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Dr. Neerja Karnani

Postdoctoral fellow
Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia
1800 Jefferson Park Avenue
 

Brief Biography:


I have worked in the research field for more than 10 years. During my postdoctoral research at University of Virginia, I headed the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project. This project was initiated by NHGRI (National Human Genome Research Institute) to identify various functional elements in the human genome (Science. 2004, 306: 636-640). I was involved in studying DNA damage, replication elements, and chromatin structure on a genome-wide scale. My findings have been published in journals such as Nature, Genes & Development, Genome Research, Molecular Cell, Molecular Biology of Cell and Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). I have four first author, and four internal author papers during my postdoctoral career, and have been invited multiple times to present my work at prestigious platforms such as Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meetings (CSHL). I am also a recipient of the distinguished Krishna Murti Young Scientist award from India. I have also delivered educational lecture on epigenetics and cancer management at the University of Virginia's Cancer Center. My experience in the field has given me ample opportunities to write, assist, and independently evaluate research articles for multiple journals. I am on the independent referee panel for Nucleic Acid Research Journal, and also serve as an Associate Faculty member for Faculty of 1000 (post publication peer review of biomedical journals). I have provided assistance in reviewing articles within and outside the field. These involve journals like Genes and Development, Genome Research, EMBO Reports, Molecular Biology of Cell, and Journal of Biochemistry. I have written a book chapter as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the experimental methods I developed during the course of my research. Besides academia, I have also served the pharma industry and provided my writing and research skills to develop clinical protocols (phase III) and biotechnology newsletters. Reading research articles from different fields of science is my passion and a facilitator of my critical thinking and editorial endeavors.
 

Academic positions:


- Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Virgina - Independent reviewer for Nucleic Acids Research Journal (2010-present) - Associate Faculty Member of Faculty of 1000 (2011 -present)
 

Research interests:


- Functional Genomics - Cancer biology - Epigenetics - DNA damage - Cell cycle (in particular DNA replication) - Fragile sites and structural variations in genome - Genome medicine - Molecular biology methods
 

What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:


I like the idea of collection of scientific data under webmed central. This endeavor can become a one stop navigation site for research pieces that otherwise may or may not become a part of the regular journal regime. I see it as an excellent repository of ideas and data that can be beneficial in attempting future experiments and delivering better research. As a scientist at bench I know that all the data generated in lab does not go into making of a journal manuscript. Most of the times, this kind of data is very exciting but cannot be explored beyond a certain point due to experimental limitations. I think that such pieces of research should get a visibility platform. Having said this I also believe that such a platform can get crippled with low quality and misleading data. Hence the idea of webmed central plus is fantastic! An eye of the experts within the field on the articles getting published on webmed central plus can certainly improve the quality and authenticity of the information. I have published many research articles and also performed peer-review on multiple occasions. I would like to contribute my expertise in the field by being on the editorial group of the webmed central plus.
 

Home Page:


www.linkedin.com/in/neerjakarnani