I was very disappointed when I saw that they published with MDPI. As a biochemist, I have never cited a research article from MDPI, and would never have chosen to publish with them. Many of their journals have a poor reputation. But hey, I left academia immediately after my PhD (do I know what I’m not talking about? Probably more than some, but definitely much less than many). I haven’t been in the research sphere in the past three years, so who knows, maybe word of the ground has changed. Anyway, I did some digging to see if I can regain peace of mind. I used info gleaned from the published paper. Sharing here what I found on publicly available info on some of the authors and my thoughts.
Desmond Li is the first author of the paper. Was Senior Research Scientist at BCAL for 3.5 years; Now Senior Technical Officer at University of Sydney. The first author is usually the one that contributed the most to the paper. Completed his PhD in Pathology at UniSyd in 2019 but left academia immediately, spent most of his time at BCal. Wasn't a research lead at any point. Is now a lab manager at UniSyd, a role that typically requires only a degree. Probably not the brain behind this research. Substantial contribution would probably be in terms of the experimental bench work.
Amani Batarseh is the last author of the paper, which means she probably was the most involved supervisor. Was Chief Scientific Officer at BCAL for 5 years; Now an "Expert" at Hatch Quarter, a company specialising in startups. Phd in Biochemistry from Georgetown Uni in 2010, then Postdoc for 2 years at Harvard Medical School, then Postdoc fellow for lipidomics study for 2 years at McGill Uni, Associate Research Fellow for 2 years at Uni of Wollongong, then Chief Scientific Officer at BCal till 2024. Was a protein biochemist during her PhD and couple of years after, then pivoted into mass spec for lipidomics more recently with 3 publications, so not much publication track record. Looks like important cog in this wheel because of her broad experience, probably a massive loss for BCAL that she’s moved on.
David A Peake, USA Scientific Lead, Technology Transfer, BCAL. Probably “The mass spec guy” for BCAL. Completed a PhD in analytic chemistry in 1986. Has codeveloped mass spec software before. Mass spec scientist for Procter and Gamble for 5 years. Developed assays for Eli Lilly for 12 years. Mass spec expert at Thermo Fisher for 9 years. This guy truly knows his shit. Lipidomics mass spec expert for BCal.
John Hurrell, Non-executive Director and Consultant for BCAL. What I’d call the “money guy”. Looks like the chief reason he's listed as the supervisor is because he brought in funding (common occurrence in academia). He hasn't been a research for a long time. He does have a PhD, and was a Fulbright Fellow, but is now fully focused in executive leadership roles.
Simon Preston, Director of Clinical Research, BCAL. Completed a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at UniMelb in 2017. Prolific publisher. Involved in 29 papers since 2011 (13 years). Madness. Weirdly enough, none of his research has anything to do with cancer, mass spec, or lipidomics. Became an Operations Manager of a tiny pharma company for 3 years up till 2023. Picked up some finance skills and was an investment analyst for 1 year for early stage bio startups. Rose up to director of operations there, then left after 3 months in the role (Huhh??). Don’t know what the heck happened there. Was a self-employed biotech consultant for 1 year (probably some made-up shit to make the 1 year gap sound good, but hey he probably deserves his holiday after a career track record like that), then got hired by BCAL in current role. Not sure what to make of him in this role. Prolific individual, executive skills not proven, but young senior execs bring with them energy and aspirations to grow.
Fatemeh Vafaee, Associate Professor, School of Biotech and Biomolecular Sciences, Uni of New South Wales. Completed PhD in Computer Science, AI at Uni of Illinois, Chicago in 2011. Highly accomplished with extensive publications. Was Deputy Director at UNSW Data Science Hub.F ounding CEO of OmniOmics, which provided expertise on the data and stats front. My guess is Forrest Koch (Honours qualification in statistics), another author on the paper and also from OmniOmics, did most of the stat/data analysis and Fatemeh gave it a thumbs up. She’s one of the few I’m glad to see as an author on this paper.
Dana Pascovici. Was a self-employed biostatistician that consulted for BCAL; Now a research scientist at CSIRO. Has a PhD in Mathematics from MIT in 2000, completed a postgrad certificate in bioinformatics after that. Obviously a smart cookie and also lotsa experience (>10 years) as a biostatistician. Suggests the statistical analysis used in this study would be appropriate. Another one I’m happy to see as an author on this paper.
Bruce Mann. After completing Medicine studies, he did a PhD in Cancer Genetics. Has led clinical trials. Specialist breast surgeon. Director of the Combined Royal Melbourne Hospital and Women’s Breast Service in 2007, and the Director of the VCCC Breast Tumour Stream in 2016. Director of Research at Breast Cancer Trials. David Speakman. Practicing clinician at Breast and Melanoma and Skin services. Has received Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). These two are what I’d call the “Breast Cancer guys” of this team; they probably gave their two cents worth to the paper, nothing more. But happy that both are giving credibility to this research.
David Darling. Retired. Advisor to BCAL.Not one of the authors of this paper, but paper acknowledged that he contributed during the writing and revisions process. Extensive career in development, growth, and international commercialisation of start-up and young companies. Took Pacific Edge (bladder cancer diagnostic tests) from a start-up to listed company with a market cap of ust over $1 billion (share price plunged after he retired because the test was no longer insured in the US).
