Isaura Martins

Principal Investigator @ Católica Medical School
Neuroscientist 🧠 and Mom 👶🏻
Spinal Cord Injury researcher 🔬
Traumatic Brain Injury researcher wanna be 😅

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

I had the pleasure to be invited by @CureMorton for their Spinal Cast Podcast! If you want to know a little bit of what we are doing in the lab go listen ;)

[Morton Cure Paralysis Fund @CureMorton]

New Spinal Cast episode OUT NOW! Special guest Dr. Isaura Martins shares her groundbreaking research on #spinal #cord repair and the role of #pericytes in recovery. A must-listen for anyone invested in the future of #neuroscience! Listen here https://t.co/I2P4p6VUJc

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@vanessadoulames Hi Vanessa. My lab is based in Portugal. Will you be interested in a zoom meeting to discuss possible collaborations? Thanks 👍🏽

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

Dear all, is anyone working with mouse TBI that would be willing to collaborate? 🧠Please reach out! 😉

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@JPCastro_Aging Amazing!!!! Congrats!! :)

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@CGAlmeidaG Obrigada 🙏

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

I can finally say that I have been awarded with a Wings for Life Grant 🙏💪🏽🪽 more than a honour this shows that we should never give up on our goals and dreams!!! Now let's fly high and contribute for spinal cord injury research!!! Stay tuned!!! #wingsforlife #newpi #sciresearch

[Andrew Akbashev @Andrew_Akbashev]

Rejection of your paper or grant has NO relevance to the opinion of #research community. It is nothing but the opinion of one person.

Several examples:

1. The first paper on graphene was rejected from Nature because “it did not constitute a sufficient scientific advance”. Later, it was awarded a Nobel prize.

2. The first manuscript showing the microbiome-brain connection was published after 7 submissions that took 3 years. Today, this field has exploded. I expect it will get a Nobel prize in the future.

3. Theodore Maiman tried to publish a paper describing the first operating laser in Physical Review Letters and… got a rejection!

4. Peter Ratcliffe, who worked on cells’ response to changes in oxygen levels, got his key paper rejected from Nature (see photo). Later, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for this work.

And there are many other examples…
.

And yet I see so many young scientists stressing about rejections. For some reason, they seem to genuinely expect that the editors should know which study is truly worth it.

As a result, many rejections are met with surprise and disbelief: 
“How could they reject it? They publish so much trash, and yet they think our detailed 3-year-long study is not interesting to the community! WHY?”
.

Well, the reality is:

- Most editors have very little time to delve into your study. They can easily FAIL to recognize the potential impact of your study. Proper communication in the cover letter and clear writing style can help (although only to a limited degree).

- Many reviewers have little idea about the science in your paper. But they can have a big ego. So, if they have a bad day or were rejected recently, it’s easy for them to find 1000 technical reasons to reject your paper as well.

- Most scientists genuinely don’t know if your discovery can make any impact. If we could predict the course of science, we would be living very differently!

My message is simple:

Forget about objectivity. Academia is a very subjective world. Fight for objectivity but don’t take it for granted.

A great study will be found, cited and recognized. Disregard of where it’s published.

A bad study requires a high-impact journal to be found and cited. But the long-time recognition might be a problem.

High-IF journals are simply billboards. Their rejections do NOT represent the opinion of a scientific community.

You can get rejected but don’t reject yourself!
Believe in your results.

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

This is so true and needed, bring the magic back and make opportunities available for the ones that are truly passionate about the "magic"!! https://t.co/U2GBxrVDgu

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@SelinaWray Sad... :(

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

My last work is finally out!! :) Super proud of this story!! Thanks to everyone who made it possible!!
Stay tuned for more ;) https://t.co/2ztAIwjXIK
@IJMS_MDPI @MDPIOpenAccess @IMMolecular

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@ruisilrodrigues Yes... I feel your pain 😓😣 and some when you are ready to apply some decide to change the criterias... Fun 🤬🤦‍♀️

[Zebrafish Rock! @ZebrafishRock]

Regeneration of a severed spinal cord in an adult zebrafish. Credit to @ace_ribeiro. #ZebrafishZunday

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@JOHANATELLO Wooowww!!!

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

My life.. from September to December 😂😂

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

@JPCastro_Aging Tal e qual!!! AHAHAHAH 😅😂

[Oded Rechavi @OdedRechavi]

Post docs applying for PI positions
https://t.co/bM61C0IR59

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

Everyone, this is an amazing opportunity!!!! 👌⬇️

[aisling chaney @aislingchaney]

Postdoc position available in my lab
@MIRimaging. Interested in investigating the role of the immune system in neurological disease? Join my translational neuroimaging team! https://t.co/W6niBefb7e

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

What a honour to have work with this amazing team!!! Beautiful work 👌💪
Out now, go check it in @Dev_Cell
@ReiseSousaLab @brunoagf
https://t.co/GmMXAv95FE

[Caetano Reis e Sousa @ReiseSousaLab]

Excited to share our recent work on a subpopulation of ependymal cells with damage-responsive neural #StemCell properties, out now in @Dev_Cell https://t.co/SfZnSCp2eP 🧵 (1/n)

[Isaura Martins @IsauraVanessa]

Last week I was awarded the Lídia Silva Santos Postdoctoral Achievement Award! I feel incredibly honoured to have received this recognition from @IMMolecular for all the hard work of the past 2 years. Thank you🙏 The road is ahead so let's keep going!💪 #science #perseverance

[MIA Portugal @_MIA_Portugal]

Attention‼️
🗓️Registrations for the EIT Health Ageing PhD School end on the 20th of June.
An experienced panel of speakers will focus on fundamental biology of ageing and age-related deseases.
- Info and registration:https://t.co/xetUDzxhYR
@EITHealth @cnc_uc