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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

Kombucha Inspires Creation of a Microbial “Living Material” content piece image

Kombucha Inspires Creation of a Microbial “Living Material”

Scientists have created a “living material” made from microbes that can respond to stimuli from their surrounding environment. It is hoped the material could find diverse applications in contaminant detection, highlighting damage, for example, to packaging, delivering nutrients or therapeutics and even in creating living photographs.

Top 5 Non-COVID-19 Stories of 2020 From Microbiology content piece image

Top 5 Non-COVID-19 Stories of 2020 From Microbiology

In the field of microbiology, COVID-19 has very much stolen the show this year. However, despite media attention and resources being poured into understanding and combatting SARS-CoV-2, there have still been some exciting developments in microbiology. In this list we take a look at five of the most read non-COVID-19 microbiology news stories of 2020.

A Path to Better Plant-Based Foods content piece image

Industry Insight

A Path to Better Plant-Based Foods

With demands for food rising as the population continues to expand, and the ever-present threat of climate change, scientists are looking for innovative ways to feed society without adding to the planet’s burdens. Plant-based foods are one area of great interest to meet this need.

Bringing Speed and Simplicity to SEM-EDS Analysis content piece image

Industry Insight

Bringing Speed and Simplicity to SEM-EDS Analysis

While many researchers combine scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to examine materials for defects at the micro-scale, the process is often viewed as slow and complex. Fortunately, however, advances in SEM-EDS analysis are bringing a new level of speed and simplicity to failure analysis.

Introducing the Antibody content piece image

Introducing the Antibody

Antibodies are a vital part of the immune system, playing a key role in our ability to fight infection and in the efficacy of vaccinations. However, that’s not where their utility ends. Find out about what antibodies are, where they come from, how they function and how science is putting them to work in the laboratory.

Taking Cultured Meat to the Next Level content piece image

Taking Cultured Meat to the Next Level

In a study published in Metabolic Engineering, bovine cells were engineered to endogenously produce phytoene, lycopene and β-carotene. We recently had the pleasure of speaking to Andrew Stout, lead author of the study, to learn how these cells were created and explore some of the benefits of engineering in the abilities to produce additional nutrients.

Single-Cell, "Multi-Omics" Analysis Uncovers a New Stage in Immune Cell Formation content piece image

Single-Cell, "Multi-Omics" Analysis Uncovers a New Stage in Immune Cell Formation

A research team from The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has adopted a single-cell, multi-omics approach to explore this question, focusing particularly on T and B lymphocyte formation. They discovered a new stage in lymphocyte development, information which the researchers say could "enrich future studies of the immune system". We wanted to know more.

Teach Me in 10 – An Introduction to ICP-OES With Ross Ashdown content piece image

Teach Me in 10 – An Introduction to ICP-OES With Ross Ashdown

In this installment of Teach Me in 10, we're joined by Ross Ashdown, who talks us through the basic concepts of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, or ICP-OES.

T-Cell Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Still Present Six Months After Initial Infection content piece image

T-Cell Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Still Present Six Months After Initial Infection

A recent preprint study, published in bioRxiv, demonstrates robust T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 viral peptides six months after initial infection in all participants following asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19.

Using Analytical Chemistry To Put an End to Corked Wine content piece image

Using Analytical Chemistry To Put an End to Corked Wine

The sound when the cork “pops” out of the bottle is satisfying isn’t it? But what disappointment if at that very first sip the off flavors of a faulty wine hit your tongue. In this article we are going to focus on cork taint, what it is, how analysts detect it and ways to prevent it.

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