Navigating COVID-19: Starting a lab during the pandemic.

For new principal investigators, the first years are key to getting a laboratory off the ground and running. COVID-19 has changed the world, bringing on unforeseen difficulties and challenges at every level. We asked these investigators to share their experiences in navigating the unique environment since the start of the pandemic-what has changed in their vision for their laboratory, how they have adapted, and what advice they can share with others in a similar situation.

Fluctuations of consciousness, mood, and science: The interhemispheric switch and sticky switch models two decades on.

Science and medicine aim to identify verifiable and replicable truths. However, the paths to such truths are frequently characterized by swinging pendulums of opposing perspectives. This is especially so in human neuroscience and the brain-based clinical sciences, where the target of investigation is the most complex of all biological systems. This article overviews a set of interrelated neuroscientific and clinical hypotheses, models, experiments, and predictions with which I have been involved for the last two decades. Traversing visual neuroscience, consciousness science, genetics, chronobiology, and biological and clinical psychiatry, the work illustrates how developments in science and medicine can occur through a combination of synthesis, serendipity, and experimentation. The article also reflects on doing science with the inimitable John "Jack" Pettigrew, and outlines how Pettigrew and I conceived, proposed, tested, and developed two new scientific models-one on neural mechanisms of binocular rivalry, the other on the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder. I also provide an update on various aspects of our models and data, and describe lessons learned from Pettigrew on how perspectives in science exhibit their own fluctuations, ironically like the very phenomena on which we worked.

Integrating the basic sciences in medical curricula: focus on the basic scientists.

Basic science educators are not trained as clinicians, yet are expected to adjust their content to mesh appropriately with its clinical application. While achievable, this is a challenge that requires intentional effort on the part of the basic science educators. A practical solution to facilitate curricular integration is to create experiential opportunities for basic scientists to observe the clinical application of their content and to pair these initiatives with training in effective medical education practices.

The foundations of visual neuroscience in Australia.

The passing of Jack Pettigrew (University of Queensland) and Bogdan Dreher (University of Sydney) within 2 weeks of each other in May 2019 provided the catalyst for documenting the roles that they and their colleagues from the Peter Bishop School played in establishing vision research as a major strength in Australian neuroscience in the second half of the 20th century.

Establishing a successful teaching assistant program in pharmacy skills laboratory courses.

INTRODUCTION: Laboratory-based courses often require more manpower than faculty can provide to facilitate active learning activities in the classroom as well as skills-based assessments. PERSPECTIVE: Pharmacy and graduate student and resident teaching assistants (TAs) can be incorporated into laboratory-based courses to help meet this need. Before using student and resident TAs in laboratory-based courses, a number of items need to be considered. This paper will discuss how to recruit, train, and evaluate student and resident TAs. It will also detail the benefits to the faculty, the students in the classroom, and the TAs themselves. Finally, lessons learned from five schools of pharmacy who use student and/or resident TAs will be shared. IMPLICATIONS: Schools of pharmacy should implement a formalized process for utilizing student and resident TAs in laboratory-based courses especially where faculty manpower limitations exist.

A Summary Report from the Research Partnership on Women in Science Careers.

BACKGROUND: In response to the landmark report "Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering," the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health issued a request for applications that funded 14 R01 grants to investigate causal factors to career success for women in STEM. Following completion of the 4-year grants, the grant PIs formed a grassroots collaborative, the Research Partnership on Women in Science Careers. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the work of the Research Partnership, which resulted in over 100 publications. METHODS: We developed six themes to organize the publications, with a "Best Practices" for each theme at the end of each section: Barriers to Career Advancement; Mentoring, Coaching, and Sponsorship; Career Flexibility and Work-Life Balance; Pathways to Leadership; Compensation Equity; and Advocating for Change and Stakeholder Engagement. RESULTS: Women still contend with sexual harassment, stereotype threat, a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities, a lack of parity in compensation and resource allocation, and implicit bias. Strategies to address these barriers using the Bronfenbrenner ecological model at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, academic community, and policy levels include effective mentoring and coaching, having a strong publication record, addressing prescriptive gender norms, positive counter-stereotype imaging, career development training, networking, and external career programs such as the AAMC Early and Mid-Career Programs and Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM). CONCLUSIONS: Cultural transformation is needed to address the barriers to career advancement for women. Implementing the best practices noted of the work of the Research Partnership can help to achieve this goal.

Its all about delivery: interview with M. N. V. Ravi Kumar.

M. N. V. Ravi Kumar is interviewed by Stella Bennett, Commissioning Editor. He is the Professor at Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station. His research in drug delivery has won him numerous awards including the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal, UK (2009), Tom Gibson Memorial Award by British Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, UK (2008), Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Medal for Young Scientist, India (2007). He was awarded Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, Germany (2002). He was appointed to Guest Professor/Distinguished Foreign Professor at Seoul National University (South Korea); University of Navarra (Spain); University of Torino (Italy) and Shandong University, (China). Since 2003, he supervised about 41 students that include MS: 20; PhD: 7; Postdocs: 10 and Visitors: 4.