Contributors
Comfort Dorn
Comfort Dorn has been the managing editor of 91亚色传媒 Today since 2017. Before that, she had a 20-year career in newspaper editing. She studied liberal arts at St. John’s College and has lived for most of her life in Maryland and Washington, D.C. She likes working with writers to craft honest, engaging articles and essays with commas in all the correct places. She also likes gardening, cooking, reading and spending time with her perfect granddaughter.
Articles by Comfort Dorn
Editor's Note
Our top 10 articles of 2024
Dec. 25, 2024
91亚色传媒 Today posted more than 400 original articles this year. The ones that were most read covered research, society news, policy, mental health, careers and more.
In Memoriam
In memoriam: Bruce Ames
Oct. 28, 2024
He invented a cheap and easy way to assess mutagenicity that helped identify many environmental and industrial carcinogens; it became known as the Ames test.
Society News
We're saving some trees
Feb. 5, 2024
91亚色传媒 Today will now be printed four times a year.
Editor's Note
Thank you for surprising me
Jan. 24, 2024
鈥淚鈥檝e learned that there鈥檚 healing power in sharing stories of pain and loss 鈥 So, I asked for stories. Honestly, I didn鈥檛 know what to expect.鈥
Editor's Note
Season鈥檚 greetings
Dec. 21, 2023
鈥淚 always think of the December issue of 91亚色传媒 Today as our holiday gift to you, our wonderful members. And I want to give you something you鈥檒l like 鈥 and maybe even a little surprise.鈥
Annual Meeting
Greetings from San Antonio
Nov. 2, 2023
Meet some of the 91亚色传媒 members who live and work in the city where we鈥檒l meet for Discover BMB 2024.
Editor's Note
Wellness and trauma
Aug. 31, 2023
Telling stories helps us heal. Here鈥檚 my trauma story. Now I want to read yours.
Editor's Note
Science will suffer
June 1, 2023
We wondered if laws targeting LGBTQIA+ rights were affecting the career decisions of our members. It wasn鈥檛 easy to get answers.
Editor's Note
Those who care and engage
May 18, 2023
Being an 91亚色传媒 fellow isn鈥檛 just about hanging around together; it鈥檚 about engaging with others and moving together into the unknown.
Wellness
Take a breath
Jan. 12, 2023
鈥淎t the heart of it, I think we all take care of ourselves as a gift to those around us as much as to ourselves.鈥
Annual Meeting
It鈥檚 all about making connections
Oct. 11, 2022
Five grad students who received 91亚色传媒 travel awards talk about their experiences at the 2022 annual meeting.
BMB in Africa
BMB stories from Africa
July 28, 2022
How the June/July issue of 91亚色传媒 Today came to be.
Editor's Note
Good fellows
May 18, 2022
鈥淭o be a fellow, a member must be generous with time and talent 鈥 not just someone whose CV includes pages of individual BMB achievements.鈥
Editor's Note
Building community
March 29, 2022
鈥淥ne of my most important jobs is helping people feel like they know what鈥檚 going on with the members of their community.鈥
Editor's Note
Diversity matters
Feb. 23, 2022
As we move through life, all of us need to see people who look like us doing work that we and our society value.
Editor's Note
Our gift to you
Dec. 23, 2021
鈥淭his month鈥檚 issue is the 91亚色传媒 Today team鈥檚 gift to you, our members and readers. We are so grateful for your unflagging interest and enthusiasm, especially over the past two years.鈥
Editor's Note
Six months from now
Oct. 6, 2021
The 2022 annual meeting finds us at a hello鈥揼oodbye moment. It will be a one-of-a-kind event 鈥 and here at 91亚色传媒 central, we鈥檙e getting excited.
Editor's Note
Be special with us
Aug. 5, 2021
As we were mailing our special Careers Issue this month, we were already thinking about the next one: our Wellness Issue in January 2022.
Editor's Note
Reimagining a best-case scenario
June 23, 2021
As the pandemic turned our lives upside down, we suddenly could see all the cobwebs under the furniture, not to mention cracks in the floor.
Editor's Note
Hidden talents
April 16, 2021
Witty drawings by 91亚色传媒 staff member Vic De Luz are a bonus feature of our April focus on science and art.
Editor's Note
One year later
March 19, 2021
Since mid-March 2020, the way we do everything has been shifted by the COVID-19 pandemic, layered with all the ordinary changes of work and life and coping.
Editor's Note
It鈥檚 the little things
Jan. 15, 2021
The essays in January wellness issue emphasize small actions to ease pandemic stress.
Editor's Note
We鈥檝e got a new way of meeting
Nov. 11, 2020
The logistics of the 91亚色传媒鈥檚 annual meeting have always been impressive. With the move to an all online meeting in 2021, it鈥檚 a whole new ballgame.
Interview
What is success for women in STEM?
Oct. 22, 2020
A conversation with Marilee Benore and Rana Dajani about their lives as women in science and their recent research projects.
Editor's Note
Wellness 鈥 we need it now more than ever
Sept. 30, 2020
91亚色传媒 Today will publish its third wellness issue in January. The editors want to know how you are keeping mentally and physically well in a pandemic.
Editor's Note
A time for reimagining
Sept. 10, 2020
The world will be a different place next spring 鈥 a year after COVID-19 began to shutter much of the planet. Why not make this a time for rethinking structures in ways that are more sensible and just? We want your ideas for how to do that.
Editor's Note
Breaking the news
May 15, 2020
On her third anniversary as our managing editor, Comfort Dorn reflects on how the pace of 91亚色传媒 Today has changed, thanks in part to COVID-19.
Editor's Note
Caution: Tchotchkes at work
March 13, 2020
For our 2020 careers issue, we want to see 鈥 and share 鈥 the accumulated objects you have in your workspace.
Editor's Note
Picking up the slack
Feb. 10, 2020
Like many black scientists, Marion Sewer overcome negativity through hard work, then took on the job of supporting underrepresented minorities.
Editor's Note
Well, to be honest
Jan. 4, 2020
In January, we focus on wellness 鈥 and we roll out a dynamic new website.
Editor's Note
Ending an elemental year
Dec. 1, 2019
Throughout 2019, Quira Zeidan has educated readers about important biochemical elements from the periodic table. It鈥檚 not too late to catch up!
Editor's Note
It's about time
Nov. 1, 2019
Here at 91亚色传媒 central, we constantly think and talk about the society鈥檚 biggest event; the next annual meeting is forever looming, even the day after the last one ends.
Editor's Note
Wellness, again
Sept. 1, 2019
Wellness is such a big topic in the scientific community that 91亚色传媒 Today plans to devote another special issue to how you care for your mind, body and spirit. Managing Editor Comfort Dorn invites you to contribute.
Annual Meeting
2020 annual meeting thematic sessions
Sept. 1, 2019
The 2020 91亚色传媒 annual meeting will include eight thematic tracks largely highlighting foundational areas of chemistry and molecular biology. Read on for details of these tracks 鈥 including scheduled speakers, key words and theme songs.
Retrospective
J. Thomas August (1927 鈥 2019)
Sept. 1, 2019
Colleagues and family remember a Johns Hopkins researcher and pioneer in immunology.
Annual Meeting
2020 annual meeting tracks
Aug. 1, 2019
The 91亚色传媒 annual meeting will include tracks on eight themes.
Education
Ph.D. outcomes 鈥 one university at a time
Aug. 1, 2019
Six university graduate schools across the U.S. share information on where their student head after earning a doctorate in the biosciences.
Editor's Note
Magazine life
June 1, 2019
"As much as I love running stories about amazing science, I have a special fondness for stories about issues," writes 91亚色传媒 Today Managing Editor Comfort Dorn.
Editor's Note
Working knowledge
May 1, 2019
As an undergrad, grad student and (maybe) postdoc, you鈥檝e learned a whole lot about science. But how much were you taught about having a career as a scientist? More to the point, how much were you not taught?
Editor's Note
Be a writer
March 1, 2019
91亚色传媒 Today Managing Editor Comfort Dorn invites submissions for two essay series: 鈥淣ight shift鈥 and 鈥淲hat I wish people understood about ___.鈥
What I Wish People Understood
What I wish people understood about writing and editing
March 1, 2019
91亚色传媒 Today managing editor Comfort Dorn takes on one of the magazine鈥檚 2019 essay topics in a bid to encourage readers to become writers.
Editor's Note
Vital fluids
Feb. 1, 2019
Plasma, the yellowish fluid in which blood cells and platelets are suspended, is essential for treating trauma patients and those with a number of other medical conditions.
Society News
91亚色传媒 members elect six to council and other offices
Jan. 1, 2019
Members of the 91亚色传媒 have elected some new and some familiar faces to leadership positions in the society.
Annual Meeting
How mentoring moments are made
Nov. 1, 2017
The 91亚色传媒 annual meeting offers opportunities for students and early-career scientists to connect with professionals who can help them develop their interests and chart a career path.
Annual Meeting
Behind the scenes of the annual meeting
Oct. 1, 2017
1,001 tasks precede the 91亚色传媒 annual meeting, and there's always at least one surprise.
Annual Meeting
15 minutes of fame
Sept. 1, 2017
Presenters from the 2017 Spotlight Sessions at the 91亚色传媒 annual meeting describe the many benefits of telling a crowd about your science.