Laura Tran, PhD

Laura Tran, PhD

Laura joined The Scientist as an assistant editor in 2023. She has a background in microbiology and earned her PhD in biomedical sciences from Rush University. Her research focused on how circadian rhythms and alcohol affect the gut. 

Articles by Laura Tran, PhD

Image of a dark and light blue colored rendered T cell.

Synthetic T Cells Provide Precision Immunosuppression

Image of human fetal pancreatic organoids stained in various colors. Nuclei are stained in blue, acinar cells in green, ductal cells in white, and endocrine cells in red.

A Novel Three-in-One Pancreatic Organoid

Image of colorful microplastics against a black background.

Microplastics Build Up in Human Organs, Especially the Brain

A CRISPR-Cas platform uses microfluidic droplets, encasing CRISPR components and DNA barcodes, and injects individual droplets into zebrafish embryos. The embryos are raised and then researchers link phenotypes to genotypes by sequencing the barcodes.

DNA Droplets in Motion Accelerate Gene Discovery

Image of a DNA strand with a magnifying glass hovering over one section (left). A sweating man lifts his arm and emits body odor with a callout depicting that he has yellow colored earwax (right).

How Are Earwax and Body Odor Linked?

Microscopic image of mouse neurons exhibiting a string-of-pearls structure.

Challenging the Axon’s Classic Shape

Image of Arabidopsis thaliana plants alongside Petri dishes on a rack.

Engineered Microbes Make Plant Hormones a Sustainable Harvest

Image of a pregnant woman holding her belly with blurred plastic bottles in the background.

A Common Plastic Additive Harms DNA and Chromosomes

Image of people clinking glasses with various alcoholic beverages at a table.

Why Do Some People Get Drunk Faster Than Others?

Image of activated STING protein (pink) and the transcription factor TFEB (green), which is shuttled into the nucleus to facilitate lysosome biogenesis. 

A STING Operation in Safeguarding Cells from Stress

Image of chicken, beef, fish, and eggs displayed on a cutting board against a grey background.

Metabolism on the Menu: A New Target for Body Weight Regulation

Image of a hand holding yellow pills in front of a leafy vegetable background.

Vitamin K Precursor Takes On Prostate Cancer

Image of Streptomyces coelicolor (center), which produces the blue antibiotic actinorhodin, inhibiting the growth of yellow Myxoccous xanthus colonies (periphery).

The Art of Biofilm Photography: From Petri Dish to Portrait

Image of colored blobs comprised of individual dots. Each dot represents an immune cell and dots of the same color belong to the same cell type.

Charting the Human Immune Health Atlas

Image of Anne Madden standing along the edge of water. She wears a black outfit and is holding a tube in her hand.

Inside the Microbial Jungle: Tales from a Microbe Whisperer

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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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Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

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

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Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

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Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

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