Welcome to our new-look blog for discussions of all things New York science!

Back in 2009 at the inception of this blog, NYC blogger Barry Hudson highlighted some of the reasons we started a scientific blog centred on science in New York:

With the city also being the financial and cultural center of the U.S and perhaps the world, what is the role of science and scientists in this metropolis? New York isn’t lacking when it comes to science, boasting 15 nationally leading medical research institutions and medical centers in  addition to over 50 bioscience companies. These institutes include Columbia University, Rockefeller University, Beth Israel Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and boast an impressive combined 127 Nobel laureates.

New York continues to be a centre for some of the world’s best science activities and as the New York science community grows and expands, it makes sense that our activities there evolve too. This blog will be one way of communicating about the Science Online NYC (SoNYC) events that we organise every month, as well as highlighting the other science-related activities taking place.

Some things you can expect to find on this blog:

Events Calendar

The NYC blog hosts a Google calendar listing scientific events  in NYC. These events, as well as SoNYC, will include academic talks at local universities, meetings of scientific organizations, museum exhibits, and science discussion groups going on throughout the city. Do contact us if you are interested in posting an event to the calendar or becoming an admin.

SoNYC

Science Online NYC (SoNYC) is a monthly discussion series organised by nature.com and Ars Technica, hosted at Rockefeller University. Every month we invite a panel to seed a discussion on a particular scientific topic. We’d like to crowd-source the discussion topics for SoNYC as much as possible as this helps to keep the debates centred around topics of current interest.

You can relive the past SoNYC events by reading our Storifys or watching our livestream archives.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future events so that this becomes a regular, inclusive opportunity for the discussion of all things related to how science is carried out and communicated online. If you’d like to propose a topic, please send Lou Woodley an email (l.woodley@nature.com). The aim is to make these meet-ups as interactive as possible; so if you join us at the events, do bring your ideas, your experiences and your enthusiasm for a lively debate as you meet other like-minded NYC sci comm. folks.

You can find us on Twitter (and by searching the #sonyc hashtag) and also on Facebook.

Finally…

Our blog will also report on a variety of topics relevant to the NYC scientist, ranging from research in the NYC area to sci-cultural events going on throughout the city. We’re hoping to address topics of interest, so do let us know if you have any requests!

I recently attended a meeting at the NIH, in which a lot of excellent researchers from the NYC area spoke. Inspired by their success, I thought I deviate from what I hope to be the ultimate goal of making this blog a center for New York science news and cultural events, and talk about the strengths NYC possesses as a hub for scientific research and training in both the physical and life sciences. There are many excellent academic institutions in the greater New York City area, which support a unique climate of scientific development in a variety of subjects. Programs offered in New York are some of the best in the country, providing excellent training from top universities. Here, I will mention a few of the more unique areas of study in NYC for both the new and seasoned scientist.

You may be aware of the NIH initiative for translational research that began in 2006. Originally, 12 universities were awarded Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) to help eliminate the barriers between clinical and basic scientists and improve the bench-to-bedside nature of research and clinical applications. CTSA institutions also offer comprehensive Patient Oriented Research (POR) and pre-doctoral training programs in order to prepare young clinicians and scientists for careers in translational research. In NYC, two CTSAs to Columbia and Rockefeller Universities were among the original awardees in 2006. Since that time, Weill Cornell Medical College (2007) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2008) received CTSAs, making NYC a major hub for translational research in the United States.

NYC also offers some of the top specialty research programs in the country. I need to plug my most favorite specialty program in the city, the Institute of Human Nutrition (IHN). In 2007, the Chronicle for Higher Education ranked it as the top nutrition program in the country. Here, students receive training in a variety of nutrition related fields, such as obesity, atherosclerosis and lipid metabolism, diabetes, and cancer. The M.S. program is a non-terminal degree, which targets students who are looking to attend more graduate school in the future. The Ph.D. program offers more comprehensive training in Nutrition Science and related fields.

The NYC area also offers a variety of specialty research centers. One of particular interest is the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C established by The Rockefeller University, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in 2000. This center if the first of it’s kind in the tri-state area and it is particularly special in that it is committed to multidisciplinary research. It goes beyond patient care by running clinical trials, carrying out basic science research, and facilitating education and outreach. This center, among many other unique opportunities for scientific research and education in NYC, makes options for scientists virtually limitless in this city.

Welcome to the official New York City (NYC) hub of the Nature Network! This site is designed to facilitate communication among all NYC scientists and develop an active and integrated scientific community in the NYC area. We hope to initiate discussions and collaborations among local scientists, broaden your perspectives on research conducted in NYC, and create platforms for scientific growth in the NYC community. Not to mention, participating in the NYC hub is a great way support your local scientific community and connect to fellow scientists with common interests.

Whether you are already a member of the Nature Network or are relatively new, the NYC hub is a great resource for your scientific development in the city. There are several exciting features of the NYC hub that are available to Nature Network users. All members are invited to read the blog posted by the Nature Network NYC-hub team, Barry Hudson and myself. Our blog will report on a variety of topics relevant to the NYC scientist, ranging from research in the NYC area to sci-cultural events going on throughout the city. We’re hoping to address topics of interest to you, so feel free to participate by reading the blog, commenting on posts, and sharing your ideas and desires for future posts. You can find regular postings under the Blog section of the NYC hub site.

In addition to the blog, the NYC hub will also have a local forum where members are free to discuss any topics of interest to them. Here, members are able to share their ideas with the local scientific community and connect with other scientists. You can find regular postings under the Forum section of the NYC hub site.

The NYC hub also offers a daily calendar of scientific events going on in NYC in the Events section. These events include academic talks at local universities, meetings of university clubs and organizations, museum exhibits and events, and special-topic discussion groups going on throughout the city. Additionally, you contact us if you are interested in posting an event to the calendar. The NYC hub has also partnered up with Naturejobs to help you find the right science job in the NYC area. The Jobs section offers both weekly-featured jobs and tagged postings.

Finally, a special feature of the NYC hub is that it is maintained and promoted with the help of local NYC scientists, with the idea that active recruitment of members to the NYC hub from within the NYC-scientific community will help to build a stronger and more connected network of scientists. You can view and connect with the NYC-hub team and other local users by checking out the People section of the NYC hub. We hope you find the NYC hub a valuable resource and invite you to participate in the development of an active, NYC-scientific community.