This week, on January 23-27, 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 who emphasize the fact that following and reviewing of scientific literature are very relevant parts 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 and value of making reading a regular part of one’s scientific activity; 

- the content analysis of  the individual elements of a scientific paper; 

- the way in which young scientists can get involved in critical reading of scientific papers;

- the manner in which the surveillance of scientific literature can be carried out.

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

The onsite workshops were dedicated to the PhD students. Three workshops were led by one of three Lab Leaders from the IIMCB: Prof. Marta Miączyńska, Prof. Matthias Bochtler, and Dr. Katarzyna Mleczko-Sanecka. The participants were divided into small groups in which they analyzed and discussed a chosen scientific 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 his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Graham Warren at Yale University (2007) and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories in Vienna (2008-2014). Since 2015, Brooke has been a group leader at the University of Würzburg.

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