Meet Our Team
Ariel Lane
Curriculum Writer, EditorAriel has previously worked in Atlanta Public Schools as a science educator and department chair assisting students and teachers with improving their knowledge in state science standards, NGSS, advanced placement and international baccalaureate science courses. More recently she has worked as a science curriculum writer, developing student lessons that incorporate formative and summative assessment items and teacher lesson guides aligned to NGSS, Bloom’s Taxonomy and Depth of Knowledge. She has experience creating phenomenon-based life science and engineering design stimuli and technology enhanced items aligned to NGSS multi-dimensional standards for grades 6-12. She also has designed NGSS aligned assessment questions with specific Lexile Reading levels for e-learning companies. Her experience and expertise as an educator and curriculum writer has been enveloped into her company, STEMAssist LLC.
Gabe Buckley
Head of Content, EditorGabe got his Bachelor’s in Zoology, with a minor in Business Administration. He continued on at Colorado State University, one of the leading biology programs in the nation, and obtained a Master’s degree in Professional Natural Sciences.
During graduate school, he worked as a TA for general biology classes. He taught everything from mitosis to PCR, and developed a passion for teaching biology. After school, Gabe started working as a freelance writer and has written for DNA testing companies, non-profit organizations, and has developed curriculum for online biology classes.
Gabe started on as a writer at Biology Dictionary, and he has been writing and editing ever since!
Katy McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Lead Writer, EditorKaty received her BSc Hons. degree in Genetics from the University of Glasgow in 2013. She then completed her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh, where her work focussed on uncovering chromatin structure in stem cells. Her interest in science writing led her - unexpectedly - to a freelance career, where she gets to do lots of interesting research and writing in all areas of biology.
Lindy Whitehouse, Ph.D.
Sr. WriterLindy completed a BSc in Zoology and a master's by research (MRES) at Cardiff and Swansea Universities, respectively, before moving to Canada to continue her education. She received a Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Regina, where her research focused on the cellular and physiological responses used by fish in response to changing environments. She then went on to complete a postdoc in fish immunology at the University of Waterloo. Her passions include travel and conservation and as such, she is currently spending time in India where she is working as a freelance writer.
Sarah Knapp
Sr. WriterKate completed her BSc at Newcastle University in 2012, where she specialised in the field of cellular and molecular biology. Once graduated, she went on to join the cancer research team at Southampton University, where she studied the influence of genetic variation on response to monoclonal antibody therapy in cancer patients.
After a few years of hands-on research, Kate left the lab to pursue an interest in travel and science writing. Today, she enjoys a freelance career as a Biology content provider and produces medical articles and educational materials for websites and companies around the world.
Sarah Knapp
Sr. WriterSarah works as an anesthesia nurse in a busy operating theater, but spends most of her free time tutoring high-school students in the three sciences in preparation for medical entrance exams.
She has taken further Open University diplomas in health and natural sciences to increase her knowledge, partially as a career enhancer, partially due to her own personal interest in the subjects of anatomy and physiology. In addition, Sarah translates medical texts prior to publication in various journals, and writes articles on a range of scientific subjects, including pharmacology, microbiology, pathobiology and cell and plant biology.
Sarah likes to make her lessons and articles interesting, without drowning her students and readers in facts and figures. She believes that understanding a scientific concept right from the start saves a lot of time and energy further down the road. We don’t want to waste all that precious ATP on mindless repetition, after all!
Alicia Cotoia
WriterAlicia received her Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with high honors from Salve Regina University in 2019. During this time, she focused in laboratory research that specialized in molecular and cellular methodologies. She participated in both biomedical- and conservational- based projects, having spent two years studying the effectiveness of nutraceuticals on gastrointestinal cancer and one year determining molecular biomarkers to monitor beluga health. In addition to these projects, Alicia was employed as a laboratory assistant to the classroom labs, as well as a CRLA certified Advanced Tutor to the math and science lectures.
Following graduation, Alicia started working as a molecular biologist for a start-up company. Given her appreciation for nature and animals, she continues to volunteer at her local aquarium as a docent while also providing care assistance at her local parrot rescue. Starting in Fall 2020, Alicia will be continuing her research opportunities as a Master’s student, where she aims to advance our understandings of animal physiology in order to optimize both biomedical and conservational efforts.