Jef Akst

Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.

Articles by Jef Akst

Connecting Psilocybin, Mushrooms, and Dreaming

Pink- and purple-stained cells clustered into glands

Phenotypic Variation in Cancer Cells Often Not Due to Mutations

Swarm of honey bees around green foliage

Some Honey Bee Swarms Generate Electrical Charges Stronger Than Storms

illustration of a laptop with small people filling out an assessment

Q&A: Why eLife Is Doing Away with Rejections

Illustration of people dying from the Black Death

Genes that Aided Black Death Survival Linked to Autoimmunity

Spraying spray bottle

Nasal Vaccines Are Commercially High Risk, Perhaps High Reward

Illustration of pink strands of RNA on a blue background

Synthetic RNA Can Build Peptides, Hinting at Life’s Beginnings

Illustration of light blue speckled DNA helix on a dark background

Study Nearly Doubles Known Cancer-Linked Mutational Signatures

Close up photo of a wing

Unearthing the Evolutionary Origins of Insect Wings

Magnifying glass in front of a stack of files of papers

PLOS ONE Pulls Five Papers Tied to Alzheimer’s Drug Controversy

Tumor microbiome composite

Could Cancer’s Microbiome Help Diagnose and Treat the Disease?

Illustration showing microbial signatures of cancer in the body

Infographic: Putting Cancer’s Unique Microbiomes to Use

A gavel sits on top of a stack of clipboards and papers on an open laptop with the screen showing graphs

Munich Court Ruling Sides with Elsevier, ACS over ResearchGate

Vector illustration of a courthouse with test tubes as pillars

CRISPR Patent Ruling Favors Broad Institute

Artist's rendition of a yellow CAR T cell near a red cancer cell surrounded by red blood cells.

Ten Years On, CAR T Cell Recipient Is Still Cancer-Free

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3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

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Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

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Zymo Research

Zymo Research Launches Microbiome Grant to Support Innovation in Microbial Sciences