Alumni
Facts&Reasons is a non-profit project.
We are very thankful to all the people who have been onboard in the core team at some point. Thank you for your valuable contribution!
Diana Bordalo
web designer
My journey into science started during the inquisitive age of childhood. In my case, the need for answers was not diluted with age and I decided to graduate in biology at the Institute of Agronomy of the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal). After my master's degree in molecular genetics and biomedicine at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, I did an internship at EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany) and decided to stay in the same city for a PhD in cardiology at University Clinics Heidelberg. I see my family and friends being exposed to increasingly convincing misinformation more and more often. I participate in this project because I think that with this platform we can fight it and bring concise and correct information to everyone.
Tanina Arab
translator to French language
As far as I can remember, I have been drawn to science and education. My official academic journey began at Mouloud Mammeri University in Algeria. I had a tremendous chance to meet very inspiring mentors who made me choose to go further in my career.
I am passionate about how the Human body works, especially the brain tissue. During my Ph.D., I investigated cell communication through extracellular vesicles (cell-derived “balloons” that contain valuable pieces of information). Nowadays, I am in the United States; I am specifically studying brain communication occurring by exchanging “balloons” between microglial cells (the eaters) and neurons (the eaten).
One of the most striking lessons I learned during the Covid-19 pandemic is that miscommunication costs lives. As a scientist, all the misinformation reported, especially throughout social media, caused me a lot of frustrations. I spent quite some time giving small lectures to my friends, family members, and community. It helped me cope during the lockdowns; I viewed it as my contribution in front of a very overwhelming situation.
When I came across the Facts&Reasons project, I saw an opportunity to contribute my knowledge on a bigger scale. I hope to support even more people and help them clarify questions they may have. I reached out to the creators right away and volunteered as a French translator. I am very excited to be part of this adventure, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Facts&Reasons.
Max Brambach
author
My scientific journey started at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), where I did my undergrad studies in Physics. Already at that time, I was intrigued by condensed matter and other systems which consist of simple parts but exhibit complex behavior as an ensemble. I continued my studies in Computational Biology and Theoretical Physics at Lund University (Sweden), where I worked on the mathematical modeling of the gene regulation in differentiating stem cells. Currently, I am doing my PhD at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) using quantitative microscopy to investigate the mechanisms behind cell interactions and tissue formation. I am very happy to contribute to this project, since I am convinced that misinformation and yellow journalism are some of the most prominent threats to society at present.
Melania Zofrea
translator to Italian language
I have always been fascinated by science. I grew up watching tons of documentaries, causing my passion for the animal kingdom, palaeontology and archeology to grow alongside me. With time passing, I came to discover a different kind of science, one of languages. After graduating from Liceo Linguistico A. Manzoni, I travelled and further improved my knowledge base, focusing on the English language. I realised that words have a hidden chemistry of their own, that an open mind can be a better tool than a dictionary, and that you can find a whole culture spelled out in the grammar of a single sentence, as well as the history of the people who speak it.
I partake in this project, grateful for the opportunity to work combining the two sciences that held my hand throughout my life, and aware of how concepts such as transparency, accuracy, and intellectual integrity, become more and more crucial with every passing day.