Lakshini Mendis

dna Communications
Lakshini Mendis received her PhD from the Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland, where she studied lipid changes in the human brain in Alzheimer’s disease. She currently works as a senior medical writer for dna Communications, primarily supporting on neuroscience and neurology-based projects. She is a member of the The Australasian Medical Writers Association and a strong advocate for women in STEM. Connect with her on LinkedIn!

Articles by Lakshini Mendis

special interest groups

Hot Tips for Creating a Scientific Special Interest Group at Your Institute

Universities are often organized by faculties, colleges, schools, and/or departments. So, as an academic, you often work closely with colleagues studying similar subject areas. A common interest, however, often transcends the boundaries of this organizational structure. Enter scientific special interest groups. What Are Scientific Special Interest Groups? Scientific special interest groups are member-led initiatives within…

Applying Your MALDI Matrix Like a Boss

Applying Your MALDI Matrix Like a Boss

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (or simply, MALDI) is a type of mass spectrometry method. If you are new to mass spectrometry, check out our excellent primers, titled How Does Mass Spec Work and Get Out of Western Blot Hell: An intro to Mass Spec. Basically, however, mass spectrometry allows you to measure, sort, and quantify small…

A Quick Guide to Organizing Your First Academic Event

Scientific meetings provide an opportunity to learn, network, and explore new ideas.  They are also an exciting break from the usual lab routine. Although organizing a Departmental or Institutional academic event takes up your research time, the experience helps develop leadership, project and budget management, and problem solving skills that will make your CV shine….

Fine-Tune Your MALDI-TOF to Produce Good-looking Mass Spectra

Fine-Tune Your MALDI-TOF to Produce Good-looking Mass Spectra

Mass Spec is all about getting the perfect peaks. Without a good peak assigning the correct mass is impossible and you cannot make accurate identifications. Make sure you know how to adjust your MALDI-TOF instrument parameters to achieve your perfect peak. In our previous posts ‘How does Mass Spec Work’ and ‘Imaging Mass Spectrometry: the…