BioLinks Scientific Research Journal Club
BioLinks is a free virtual scientific journal club for high school students with the goal of building interest in biological research through understanding scientific literature.
Each weeklong journal club will be based around a recent research paper. During the journal club you will:
⁃ Learn strategies for comprehending research papers
⁃ Dive deep into complex biological topics
⁃ Understand some of the key techniques used by cellular/molecular biologists in the lab today
⁃ Make connections with topics learnt at the high school level
I would recommend at least a year of introductory high school Biology for participation in BioLinks. However, anyone is welcome.
'I highly recommend BioLinks to any student interested in furthering their knowledge of biology. I not only learned a lot each week, I also enjoyed the journal clubs because of the engaging subject matter and low-stress environment!'
— BioLinks Student
Format
Pre-Journal Club
15-20 minute long introductory reading
Saturday
1 hour initial zoom meeting to get introduced to the paper, learn content and ask some questions
Between Saturday and Monday
1hr independent, asynchronous work completed on each participant's own schedule, involving reading parts of the paper, interpreting figures, and answering some questions
Monday (optional)
1 hour final zoom to ask more questions and discuss the paper further
NOTE: Zooms will only be on Saturdays of the week*, independent work can be completed at any time between then.
Each journal club is completely independent, and participants should feel free to sign up to any/multiple journal clubs of their choice. All material for independent work and non-interactive parts of the zoom meetings will be available online if participants need to catch up.
See the schedule below for Summer 2025 (all times in EST):
May 17th (3-4pm) - May 19th (3-4pm optional)
June 14th (3-4pm) - June 16th (3 -4pm optional)
June 21st (3—4pm) - June 23rd (3-4pm optional)
June 28th (3-4pm) - June 30th (3-4pm optional)
July 12th (3-4pm) - July 14th (3-4pm optional)
July 19th (3-4pm) - July 21st (3-4pm optional)
July 26 (3-4pm) - July 28th (3-4pm optional)