A launch in the middle of a pandemic and a full moon

Today (1 October 2020), we launch the EpiMedLab website.  Given the ongoing pandemic, in this first phase, our main aim is to provide the scientific community with our COVID-19 molecular dynamics simulations trajectories.

We also contribute a library of relevant small molecules for molecular docking.

“Incidentally”, The Epigenomic Medicine Laboratory turns”11” today.  Firstly, the laboratory is grateful for funding and support from McCord Research, NHMRC and ARC, and Monash University who enabled our survival.  In particular, McCord Research has been a long-term supporter of the lab, providing not only financial but also intellectual input, pushing our research forward.  As can be attested to by Drs Andrew Hung, Simon Royce, and Katherine Ververis, who have been there from the beginning, like most labs, we have had few ups and many downs, and many trials and few tribulations over the years.  Nevertheless, we continue moving forward and contributing the best we can.

Apart from our “birthday”, today is a full moon day corresponding with the Mid-Autumn festival.  Typically, this is the day we enjoy mooncake and festivities, organised by our long-time team member Julia Liang.  Apart from coordinating our molecular dynamics simulations, with input from others, such as our newest member Chris Karagiannis, Julia is our in-house foodie with her own dedicated cooking channels. Our COVID-19 small molecules library is coordinated Eleni Pitsillou, a highly energetic and dedicated team member, who also has an interest in food and health with her own social media channels.  More about the team in a later update! 

For now, we launch the EpiMedLab website and related social media channels. Of course to achieve this we need a commerce manager and some legal advice, and Stathi Kous has become a critical team member in that regard.

 We hope our site and resources may prove to be useful to members of the scientific and wider community.

Until next time … Tranquilo Polymaths.