Saimas Sidik
Saima Sidik’s path through science began during her bachelor’s degree at McGill University, where she spent hours sorting fruit flies with a paintbrush to breed mutations in genes encoding ion channels. After graduating, Saima used her knowledge of genetics to help ocean ecologists map marine food webs. Saima has always been fascinated by the little things in life, so she turned to studying microbes, first as a master’s student at Dalhousie University where she worked with the dysentery-inducing bacterium Shigella, then as a research associate at the Whitehead Institute where she studied the beautiful cell biology of a parasite called Toxoplasma. Blogging about microbiology, medical research, and natural history as well as writing for the MIT Biology website convinced Saima that she wanted to tell science stories full-time, and this led her to join the GPSW. She wants to explore all types of science writing, but she’s especially interested in ecology and earth science.
