In 2020, PLOS ONE announced a Call for Papers on Modeling Cell Proliferation and the Cell Microenvironment. This week, we celebrate the launch of this collection, which includes a number of papers offering new insights into this vital topic. Understanding the cellular microenvironment and how cells proliferate has a number of useful applications, and this collection showcases the breadth of this research area. We are immensely grateful to Guest Editors Aurélie Carlier (Maastricht University), Ravi Iyengar (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), Padmini Rangamani (University of California, San Diego) and Vivek Shenoy (University of Pennsylvania), who were instrumental in curating this collection at PLOS ONE.
Bacterial biofilms are present in many different environments, and are important to understand both in order to utilize their properties as well as combating them in problematic settings. Jin and Marshall extend an existing model of biofilm formation to study for the first time how the fimbrial force and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) flow affect the growth of biofilms. The model incorporates both continuous elements, for modeling the water and EPS, and discrete elements, for modeling the interaction between individual cells. They find that the total cell number is a main driver for colony morphology, and the findings are in good agreement with existing experimental work. The study concludes that the ultimate structure of a bacterial colony is dependent on the interaction of the opposing effects of cell drag from EPS production and the fimbrial force.
The forces that are exerted by cells play a major role in the mechanisms by which cancer metastasis, angiogenesis and other processes operate. Hervas-Rayul and colleagues explore cell surface traction through an experimental study followed by solving the inverse problem iteratively using a finite element model. The model utilizes the displacement field for 3D traction force microscopy as an input for the inverse problem solver. In this way, this study provides a concrete link between experimental and modeling work in the field, and can be applied to any material and geometry.
The shape of a cell is influenced both by its cytoskeleton and the surrounding environment. In a new study, Eroumé and colleagues model the effect of cell shape on cell polarization, specifically by studying how cell shape influences Cdc42 patterns. They find that cell shape and aspect ratio both influence Cdc42 patterns, and that some of these influences are non-intuitive. They find evidence for ‘reverse polarization’ in which the maximal Cdc42 concentration can shift in the direction opposite the initial polarization gradient. Their results call for future experimental validation of the predictions that come out of this work.
Metastasis can arise when circulating tumor cells are transported through the bloodstream to a new secondary location. Understanding how this process works can aid the development of various therapies that block the transport of these circulating tumor cells both as single cells and as clusters. In an effort to study these processes in more detail, Marrella and colleagues have developed a microfluidic device which mimics the wall shear stress experienced in the human vascular system. The device is 3D-printed using a biocompatible photopolymer resin, and their investigations show how increasing wall shear stress can influence morphology and disaggregation of cell clusters.
Uncontrolled cell proliferation is a major factor in tumor growth and progression of colorectal cancer. Vundavilli and colleagues present new results on the underlying mutations that may be influencing colorectal cancer cell proliferation through mathematical and experimental work. They use publicly available gene expression data to identify pathways and mutations that are deregulated in colon cancer, and then apply Boolean modeling to search for drug combinations that may induce cancer cell death.
Taken together, these papers provide new insights into cell signaling, biofilms and cancer metastasis, and provide suggestions for future lines of research within these broader research areas. We will add papers to this collection over time as they are published, so please do keep checking back.
References:
Eroumé K, Vasilevich A, Vermeulen S, de Boer J, Carlier A (2021) On the influence of cell shape on dynamic reaction-diffusion polarization patterns. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0248293. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248293
Hervas-Raluy S, Gomez-Benito MJ, Borau-Zamora C, Cóndor M, Garcia-Aznar JM (2021) A new 3D finite element-based approach for computing cell surface tractions assuming nonlinear conditions. PLoS ONE 16(4): e0249018. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249018
Marrella A, Fedi A, Varani G, Vaccari I, Fato M, Firpo G, et al. (2021) High blood flow shear stress values are associated with circulating tumor cells cluster disaggregation in a multi-channel microfluidic device. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0245536. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245536
Vundavilli H, Datta A, Sima C, Hua J, Lopes R, Bittner M (2021) Targeting oncogenic mutations in colorectal cancer using cryptotanshinone. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0247190. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247190
Image attribution: Ricardo Murga and Rodney Donlan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In 2020, PLOS ONE published a Collection of research articles entitled Plastics in the Environment, submitted to a Call for Papers on this important topic. A year later, we are checking in with some of the authors who are a part of this collection, to hear their thoughts on where this research field is headed, and what all of us can do to support their work.
In this second installment of two, we hear from Lars Hildebrandt (Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon), Bishal Bharadwaj (University of Queensland) and Anton Astner (University of Tennessee, Knoxville). They discuss the importance of open sciences practices to tackle global challenges, sustainable alternatives to plastics in various settings, and the challenges posed by the lack of methodological standards.
What inspired you to want to work in this field? What path did you take to where you are today?
LH: I am inspired by the fact that sound research into environmental particulate plastics, i.e. nano- and microplastics, is extremely demanding analytically on the one hand and highly relevant to society on the other. The social consequences are less abstract than with respect to other chemical-analytical topics. From my point of view, the biggest problems for nano- and microplastics research is the lack of methodological standardization. Consequently, the available studies are hardly comparable. To draw an accurate picture of the real environmental situation, scientists focusing on particulate plastics need to agree on high chemical-analytical and metrological standards. It inspires me to contribute one small piece to this important step: the method that my colleagues and I published in PLOS ONE enables the accurate and metrologically-traceable analysis of trace metals in/on plastic particles. I originally studied Chemistry and Business Studies and entered the field of particulate plastic monitoring through my master thesis. During my PhD thesis at the Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon, I deepened the work and added more aspects to it such as interactions between particulate plastics and trace metals.
BB: After graduating from school in 2001, I proposed my to friends that we do a volunteer cleaning campaign in Ilam (my hometown). We cleaned several places and realized plastic is a menace. It blocks drains and pollutes water sources. This realization motivated us to work against plastic pollution. Then we registered a youth-led NGO with an objective to lobby for a plastic bag ban and work for a clean and green city. Ilam municipality declared a ban on the use of single-use plastic bag in 2010. Other municipalities followed suit. However, the effect was mixed. I was intrigued by the question of ‘why does a plastic ban works in some municipalities and not in others?’ In 2013, SANDEE—a research network in South-Asia, provided a research grant to investigate the question. The study result showed that appropriate policy and its enforcement are key to the effectiveness of the ban. From this study I learned that the ban is helpful but not sufficient to tackle plastic pollution. Working to reduce plastic encouraged me to learn about other aspects of plastic pollution such as the circular economy and behavioural change.
I am inspired by the fact that sound research into environmental particulate plastics, i.e. nano- and microplastics, is extremely demanding analytically on the one hand and highly relevant to society on the other. The social consequences are less abstract than with respect to other chemical-analytical topics.
Lars Hildebrandt
AA: My early life’s first strong impact was in first grade in Elementary School when our General Biology teacher took our class out for a field trip to collect disposed environmental trash in our town. This hands-on experience opened my eyes, and I realized that plastic debris disposed into the environment is not only aesthetically disturbing; it also may pose harm to terrestrial and aquatic habitats, wildlife, and humans. At this point, I started realizing how biodegradable engineered plastics derived from natural resources could help to reduce the environmental impact through pollution. Another part of this sustainable thinking I have experienced through the family-owned sawmill business. The conversion of logs into lumber yields virtually 100% product recovery by utilizing the main products, slabs, and sawdust. This experience instilled in me to learn more about renewable materials and natural resources.
The following education in Forest Products Technology & Management at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (SUAS), Austria biobased materials, improved my sustainable thinking by efficiently converting and utilizing the lignocellulosic materials.
I have learned the crucial steps for successfully conducting research and developing new products by collaborating with companies during this study. An internship at the Center for Renewable Carbon at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), was one element of my overall academic highlights as an undergraduate student from the SUAS, which has paved the way for the joint venture graduate degree between UTK and SUAS for the following years.
In the subsequent years, I have researched as an associate at the Center for Renewable Carbon and the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science (BESS) department at UTK. Under the supervision of Professor Dr. Hayes, I have gained excellent expertise in conducting research, the publication of research results, and collaborating with a team of students, faculty, and staff.
What do you see are the biggest hurdles that we need to overcome in order to tackle plastic pollution in the environment?
LH: A broad understanding is required that we, humanity, have to stop handling giant masses of plastic waste too carelessly and recklessly. Only global attempts to foster real circular economies, wide usage of biodegradable plastics for packaging and omission of persistent plastic products with a very short lifetime can solve the problem. I want to underline that the plastics used for products with short lifetimes should be really biodegradable and not only a “smart marketing trick”. Additionally, we have to find a way to produce them efficiently in terms of resource consumption.
Only global attempts to foster real circular economies, wide usage of biodegradable plastics for packaging and omission of persistent plastic products with a very short lifetime can solve the problem.
Lars Hildebrandt
BB: When I was a kid plastic was not as common as it is today; people used paper pouches, jute bags, iron buckets and wooden chairs. All these things are made of plastic these days. This rapid increase in plastic use with no concrete action is a concern.
We use plastic for short-term convenience, then throw it away for long-term harm. Plastic looks cheap and convenient. But what about the social cost associated with its carbon emission and the environmental damage for centuries? There is a lack of global commitment against plastic pollution. Although diverse sets of programs are under implementation, many of these are local in scale. For instance, bans or levies on single use plastic bag are typically implemented at the municipality level. We do not see any countrywide regulation or agreement at regional level. Is the knowledge that there are micro-plastics in table-salt insufficient to act against plastic pollution at a global level? If so, until when will we be able to ignore this problem? Why are governments allowing this rapid march to common tragedy? We do not have clear answer to so many questions. This poor understanding is a known challenge.
AA: Most important is to understand all phases of the plastic materials’ “life cycle” — from creation to utilization to disposal. Therefore, it is crucial to find new ways to reduce waste and better protect the environment and communities. In this context, scientific research can contribute to understanding the critical aspects of the plastic problem. New technologies and product designs, such as developing novel and environmentally benign biodegradable materials, will also be an inherent part of reducing plastic waste.
In agriculture, plastics are frequently used for the cultivation of plants and to increase crop yields. Plastic mulch films are essential materials for the sustainable production of vegetables and other specialty crops by elevating soil temperatures, conserving soil moisture, controlling weed growth, and providing protection against severe weather impacts. However, polyethylene mulches are the most used conventional mulch film materials and are lacking sustainable disposal methods. Improperly disposed materials form smaller particles through environmental impacts (sunlight, wind) and trigger gradual fragmentation into micro- (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs). These small particles may remain in the soil, be mobilized, and distributed by wind, transported via surface run-off to the aquatic environment posing a severe threat to ecosystems.
In recent years, biodegradable plastic mulches (BDMs) became important in the sustainable production of vegetables and other specialty crops, designed to be inexpensively plowed into the soil, where they will fully biodegrade into carbon dioxide, water, and cell biomass.
Our current research focuses on understanding the implications of biodegradation in the field during and after the growing season, the formation of MPs and NPs, and the fate and impact on terrestrial ecosystems.
What are the areas where you see promise for helping us deal with plastic pollution? Either in the short term or long term?
LH: The research about the presence and toxicity of particulate plastics as well as their interactions with co-pollutants is important since it increases the awareness of plastic pollution in general. However, only the consumers and politics can initiate action by the decisive economic sectors. On the one hand, the products should be designed in a smart way that facilitates recycling, which is definitely possible. On the other hand, we have to streamline the recycling system and expand its capacities – especially in countries with alarmingly low recycling rates and high shares of plastic waste discharged directly into the environment.
We use plastic hundreds of times a day without knowing we used it. What this indicates is that plastic use is deep in our habits and replacing it needs convenient but environmentally friendly substitutes. Finding a substitute is not easy because plastic provides a wide range of advantages to different sectors.
Bishal Bharadwaj
BB: Inaction against plastic pollution is partly contributed to by the poor knowhow about the social cost of plastic use. We use plastic hundreds of times a day without knowing we used it. What this indicates is that plastic use is deep in our habits and replacing it needs convenient but environmentally friendly substitutes. Finding a substitute is not easy because plastic provides a wide range of advantages to different sectors. We need more research in all aspects of these aspects. However, having a substitute is not enough; economic incentives and behavioral measures are equally important to replace plastics in daily life. Therefore, an integrated approach is crucial. An integrated approach demands a collaborative engagement of researchers from different fields. Behavioral science, for instance, may suggest an intervention to change the plastic use behavior whereas chemical engineering can provide insights about the sustainable substitute of plastic. We need industry, policy makers and civil societies to take the innovation from labs to our households.
AA: In many countries worldwide, governments, communities, businesses, academia, and researchers work diligently to find solutions and new ways to tackle our global plastic pollution problem. The short-term actions reach from the reduction of single-use-plastics (banning plastic straws, styrofoam containers), implementing efficient waste collection, and conducting research in terrestrial and marine habitats.
In the long term, it will be required to include all “players” in a joint effort to increase awareness of plastic pollution and its consequences by shifting from typical one-way commodity plastics to more environmentally benign materials such as biodegradable/compostable materials.
For agriculture, in the face of increased interest in organically-grown plants and crops, I see a considerable potential for sustainable-oriented farmers who are also encouraged to employ environmentally friendly farming practices.
How important are open science practices in your field – e.g. data sharing, code sharing, protocols sharing, preprints etc.?
LH: I hold the opinion that open science practices are mandatory in environmental research to maximize its outreach. Ultimately, taxpayers finance most of the work. Thus, access to the results must not be denied to anybody.
This synchronized effort needs open science practices. I am impressed with our open science practice in COVID-19 research and information. The main takeaway from this COVID-19 practice is that open science is crucial to tackling global problems.
Bishal Bharadwaj
BB: Plastic use behavior is a mix of interlinked factors. We cannot tackle plastic pollution only through local action such as municipality bans or product-specific intervention such as targeting plastic straws. These small-scale initiatives are helpful, but plastic has now become a major element of global trade. Therefore, research and collaboration among all concerned stakeholders is necessary. Research from one field will become a steppingstone for other fields to develop a workable solution. For instance, a chemical engineer can use social science on consumer preferences for a bag to find an effective substitute. This synchronized effort needs open science practices. I am impressed with our open science practice in COVID-19 research and information. The main takeaway from this COVID-19 practice is that open science is crucial to tackling global problems.
AA: Data archiving and sharing with the scientific community is an inherent part of conducting successful research. Therefore, data storage and preservation, and publication will be essential. I believe that data sharing can catalyze new collaborations, increase confidence in findings, and serves as a basis for making progress in specific research areas. Our fundamental research area is essential since the detection and characterization of MPs and NPs lack standards. Therefore, data and information exchange are crucial to building on implementing standardized procedures for peer researchers gradually. Furthermore, using a digital object identifier (DOI), data sets are becoming easier to cite and independently discoverable. This “citability” gives researchers credit for their data sets and allows researchers to list them on job, tenure, and promotion applications.
How does interdisciplinarity fuel your work? Do you often collaborate with researchers from other fields or others outside of academia?
LH: Working in an interdisciplinary network fuels the overall impact of research on particulate plastics. For instance, analytical chemists must collaborate with biologists and toxicologists since a risk assessment comprises assessment of the exposure and evaluation of the toxic effects as well as effect levels (e.g. LOEC) of a pollutant. In a larger context, microplastic researchers should also cooperate with social scientists to convey the key messages that can be derived from their specific findings. Even if we massively reduce the global discharges of plastic waste into the environment, the fragmentation of the giant amounts of plastics present in all aquatic compartments will continue. One of these messages could be: Action that we take today to tackle plastic pollution might need decades to “become visible”.
BB: Like other environmental problems, the fight against plastic pollution also requires a) identification of workable solutions and then b) their implementation. Initially I started my journey from civil society where we lobbied for a ban and worked on social mobilization against plastic bags. While working in the environment management section of the Ministry of Local Development I realized the complexities of environmental policies and its implementation. That is why, as a researcher, I tried to answer questions that are helpful for policy makers. However, collaboration between academia, industry, civil society, and governments will expedite the fight against plastic pollution. If policy makers or industry, for instance, identify the knowledge gaps on plastic pollution, then researchers can help to fill them.
AA: Collaboration across different disciplines is crucial in our field of research. In particular, our research areas involve the scientists’ expertise in biosystems and biomolecular engineering, soil physics, polymer science, chemistry, statistics, and nuclear engineering. Our research team regularly interacts and collaborates with researchers within our academic departments across campus. Our particular research also involves collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, focusing on NPs detection in soil by employing Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) techniques. Interdisciplinary research allows the synthesis of ideas and characteristics from many disciplines, developing essential, transferable skills.
Data and information exchange are crucial to building on implementing standardized procedures for peer researchers gradually. Furthermore, using a digital object identifier (DOI), data sets are becoming easier to cite and independently discoverable. This “citability” gives researchers credit for their data sets and allows researchers to list them on job, tenure, and promotion applications.
Anton Astner
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in helping with the efforts to reduce plastic pollution – whether as a researcher or a private citizen? How can the rest of the world support the work that you and your colleagues do?
LH: Every private citizen as a consumer has an impact. If we start being very critical about our own behavior when it comes to single-use plastics and plastic beads in cosmetics, for example, the companies will adapt their practices. Actually, there are many parallels to other topic such as the interlink between meat consumption and animal welfare. Sustainability might be an “overused” word in a way. Nevertheless, it starts with everybody’s (consumer) behavior.
BB: We can contribute in several ways. First, being a responsible consumer, we can make a difference. Using reusable bags will reduce the billions of single-use plastic bags. This behavioral change is possible in many dimensions of our day-to-day life, such as straws and coffee cups. Second, even if it is necessary to use plastic, it does not take much effort to make sure the used plastic enters the recycling process. Thirdly, we can contribute from where we are working. For example, an agriculture scientist can investigate the ways to reduce or replace plastic wrapper for cucumbers. Fourthly, being a responsible human being lets us gather evidence and raise our voices for global treaties against plastic pollution as we are doing for climate change. To summarize, let us take plastic pollution seriously and try our best to fight plastic pollution before it is too late.
AA: An annual amount of eight million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year, and predictions estimate by 2050 that the amount of plastic in the oceans will have more mass than all fish. The consequent reduction of plastic product utilization can avert this concerning prediction by employing reusable shopping bags, opting for clothing made of cellulose, hemp, wool, and other natural fibers, and choosing products packed in natural raw materials such as corn starch or cotton, just to mention a few options.
The consequent reduction of plastic product utilization can avert this concerning prediction by employing reusable shopping bags, opting for clothing made of cellulose, hemp, wool, and other natural fibers, and choosing products packed in natural raw materials such as corn starch or cotton, just to mention a few options.
Anton Astner
As a researcher, I encourage farmers to employ sustainable farming by opting for sustainable plant cultivation using environmentally benign materials such as biodegradable plastics (mulches) to reduce waste. Furthermore, I motivate communities to avoid plastic waste by creating public awareness and implementing recycling practices, e.g., rigorous waste separation.
In recent years, MPs and NPs have received considerable attention regarding fate and pollution to the various environmental compartments. The long-term fate of plastic fragments in the soil is unknown. Our fundamental research aims to understand the life cycle, the ecotoxicological fate of MPs, and NPs for plant and soil organisms in subsurface agroecosystems. The outcome of our research may provide a pathway for current and prospective researchers interested in understanding the implications and fate of MPs and NPs in the terrestrial environment.
About the authors:
Lars Hildebrandt: Lars studied Chemistry and Economics at Kiel University (B.Sc. and M.Sc.). In 2017, his master thesis dealt with microplastics in marine sediments. During his PhD work, which he finished in March 2021 at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, he focused on Nano- and Microplastics as well as the particles’ interactions with trace metals. Currently, he works as a postdoc at the Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon and his research focus is still on environmental particulate plastics as well as trace metals.
Bishal Bharadwaj: Bishal Bharadwaj has worked in environment management and policy for more than a decade. In 2001 Bishal and his friend established an NGO, with the aim to lobby for a ban on plastic bag use and mobilize youth to tackle plastic pollution. Bishal also served in the Government of Nepal, and worked on the Initial Environmental Examination Review committee of Ministry of Local Development and supported drafting of the Environment Friendly Local Governance Framework in 2013. Bishal’s research interests is in the evaluation of environmental policies. He is currently doing PhD at the University of Queensland, where his research aims to understand the influence of decision context on energy access at the subnational regions of Nepal.
Anton Astner: As a native Austrian born in Salzburg, Anton graduated from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (SUAS) in 2009, and with a master’s degree in Natural Resources at the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the Center for Renewable Carbon in 2012. In 2017, he started as a Research Associate in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science (BESS) at the Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee Knoxville, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Douglas Hayes in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with the focus on the formation and dynamics of micro- (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in the agricultural soil environment. In the fall of 2018, he started pursuing a Ph.D. degree at the BESS department in a joint effort with ORNL, investigating the interactions and fate of MPs and NPs in the terrestrial environment.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by contributors are solely those of individual contributors, and not necessarily those of PLOS.
Featured image: Marine debris litters a beach on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands NationalWildlife Refuge, where it washed ashore. (Susan White/USFWS) CC-BY
In 2020, PLOS ONE published a Collection of research entitled Plastics in the Environment, submitted to a Call for Papers on this important topic. A year later, we are checking in with some of the authors who are a part of this collection, to hear their thoughts on where this research field is headed, and what all of us can do to support their work. They discuss their motivations for going into this field in the first place, the importance of reliable data, the collaborative nature of their work, and how recycling might change in the future.
In this first installment of two, we hear from Amanda Laverty (NOAA), Lauge P W Clausen (Technical University of Denmark) and Elisabeth von der Esch (GEOMAR).
What inspired you to want to work in this field? What path did you take to where you are today?
AL: Growing up appreciating the outdoors by way of camping and hiking, I’ve always had a passion for protecting and preserving the environment. Over time, I developed a particular passion for the ocean – likely stemming from my parents’ love for scuba diving. My path wasn’t necessarily linear, but once I discovered that I could go to school to study the ocean, I was all in. Lab research with my undergraduate advisor – and co-author on this paper – Dr. Fred Dobbs, fueled my interest in aquatic microbial ecology and inspired me to attend graduate school. For my master’s thesis, I was determined to incorporate my long-term interest in marine debris with Fred’s background in microbial ecology, and that combination is what ultimately led us to this niche research.
Following graduate school, I headed to Washington, D.C. after receiving Virginia Sea Grant’s John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship — a year-long fellowship that brings approximately 65 post-graduate students from across the United States to the Nation’s Capital to experience the science-policy interface. During my fellowship, I worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program and learned about marine debris prevention, removal, research, emergency response, and regional coordination at the federal level. The fellowship was a pivotal point in my life, and ultimately led me to where I am today.
LPWC: The abundance of plastic pollution in the environment has been a main motivator for why I want to address the issue. Also, being part of the solution to a “real” problem and help solve it is of great motivation to me.
I was raised by passionate biologist and thus my interest for nature was nourished in my childhood. As an adult, I pursued a career as an environmental engineer to help solve the many environmental issues we face. After I graduated, I went into consultancy but returned to academia to pursue a Ph.D. within the field of phytoremediation – studying uptake of pollutants to plants and their use for remediation of contaminated sites. During my Ph.D. I grew more and more interested in the regulatory aspects of environmental management and stakeholder inclusion. Using the blatant cases of plastic pollution and nanomaterials as an outset, I got involved on two large projects, MarinePlastic and Mistra Environmental Nanosafety Phase II, providing funding for a 3-year postdoc position at the Technical University of Denmark exploring the topics.
EvdE: Today I am a Postdoc at GEOMAR and develop sensors to explore the ocean. The path was of course filled with many adventures in chemistry and occasional expeditions. In my PhD at the Technical University of Munich, I chose to work on automating the quantification of microplastic as sometimes the best thing that you can contribute to a problem is reliable data.
Without ‘turning off the tap’ on plastic pollution, we will never be able to adequately address the issue. In order to begin effecting change, efforts should focus on behavior change at the individual, community and industry levels, as well as radical policy change at the state, national, and international levels.
Amanda Laverty
What do you see are the biggest hurdles that we need to overcome in order to tackle plastic pollution in the environment?
AL: In my mind, the biggest hurdle to overcoming plastic pollution in the environment is preventing its accumulation in the first place. Removal and research are unquestionably important pieces of this very complex puzzle, but the issue will undoubtedly persist and intensify without prevention. The NOAA Marine Debris Program has a great analogy for this: if we walked into our home and found that our kitchen sink was overflowing, our first step would be to turn off the faucet – not to begin mopping up the water. Without ‘turning off the tap’ on plastic pollution, we will never be able to adequately address the issue. In order to begin effecting change, efforts should focus on behavior change at the individual, community and industry levels, as well as radical policy change at the state, national, and international levels.
LPWC: The transition to a circular plastic economy will be the main obstacle to overcome. To achieve this, a fundamental change to our society will have to be implemented in a scale that have not been seen before. This includes behavioral changes at all levels of the society (industry, policy and consumer level) but also changes in perception and mindset.
The circular plastic chain is a subtle thing, requiring that one part of the chain deliver services to the next. Failure at one part leads to a break in the chain, making the system fragile. E.g. a producer of a plastic component require a reliable flow of recycled plastics in sufficient quantity and quality to deliver their service to consumers, which must be facilitated by the society. This dependency makes the implementation phase challenging, as implementation at one stage only can be successful when the previous and subsequent steps are mature and ready for the transition.
EvdE: I believe that plastic is essential for our modern world, as there is just no alternative as versatile and cheap as plastic. This is also true for the packaging industry. Here plastic serves as a very lightweight, durable, safe and recyclable solution to keeping products fresh. The problem however arises, when we don’t recycle our plastic and instead deposit it in landfills, form where it can enter the environment in large quantities. Therefore, improving the recycling of polymers is a key hurdle to overcome. Another large source of microplastic in the environment is the abrasion of car tires, which is unfortunately exactly what we want tires to do to provide grip.
In my opinion, we need to stop designing non-recyclable products and we need to factor in the disposal/recycling cost into the price of a product.
Elisabeth von der Esch
What are the areas where you see promise for helping us deal with plastic pollution? Either in the short term or long term?
AL: I see a lot of promise and hope for our future in younger generations. Young people across the globe are taking ownership of our crises, forming innovative solutions, and calling for urgent action in areas such as plastic pollution, climate change, environmental justice, and many others. With impassioned, dedicated, and emboldened youth, I see real promise in dealing with plastic pollution on a global scale. I’m hopeful that we can each do our parts in lifting up and creating space for the next generation of bright young minds to succeed.
LPWC: My research focuses on bridging societal and regulatory needs. I hope to help regulators identify and address important issues related to plastic pollution and the society by pinpointing where changes can or should be implemented. Also, I hope to raise the citizen awareness and stakeholder engagement with respect to plastic pollution and its consequences, thereby preparing the ground for a smooth(er) transition to a circular plastic economy.
EvdE: In my opinion, we need to stop designing non-recyclable products and we need to factor in the disposal/recycling cost into the price of a product. As I worked with yogurt cups in my research, I asked myself why these cups are made from Polyethylene, Polyethylene terephthalate and Polystyrene among other polymers if the function of the cup “keeping yogurt fresh” is the same in all instances. Therefore, I would assume that these polymers are equally suited to the task. The recyclability of these polymers however differs. In instances such as these the more recyclable alternative should always preferred by the manufacturer. Applying this mindset or reevaluation could potentially, among many other advancements, help us get towards a more circular economy.
Sharing knowledge is a fundamental prerequisite for transparency, which again is paramount for trust making and stakeholder engagement. Further, open science is of major importance for reproducibility of science.
Lauge P W Clausen
How important are open science practices in your field – e.g. data sharing, code sharing, protocols sharing, preprints etc.?
AL: Open science practices are extremely important in this field. Open science improves the quality of work, increases the reproducibility of findings by other researchers, promotes collaboration, and builds greater confidence in science overall. Without a solid understanding of how other researchers are conducting experiments and collecting data, comparison of our datasets may be ‘apples to oranges’, ultimately proving of little utility in a broader context, limiting understanding, and creating inefficiencies in resource utilization.
LPWC: In my opinion, the most important thing about open science is that knowledge gets free to everyone – scientists, regulators and not least, the public. Sharing knowledge is a fundamental prerequisite for transparency, which again is paramount for trust making and stakeholder engagement. Further, open science is of major importance for reproducibility of science.
EvdE: Open science is very important to me, as the goal is to solve problems and everyone should be welcome to contribute. Form my experience there is more to research then can ever be achieved by a single person or research group and everyone can benefit from working together on fair and quality controlled terms.
How does interdisciplinarity fuel your work? Do you often collaborate with researchers from other fields or others outside of academia?
AL: The research we published with PLOS ONE included an important collaboration with our coauthors from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute to perform Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Without this collaboration, we would not have had the tools to examine and determine microplastic sample types, which was a vital component of our study.
Though I’ve left my university, I think that if I had decided to pursue a career in academia I would have continued to seek out collaborations with other researchers who could contribute tools, analyses, and varying perspectives that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. Additionally, I would be certain to engage with policy makers at all levels of government in order to help inform research questions that could prove useful in decision making.
LPWC: My research works at the interface of policy and society. It requires a detailed understanding of the regulatory landscape as well as the societal needs and perceptions. As an environmental engineer working within regulatory engineering, I work with social and environmental scientists and sometimes directly with citizens themselves.
EvdE: I love working with colleagues from other fields! They provide different viewpoints and solutions to questions. For me this is a very important source of inspiration and provides excellent learning opportunities.
You might sort all of your recyclables and think you are contributing to the solution, but that does not guarantee that there is a demand for your recycled plastic and that it gets recycled at all, as only a fraction of plastic that could be recycled ends up recycled. This needs to change on a systemic rather than individual level.
Elisabeth von der Esch
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in helping with the efforts to reduce plastic pollution – whether as a researcher or a private citizen? How can the rest of the world support the work that you and your colleagues do?
AL: I would say that each of us play a critical role in the reduction of plastic pollution. It is our job as researchers, global citizens, and change-makers to take responsibility for our actions and their consequences. It is important that we aggressively avoid or limit our use of plastic products, particularly single-use plastics and plastic packaging materials, which contribute to much of the plastic we find in the environment. We can also educate our loved ones, participate in citizen science efforts, and advocate for better policies to help create change beyond our own individual behavior. Solutions to this global issue are challenging and multifaceted, but one thing is certain: our success is hinging on our collective and active participation.
LPWC: My best advice is to be curious. This entails to stay updated and engage actively in the plastic debate – in the media, on online media and in the scientific literature. Raise questions whenever something is unclear and spread the knowledge gained on the platforms available.
EvdE: The best way to change the lifecycle of plastic from production to disposal is for manufacturers to design more sustainable products and manufacturing chains. Therefore, it is important to demand this change, as it seems that the blame for plastic pollution has been more on the consumer side for a long time and has only recently been shifting towards producers. Because even though all plastics have the recycling logo and a number indicating the polymer type that does not mean that they are collected for recycling. You might sort all of your recyclables and think you are contributing to the solution, but that does not guarantee that there is a demand for your recycled plastic and that it gets recycled at all, as only a fraction of plastic that could be recycled ends up recycled. This needs to change on a systemic rather than individual level.
If you are interested in supporting researchers that want to know where the plastic ends up in the environment, you could join a citizen science project. E.g. https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/en/about. And even though it would be best not to make a mess in the first place you could always join a plastic cleanup near you, as every little bit helps.
About the authors:
Amanda Laverty: Amanda Laverty is a budget analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). In her current role, Amanda primarily assists in the development of the annual NOAA NESDIS President’s Budget and works to ensure timely and effective presentation and use of budget information in support of NESDIS performance, goals, and objectives.
Before coming to NOAA, Amanda obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Ocean and Earth Sciences from Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA. She focused her master’s research on plastic pollution as a potential vector for bacteria and human pathogens. Following graduate school, Amanda moved to Washington, D.C. to join the NOAA Marine Debris Program as a 2017 Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. During this time, she served as the lead on developing content for outreach products, supported regional partner planning workshops, and led the zero-waste initiative for the Sixth International Marine Debris Conference, held in March 2018.
Lauge P W Clausen: As a Ph.D. student, Lauge studied plant and soils science, with special focus on uptake of pollutants to plants and the use of plants for remediation purposes of soil and groundwater. As a postdoc he has moved into the field of regulatory engineering, studying regulation of plastics and microplastics and nanomaterials with focus on stakeholder analysis.
Elisabeth von der Esch: Dr. Elisabeth von der Esch completed her PhD in analytical chemistry at the Institute of Hydrochemistry of the Technical University of Munich in 2021. Within her work she combined reference material production, statistical sample size reduction and image analysis to enable the development of a Raman Microscopy based automated quantification of microplastic. Based on her interest in automation of analytical chemistry she joined the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, to develop sensors for biogeochemical parameters in the ocean.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by contributors are solely those of individual contributors, and not necessarily those of PLOS.
Disclaimer from Amanda Laverty: All views and opinions expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of her employer.
Disclaimer from Elisabeth von der Esch: All views and opinions expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of her employer.
Featured image: Marine debris litters a beach on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, where it washed ashore. (Susan White/USFWS) CC-BY
In February 2020, PLOS published a Collection entitled “Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Disease Dynamics” which includes papers from PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology and PLOS Computational Biology, on a variety of topics relevant to the modeling of infectious diseases, such as disease spread, vaccination strategies and parameter estimation. As the world grappled with the effects of COVID-19 this year, the importance of accurate infectious disease modeling has become apparent. We therefore invited a few authors featured in the Collection to give their perspectives on their research during this global pandemic. We caught up with Verrah Otiende (independent researcher, Pan African University Institute of Basic Sciences Technology and Innovation), Lauren White (USAID), Jess Liebig (CSIRO) and Johnny Whitman (The Ohio State University) to hear their reflections on this collection and the time that has passed.
In this second blog post of two, we hear from Jess Liebig and Johnny Whitman, who discuss the modeling of human movement, the assumptions that go into creating a model, the virtue of simpler models, and the importance of understanding under-reporting in disease modeling.
What is your research focused on currently?
JL: Since September 2017 I am part of CSIRO’s DiMeMo (Disease Networks and Mobility) team. The aim of DiNeMo is to understand how human infectious diseases might arrive and spread in Australia. We analyse various sources of data and identify patterns of people movement both internationally and domestically in order to forecast the risk of disease spread. Initially I worked on modelling dengue importations via air travel. However, since the beginning of the pandemic the focus of my work has shifted to COVID-19. I am currently studying the effects of international travel restrictions on COVID-19 importation risk. The results of this study shed light onto how many importations a country can expect when opening its borders and can guide authorities in making decisions.
JW: My research is currently split between two main thrusts: the first is a collaboration with Battelle Memorial Institute, working on comparisons of codon usage in certain classes of proteins. The second is investigating methods of identifying parameters in biological signaling networks using the supercomputing cluster at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Finally, I am finishing my PhD this spring semester and my current research for that deals with the design and verification of biological circuits for intracellular signaling, as well as developing methods to coarse-grain out complicated host-virus interactions in simulations of dendritic and epithelial cells.
We analyse various sources of data and identify patterns of people movement both internationally and domestically in order to forecast the risk of disease spread.
Jess Liebig
What do you think are the lessons we can learn from the research in your field which will help us to better model infectious diseases in the future?
JL: We need high quality datasets to accurately model the spread of infectious diseases. In reality, the datasets that are accessible for researchers are often biased, incomplete and erroneous. While the process of data collection can be tedious and expensive it can add much value to the research community when done in an organised and purposeful manner.
JW: A trend in current modeling is to hyperfocus on fitting parameters in a model in order to precisely match available data; with advances in artificial intelligence and neural networks, researchers are quick to use these overparameterization models to get very good fits to the data. I would argue that we should instead focus on identifying important qualitative features of data or populations – a difficult and careful human process – and implementing simpler models around these features. To be concrete, if a complex model of American COVID-19 cases from January to May fits the data extremely well, but offers 500 parameters to change to predict future behavior, it is very difficult to make any form of meaningful prediction or understanding of what the model is actually saying about the underlying population, whereas a simpler model with directly interpretable parameters may perform worse quantitatively, but be much more expressive overall.
I think the pandemic has (or should have) focused researchers more on making observations in real populations and taking note of how real behavior patterns can make fundamental difference in model predictions.
Johnny Whitman
Have your motivations, direction or the way you conduct or disseminate your research changed in 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, either for yourself or the field as a whole?
JL: My work is motivated by several studies that have shown that the structure of the global air transport network as well as the increasing volume of international travellers has contributed to the large-scale spread of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unpalatable reminder of human movement being able to rapidly spread a disease across the globe. While the motivation and direction of my work has been reinforced as a consequence of the pandemic, there have been changes to the way I disseminate my research. With travel restrictions and lockdowns in place, conferences, research meetings etc. have moved online, giving rise to new challenges. For example, it can be more difficult to clearly communicate your ideas to collaborators in a teleconference as opposed to a face-to-face meeting. What I find particularly challenging is to give online presentations where you cannot see the reaction of your audience.
JW: I think the pandemic has (or should have) focused researchers more on making observations in real populations and taking note of how real behavior patterns can make fundamental difference in model predictions. A simple example is a very good group at the University of Illinois put together an intricate and well-thought out model, which ultimately failed. The failure was due to not including the possibility that a contagious individual who knew they were contagious would continue to be social. Clearly, they are not at fault for using a rational actor assumption, but the lesson is that we should always remain grounded in the people and phenomenon we model if we hope to make any progress.
It is very important to understand what exactly these assumptions are and how they affect the results of the modelling study. Any conclusions have to be drawn carefully, taking into consideration the set of assumptions that were made.
Lauren White
If there was one thing you wished that the general public understood better about modeling infectious diseases, what would that be?
JL: Naturally, when modelling the spread of infectious disease (or any other process), scientists have to make certain assumptions due to incomplete data and knowledge gaps. It is very important to understand what exactly these assumptions are and how they affect the results of the modelling study. Any conclusions have to be drawn carefully, taking into consideration the set of assumptions that were made.
JW: Partially due to the manner in which models are presented to the public and also how researchers have positioned their work, I think that the public believes that models are intended to exactly predict the course of a disease. Rather, I wish we collectively understood the role of modeling more as a probe into the possibilities of a system; I would never trust a model to truly predict the number of COVID cases, but they can give us the possibilities of recurrent infection waves, how the dynamics depend on observable parameters like recovery time and incubation period, and other broad qualitative features that can influence public health decisions. A more technical wish would be that the public understood model predictions in the same sense that they understand weather predictions; most complex systems modeling is stochastic in some sense, so I would prefer that reporting on modeling emphasized the possibilities of events more than definitive statements. We’ve seen public support unnecessarily erode due to unrealized model predictions, and I think this could be avoided if communication was clearer.
Are there any unanswered research questions in this field that you would really like to see us make progress on?
JL: A key ingredient to modelling the spread of infectious disease is the incidence rate. Unfortunately, the incidence of most infectious diseases is under-estimated, which is due to under-reporting and under-ascertainment. Under-reporting refers to positive disease cases not being reported, for example due to mis-diagnosis. Under-ascertainment occurs when infected individuals do not report to a health professional, for example due to the absence of symptoms. Reporting and ascertainment rates vary across time and space and depend on the disease itself. A model that requires incidence rates as input can only be accurate if we have a good understanding of the level of under-estimation surrounding the incidence rates. Unfortunately, current techniques for determining the level of under-estimation are time consuming, expensive and often biased.
JW: The physics background in me would like to see a more general study of disease modeling in the spirit of field theory models; due to the much simpler nature of interactions in theoretical physics problems, we have done a careful and systematic investigation of how essentially every class of interaction type affects the macroscopic behavior of the model, e.g. if there is some symmetry, what types of particles are allowed, if this interaction is strong, it suppresses that behavior. I would like to see a similar-minded effort in disease modeling, so that researchers in this community build up a common base of tools and understanding. As it stands, the field is so fragmented in terminology and approach that it is difficult to quickly agree about what the setup of a problem is, much less the implications of the model.
About the authors:
Jess Liebig: Jessica Liebig is a postdoctoral fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency. She received a BSc(Hons) and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from RMIT University in 2013 and 2017, respectively. Her primary research interest lies in the area of network science and is directed towards the study of infectious disease spread. She is part of CSIRO’s Disease Networks and Mobility (DiNeMo) project, an interdisciplinary research initiative that aims to understand how human infectious diseases might arrive and spread in Australia. As part of her work she identifies patterns of people movement, both internationally and domestically, to forecast the risk of disease spread.
Johnny Whitman: John Whitman graduated from the University of Illinois in 2016, and is currently finishing his PhD in Physics at The Ohio State University with Prof. Ciriyam Jayaprakash. His research interests include stochastic modeling of systems at all scales, from intracellular signaling pathways to large scale population epidemiological modeling. He is most interested in problems which exhibit some form of complexity, since he really enjoys scientific programming and visualization/animation of processes.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by contributors are solely those of individual contributors, and not necessarily those of PLOS.
In February 2020, PLOS published a Collection entitled “Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Disease Dynamics” which includes papers from PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology and PLOS Computational Biology, on a variety of topics relevant to the modeling of infectious disease, such as disease spread, vaccination strategies and parameter estimation. As the world grappled with the effects of COVID-19 this year, the importance of accurate infectious disease modeling has become apparent. We therefore invited a few authors featured in the Collection to give their perspectives on their research during this global pandemic. We caught up with Verrah Otiende (independent researcher, Pan African University Institute of Basic Sciences Technology and Innovation), Lauren White (USAID), Jess Liebig (CSIRO) and Johnny Whitman (The Ohio State University) to hear their reflections on this collection and the time that has passed.
In this first blog post of a set of two, we hear from Verrah Otiende and Lauren White, who discuss the modeling of other infectious diseases such as HIV and TB during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of good data, the increasing focus of incorporating human behavior in disease models, and more. Please check back in a couple of weeks for the next installment of this blog post series.
What is your research focused on currently?
VO: Currently, I am independently researching the spatiotemporal patterns of successful TB treatment outcomes for HIV co-infected cases in Kenya. The motivation of this study is mainly the convergence of TB and HIV epidemics that threatens the management of TB treatment. This is evidenced by various spatial studies that have described how HIV co-infection propagates unsuccessful TB treatment outcomes. I am using the Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling approach to generate the estimates for each of the 47 counties of Kenya. These estimates will help identify the high-risk counties with successful TB treatment outcomes and deliberately prioritize other counties with an increased risk of unsuccessful treatment outcomes.
I believe that we will continue to improve disease models as we learn more about the ways that individual contact patterns, behaviors, and immune responses affect epidemics.
Lauren White
LW: I am a quantitative disease ecologist interested in developing and improving mathematical models of disease to assist in prediction and prevention of emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases in the context of rapidly changing, human-impacted environments. The overall objective of my research is to explore the effects of heterogeneity in behavioral and immune competence on disease modeling predictions within and across populations. I use mathematical modelling approaches, integrated with empirical data, to explore three different types of heterogeneity that can alter individual transmission rates: (i) within-host heterogeneity; (ii) contact heterogeneity and group structure within populations; and (iii) spatial heterogeneity across landscapes. My work also has broader implications for understanding human disease risk within the One Health framework, which includes human, animal, and environmental health.
What do you think are the lessons we can learn from the research in your field which will help us to better model infectious diseases in the future?
VO: Applying Bayesian algorithms to modeling multiple related infectious diseases is critical for quantifying both the joint and disease-specific risk estimates. The flexibility and informative outputs of Bayesian Hierarchical Models play a key role in clustering the geographical risk areas over a given time period. This would further provide additional insights towards the collaborative monitoring of the diseases and facilitate the comparative benefit obtained across the disease populations.
LW: Before this year, “superspreader” was considered a technical term, but COVID-19 has really highlighted the role of individual behavior in community spread. I believe that we will continue to improve disease models as we learn more about the ways that individual contact patterns, behaviors, and immune responses affect epidemics. These are still very open questions, especially for less-studied livestock and wildlife, host-pathogen systems.
It is critical not to ignore other life-threatening infectious diseases while working towards managing COVID-19.
Verrah Otiende
Have your motivations, direction or the way you conduct or disseminate your research changed in 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, either for yourself or the field as a whole?
VO: I am still enthusiastic about conducting and disseminating research work on infectious diseases. The direction has changed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during dissemination. But the most positive effect of this change was reaching a wider audience virtually than I have ever thought of.
On case notifications, my worry is on underreporting and data capture processes of other infectious diseases since most efforts have been directed towards controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19. Probably the non-pharmaceutical practices like physical distancing and lockdowns have kept some infectious diseases from spreading for now but there is still a vacuum for certain diseases to rebound and spread which could have much more severe consequences to millions of humans for a very long time. It is critical not to ignore other life-threatening infectious diseases while working towards managing COVID-19.
LW: I have just recently started a position through the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship program. This means that I am spending less time researching questions around COVID-19 directly but learning a lot more about program planning and implementation, as well as the effects of COVID-19 on other public health efforts like epidemic control for HIV/AIDS. This is an important career opportunity for me to see what makes science actionable and useful for stakeholders, policymakers, and other end users.
Disease models are only as good as the information or data that we put into them—often times in new situations we end up using “best guesses.”
Lauren White
If there was one thing you wished that the general public understood better about modeling infectious diseases, what would that be?
VO: Modeling the joint dynamics of infectious diseases and human behavior is fundamental in understanding and quantifying the risks and effects associated with their global spread.
LW: COVID-19 has highlighted some confusion in how disease models are used for decision making. Disease models come in many types, but especially those that aim to predict or forecast the future function as thought experiments, not as written-in-stone prophecies. Disease models are only as good as the information or data that we put into them—often times in new situations we end up using “best guesses.” As our information and estimates improve, so can the accuracy of our models. This is not, by default, bad science; it simply reflects an iterative process.
It is also important to note that sometimes models can show as the worst case or “do nothing” scenario. Again, such an outcome is not a forgone conclusion. Public health interventions can help us do better. So better outcomes are not necessarily a failure of modeling or an overreaction to an epidemic, rather they are an indication that we, as a society, are doing something right.
Are there any unanswered research questions in this field that you would really like to see us make progress on?
VO: Numerous unanswered research questions would be of interest to progress on. A quick one that comes to my mind would be incorporating human behavior in the spatiotemporal joint modeling of infectious diseases to understand the possible effects of such behavior. This would require rich behavioural datasets and developing unsupervised ML algorithms to automate and predict the risks of joint infections over spatial and temporal dimensions.
LW: There will always be more to discover with regards to infectious diseases, but I actually think that the most pressing question is how we, as a scientific community, will do a better job in this current crisis and during future epidemics. I have faith that we will be able to answer research questions as they arise, and in fact, we have increased our understanding of a completely novel pathogen incredibly quickly. But we need to think more critically about how we are communicating results and making our work actionable: How do we maintain and build trust in a climate where scientific expertise itself is controversial? How can we better engage with the communities that we live in and serve? Are we communicating results thoughtfully and responsibly? These are by no means “new” or “novel” research questions, but COVID-19 has starkly highlighted their importance.
About the authors:
Verrah Otiende: My name is Verrah Otiende and I am a statistician and an ML enthusiast with proven expertise in data governance concepts and using Big Data platforms to efficiently store and manage large amounts of data. I am an independent researcher and currently working on building, evaluating, and integrating predictive models on infectious disease case notifications using unsupervised ML algorithms to optimize intervention options and public health decisions. Besides infectious disease modeling, I am also working on the Named Entity Recognition (NER) datasets to build translation models for African languages through the MASAKHANE research initiative for Natural Language Processing (NLP).
Lauren White: Dr. Lauren White is a first year AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Office of HIV/AIDS in USAID. Dr. White has a background in infectious disease modeling and epidemiology with an interest in the intersections of human, animal, and environmental health. Most recently, she worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) at the University of Maryland. Dr. White finished her Ph.D. in 2018 at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by contributors are solely those of individual contributors, and not necessarily those of PLOS.
Disclaimer from Lauren White: The views in this interview are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of USAID, PEPFAR, or the United States Government.
PLOS ONE is delighted to announce a Collection entitled Open Soft Robotics Research. This Collection consists of research articles submitted to a 2019-2020 Call for Papers on the same topic. As the Collection launches today, it consists of six research articles, while two reviews will be added at a later stage.
Largely inspired by the way many living organisms move and adapt their shape to their surroundings, soft robots have been designed and constructed with compliant, deformable and variable-stiffness materials, sensors and actuators. Biomimicry has allowed soft robots to acquire novel features such as stretchability, growth, morphing, self-reconfigurability, self-healing and edibility. Their impact has grown in a variety of sectors, from search and rescue and exploration, to rehabilitation medicine, surgery, prostheses and exoskeletons, as well as various applications that improve wellness and quality of life.
The papers published today present several exciting aspects of the latest research on the topic of soft robotics. Two papers touch on 3D printing, one for printing surgical devices [1], and one for cores [2] which can be used in a variety of applications. A second set of papers intersect with medicine, in that they provide methods for fabricating prosthetic hands [3] and artificial muscles [4], respectively. Lastly, two of the papers utilise dynamic modelling, one for dielectric elastomer actuators [5] and one for soft continuum manipulators [6]. Taken together, these papers present a fascinating snapshot of the state-of-the-art within soft robotics research.
This Collection was curated by a dedicated team of Guest Editors: Guoying Gu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Aslan Miriyev (EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), Lucia Beccai, (IIT, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), Matteo Cianchetti (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, School of Advanced Studies Pisa), Barbara Mazzolai (IIT, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) and Dana D. Damian (University of Sheffield).
We invite you to explore the Collection starting today, and encourage you to check back in for more Open Soft Robotics Research in PLOS ONE.
References:
[1] Culmone C, Henselmans PWJ, van Starkenburg RIB, Breedveld P (2020) Exploring non-assembly 3D printing for novel compliant surgical devices. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232952. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232952
[2] Preechayasomboon P, Rombokas E (2020) Negshell casting: 3D-printed structured and sacrificial cores for soft robot fabrication. PLoS ONE 15(6): e0234354. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234354
[3] Mohammadi A, Lavranos J, Zhou H, Mutlu R, Alici G, Tan Y, et al. (2020) A practical 3D-printed soft robotic prosthetic hand with multi-articulating capabilities. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232766. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232766
[4] Harjo M, Järvekülg M, Tamm T, Otero TF, Kiefer R (2020) Concept of an artificial muscle design on polypyrrole nanofiber scaffolds. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232851. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232851
[6] Tariverdi A, Venkiteswaran VK, Martinsen ØG, Elle OJ, Tørresen J, Misra S (2020) Dynamic modeling of soft continuum manipulators using lie group variational integration. PLoS ONE 15(7): e0236121. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236121
FeaturedImage credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of EngineeringCC-BY 2.0
