Benjamin Swedlund
@benswedlund.bsky.social
Postdoc in the Morsut lab at USC trying to understand and engineer self-organisation using synthetic gene circuits. SynBio, Dev Bio & Stem Cells. Passionate about science, music, gymnastics, and nature.
Change is on the horizon thanks to initiatives such as preprints and open peer-review. But scientists need to embrace this change and move beyond the status quo of an outdated system. 4/5
October 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Change is on the horizon thanks to initiatives such as preprints and open peer-review. But scientists need to embrace this change and move beyond the status quo of an outdated system. 4/5
Is it working? Not really - the current system struggles to root out scientific fraud in the form of paper mills or questionable research practices. It also lacks transparency in peer-review and editorial decisions. Most people agree that publishers generous profit margins (>35%) are unfair. 3/5
October 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Is it working? Not really - the current system struggles to root out scientific fraud in the form of paper mills or questionable research practices. It also lacks transparency in peer-review and editorial decisions. Most people agree that publishers generous profit margins (>35%) are unfair. 3/5
How do we do science? When and how are we evaluated as scientists? The enthusiasm in the room was palpable - this is a subjects scientists of all career stages deeply care about. I first introduced the endless cycle of "getting money-doing stuff" that characterises an researcher's career. 2/5
October 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
How do we do science? When and how are we evaluated as scientists? The enthusiasm in the room was palpable - this is a subjects scientists of all career stages deeply care about. I first introduced the endless cycle of "getting money-doing stuff" that characterises an researcher's career. 2/5
Why do we do science?
This was my opener for a department roundtable “Reimagining Scientific Evaluation: Are we judging a book by its cover?”, inspired by @asapbio.bsky.social’s Fellows program. Now more than ever, we should strive for an academic culture that’s transparent, efficient, and fair. 1/5
This was my opener for a department roundtable “Reimagining Scientific Evaluation: Are we judging a book by its cover?”, inspired by @asapbio.bsky.social’s Fellows program. Now more than ever, we should strive for an academic culture that’s transparent, efficient, and fair. 1/5
October 27, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Why do we do science?
This was my opener for a department roundtable “Reimagining Scientific Evaluation: Are we judging a book by its cover?”, inspired by @asapbio.bsky.social’s Fellows program. Now more than ever, we should strive for an academic culture that’s transparent, efficient, and fair. 1/5
This was my opener for a department roundtable “Reimagining Scientific Evaluation: Are we judging a book by its cover?”, inspired by @asapbio.bsky.social’s Fellows program. Now more than ever, we should strive for an academic culture that’s transparent, efficient, and fair. 1/5
During my PhD, it took almost two years of submission, rejection & revision between first submission and final publication. Not easy to fit into a 4-year PhD contract in Belgium. Even after publication, my article was only free after a 6-month embargo, and the final version is still paywalled. 2/4
August 26, 2025 at 8:19 PM
During my PhD, it took almost two years of submission, rejection & revision between first submission and final publication. Not easy to fit into a 4-year PhD contract in Belgium. Even after publication, my article was only free after a 6-month embargo, and the final version is still paywalled. 2/4
From the Roybal and Baker labs, intramembrane proteolytic receptors 2.0 (after synNotch and SNIPRs 1.0), enabling soluble ligand recognition. Comes with extensive mechanistic insights, an expanded synBio toolbox and in vivo proof-of-concept for tumour clearance by controlling CAR-T activity!
December 9, 2024 at 5:52 PM
From the Roybal and Baker labs, intramembrane proteolytic receptors 2.0 (after synNotch and SNIPRs 1.0), enabling soluble ligand recognition. Comes with extensive mechanistic insights, an expanded synBio toolbox and in vivo proof-of-concept for tumour clearance by controlling CAR-T activity!
Check out our lab's latest publication - cells that make waves! We also tell a cautionary tale for those trying to engineer tissues with synthetic gene circuits: tissue physics, such as cellular crowding, may affect circuit behaviour #NotInTheGenes. See Jos's summary for details. More to come soon!
November 26, 2024 at 12:16 AM
Check out our lab's latest publication - cells that make waves! We also tell a cautionary tale for those trying to engineer tissues with synthetic gene circuits: tissue physics, such as cellular crowding, may affect circuit behaviour #NotInTheGenes. See Jos's summary for details. More to come soon!