Life Sciences

Pauline Addis, MSc, PhD

Dr Pauline Addis loves science and good communication. She obtained her BSc  (Hons) from Imperial in 2003 and her MSc from UWE in 2007, for which she was  awarded the Dodson & Horrell trophy for top student. She then undertook her  PhD at Newcastle University in equine biomechanics, investigating how the  changing mechanical properties of tendon with age affect horse’s gait. The PhD led  to several publications and presentations at international conferences, as well as a  deep understanding of anatomy, physiology and how best to gain the co-operation of an excitable foal. After graduating in 2012, she stayed at Newcastle, switching from horses to humans, and is now involved in demonstrating the impact of medical research. She works with researchers in all areas, from fundamental biology to public health, via cancer research, genetics and neuroscience, and therefore has an enviably broad understanding of a whole range of medical research. Pauline is skilled in all aspects of science communication, from grant writing to the final publication. She continues to act as a peer reviewer for publications such as the Journal of Experimental Biology and greatly values clear, concise manuscripts.

Dr James Allen, PhD

Dr James Allen is an experienced biochemist who headed a research group in the  Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK, from 2006–2011. His  research spanned mitochondria, biophysics, enzymology, parasitology,  microbiology,  bioinorganic chemistry, bioenergetics, evolution, structural biology  and cell biology.  Dr Allen has published over 40 papers in international journals,  most as a principal  author, and has peer reviewed extensively. James took his first  degree in Chemistry  at Oxford then undertook a DPhil, also at Oxford, on the  structure-function relationship of an intricate bacterial respiratory enzyme. He did postdoctoral work on cytochrome assembly in bacteria, before being awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to investigate mitochondrial biogenesis in trypanosome parasites. Dr Allen’s technical expertise includes a wide range of biochemical, biophysical and genetic approaches, including bacterial and eukaryotic genetics and molecular biology; protein chemistry; protein purification; enzymology; enzyme kinetics (rapid reaction and steady state); absorption and other spectroscopies; protein-protein interaction methods; electrochemistry and bioinformatics.

Dr Karen Bysouth, PhD

Dr Karen Bysouth obtained her first degree in biochemistry from the University of Sheffield and a PhD in immunology from Cambridge University, following research into approaches to immunomodulation in type I insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Karen has gained over 20 years of experience working as a research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company, during which she was involved in research that led to a number of publications. Her areas of expertise include cellular and molecular immunology, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology, clinical assay development and validation, the pharmaceutical industry and the drug discovery and licensing process. Karen is an Associate of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders.

Dr Shailesh Jain, PhD

Dr Shailesh Jain received his doctoral degree in Molecular Microbiology from the Ulster University, Northern Ireland. After pursuing postdoctoral research for a year at the University of Manchester, UK, Shailesh started his career in the publishing industry. He has published five academic research manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and has presented at several prestigious conferences. He currently works as a part-time freelance scientific editor, with a focus on editing manuscripts written by authors whose first language is not English. His areas of specialization include Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Genomics, and Proteomics

Dr Arshad Makhdum, MSc, PhD

Dr Arshad Makhdum obtained an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Greenwich. He went on to earn an MSc and PhD in clinical pharmacology from University College London (UCL). Postdoctoral studies in allergic disease took him to the position of Senior Research Fellow at UCL. He was then recruited to the Scripps Institute in San Diego (CA, USA), where he focused on exercise-induced asthma. He also taught physicians and surgeons the basic science underpinning allergic disease at this elite research centre. Dr Makhdum then returned to the UK and started a career in academic publishing, reaching the position of Publisher at Elsevier (Oxford, UK). Dr Makhdum has been a STM editor and medical writer for 15 years. He specializes in editing content from authors whose first language is not English. Dr Makhdum also has considerable expertise in what is required for an article to be accepted in a particular journal. His areas of specialization are internal medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, allergic disease (particularly asthma), clinical pharmacology, physiology and anatomy, molecular biology and chemistry.

Dr Dean Rea, BSc, PhD

Dr Dean Rea obtained a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of East Anglia. This included an intercalated year conducting synthetic organic chemistry research within the Medicinal Chemistry Department at GlaxoSmithKline, followed by a PhD in Structural Biology within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick. His PhD focused on structure-function relationships in peptidase enzymes, and primarily involved protein crystallography, enzymology, and molecular biology. He has since studied the structure and function of peptidases, plant circadian clock proteins, microbial aromatic degradation enzymes, carotenoid dioxygenases, and microbial transcriptional repressors, during an ongoing research career spanning over 12 years. Dean has co-authored numerous research papers, many as first author, and now applies his broad knowledge of the Life Sciences to scientific editing and proofreading.

Dr Ashley Rivenbark, PhD

Dr. Ashley Rivenbark earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences with double minors in Genetics and Botany from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and then earned a PhD in Toxicology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine studying breast cancer epigenetics. After obtaining her PhD, she further completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center funded by the American Cancer Society that focused on epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation.

She has achieved the Excellence in Science Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) and has published >25 papers, reviews, and book chapters.

She is currently a Project Manager for Climate Finance Solutions, a Contract Grant Editor/Manager for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Freelance Scientific Editor with deep experience in editing research papers, grant applications, and texts for scientists whose first language is not English.

Sarah Tomblin, MSc, MPhil

Sarah Tomblin is an experienced Life Science Editor with a demonstrated history of working in the medical publishing industry. Sarah obtained her first degree in Sport Science from Chichester University and went on to achieve an MSc (Distinction) from Cardiff University and an MPhil at Chichester, where she specialised in motor psychology, studying anticipation of the tennis service with implicit learning. Sarah’s core expertise lies in sport science and medical editing after working in the medical publishing industry for 18 years. Sarah now works as a freelance editor, specialising in drug delivery, cardiovascular and general medical editing, physiology, psychology and sport science.