This week, 23-27.01.2023, the International Institute of Molecular and  Cell Biology in Warsaw held a course on Critical Reading of Scientific Papers, which consisted of 2 lectures and 3 workshops. The course was highly appreciated by our researchers, as following and reviewing of scientific literature is very relevant part of their work.

The online lectures were given by Dr. Brooke Morriswood from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany. His lectures focused on the importance of making reading a regular part of one’s scientific activity. He also emphasized the role of getting involved young scientists into the process of critical reading of scientific papers. The followig matters were also discussed during the lecture: how to dissect the content of the individual elements of a scientific paper and how to maintain surveillance of the scientific literature.

Over 50 PhD students and researchers of the IIMCB participated in the lectures. Dr. Morriswood provided many practical clues, useful both for reading and writing research publications. - "I’m very glad that Brooke accepted our invitation to lead the course on Critical Reading of Scientific Papers and I am sure all of us will benefit from it. The lectures are accompanied by practical workshops for our PhD students that take place this week. I would like to thank them for their engagement and discussions over interesting examples of research papers" - said prof. Marta Miączyńska, the Director of IIMCB

The stationary workshops were dedicated to PhD students. The workshops were led by the Lab Leaders from the IIMCB: Prof. Marta Miączyńska, Prof. Mattchias Bochtler, and Dr. Katarzyna Mleczko-Sanecka. Divided into small groups, the participants analysed and discussed a chosen research article.  

Dr Brooke Morriswood is a group leader in the department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Würzburg, Germany. He is a molecular cell biologist with interests in the cytoskeleton, motor proteins, and membrane trafficking. He graduated from Cambridge University (2002) with a degree in biochemistry, and completed doctoral studies under the supervision of John Kendrick-Jones at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge (2006). He carried out postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Graham Warren at Yale University (2007) and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories in Vienna (2008-2014). Brooke become a group leader at the University of Würzburg in 2015.

The course was supported by the MOSaIC project.

The Critical Reading of Scientific Papers lectures are supported by the MOSaIC project which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 810425.