Kate Bass

Feature Writer

B.Sc.

Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Kate always had a flair for writing, and as a child, commonly entertained herself by writing books or TV shows.

While at middle school, Kate’s passion for science was uncovered by a teacher who she still remembers to this day. Kate was fascinated by the many complicated processes of the human body, and how it is possible to measure the effects of numerous factors, such as exercise, light, and eating and drinking, on the functions of the body. There was no going back; she was hooked.

During biology A level classes, many of Kate’s questions elicited the same response "You will have to do a biochemistry degree to find that out". She was keen to learn all the details, so that is exactly what she did.

Despite being engrossed in her new-found passion for research, Kate did not forget her love of words and combined the two.

Aged 17 years, she was runner up in the Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer Award for an article she wrote, detailing novel treatment strategies for Parkinson's disease, a condition from which her great uncle was suffering at the time.

She was rewarded with a subscription to the magazine New Scientist, which she continued to self-fund thereafter.

On graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc.) in Biochemistry, Kate started to take more of an interest in the job section of the New Scientist. One day, she noticed an advertisement for a medical writer. With the confidence of youth, she ignored the stipulation for 2 years of experience and applied straight away.

To her delight, and surprise, Kate was the candidate selected for the job and quickly moved to the other side of the country, knowing no-one, to take up her position as medical writer for a global pharmaceutical company.

Kate has been a medical writer ever since. During that time, she has gained experience in writing a wide variety of scientific material for range of audiences, including manuscripts, scientific abstracts/posters, white papers, newsletters, news articles, clinical trial reports, website content, and e-learning modules. She has also travelled a lot to Europe and the Far East, organising symposia at medical congresses and standalone meetings.

Kate’s passion for new biomedical discoveries remains, and her work with News Medical provides a unique but great way of keeping up with the latest research across many different areas of science and medicine.

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Articles from Kate

Roundworm infection increases fertility among women in the Amazon

Parasitic worms can live inside humans gaining nourishment from the food we ingest (roundworms) or from our blood (hook worms), whilst being safe from predators. Although roundworm infections are generally symptomless they are not something any of us would choose to have. However, it has recently been found that infection with roundworm increases a woman's fertility.

20 Nov 2015

Novel genetic therapy treats ‘incurable’ leukaemia

A new treatment that involves editing DNA has been used for the first time at Great Ormond Street Hospital to successfully treat drug-resistant leukaemia.

6 Nov 2015

Incidence of breast cancer among African American women is increasing

Breast cancer statistics published this week indicate a continuing upward trend for rates of breast cancer among African American women in the United States. The incidence of breast cancer in this population of women who have historically had low rates of breast cancer is now approaching that seen among white women.

30 Oct 2015

Plague endemic in man since early Bronze Age, but has not always been flea-borne

A recent analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that the plaque had been endemic in humans for at least 3000 years before the first global outbreak on record (the Plague of Justinian in 541 AD). Furthermore, the disease was not always transmitted by fleas, with mutation to the bubonic form only occurring around the start of the 1st millennium BC.

23 Oct 2015

Antibiotic resistance potentially threatens the safety and efficacy of surgical procedures and immunosuppression therapies

This week The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal published the strongest evidence to date that increasing antibiotic resistance could have disastrous consequences for patients undergoing surgery or cancer chemotherapy. Based on a review of published literature, researchers predict that a 30% reduction in the efficacy of the prophylactic antibiotics routinely given when these procedures are performed could result in 120,000 more infections and 6300 infection-related deaths every year in the USA alone.

16 Oct 2015

Volunteer nurse back in isolation with Ebola complications

This morning Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who survived infection with the Ebola virus, was airlifted to an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London after the Ebola virus was detected in blood samples.

9 Oct 2015

Genetic mutations predict breast cancer relapse

A large genetics study has identified genetic mutations specific to recurrent breast cancer cells. Screening for these mutations in breast cancer tumours could therefore allow doctors to identify patients most at risk of their cancer returning. The relevant genes can then be targeted to prevent recurrence of the cancer.

27 Sep 2015

Cattle virus found in human cancer cells

Evidence of exposure to bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) has been found in human breast cancer samples. This is the first suggestion of a possible link between infection with a leukaemia virus prevalent in cows and breast cancer in humans.

18 Sep 2015

Good sleep patterns are good for your heart

A recent study has shown that poor sleeping habits may increase the risk of heart disease. Young and middle-aged adults who slept too long or too little or had poor sleep quality were found to be more likely to show early signs of heart disease than their peers who had adequate, good quality sleep.

11 Sep 2015

Depression and self-harm risk increased among goth teenagers

New research published in the Lancet indicates that young people who consider themselves to be part of the goth subculture might be at increased risk of depression and self-harm.

31 Aug 2015