help you troubleshoot a DNA ligation, search for “DNA ligation” on Epernicus. We will show you everyone in your network (and in general) who lists ligations as an asset, has it mentioned in their publication abstracts or otherwise contains it in their profile. You can see how you’re connected and quickly and easily contact the right person. Because you’re part of the same lab, department or institution, they’ll be happy to help you out.

The Epernicus community was launched only recently, but you’d be surprised at the amount of knowledge it already contains. Try searching it next time you’re looking for help!

By the way: Your ability to find expertise in your network will grow as more of your colleagues join Epernicus. Invite them!

By Mikhail Shapiro | Posted in Epernicus, Features | Tagged | Comments (0)

What makes you valuable to your scientific colleagues?

May 24, 2008 – 2:36 pm

You might have noticed the growing number of scientists who have recently joined Epernicus. But did you know that another rapidly growing area of Epernicus is the assets our members have listed in their profiles? As of this writing, there are more than 850 different topics, methods and materials represented on our network.

Looking for someone who does whole-cell electrophysiology? Works on vibrio cholera? Uses BioBrick vectors? Cultres Sf21 cells? Runs experiments in a Franz diffusion chamber? Codes simulations in Python? They’re all here! And chances are they’re in your lab, department or institution.

A major goal of Epernicus is to make it easier for scientists to find help and give help to colleagues in their scientific networks. And your assets represent all the ways you can help the people you know. It’s expertise you’ve accumulated over several years of hard work, and it’s one of the things that makes you valuable in the world of science.

Of course, we know that it’s impossible to remember all your topics, methods and materials in one sitting, so here are a couple tips on adding assets to your Epernicus profile:

- When you sign on, think of the things you worked with in the last couple days and add them (you can add assets right at the bottom of your dashboard page).

- When you see an asset on someone else’s profile that should also be on yours, just click it, then click “Add” and it’ll be automatically added to your profile

On the flipside, when looking for someone with a certain expertise, just do a search. Any assets or publications that include your search term will show up. Click on them to find out to whom they belong. And look for an announcement in the near future about enhanced search, which will make searching your network even easier.

By Mikhail Shapiro | Posted in Epernicus | Tagged | Comments (0)