Karen Steward, PhD
Senior Scientific Specialist
After completing an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 2006, Karen became a research scientist at the Animal Health Trust, UK. During her time there, she completed a PhD in molecular microbiology and evolutionary genetics in partnership with the University of Cambridge and went on to hold a post-doctoral position. Her research focused on the fundamental biology of infectious diseases, outbreak analysis and the development of vaccines and diagnostic assays. In 2017 she left the lab to pursue a career in science communication. As senior scientific specialist, Karen employs her wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to coordinate and create a range of scientific content, tools and resources for the site and provide scientific support across the teams.
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Published Content
Total: 225
Industry Insight
Chewing on the Fat of Food Analysis and Beyond
To ensure safety and consistency of products within the food industry, continual analysis through the production process is essential. We spoke to Ian Olmsted, from CEM Corporation, about ORACLE, an innovative solution that enables analysts to measure fat in food and much more without the fuss of traditional techniques.
Industry Insight
ASMS Introduces… An Overview of What’s New for 2019
The 67th American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics is currently in full swing in Atlanta, Georgia. Bringing together over 6,500 scientists from across the globe, companies working in the mass spectrometry field also take this opportunity to share their latest developments and innovations. Here we will take a look at some of the release highlights for 2019.
Industry Insight
Working To Keep Drinking Water Safe
Official limits are in place regarding the levels of a multitude of substances that are deemed to be safe and acceptable in drinking water, but to fulfill these requirements analysts need the tools to enable them to do this. We spoke to Yan Liu, and Katariina Majamaa from Thermo Fisher Scientific about their new columns designed to enable rapid separations of contaminants prior to analysis using ion chromatography-mass spectrometry (IC-MS).
Infographic
Innate vs Adaptive Immunity
The immune system is essential to protect us from potentially harmful invaders, and when it weakens or fails it leaves our body vulnerable to attack. Swift responses are essential but equally important are targeted reactions, therefore all aspects of the immune response must be carefully coordinated.
Industry Insight
The Danger of Dioxins - Solutions To Keep Us Safe
One group of contaminants to the food chain that are getting particular attention are dioxins and related chemicals. We spoke to Fausto Pigozzo, director of workflow development for food and beverage, Thermo Fisher Scientific, about the problems that dioxins pose for consumers and analysts, and how their solutions are improving detection.
Industry Insight
How Might Data-centric Software Solutions Impact Analytical Chemistry Labs?
At the heart of most analytical chemistry analyses are data, the essential unit of measuring and monitoring not only your test subject but the analytical equipment itself. We spoke to Shawn Anderson, Senior Director of Marketing, Software and Informatics Division at Agilent about the move to data-centric software solutions and what the future may hold.
Article
Sensitivity vs Specificity
When developing diagnostic tests or evaluating results, it is important to understand how reliable those tests and therefore the results you are obtaining are. By using samples of known disease status, values such as sensitivity and specificity can be calculated that allow you to evaluate just that.
Listicle
Antimicrobial Resistance: Drivers, Diagnostics and DNA
Combating AMR is going to take coordinated action of different approaches, such as improved public education and national action plans, greater surveillance, improved diagnostics, and the ability to harness advances in genomics and big data.
Industry Insight
Arming Brewers With Tools to Ensure Better Beers
For any brewer, ensuring your product is high quality and consistent is imperative to maintaining ongoing success and reputation. We spoke to Manas Sawant, Sr. Product Manager, UV-Vis Spectroscopy at Thermo Fisher Scientific about BeerCraft, their latest software solution aimed at assisting brewers to achieve quality and consistency in their beers.
Industry Insight
Scouting Out Microparticles in the Battle With Microplastics
There are many reasons that one might want to detect microparticles in a sample, and equally many sources from which microparticles may be generated. Of growing interest recently is the identification of microplastics, not just in the environment but also in the food chain. We spoke to Harald Fischer, Marketing Director at WITec, about ParticleScout, their latest Raman-based solution for rapid identification of microparticles, and the role it can play in assisting microplastic studies.
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