The Scientific Observer Issue 33

Why Scientists Should Care About Society Publishing Biotech and Pharma’s Carbon Impact: Insights From My Green Lab ISSUE 33, DECEMBER 2023 The Next Chapter of The Next Chapter of Sponsored by 2 CONTENT FROM THE NEWSROOM 05 ARTICLE Why Scientists Should Care About Society Publishing 07 Karen Steward RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT Your Lack of Sleep Is Hurting You 12 Suhanee Mitragotri FEATURE ARTICLE The Next Chapter of Science 14 Molly Campbell ARTICLE Biotech and Pharma's Carbon Impact: Insights From My Green Lab 23 Anna MacDonald ARTICLE Integrating Sustainability Into the Lab With Martin Farley 27 Lucy Fell & Lucy Lawrence 12 23 14 FEATURE The Next Chapter of Science Molly Campbell iStock 3 Kate Harrison, PhD Kate is a Senior Science Writer for Technology Networks. EDITORS’ NOTE CONTRIBUTORS Have an idea for a story? If you would like to contribute to The Scientific Observer, please feel free to email our friendly editorial team. Anna MacDonald Anna is a Senior Science Editor for Technology Networks. Karen Steward, PhD Karen is a Senior Scientific Specialist for Technology Networks. Lucy Lawrence Lucy is a Senior Digital Content Producer for Technology Networks. Molly Campbell Molly is a Senior Science Writer for Technology Networks. Suhanee Mitragotri Suhanee is a student at Harvard University, majoring in neuroscience with a minor in global health and health policy. Dear Readers, Welcome to the issue 33 of The Scientific Observer. As we reflect on the past year's achievements and challenges, the final issue of 2023 invites readers to consider the broader implications of scientific research. By fostering a conscientious approach to research, we can collectively contribute to a more sustainable and interconnected future. Advances in biopharma and biotech are critical for progressing modern medicine, but at what cost to the environment? A new report by the non-profit organization My Green Lab sheds light on the carbon implications of these industries. My Green Lab’s CEO calls for a collective commitment to reducing the ecological footprint of these essential fields in an exclusive interview with Technology Networks. In issue 33’s feature article, we ask leading scientists for their take on the future of science. Through a series of interviews, these experts share insights on the major advancing fields, shedding light on the technologies and techniques propelling these areas forward and the potential challenges that may lie ahead. Once, we relied on print and a trip to the library to find past research papers. Now, we are very much in a digital age where information can be gathered at the click of a button. This has drastically changed the scientific publishing landscape. Join Karen Steward as she explores the role that societies and society publishing play in shaping scientific research dissemination. Finally, make sure you check out our news team’s selection of breaking science research for this month’s issue, featuring stories from the effects of Bikram yoga on depressive symptoms to the role of plastic-eating bacteria in waste recycling. We would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. The Technology Networks Editorial Team Advances in automation, digitization and data modeling are changing how labs are built and run from the ground up. Hear about the technologies helping to drive digital transformation and laboratory efficiencies. REGISTER NOW Brought to you by the publication January 24–25, 2024 8AM PST | 11AM EST | 4PM GMT FEATURED PRESENTATIONS PANEL DISCUSSION Kazuhiro Gomi NTT Research, Inc. Adam Wolf Takeda Stephen Hilton, PhD UCL, School of Pharmacy Katherine Rubino Caldwell’s Life Sciences Practice Yangzhi Zhu, PhD Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation Seul Kee Byeon, PhD, M.D Mayo Clinic TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT SPONSORS STANDARD SPONSOR Laboratory of the Future ONLINE SYMPOSIUM MORE SPEAKERS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON! From the Newsroom 5 FROM THE NEWSROOM 5 An eight-week clinical trial explored the effects of Bikram yoga on depressive symptoms. JOURNAL: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Bikram Yoga Reduces Depressive Symptoms in Clinical Trial MOLLY CAMPBELL A new study has hinted at the possible molecular mechanisms linking exercise to inflammation control. JOURNAL: Science Immunology. Exercise Boosts AntiInflammatory Immune Cells RUAIRI J MACKENZIE Complex ethical, environmental and political concerns surrounding climate change may be causing people to reconsider having children, according to research from University College London. JOURNAL: PLOS Climate. Are Climate Change Concerns Affecting People’s Reproductive Choices? SARAH WHELAN iStock, Victor Freitas/Unsplash, Liv Bruce/Unsplash Sigmund/Unsplash, Junior REIS/Unsplash Want to learn more? Check out the Technology Networks newsroom. A new, engineered strain of E. coli can digest plastics and transform them into a useful feedstock compound for nylon, drugs, fragrances and other materials. JOURNAL: ACS Central Science. Plastic-Eating Bacteria Turn Waste Into Useful Materials ALEX BEADLE A study that claims ultra-processed foods are not more appealing than less processed foods has been called into question. JOURNAL: Appetite. Researchers Dispute Findings of Study on the Appeal of UltraProcessed Foods LEO BEAR-MCGUINNESS FROM THE NEWSROOM 6 7 iStock Most people in science are no strangers to scientific societies. A few years into an academic career, you’ve likely either attended a conference, symposium or workshop organized and/or sponsored by a society. You might have received funding from them, become a member of one or more to connect with others in your field, published a paper with one of their journals or maybe even been a reviewer yourself. But where do society journals sit in our scientific publishing picture and how does publishing fit with societies? AN IMPORTANT ROLE FOR SOCIETIES IN SCIENCE There are many scientific societies covering all disciplines, ranging from the very broad, global institutions, to the very specific and geographically focused groups. But irrespective of size or reach, they fulfil a number of important roles for the scientific community. “Learned societies bring researchers together for a wide variety of reasons; primarily to discuss the advances in their field,” Dr. Stuart Taylor, director of publishing at the Royal Society says. “They also reward excellence, organize and agree on the conduct of their disciplines, provide various types of grants and bursaries (especially to early career researchers), set standards and conventions, do public outreach and education, publish guidelines, policy reports and other outputs, engage in dialogue with universities, funders and government, etc.” In essence, societies are important to the scientific community because they are the community and are fundamental to the support, success and integrity of the research produced. However, despite the voluntary support of many that help to make societies what they are, these typically charitable organizations still require the means and funds to be able to support core paid roles and the activities they organize and contribute to. One way in which they do that is through their not-for-profit publishing activities. A PUBLISHING DICHOTOMY Although the difference may not be immediately obvious to readers or submitting scientists, journals fall into two broad categories: the not-for-profit society journals and the for-profit commercial journals. Why Scientists Should Care About Society Publishing KAREN STEWARD, PhD 8 “Learned society journals are distinct from commercial journals in an important respect. They use the surplus from their publishing to support the research community they serve (this support can take many forms). Commercial journals, on the other hand, are run as businesses and the profits are invested in the business and to provide shareholder value,” Taylor explains. Dr. Sarah Tegen is the senior vice president and chief publishing officer in the Publications Division at the American Chemical Society (ACS), a not-for-profit publisher. “ACS Publications publishes more than 80 journals that span the breadth and depth of chemistry and related sciences, providing critical information and publishing venues to chemists of all types,” she says. “Our editors are practicing members of the community who have their fingers on the pulse of the latest research. Many of our professional staff are chemists, too, and we are committed to improving all people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.” Although the profits are invested differently, that’s not to say that commercial journals are any less valuable. In fact, many high impact journals fall within the commercial category, but their model is different. Differences between society and commercial journals may also be ref lected in aspects such as payment (or not) of editors and the peer review process, with some commercial journals able to offer incentives to reviewers, a contentious subject in itself. “Commercial publishers often operate on a scale that dwarfs notfor-profit journals. This gives the largest of them economies of scale and buying power that other publishers have a hard time matching. That said, as part of a mission-driven non-profit, ACS Publications is more closely aligned to our community and understanding their needs. The publishing ecosystem is more vibrant when all kinds of publishers can thrive,” Tegen says. But there is no denying that publishing, be it not-for-profit or commercial, is changing. THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING Once we relied on print and a voyage into the stacks in the depths of the University library to find past research papers. Today we are very much in a digital age, where information is obtained at the click of a button. But while this might be a very obvious way in which changes touch our lives as scientists as well as away from the bench, the publishing landscape has been evolving in other ways too. Open access articles are becoming ever more prevalent among journals. “Many funders and institutions are now mandating that their researchers publish open access or free to read. ACS has long supported open access, and we’re working to ensure that all authors who wish to publish open access can do so,” Tegen comments. In Taylor’s mind, open access has been the “most significant change” in the publishing landscape over the last decade or two: “This has been partly as a result of the move from print to digital, but also the increasingly held view that research funded by the public purse should be freely available to the public.” Studies have estimated that as many as 53.7% of scientific papers are now published with some form of open access, although these estimates vary widely depending on the data source used. While open access may be good news for readers, the removal of paywalls often comes at an increased publishing cost to the scientists. Some funding bodies, institutes or organizations make money available specifically for this purpose, however, concern has been raised that this practice will make publishing prohibitively expensive for scientists in developing countries. While the choice between open access or not may be one governed by those holding the purse strings, there are so many other factors to consider when choosing who to publish with. But are scientists properly prepared for this decision-making process during their education? NAVIGATING THE PUBLISHING MINEFIELD A journal paper often represents the hard toils of months or even years, so the decision of where to publish is not one to be taken lightly. How do you choose; impact factor, familiarity, or because that’s where your colleagues and peers publish? There are so many factors to consider, yet this seems to be an area for which scientists are woefully prepared. There are plenty of courses available for PhD students and early career scientists around presentation skills and writing your first paper and even WHAT IS “IMPACT FACTOR”? First introduced by Eugene Garfield, the impact factor of a scientific journal is a metric calculated by Clarivate that reflects the number of citations articles published in that journal have had over the previous two years. While it is often seen as a proxy of the journal’s prestige, it has been criticized as a flawed measure as it does not reflect important aspects such as the quality of the journal content or its peer review process. 9 iStock becoming a reviewer, but what about how to choose where to publish? “The most important aspects of a journal are how well it serves its disciplinary community, whether it is affordable and sustainable, whether the research it publishes is reliable and reproducible, whether it conducts rigorous peer review etc. These qualities can (and do) exist in both for profit and not for profit journals,” Taylor says. “Scholars want to ensure their research reaches the most appropriate audience in the highest quality journals, and selecting the right journal can be overwhelming. ACS Publications has a digital journal selector to help authors find the best journal as they consider factors such as discipline and if they have funder mandates. We also utilize a robust manuscript transfer process within our journals to get a paper to the best home,” Tegen adds. While transfer may be an option between journals such as those published by the ACS, this is often not the case. It also doesn’t facilitate transfer between unrelated publications, differing guidelines for which can often mean a significant overhaul of a manuscript. Therefore, making informed choices in the first instance is key. This situation is not helped by the pressures placed on many scientists to keep manuscript output levels up to satisfy targets or attract continued funding, the notorious “publish or perish” paradigm. “Unfortunately, many authors are choosing to publish in poorly run journals with low editorial standards (so called ‘predatory journals’) because the immense pressure they are under to generate publications can lead them to find the easiest/cheapest route to publication,” says Taylor. “This is primarily a problem generated from within the research landscape itself, i.e., the incessant reliance on publication metrics such as impact factors and h-indices. Unscrupulous publishers may often take advantage of this ‘publish or perish’ culture, but it is not of their making.” He continues, “The solution lies within academia itself, which must reform its entire process of research evaluation (see DOR A and COAR A). I applaud the ThinkCheckSubmit initiative as one way of educating researchers and helping them make better choices.” SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR A LACK OF SUPPORT? The choices we make when it comes to who we publish with can also have much broader knock-on impacts beyond our own CVs or funding opportunities. If journals fail to receive enough support, which importantly includes submissions, they risk becoming untenable and folding. “There are many different measures of ‘success’ in journals,” Taylor explains. “For some, this will be based on citation metrics, for others this may be more related to the reliability of the articles, how open access the journal is, whether it has an open data policy, its profit margin, prestige, reach, downloads, availability to researchers in poorer nations etc. etc. The wide variety of journals available today mean that some are successful in some of these areas and others in other areas.” “Some of the world’s most prestigious, profitable and highly regarded journals are published by learned societies, others are published by commercial entities,” he adds. While the failure of a commercial journal may mean one less publishing option and a reduction in diversity, for society journals, the ramifications are wider reaching. Loss of a journal means loss of income, and thus reduced funds available to support society activities and provide grants. Without subsidies, conference costs for attendees are likely to increase, making them less accessible to the scientific community and reducing the opportunities to meet and share ideas. Workshops supported by societies, often also iStock heavily subsidized, too would be impacted, limiting the training opportunities for young researchers. Some researchers, as voiced during a recent panel discussion at the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) Congress 2023, also fear that the loss of society journals could mean increased publishing costs as a consequence of reduced competition. “Many academics see this [notfor-profit versus commercial] as an important distinction, as they would rather see any proceeds from the journal go back into research, rather than to shareholders. For some researchers, this preference is strong enough to mean they will only publish in learned society journals and some may refuse to cooperate in any way with commercial journals (including peer reviewing for them),” says Taylor. “However, most researchers do not take such a hard line and so (presumably) do not find this distinction between commercial and non-profit quite so important. Indeed, in the sciences the journal Nature is considered one of the most (if not the most) sought after journals to publish in. Yet Nature is a commercial journal. This suggests that most researchers are more concerned with other factors than whether a journal is for profit or non-profit.” ROOM FOR EVERYONE While some journals on both sides of the financial fence have struggled and been forced to close, in some cases with the worrying loss of scholarly knowledge, it would appear others are thriving. “Given the very long history of the Royal Society’s journals (we started publishing in the 17th century) there have inevitably been a great many new entrants (all the other publishers in fact!). Some have been commercial, and some have been other learned societies. Today, there are tens of thousands of academic journals. Our journals have continued to thrive over the last three and a half centuries. At the start of the 21st century, our article submissions were only one fifth of what they are today, and our publishing margins were very much lower,” commented Taylor. The publishing landscape for scientists is changing and there is now a plethora of options available, whether commercial or society-associated, from which to choose. It is vital that all are represented so that scientists have a choice of where to publish, but that choice needs to be an informed one. Scientific societies are still as relevant and important today as they always have been. They create a community within which scientists can belong, feel a part of and supported by, and one way to facilitate the important work they do is by publishing within society journals, at least some of the time. “The thought leadership in chemistry that ACS provides is unparalleled, and the scientific content that our publications put out are driving real advancements in the field. It is critical to have a voice at the table who is committed to the science and the scientist, and we are proud to play that role,” Tegen concludes. ⚫ 10 iStock 11 iStock Informatics for Your Lab – LIMS • ELN • LES • SDMS • AI Your guide for the digital transformation journey LabVantage.com/TN12 Successful digital transformation —of your lab or your entire organization— demands an expert guide. LabVantage Solutions is that guide, keeping you focused on the True North of your business transformation journey. We’ve combined the most modern laboratory informatics platform with expert services to reimagine digital strategies in biopharmaceuticals, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, food and beverage, healthcare and more. Discover why LabVantage is the platform of choice for digital transformations. LabVantage. Leading laboratory digital transformation. 12 iStock Your Lack of  Sleep is Hurting You Suhanee Mitragotri RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT Around 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain worldwide, which has been linked to a range of comorbidities, including sleep disorders. A multi-institutional study led by Dr. Shiqian Shen at Massachusetts General Hospital and published in Nature Communications, demonstrated the mechanism by which sleep disruption can lead to heightened pain sensitivity and therefore a greater perception of pain. iStock 12 Research Spotlight 13 iStock CHRONIC SLEEP DISRUPTION AND PAIN SENSITIVITY Research has shown that chronic sleep disruption (CSD) promotes pain, also known as hyperalgesia, which can commonly be experienced as headaches or body pain after a night of poor sleep. However, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have been relatively unexplored. For people with sleep disorders, CSD can result in heightened pain perception on a regular basis, which can impede daily activities and routine, thereby indicating the importance of gaining a better understanding of the neural underpinnings that cause hyperalgesia in people experiencing sleep disruptions. Dr. Shen’s team hypothesized that the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), which has been implicated in arousal and sleep spindle generation, may be involved in CSD-induced hyperalgesia. THE ROLE OF THE TRN, VP AND NADA IN CSDINDUCED HYPERALGESIA The researchers worked under a validated paradigm to induce sleep deprivation in C57/BL6 mice for five consecutive days. Group sizes for different parts of the experiment ranged from 3 to 16 mice. They used metabolomics to analyze the presence of metabolites in different brain regions associated with the TRN using LC-MS/MS techniques to improve understanding of the metabolic changes associated with sleep disruption. In order to test for pain sensitivity, the researchers measured the mechanical and thermal withdrawal thresholds of the mice in response to specific stimuli, including heat. They also used fiber photometry to study calcium signals associated with neural activity, and they used viral vectors and optogenetics to selectively inhibit neurons. The key findings of the paper were: • Inhibiting TRN neurons led to decreased withdrawal thresholds, indicating an onset of hyperalgesia, whereas activating TRN neurons reduced CSD-induced hyperalgesia. • Mice with CSD experienced greater pain sensitivity after chemogenetic inhibition of neurons in the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus (VP) that received inputs from the TRN. • Mice in the CSD experimental group showed lower levels of N-arachidonoyl dopamine (NADA) in the TRN compared to control mice. • In mice subjected to CSD, administration of NADA resulted in reduced sensitivity to pain, which was observed by higher mechanical withdrawal thresholds. • NADA significantly reduced heightened neural activity in the VP, which was originally caused by CSD. ACTIVITY OF TRN AND VP DUE TO CSD AND DECREASED LEVELS OF NADA Although CSD has been shown to promote pain sensitivity, the underlying mechanisms had not been fully explored, until now. Shen’s team has demonstrated that not only does the TRN play a role in increasing pain sensitivity with regards to sleep deprivation, but it also projects to other brain regions, such as the VP, and those connections also play a role in the development of hyperalgesia. Increased activity of TRN and VP neurons both led to an increase in hyperalgesia in mice. Through their study, they identified that CSD also results in decreased levels of NADA, which contributes to hyperalgesia, but administration of NADA to mice that were deprived of sleep resulted in a reduced perception of pain. Sleep deprivation can impact anyone, but it particularly affects those with sleep disorders, and this study has shown that a lack of sleep can lead to physiological changes that can increase pain perception. By understanding this, it may become more apparent to people why getting a good night’s worth of sleep is important. There is an underlying brain network, involving both the TRN and the VP, as well as neurotransmitters, such as NADA, that provide proof of this. Furthermore, the role of NADA in this network suggests potential for its use in developing therapeutics for heightened pain perception in individuals with chronic sleep disturbance. Further experimentation is required to improve understanding of the role of NADA, the TRN and VP in pain sensitivity due to CSD. One limitation is the narrow scope of this research, as pain modulation has been shown to involve other brain regions too. There is therefore potential for other regions to be involved in hyperalgesia due to CSD as well. Furthermore, this research was done in a mouse model and CSD could demonstrate different neuronal-level changes in the human brain, so the results of this study may not be directly applicable to human research. DRUG DEVELOPMENT INVOLVING NADA The next step of this research would be to explore NADA further to investigate the potential of developing it into a therapy that could first be tested in mice and then in clinical trials. This research has provided insight on the mechanisms underlying hyperalgesia due to CSD, but in order to use these results to generate a clinical impact, it would be beneficial to consider how this research could inform drug development. ⚫ Reference 1. Ding W, Yang L, Shi E, et al. The endocannabinoid N-arachidonoyl dopamine is critical for hyperalgesia induced by chronic sleep disruption [published correction appears in Nat Commun. 2023 13;14(1):7342]. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):6696. doi:10.1038/ s41467-023-42283-6 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT 13 The Next Chapter of The Next Chapter of iStock modified Molly Campbell T he end of a year presents an opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward to the potential of the future. Our world is shaped by scientific progress and to mark the end of 2023, we’re looking to the future of life science research. In the following interviews, you’ll hear from renowned academic experts offering their take on the “fields to watch” as we transition into 2024. Join us as we explore how innovation, ethics and even aesthetics look set to influence the landscape of life science research, creating new possibilities for treating human diseases, feeding our growing population and nurturing the scientists of the future. iStock, Dr. Xingxing Zang Dr. Xingxing Zang is a professor and the Louis Goldstein Swan Chair at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Zang’s laboratory focuses on the fundamental biology of new immune checkpoints and the development of translational immunotherapies in cancers, autoimmune diseases and metabolic diseases. Zang highlights chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-immune cell therapy, particularly CAR T therapy, as a major advancing field due to its “remarkable potential to revolutionize cancer treatment”. “CA R T-cell therapy involves modifying a patient's own immune cells to target and destroy cancer cells, offering a personalized and potentially more effective treatment option for certain blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma,” explains Zang. “CA R T-therapy's success stories, where patients previously deemed untreatable have experienced remission, showcase its immense promise,” says Zang. “Its ability to provide durable responses in some cases has sparked significant interest among researchers, clinicians and patients alike.” The success of CD19-targeted CA R T cells in treating B-cell malignancies, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A LL) and other types of lymphoma, has been extensively documented, says Zang: “Studies like the work of Dr. Carl June and colleagues published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated impressive results in relapsed/refractory A LL patients using CD19 CAR T therapy.” “A nother study demonstrated that CD19 CA R T therapy achieved an estimated 5-year overall survival rate in 42.6% of patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL),” Zang adds. LBCL refers to subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that are particularly aggressive and have a high unmet need due to limited treatment options. A number of technologies and research methods are helping to generate better CAR therapies, including gene editing techniques: “CRISPR /Cas9 and other gene-editing tools have revolutionized CAR T-cell therapy by enabling precise Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immune-cell therapy Dr. Xingxing Zang. The first CAR T-cell treatment, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), was approved for use in children and young adults with B-cell leukemia by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017. 15 Dr. Kathleen Hefferon is a lecturer in microbiology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Plant molecular farming (PMF) is an emerging area of plant biotechnology. It combines disciplines such as plant agriculture and synthetic biology to enable the production of animal proteins in plants. “The science is based on growing the animal proteins themselves in plants, greenhouses or vertical farms,” explains Hefferon. PMF typically involves introducing genes that encode specific proteins into a plant’s genome. The transgenic plant can then operate as a “factory” producing the target protein, which can then be extracted to obtain a final product. “The alternative food protein space is geared toward finding ways to feed a growing population nutritious protein in a sustainable manner, and with animal welfare in mind,” Hefferon describes. “Using plants modifications in T cells. These tools facilitate targeted gene insertion, deletion or modification to enhance CAR T-cell efficacy, persistence and safety,” says Zang. As CAR T cells are “living” medications, their production differs from the manufacturing of chemicals and proteins. “Streamlining and optimizing CA R T-cell manufacturing processes are critical,” Zang says, emphasizing that automation, closed systems and improved cell expansion technologies are contributing to scalable and standardized production of high-quality CAR T cells. In the future, Zang believes that this type of therapy may hold promise for other diseases beyond cancer, including autoimmune diseases and neurodegeneration. “The principle behind using CA R T cells in autoimmunity involves redirecting these cells to target and suppress the immune cells responsible for the autoimmune response. CA R such as CA R-macrophages may be used to treat A lzheimer’s disease by removing amyloid plaques or tau tangles in the brain,” he says. iStock, Dr. Kathleen Hefferon Plant molecular farming Dr. Kathleen Hefferon. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that the global demand for meat will reach 455 million metric tonnes by 2050, a 76% increase from 2005. PMF’s use in the food industry is in its early stages, but there are several industry partnerships exploring its use to overcome issues in meat consumption such as sustainability. 16 17 iStock. Dr. Amy Reichelt to produce these proteins seems a very fitting way to go. This is a solution based on synthetic biology that will decrease arable land usage and can be employed even within urban centers.” Beyond food production, plant molecular farming has had success in the pharmaceutical industry, where plants can be used as biofactories to produce antibodies and antigens. “One noteworthy milestone has been the production of flu and COVID vaccines,” explains Hefferon. “These vaccines are efficacious, inexpensive and can be stored at room temperature for prolonged periods of time. Perfect for low- to middle-income countries.” As for technologies and techniques that are progressing in this field, Hefferon says there is “a lot of work going on”, from increasing expression of proteins in plants, advancing protein purification methods and improving vertical farming infrastructure. The core challenge faced by PMF is the ability to scale up – a common issue for new technologies. “There are regulatory hurdles involved in protein production,” says Hefferon. “The regulatory process is uneven across the globe, which can be cumbersome, but appears to be slowly opening up to new technologies such as genome editing.” Dr. Amy Reichelt is a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide. She is a recognized leader in neuroscience and neuropharmacology, specializing in psychedelic clinical development, neurodegeneration and nutritional neurobiology. Reichelt believes that the technological advancement of psychedelic and psychedelic-inspired drugs for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological conditions is a majorly advancing field. Particularly, she is impressed by the development of novel molecules that have the therapeutic benefits of classical psychedelics, but improved safety and therapeutic profiles. Reichelt explains that pharmaceutical development of novel therapeutics for mental health conditions came to a “standstill” once selective serotonin receptor inhibitors, or SSR Is, hit the market over 20 years ago. “Neuroscience research into new therapeutic mechanisms has been underfunded. The resurgence of interest into psychedelic therapies has come at a time of dire need for new and effective treatments,” she adds. Many countries regulate psychedelic drugs as controlled substances, enforcing restrictions on their use. Accessing psychedelic compounds Psychedelic and psychedelic-inspired drugs Dr. Amy Reichelt. and gaining approval to study them in a research setting has proven challenging for scientists, but not impossible. “The work from lab groups led by individuals including Dr. David Olson, associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Charles Nichols, professor of pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Centre in New Orleans and Dr. Alex Kwan, associate professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, continue to break new ground in understanding the mechanistic basis of how psychedelic drugs work,” Reichelt says. Reichelt is excited by research that demonstrates the neuroplasticity-enhancing capabilities of some psychedelic compounds, and their effects on inflammatory cascades in cellular models. This is important work, she says, considering the inflammatory component of some psychiatric and neurological conditions, which can impact neuroplasticity. “Moreover, the recent research published from Dr. Gul Dölen’s lab that showed how different psychedelics reopened windows of social learning in mice for varying durations is a seminal observation for understanding therapeutic effects,” Reichelt adds. Which technologies are enhancing the field of psychedelics research? For Reichelt, advances in the use of two-photon imaging of neuronal structures in a live animal’s brain is an obvious first choice: “This has allowed a tangible understanding of how key cellular structures are modified by psychedelic drugs – and the potential durability of these effects.” Research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds has experienced somewhat of a “renaissance”, but many challenges remain before we are likely to see widespread use of such drugs in the clinic. Working with scheduled drugs requires “traversing a lot of roadblocks and bureaucracy,” Reichelt says. She hopes to see easier pathways to running both scientific and clinical trials with these drugs. While public attitudes are shifting towards a more supportive outlook on psychedelic therapies, integrating such drugs into the healthcare system will not be an easy feat, Reichelt emphasizes: “Hopefully insurance payers and healthcare providers see the benefits to society. Because psychedelic treatments require clinicians to be present for safety for the duration of the acute drug effects (potentially eight hours or more), the scalability and cost is something that must be considered.” “In addition, psychedelic drugs are not a panacea and greater understanding of their biological effects are still needed to effectively apply them clinically to treat mental and neurological health conditions.” REICHELT HIGHLIGHTS THE FOLLOWING PAPERS FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED LABS: • Psychedelics promote neuroplasticity through the activation of intracellular 5-HT2A receptors • Structure–activity relationship analysis of psychedelics in a rat model of asthma reveals the anti-inflammatory pharmacophore • Psilocybin induces rapid and persistent growth of dendritic spines in frontal cortex in vivo “Understanding more about the windows of plasticity that are opened or promoted by psychedelics enables targeted therapy protocols to be initiated in the period of time when the brain is most receptive to interventions,” says Reichelt. 18 19 iStock. Tsutomu Sawai Dr. Tsutomu Sawai is an associate professor in the graduate school of humanities and social sciences at Hiroshima University. His research interests surround practical ethics issues concerning new and emerging technologies, such as the application of genome and epigenome editing. “Science and technology are surging forward, unlocking new possibilities for the present and future. Yet, the boundaries of research and technological innovation remain unclear, including who should define them,” Sawai says. He recently co-authored a forum piece in Stem Cell Reports discussing the ethical issues of epigenome editing. Epigenetic compounds “mark” the genome, but they do not alter the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenome editing is therefore viewed as an attractive approach to modifying gene function, as it is considered reversible and carries a reduced risk of off-target effects. “Epigenome editing stands at the frontier of biotechnology, offering a tunable approach to gene regulation without altering the DNA sequence itself. Its reversible nature positions it as a promising candidate for treating a spectrum of genetic and chronic conditions,” Sawai explains. He adds, “As medical applications of epigenome editing emerge, we are passionate about illuminating critical yet overlooked ethical considerations.” This includes the potential impact that transgenerational epigenetic inheritance – or TEI – could have on the future of epigenetic-based therapies, which are currently in development. A paper published by Takashi et al in early 2023 found that even “advantageous” epigenome editing could have far-reaching consequences for subsequent generations. “This potential to influence our progeny necessitates a broader ethical reflection, extending beyond the immediate safety and efficacy of its medical use,” says Sawai. “With this in mind, our discourse Ethical issues surrounding new approaches to gene editing Tsutomu Sawai. TEI is a phenomenon whereby epigenetic changes – induced by internal or external factors – are passed from one generation to the next. While its existence has been demonstrated in some laboratory models, whether it occurs in mammals is not clear. It is, as Sawai describes, “a hotbed of debate in human genome editing ethics and regulation.” 20 iStock, The Catholic University of America. cautions against undue optimism regarding the ethical and regulatory landscape of epigenome editing, especially concerning its transgenerational inheritance.” What steps must be taken to decide how technologies such as epigenome editing are developed or authorized for human application? “Our first step is to rigorously establish when and how epigenome editing may affect future generations,” says Sawai. “We must then weigh the significance of this heritability in human applications. Should the hereditary impact of these interventions be deemed ethically and regulatorily negligible, it could shake the foundations of the current opposition to human germline genome editing, which is tightly controlled for this very reason.” We currently find ourselves at a crossroads, Sawai concludes, tasked with aligning the ethics and regulations of epigenome editing with those established for human genome editing while “striving for consistency and foresight.” Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan is an associate professor and chair of the department of sociology and director of the Institutional Flourishing Lab at The Catholic University of America. Here, his current research examines the role of “beauty” in science. Beauty is a term that isn’t often associated with scientific research. Consequently, you may be unfamiliar with this research area. As Vaidyanathan explains, it’s fairly novel: “There isn’t a term in place for this field yet, but I might call it ‘aesthetics in science’.” “There is a very recent and growing body of work in philosophy and sociology that looks at how aesthetic factors (e.g., beauty, awe, wonder and other aesthetic emotions) shape scientists and the practice of science,” he says. There is no “future” in science without scientists. Vaidyanathan leads Work and Well-Being in Science, the largest cross-national study investigating factors that affect the wellbeing of scientists. It is also the first international study to examine the role of aesthetics in science, surveying ~3500 scientists, and interviewing a further 215 in person. “I was The role of beauty in science Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan. The Work and Well-Being in Science project published its results in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in 2022. A perspective piece, written by Vaidyanathan et al., is available in the Journal of Biosciences. 21 drawn to research this area because, in qualitative research interviews with scientists for a previous project, our team was surprised to hear them regularly bring up ‘beauty’ as a key motivating factor,” he explains. Vaidyanathan’s team found that most scientists view their work as an aesthetic quest – the “beauty of understanding”, a pleasure that derives from discovering the hidden or inner logic underlying what they are studying. “One key insight is that aesthetic factors are a major source of motivation for scientists to pursue their careers in the first place. We also find that aesthetic experience is very strongly associated with well-being among scientists,” Vaidyanathan says. “This is especially important in light of considerable research pointing to a mental health crisis in science. Our work underscores the need to preserve the intrinsic motivations and joys of doing science and address the obstacles to it (such as institutional pressures and toxic leadership) that scientists face.” Vaidyanathan says more experimental and even neuropsychological work could also benefit this field, helping us to understand how aesthetic experiences affect scientists and their relevance to scientific practice. The methodology behind this type of data collection can prove challenging, though. “It is increasingly difficult to get a high response rate for surveys – even within financial incentives in place, most people don’t want to take a survey, and mail servers often filter out survey invitations as spam. It is also difficult to get scientists to participate in research,” Vaidyanathan expresses. He notes that, beside the Work and Well-Being in Science project, other publications, including work by Cambridge philosopher Milena Ivanova highlights the importance of aesthetics in scientific experiments. “Prominent scientists such as Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek and Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins have also written books about aesthetics in science,” Vaidyanathan concludes. THAT’S A WRAP As described by our expert interviewees, the future of science is one marked by the need for collaboration, ethical considerations and communication within the scientific community and with the public – particularly as technologies continue to evolve. The integration of fields such as biology, computer science and engineering will no doubt foster innovative solutions to the global challenges we face. But we must not overlook the role of scientists in science, a pertinent issue considering the pressures researchers face such as limited funding, resources and the pressure of “publish or perish”. We’ve heard from the experts, and now we want to hear your take on the future of science. What field of research looks set to majorly impact science and society? What are the core challenges that scientists are facing, and how can we work to overcome them? What are your hopes for the future of academia? Get in touch with the Technology Networks editorial team to share your thoughts. ⚫ iStock “I find beauty in [the] elegance and simplicity of experimental design. The fewer moving parts and parameters an experiment can involve while still attacking a particular problem or being able to shed light on a particular question in a very specific way, I find that extremely beautiful…Maybe it’s sort of an intellectual elegance, like a mathematical proof. So, I love that,” a respondent to the Work and Well-Being in Science survey said. Have an idea for a story? If you would like to contribute to The Scientific Observer, please feel free to email our friendly editorial team. SYNTHIA™ Retrosynthesis Software is a unique web-based platform that revolutionizes the way organic chemists design pathways to complex targets. This decision-support tool is the strategic partner of synthetic organic chemists. Pioneer Your Pathway Go Beyond the literature www.SynthiaOnline.com MK_AD12813EN Vers. 01 09/2023 © 2023 Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and/or its affi liates. All Rights Reserved. Merck, the vibrant M, Sigma-Aldrich and SYNTHIA are trademarks of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany or its affi liates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Detailed information on trademarks is available via publicly accessible resources. The Life Science business of Merck operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada.in the U.S. and Canada. 23 iStock MY GREEN LAB'S NEW REPORT PROVIDES AN OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY’S CARBON FOOTPRINT AND IDENTIFIES KEY OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE. T he biotech and pharma industry has a significant carbon footprint – with total carbon emissions of 193 million tCO2-e in 2022. The sector is also rapidly growing, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the global biotech market of 13.9% from 2023 to 2030. Together, this makes improving our understanding of the industry’s impact on climate change and working to reduce its carbon emissions crucial to ensure global warming is limited to the 1.5 °C target set by the Paris Agreement. Using data provided by Intercontinental Exchange, My Green Lab – a non-profit organization that aims to build a global culture of sustainability in science – has produced a report providing key insights into the current state of the sector’s carbon emissions. As an update to My Green Lab’s 2021 study, the report The Carbon Impact of Biotech and Pharma: Collective Action Accelerating Progress to the UN Race to Zero is based on data from 226 publicly listed companies and 147 privately held companies. “What this report does is it quantifies the total carbon impact of the industry, looking across all three scopes, so both up and down the value chain, as well as the emissions controlled by the companies themselves,” James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab told Technology Networks. The environmental impact of scientific research has historically been somewhat ignored due to the importance attributed to advances in areas such as medical treatments and technical innovations Connelly explained, but the report provides an overview of the industry’s carbon footprint and identifies key opportunities for change. PROGRESS SEEN, BUT IT’S NOT UNIVERSAL Encouragingly, the report found that the largest companies by revenue are making progress, with the top 25 companies reducing their annual Scope 1 and 2 emissions by an averBiotech and Pharma’s Carbon Impact: Insights From My Green Lab ANNA MACDONALD iStock 24 age of 5.31% per year since 2015, and the top 15 by 8.06%. However, progress has not been universal. “Unfortunately, while the top companies are driving reductions, particularly in the past year, if you look at the broader industry as a whole, we're actually seeing carbon intensity increase,” Connelly added. The report also found a strong correlation between region and carbon intensit. “One thing that was very interesting in the data was the carbon impact of companies based in Asia-Pacific tend to be about twice as high for Scope 1 and 2, compared to companies based in Europe or North America,” Connelly said. The report authors note that this may be attributed to greater outsourcing of manufacturing by North American and European companies. Only 10% of the 91 public companies studied in the report were found to have targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) to be aligned with a 1.5 °C world. “The Science Based Targets Initiative is a global initiative to help bring some rigor and accountability when a company says they're going to be net zero carbon,” Connelly explained. A company’s emission reduction target is evaluated to determine if it is aligned to a 1.5, 2 or 3 °C world. Despite the seemingly low percentage, Connelly noted that “10% is actually pretty good when you look across all of our global industries.” He was optimistic that this figure will increase as more corporate sustainability teams hold their suppliers accountable to an SBTI-aligned target. Some of the largest companies have begun working together through the Sustainable Markets Initiative to set a standard for suppliers. The interconnected global supply chain shared by biotech and pharma presents great opportunities for collective action Connelly explained: “When they act together, and in fact, only if they act together, are they able to influence their suppliers and create the change necessary at scale, to get the whole industry to drive towards net zero by 2050, or sooner.” MORE COMPANIES ADOPTING ZERO CARBON TARGETS On a positive note, the number of biotech and pharma companies that have joined the UN Race to Zero has increased from 30 to 35 since last year, now accounting for 53% of the sector by revenue. The report highlights that this is beaten only by the financial services, consumer goods, fashion, and information and communication technology sectors. Importantly, 63% of pharma and med tech companies in the campaign have started a green lab program, nearly half of which have achieved the My Green Lab Certification at a global scale. “My Green Lab Certification is a tool to take high-level organizational goals and turn them into practical action on the ground in an area of research that's often left behind because the idea is you can't do something about it,” Connelly said. It is an “important way to align overall corporate values with what's happening at the lab,” and can help the people within a company to feel involved in their sustainability initiatives he added. This certification was selected as a key indicator of progress for the UNFCCC High-Level Climate Champions’ “We're starting to decouple growth of the biotech and pharmaceutical industry from increased carbon output, so that overall trend is really exciting,” Connelly said. SCOPE 1 EMISSIONS direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as a natural gas boiler burning fuel onsite. SCOPE 2 EMISSIONS indirect carbon emissions from purchased energy consumed by the reporting company, such as electricity. SCOPE 3 EMISSIONS all other indirect emissions upstream or downstream in a company’s value chain. For example, upstream could include the materials required to make a vaccine, while downstream would include the energy used to store and dispose of the vaccine. 25 2030 Breakthroughs in 2021, with a goal that 95% of biotech and pharma labs have to be certified at the highest level by 2030. As part of efforts to scale up the number of companies on the pathway to achieving Certification, My Green Lab has recently announced a collaborative supply chain initiative with the largest pharma companies. Through collective action, the Converge initiative will incentivize and ultimately request CROs, CDMOs and CMOs within the supply chain to pursue My Green Lab Certification. The report found Scope 3 emissions were almost five times larger than Scope 1 and 2 combined, and with purchased goods and services accounting for the majority of these Scope 3 emissions, improving supply chains can make a big impact on the industry’s carbon footprint. In addition to Converge, several other collective initiatives have been developed to address Scope 3 emissions, including Energize, which aims to accelerate renewable energy adoption, and Activate, a program to gather data on active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers. CONTINUED NEED FOR CHANGE The improvements noted in the report are positive signs that the biotech and pharma industry is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, but further change is needed to achieve the Paris Agreement target. Key areas of focus highlighted by the authors are the need for more accurate reporting and practical action plans for reducing carbon emissions. “We have to move at this point beyond commitments to real action. And what that takes to go from commitments to real action is the establishment of good baselines from which to measure from,” Connelly said. Scope 3 data is calculated using a lot of assumptions, which can make it hard to establish baselines and subsequently measure the impact of changes Connelly noted. However, the authors remain optimistic that the industry is well-equipped to take on this challenge and act as a model for other industry sectors to achieve net zero carbon. Tools like My Green Lab Certification can play a key role in helping to put organizational-level carbon goals into action. “It's time, not only to set big goals, but we’ve got to get to work and make them happen on the ground,” concluded Connelly. ⚫ MY GREEN LAB CERTIFICATION is the global gold standard for laboratory sustainability best practices, providing scientists with actionable ways to make meaningful change. Over 2,000 labs in a range of sectors have been supported by the program which covers fourteen topics related to energy, water, waste, chemistry/materials and engagement. It’s simple, just choose the groups and click the bubble. Our Facebook groups allow you to keep up to date with the latest news and research and share content with like-minded professionals. With three diverse groups there is something for everyone. Hi. How are you? Have you seen our Facebook groups? Thanks! I’ll come join the conversation. Come join the Neuroscience, News and Research Group here. Discover the Analytical Science Network Group here. Explore The Science Explorer Group here. No I haven’t. Could you tell me more? Sounds great! How do I join? 27 iStock Martin Farley, sustainable research adviser at UCL and director of Green Lab Associates, is an expert in lab sustainability. He started a career in research, however his personal and professional interest in sustainability led him to take an alternate career path focused on making labs more sustainable. He established the consultancy Green Lab Associates to help researchers to reduce the energy and resources they use in their workspace. He also consults various institutions, helping them develop greener practices. Farley was invited to Technology Networks’ Ask Me Anything session to answer your questions about the future of sustainability in research and laboratory practices. Lucy Lawrence (LL): Is it ever possible for a lab to be 100% sustainable since there is so much plastic waste? Martin Farley (MF): We don’t know how to do net-zero science yet – we don’t know how to achieve net zero for most things yet – but we do know how to vastly mitigate the impacts. I think that’s the way to look at it: while we don’t have all the immediate solutions, we have a lot of immediate actions we can take. I don’t think science inherently will ever be absolutely net zero, but that’s not to say that we should stop doing it. Maybe it will be one day, a lot of it depends on our energy sources and the energy mix, and there is a lot we know we can do now. LL: What would your dream green lab look like? MF: A dream of mine is to fully understand the carbon impacts of the different processes we do – to understand where the hotspots are for when we want to take action around sustainable labs. The dream Integrating Sustainability Into the Lab With Martin Farley LUCY FELL & LUCY LAWRENCE 28 Technology Networks, adapted from Lab Sustainability. green lab would involve suppliers having full transparency on the manufacturing impact of what they produce for us, being motivated not just to sell us single-use products but also to take part in addressing the sustainability impacts of some of their processes without damaging the research or clinical outcome. It would also involve a full integration of sustainable practices and targets. When learning at the university level, somebody would teach you that your freezer uses as much energy as a house, or that your fume cupboard uses as much as two to three houses or that there is an impact from the gases that you're using. Because, at the end of the day, the folks that are going to be working in these labs are the ones best placed to know where they can mitigate and find wins around sustainability without compromising the research. It would also mean integrating standards, it would mean suppliers are fully invested, and that there's a level of transparency and awareness that's commonplace, similar to what we’ve done with safety in the lab. LL: Could you explain what the lab efficiency assessment framework (LEAF) is? MF: The best analogy is that if you want to make your lab safe, you use a health and safety standard. You don’t start from square one, you have a standard that’s set and gives you actions and targets to adhere to. And that was the idea behind LEAF – to give people a standard approach to sustainability to make it more accessible. Laboratories that sign up are given sustainability actions to work through and, depending on the criteria that they meet, they are certified with a bronze, silver or gold award. There are also calculators within the tool that allow people to estimate some of their carbon and financial impacts. LEAF is intended to mimic what we’ve seen with gender equality in science. It was mandated that if you wanted to get funding, you had to achieve a certain level within the Athena SWAN framework to make these changes happen quickly. It was great that gender equality wasn’t made voluntary, and I would argue that that’s something that we need with sustainability now. LL: What steps can a lab take to properly manage e-waste generated from old equipment? MF: There's planned obsolescence by a lot of the large companies that provide equipment. But, if your IT department will allow it, there are third party providers that will take over contracts and warranties to extend their lifetime. If a piece of equipment needs to go out the door, then I would recommend looking at third parties who can take the equipment and pass it on. In the UK , for example, there's providers such as UniGreenScheme. LL: Are green labs more expensive to run? MF: This is a common feeling and concept, I would disagree with it, but it depends. One of the challenges to sustainability is our financial systems. Currently, our pots of money are all spread in ways that work for accountants but don't work for sustainability. Let's take the reuse of consumables as an example. Somebody's going to A lot of lab consumables and reagents are shipped shrouded in packaging. While cardboard boxes are widely recycled, packages often include hard-to-recycle polystyrene chips to keep them safe or insulative polystyrene boxes to maintain their temperature. PACKAGING Insulative boxes can be reused repeatedly in the lab for keeping samples and reagents on ice or for shipping samples on to other labs. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT, ONCE IN LANDFILL, POLYSTYRENE PACKING MAY PERSIST FOR 500 YEARS OR MORE BEFORE BREAKING DOWN! While polystyrene is not taken by many mainstream recycling centers, collections by specialist recycling facilities can be arranged in some areas. They may then be upcycled into other products or purposes. Figure 1: Reusing and recycling polystyrene packaging. 29 have to pay for somebody's time to go and wash them, and you might see energy consumption go up. However, in a university, that energy consumption is paid by a separate department than the ones that pay for the technician and the consumables, so that removes some of the incentive. We assessed the costs of reusing consumables. We showed that, overall, the cost of reuse was comparable to single use, if not less, depending on the consumable. The issue is how to incentivize it. Labs often don't pay for energy, so why should they pay for a piece of equipment or take more time out of their very busy lives to do something that will save energy if they don't see that incentive? If we were to remove some of these financial barriers, we would see that sustainability in labs is actually about using equipment for a longer lifespan. You can't buy your way to sustainability, so it's about reusing or repairing things more, which overall should save money. It's also about sharing resources and making more data more accessible. If we were to invest in better sharing of data systems, it's an upfront cost, but we get more out of the data in the long term. For example, the brain banks across the UK use a common sample management system, which means that they're all aware of each other’s samples. It is a wonderful model but, currently, we haven't put the incentives in the right place to invest in these systems. Another example I want to give is the grant system. If you win a grant, there's a limited time when you can spend it. If you don't spend it by the end of the year, the accountants or department leads might take it back. Why haven't we figured out a system to incentivize underspend on grants? There are a few wider systems that make it tough right now. Financially, I would argue that overall, if we're sharing our resources appropriately, sustainable science would be so much cheaper. There are a lot of examples, but it requires looking at the system as a whole, which is sometimes challenging on an individual basis with the way financial systems are set up. LL: What if we were to overlook sustainability in the lab entirely? MF: Science is growing exponentially, at a much faster rate than the global GDP. There’s the largest number of scientists we’ve ever had, so the impact of it is growing exponentially as well. We have to take part. Most of the carbon impact we have is through the consumption of materials, and it's a whole chain: the embodied carbon of where the material comes from, the shipping, the manufacturing, the consumption, the usage. I wouldn't say that we can just ignore it. We want to do more science that helps us understand how to address climate change, but not all science is equal. A lot of science enables climate change and enables consumption, so consider the type of science you do long term. Science is a tool, but it's as good of a tool as we make it. It can help us address climate change, or it can enable it as well. ⚫ Martin Farley was speaking to Lucy Lawrence, Senior Digital Content Producer for Technology Networks We are delighted to present our esteemed virtual speaker, Martin Farley, Sustainable Research Adviser at UCL and Director of Green Lab Associates. SUSTAINABILITY IN THE LAB ANYTHING: WATCH ON DEMAND NOW "You can't buy your way to sustainability, so it's about reusing or repairing things more, which overall should save money." Accelerate R&D. Accelerate progress. The only biology-first platform for scientific data, collaboration, and insights. 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