Dr. Catherine Shaffer

Feature Writer

Ph.D

Life Sciences, Cell Biology

Catherine Shaffer is a freelance science and health writer from Michigan. She has written for a wide variety of trade and consumer publications on life sciences topics, particularly in the area of drug discovery and development. She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and began her career as a laboratory researcher before transitioning to science writing. She also writes and publishes fiction, and in her free time enjoys yoga, biking, and taking care of her pets.

Articles from Catherine

How HIV Evades the Immune System

This article describes the methods and genes employed by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to evade the innate and adaptive immune systems.

21 Feb 2018

LongSAGE, RL-SAGE and SuperSAGE

This article describes the advancement of SAGE, to include LongSage, RL-Sage and Super-SAGE techniques that have greater capabilities.

21 Feb 2018

Single-Molecule Cellular Biophysics

This article describes historical methods to study single-molecule biophysics and its current applications in biochemical research.

21 Feb 2018

Cells of the Innate Immune System

This article describes the cells of the innate immune system and their roles in identifying and defending the body against infection.

19 Feb 2018

Cells of the Adaptive Immune System

This article describes the cells of the adaptive immune system, focusing mainly on the roles of B and T lymphocytes in an immunological response.

16 Feb 2018

Miniature Time of Flight

This article describes time-of-flight mass spectrometry, which has recently been miniaturized to allow rapid analysis of samples for the emergency services.

15 Feb 2018

RNAi Biological Functions

This article describes the tools used by biologists to carry out gene silencing using RNA interference (RNAi) and the history of RNAi in plants and research.

15 Feb 2018

The Baltimore Classification System

This article describes The Baltimore Classification System, a scheme for classifying viruses based on the type of genome and its replication strategy.

13 Feb 2018