Talking About Cell Biology Effectively with Different Audiences: What I Wish I’d Known Sooner

In this webinar, five experts will share practical strategies to engage people from diverse contexts in cell biology. This roundtable is part of #CellSpeak, a weeklong initiative led by ASCB’s Science Communication, Outreach, and Public Engagement (SCOPE) Committee to promote public engagement with science.

Learning Objectives

Attendees will learn:

• How to implement tailored communication styles to engage different audiences
• How to communicate cell biology concepts in clear, plain language
• How to approach areas of complexity

Panelists

• Haley Barlow, Ph.D, Sr. Program Manager of Outreach, UMass Chan Medical School
• Jaye C. Gardiner, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Michael D. Onken, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University St. Louis
• Justine M. Pinskey, Ph.D., Sr. Scientific Writer, UMass Chan Medical School
• Barbara C. Sorkin, Ph.D., Program Director, NIH (Moderator)

Bios

Haley Barlow earned her Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center after graduating with her bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame. She has since pivoted into a career in science communication at UMass Chan Medical School. In her free time, Haley enjoys reading and hanging out with her dog, Ted.

Jaye Gardiner is originally a Chicago native and began her “midwestern tour” by receiving her Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College, located in St. Paul, MN, in 2011. From there, she continued to Madison, WI, where she received her PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. Journeying to the east coast, she is currently an Assistant Research Professor at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA and will soon transition to running her own lab as an Assistant Professor at Tufts University in September 2025. In her spare time, she continues her passions for creating science comics with JKX Comics, the comic coalition she co-founded in 2015, and science education, both with the goal of increasing the diversity seen within science and inspiring the next generation of scientists.

Michael Onken studies ocular melanoma, an aggressive form of eye cancer, by developing new tools to model metastatic spread and identify genes and pathways that can be targeted therapeutically. Before becoming an associate professor, Michael served extensively as a moderator for the MadSci Network, a platform where scientists collaborate to answer various science-related questions. He earned his PhD in Molecular Cell Biology and completed his postdoc at the Washington University in St. Louis.

Justine Pinskey has a background in cell and developmental biology with expertise in grant writing, professional development, and scientific communication. Prior to her role at UMass, Dr. Pinskey was an F32-funded postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she worked with Dr. Daniela Nicastro to characterize cilia structures from diverse organisms using cryo-electron tomography. She also worked as a freelance science communicator for Arcadia Science, where she developed short blog posts and videos to explain scientific concepts. Dr. Pinskey has experience teaching at a variety of levels and co-founded Developing Future Biologists – an educational outreach program to engage historically underrepresented undergraduate students in developmental biology. In addition, Dr. Pinskey has facilitated professional development workshops through organizations like the Association for Women in Science and Dress for Success Michigan. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Northern Michigan University and her Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from the University of Michigan, where she was supported by NIH T32 and F31 mechanisms, among other fellowships.

Barbara C. Sorkin (she, her) received her B.S. and M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Developmental and Molecular Biology from the Rockefeller University where she was appointed Assistant Professor. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Sorkin was on faculty at the Scripps Research Institute in California and at the Forsyth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, where she was a successful NIH grant applicant. She administered extramural research on healthy aging, cancer and sleep at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) from 2001-2011, when she moved to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Dr. Sorkin has been an ASCB member since the 1980’s and has published on topics ranging from cell adhesion molecule structure to health effects of dietary supplements. Recently she has focused on ways to improve the rigor, replicability, and potential for clinical translation of natural products research.

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