Tech Start-up Launches Contest, Enabling Scientists to Promote Their Research After the Cancelation of Key Medical Research Meetings this Year

TORONTO, June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today BioRender, creator of the first web-based graphical tool for scientists to create publication and presentation-ready figures, announced its inaugural Graphical Abstract Contest, to give scientists a way to promote their research and win prize rewards. As key medical research meetings throughout the world have been canceled, postponed or moved to a virtual environment, BioRender is donating its $50K marketing budget to the science community in the form of cash prizes for a first-of-its-kind, worldwide, scientific art contest.

"This contest comes at a time when all conferences and meetings have been cancelled or postponed, so having the opportunity to be involved with these graphical abstracts has been a refreshing way to explore a wide variety of topics, including the pathology and immunology of SARS-CoV-2 infection," said Jarrod Dudakov, Assistant Professor of Immunology at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. "Graphical abstracts are an increasingly vital aspect of science communication and this competition, and BioRender more generally, contribute significantly toward raising the bar in the research community's progress in visual literacy."

At a time when scientists are racing for answers while also trying to help calm fears around the world, being able to network, share research, and present information in a unified, digestible manner is critical. Social distancing has made this a largely remote effort and presents a unique challenge for the science community to share research. To that end, BioRender created a virtual community to enable the continued sharing of research.

"At BioRender, we have always recognized the need for scientific knowledge to be universally understood and communicated through visuals that are clear, standardized, and accessible," said Shiz Aoki, co-founder and CEO of BioRender. "Our mission is to empower the world to communicate science faster through visuals. Graphical abstracts are quickly becoming the ideal way to lower the friction in communicating complex scientific concepts."

There are more than 5,000 entrants in the contest, which include original research from Stanford Medicine, John Hopkins Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Yale School of Medicine. Today BioRender selected People's Choice Award winners for each category of the contest:

• Molecular Biology, Genetics & Biochemistry:Determinants of Cancer Drug Resistance and How to Overcome? Buse Cevatemre, Postdoc at Koc University in Turkey.
• Cell Biology: Protein Targeting with Signal Recognition Particle. Luozheng Kong, Undergraduate Student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Anatomy, Physiology, & Medicine: The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: What we know? Amina Tucak, Research Assistant at University of Sarajevo.
• Microbiology & Immunology: Role of LIPIN-1 in Modified-LDL Induced Pro-Inflammatory Response. Temitayo Bamgbose, Graduate Student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport.
• Bioinformatics & Biotechnologies: Nanoparticle-mediated targeted drug delivery to cancer stem cells. David Ahmad Khan, Undergraduate Student at University of Waterloo.
• Plant, Animal & Environmental Sciences: Behind the Deadly Strike of a Mantis Shrimp: Specialized Spring. John Mhel Policarpio, Undergraduate Student at University of the Philippines - Los Baños.
• Neuroscience, Cognitive Science & Psychology: Impact of hyaluronan on GBM cells. Matías Pibuel, Postdoc at IDEHU, Argentina.
• 'Other' category: How soap kills COVID-19. Eleni Papananou, Postdoc at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Submitted research will be peer-reviewed and each submission will be eligible for cash prizes of up to $6,000. Submissions to the Graphical Abstract Contest contribute to a public gallery that the scientific community can virtually tour to learn about the latest in research while networking and voting for their favorites to win People's Choice Awards. Lead scientific researchers and renowned experts from around the world will come together to judge submissions within their specialization for visual appeal, clarity, accuracy, complexity, and ease of understanding with the best winning Expert's Choice Awards.

BioRender will announce the Expert's Choice Award finalists on June 17 and all winners will be announced on June 29.

About BioRender

At BioRender, we envision a world where science is universally communicated and understood through visuals. We believe science communication should always be fast, repeatable, and standardized. To help make that vision a reality, we are creating the standard visual language of biology and the suite of tools to communicate it.

Led by CEO and Co-founder Shiz Aoki, the Lead Medical Illustrator for National Geographic for a decade, our team is composed of environmentally and socially conscious engineers, science illustrators, designers, and entrepreneurs who are backed by an incredible group of investors, including Y Combinator.

Recently heralded in Nature as 'a staple of biomedical research drawings', our first product is a web-based graphical tool that enables scientists to create publication and presentation-ready figures up to 50 times faster than traditional tools. With a comprehensive library of 20,000+ icons and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, this tool enables scientists across 30+ fields of life science to create professional illustrations that more effectively communicates their research.

Media Contact:
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SOURCE BioRender