Charlene Lancaster, PhD

Charlene Lancaster, PhD

Associate Science Editor at The Scientist

Charlene earned her MSc and PhD in cell biology from the University of Toronto, where she studied how vitamins increase bone formation in osteoblast cell culture and how macrophages resolve phagosomes. She currently serves as an associate science editor for The Scientist's creative services team.

Education

University of Toronto, Department of Cell & Systems Biology

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Toronto, Department of Cell & Systems Biology

Master of Science

University of Toronto, Scarborough

Honours Bachelor of Science, Cell and Molecular Biology

Areas of Expertise

Teaching Assistant for the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto, Scarborough

Articles by Charlene Lancaster, PhD

A photo of colorful cube-shaped wooden blocks stacked into a cube.

Transforming Cancer Biomarker Discovery with Machine Learning

A photo of a female grizzly bear and her cubs.

Bear Necessities: Insights from Grizzly Bears

A microscopy image of a retinal organoid graft months after transplantation into the eye of a rat with retinal degeneration. This microscopy image, taken with a Zeiss LSM900 confocal microscope, shows the photoreceptors of the graft organized in rosettes, with their outer segments staining red for rhodopsin and the transplant’s nuclei labeled with a green Ku80 stain. Additionally, DAPI stain (blue) marks both rat and human nuclei.

A Vision of the Future: Restoring Eyesight via Transplantation

A photo of green leaves

Turn Over a New Leaf: Improving Laboratory Sustainability

An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

An illustration of an orange tau fibril in front of a blue background.

Uncovering the Unexpected: Developing a Novel Anti-Tau Therapy

An illustration of a blue brain with the cerebellum highlighted in pink.

New Cilia Disassembly Pathway Revealed in Maturing Neurons

An illustration of circulating tumor cells surrounded by red blood cells.

Monitoring Multiple Myeloma Progression through Sequencing

A photo of a newborn baby’s feet with a hospital bracelet.

Tiny Biomarkers for Small Patients with Brain Injuries

Conceptional image of two pills covered with a circuit-board pattern.

Harnessing the Power of AI to Design Novel Antibiotics

A 3D microscopic image of a heart tissue section with cardiac myocytes and macrophages.

Taking Out the Trash: An Alternative Cellular Disposal Pathway

Images of tumor organoids acquired using high-speed live cell interferometry.

Evaluating Tumor Heterogeneity with a High Throughput Pipeline

Image of a man in a laboratory looking frustrated with his failed experiment.
February 2026

A Stubborn Gene, a Failed Experiment, and a New Path

When experiments refuse to cooperate, you try again and again. For Rafael Najmanovich, the setbacks ultimately pushed him in a new direction.

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