The Expanding OSE: Meet the new Managing Editor

April 12, 2016

What do parasites, stone age sites, enzymes, obscure British islands and horse racing all have in common? They are what the new OSE Managing Editor, Dr James Allen loves to explore in his spare time. That is, when he’s not talking to his wife Kirsty about her work building the UK’s first quantum computer.

Over the past year, the OSE workload has flourished. We’ve seen the managing editor role shift from our founder Dr Natalie Morris, who recently completed her PhD and celebrated by founding two more businesses (watch this space), and Dr Colin Ferrie, who deftly oversaw the business expansion while simultaneously working full time as a medicolegal expert. Now enter Dr James Allen, the right editor at the right time.

James arrived in Oxford as a student a few decades ago and has never left. He took his first degree in Chemistry then undertook a DPhil on the structural/functional relationships of bacterial respiratory enzymes. He did postdoctoral work on cytochrome assembly in bacteria, before being awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to investigate mitochondrial biogenesis in trypanosome parasites.

His microscopic interests have informed his macroscopic world view and he spends a lot of time thinking about how science and medicine intersect with politics and health care, especially within developing countries, where the burden of infectious disease is particularly onerous.

 

After publishing over 40 of his own papers in international peer-reviewed journals, he left academia to focus on the rapid-fire experience of editing and reviewing other people’s work. James describes OSE as “exceptionally friendly and laid back” and has always felt respected as a peer within the organization during his time as an editor. “It’s nice to be trusted,” he said regarding his experience at OSE. With Dr Ferrie spending more time on medicolegal matters, it was the perfect opportunity for James to take hold of the reins and continue building the stellar reputation that OSE has established for supporting both scientists and editors.

Now with the managerial logistics under his belt Dr Allen continues to enjoy the variety of papers he comes across. Some OSE edits that stand out for him are an investigation into using bacteria to leach precious metals from ores, the use of phage as an antibacterial agent, and the effect of antibiotics on the gut microbiome and metabolites.

We welcome James to his new role as Managing Editor. We are grateful to the indomitable Dr Colin Ferrie who will continue to help with managerial duties, though we hope not at the expense of rambling across the Scottish Highlands and Yorkshire Dales. Whether you are a scientist or an editor, please don’t hesitate to contact us about how we might work together as Oxford Science Editing continues to thrive as a company.