INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Most people today are getting their science and health information online, and increasingly through social media (Pew, 2017). However, there is a gap in trustworthy, evidence-based, expertly sourced health information online that reaches more than niche audiences. At LifeOmic, we are working to fill this gap with accessible, credible content created by a diverse group of scientific researchers. The content we and our guest experts publish to the new LIFE Apps blogging platform, launched today, can be personally targeted to users of LifeOmic's LIFE precision health apps to help them learn to live their healthiest lives.
Modern scientists are taking to blogs and social media to fill the void that is coverage of up-to-date science and health research findings in mainstream media. However, most science blogs are extremely limited in their reach (Jarreau & Porter, 2016). Making matters worse, most social media users distrust the science-related social media posts they see (Pew, 2017). Less than rigorous health-related information has exploded online through press release aggregation sites and popular food and fitness blogs created by individuals and organizations lacking scientific expertise.
"In my experience, people are interested in science news, but there is a lack of stories that are not blown out of proportion – just think about the countless 'XX causes cancer' headlines," says new LIFE Apps blogger Signe Åsberg, a PhD student in molecular medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. "I'm passionate about bacteria and their interactions with us. The human immune system is incredibly complex and while my own research focuses on just one small part of it, joining LifeOmic as a guest blogger means I will get to write about 'everything' immune-related. I'm excited to join a community of science bloggers and to broaden my own research by writing outside of my current research focus. Science communication has been a hobby of mine for years, one I've been wanting to take more seriously and give more space. It's a way to make science understandable and available outside the lab."
Relatively few popular sources of science and health information cover new peer-reviewed scientific discoveries (Pew, 2018). It is difficult for the average individual to find rigorous information online that they can both access and understand related to nutrition or much less disease-specific nutritional guidelines, metabolism, immunology, brain health, sleep, cancer, genomic sequencing, aging, etc. This information can be vital to general healthy living or a patient's ability to contribute meaningfully to their own healthcare.
LifeOmic is a precision health software company that has created a Precision Health Cloud platform for integration, storage and analysis of any and all kinds of patient data, from omic to clinical to mobile patient-acquired data. The Precision Health Cloud drives precision health further through machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, and mobile integration. Our LIFE apps help people track healthspan practices such as physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, intermittent fasting, adequate sleep and mindfulness practice. Our apps are also an extension of LifeOmic's Precision Health Cloud, allowing users to participate in medical research, communicate with their healthcare providers and receive personalized health recommendations.
But we also know that educated patients can better harness new health behaviors and contribute to their own disease management and care. That's why we are making evidence-based content a core focus of our LIFE apps.
"I find the more information you have, the better choices you can make about your health," says LIFE Apps blogger Lisa Nivison-Smith. Lisa is a postdoctoral researcher at the UNSW Centre for Eye Health. "My job is all about tracking and recording things. I take the same approach to my health. I like to keep track of what I eat, how much I exercise, sleep and work."
We've recruited more than a dozen master's and PhD-level scientific researchers and experts to write for LIFE Apps in areas including nutrition, neuroscience, cancer research, immunology, telomere science, cardiology, chemistry and more. Their content will live on the new LIFE Apps blogging platform. The content will also be dynamically embedded within our LIFE mobile health tracking apps and recommended to users based on their health goals and interests.
"We live in an age of 'fake news' and increasing mistrust of science," says LIFE Apps blogger Raeea Gupte, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "My motivation for blogging about science is to bridge the gap between scientists and the general public by making scientific discoveries more interesting, understandable and relevant to all. I am excited to be a part of LifeOmic's new guest blogging program because it provides a platform where I can provide evidence-based insights into brain health and dispel misconceptions that are often disguised as pseudoscience. I look forward to educating LIFE Apps users about how lifestyle interventions can affect brain health, aging and neurological disorders."
Lisa will be writing about the neurobiology of the retina in health and disease for the new LIFE Apps science and health blogging platform. "My research concerns the eye and many people take this fascinating organ for granted, so I love to get people thinking about how we see the world and their eye health," Lisa says. "I am excited to join this platform as I can now communicate on a large scale."
LIFE Apps bloggers will receive regular science communication training with longtime science blogger Dr. Paige Jarreau. They will also participate in a collaborative online community, engage in peer editing, and be offered opportunities to create paid content for organizations and researchers running clinical trials, wellness programs, etc. through LifeOmic's LIFE Extend app.
LIFE Apps blogger Sara Wilbur, a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will be blogging about telomere and aging science. "I devote much of my time to answering incredibly specific scientific questions," Sara says. "While this sort of work is satisfying in its own way, I often wish for opportunities to explore other subjects that I find interesting. Through writing for LifeOmic, I hope to diversify my own learning as well as clearly present what I've discovered to readers. As an aspiring science communicator, I am also excited to improve my writing and to collaborate with fellow LifeOmic blog contributors."
Other current LIFE Apps bloggers include Zach Lawton, an analytical chemist and Application Scientist at PerkinElmer, Wes Wilson, a cancer researcher at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Australia, editor at ScienceSeeker and current science podcast host for Mostly Science, Glen Pyle, professor of molecular cardiology at the University of Guelph, Shannon Loelius, a PhD Student at the University of Rochester Medical Center studying antiretroviral drugs, Amanda Coletti, a physiology and neurobiology researcher turned science communication PhD student, registered nutritionist and former drug safety specialist at GlaxoSmithKline Leesa Klich, and PhD cell biologist and medical writer Gemma North, among others.
Visit the LIFE Apps blogging network at https://lifeapps.io.
SOURCE LifeOmic
Share this article