Editors
Our in-house editors are PhD-level scientists with research experience. All in-house editors work full-time for the journal to oversee the review process, handle manuscripts as primary editors, liaise with our Editorial Board Members and enforce journal policy. Editors also engage in other activities on behalf of the journal, such as attending and organizing conferences and meeting with scientists at their institutions.
In-house editors work closely with our Editorial Board Members to ensure that all manuscripts are subject to the same editorial standards and journal policies.
Chief Editor: Christina Karlsson Rosenthal, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Christina Karlsson Rosenthal received her PhD in Medical Cell Biology from Uppsala University for studies of cellular senescence and carried out postdoctoral work on mitosis at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK. Christina directed her own research group focused on cell cycle control at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm before moving back to the UK and turning to publishing. She joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in 2019 after over ten years as an editor at Nature Cell Biology and is based in the London office. Christina took on the role of Deputy Editor in January 2020 and became the Chief Editor in June 2022.
Contact: c.karlsson-rosenthal@nature.com
Deputy Editor: Manuel Breuer, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Manuel received his PhD from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, working on acentrosomal spindle assembly in mouse oocytes. For his postdoctoral work at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology in Edinburgh, he studied chromatin compaction and the nuclear periphery in Drosophila. In 2016, he became Features & Reviews Editor at Journal of Cell Science before moving to The FEBS Journal as Deputy Editorial Manager. Manuel joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in November 2021 and was promoted to Deputy Editor in August 2022. He is based in the London office.
Contact: manuel.breuer@nature.com
Senior Editor: Luke R. Grinham, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Luke received his PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Cambridge, where he studied the functional ecomorphology and evolution of facultative bipedality in archosaurs and lepidosaurs. He also has research experience in locomotor biomechanics of other vertebrate groups, including big cats and giraffes. Luke joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in May 2020 and is based in the London office.
Contact: luke.grinham@nature.com
Senior Editor: Dario Ummarino, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Dario studied Molecular Biotechnology (obtaining both BSc and MSc degrees) at the University of Naples, and then moved to London to undertake a PhD in Cardiovascular Biology at the BHF Centre of Excellence at King’s College, where he studied the mesenchymal transdifferentiation of human endothelial cells. He worked previously at Nature Reviews Cardiology and Nature Reviews Rheumatology as an Assistant Editor, then at PLOS ONE and PLOS Biology as a Senior Editor. Dario joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in August 2023 and is based in the London office.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8470-6910
Contact: dario.ummarino.1@nature.com
Associate Editor: Benjamin Bessières, PhD, Springer Nature, US
Benjamin received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Bordeaux, where he studied the surface dynamics of cortical glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors during systems consolidation and forgetting of remote episodic memories. During his postdoctoral work at the Center for Neural Science (New York University), his research focused on the cellular and circuits mechanisms of memory formation in the infant brain. He also has research experience in brain metabolism and in the metabolic interactions among neural cell types that support cognitive functions. Benjamin joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in October 2023 and is based in the New York office.
Contact: benjamin.bessieres@us.nature.com
Associate Editor: Aylin Bircan, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Aylin earned her PhD in Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Bioengineering from Sabanci University, Turkey, with a research focus on the molecular evolution and bioinformatics of Class C G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). She explored their evolutionary trajectories, activation mechanisms, and functional distinctions among subfamilies, employing advanced computational strategies to pinpoint critical residues. Following her PhD, she pursued a four-month postdoctoral position, furthering her doctoral research before joining the Communications Biology team in March 2024. Aylin is based in the London office.
orcid.org/0000-0001-6663-6173
Contact: aylin.bircan@springernature.com
Associate Editor: Ophelia Bu, PhD, Springer Nature, China
Ophelia Yashan Bu received her PhD in 2022 from the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, where she conducted studies on the wound healing effect of probiotic pretreatment to diabetic cornea and its association with systemic and local immunity. She also participated in an in vitro study of corneal keratocytes and fibroblasts using 2D and 3D models. Ophelia also has research experience in biophysics, where she studied the antibiotic resistant properties of bacterial channel proteins using the Patch-Clamp system. After over a year as Editorial Commissioning Specialist at Frontiers, Ophelia joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in December 2023 and is based in the Shanghai office.
Contact: Ophelia.Bu@cn.springernature.com
Associate Editor: David Favero, PhD, Springer Nature, US
David received his PhD in Molecular Plant Sciences from Washington State University, where he studied how seedling photomorphogenesis is regulated by transcription factors in Arabidopsis. He then continued to investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate photomorphogenesis through postdoctoral research at RIKEN in Yokohama, Japan. He also has research experience in plant regeneration as well as the use of molecular markers for genetic mapping of disease resistance. From 2020-2021, he served as an Associate Features Editor with Plant Physiology. David joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in August 2022 and is based in the New York office.
Contact: david.favero@us.nature.com
Associate Editor: Kaliya Georgieva, PhD, London
Kaliya studied Molecular and Cell Biology, obtaining a BSc degree from the University of Bath. As part of the undergraduate degree, she did a professional placement in a biotech company in the sphere of anti-cancer drug discovery and development. Kaliya continued her scientific quest in Barts Cancer Institute in London where she did her PhD in long non-coding RNA function in the regulation of cell division through interacting with RNA-binding proteins and other RNA. She joined the London office in April 2024.
Contact: kaliya.georgieva@springernature.com
Associate Editor: Tobias Goris, PhD, Springer Nature, Germany
Tobias completed his PhD on oxygen-tolerant hydrogenases from Knallgasbacteria at the Humboldt-University of Berlin. He then proceeded to study anaerobic microbial respiration in Jena, working with organohalide-respiring bacteria. After that, his subject was the flavonoid conversion capabilities of human gut bacteria at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke. Tobias joined Communications Biology in February 2023 and is based in the Berlin office.
orcid.org/0000-0002-9977-5994
Contact: Tobias.Goris@nature.com
Associate Editor: Laura Rodríguez Pérez, PhD, Springer Nature, UK
Laura received her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the University of Oviedo and her M.Phil. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge. She then completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at the University of Manchester in 2023, where she worked on employing biocatalysis for protein and peptide bioconjugation. Afterwards, she carried out a three-month post-doc, expanding on the work from her PhD. She also has experience in proteomics and molecular biology. In January 2024, she joined Communications Biology as an Associate Editor, and is based in the London office.
orcid.org/0000-0002-3382-4407
Contact: laura.rodriguezperez@springernature.com
Associate Editor: Johannes Stortz, PhD, Springer Nature, Germany
Johannes received his PhD from the University of Glasgow (UK) establishing a CRISPR/Cas9-based molecular tool to investigate actin biology in the human parasite Toxoplasma at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology. For his postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing (Cologne, Germany), he focused his research on host-pathogen interactions by studying membrane contact sites between intracellular pathogens and host organelles. In April 2022, he became an Associate Editor with the Public Health and Medicine team at PLOS ONE. Johannes joined the editorial team of Communications Biology as Associate Editor in July 2023. He is based in the Berlin Office.
Contact: johannes.stortz@springernature.com
Associate Editor: Joao Valente, PhD, Springer Nature, Spain
Joao received his PhD in Neuroscience in 2015 from Imperial College London, where he conducted pharmacological studies investigating the analgesic potential of endocannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain. He then moved to King’s College London where he studied the role of inflammatory cells in the disease progression of rheumatological diseases. Joao also has research experience in physiology and metabolism. Joao joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in May 2022 and is based in the Madrid office.
orcid.org/0000-0003-1888-6324
Contact: joaomanuel.desousavalente@nature.com
Associate Editor: Mengtan Xing, PhD, Springer Nature, China
Mengtan Xing studied Biochemistry and Molecular biology at Peking University (obtaining both BSc and MSc degrees). Mengtan received her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for studies of DNA double-strand repair. Mengtan performed postdoctoral work on cancer immunotherapy at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. After moving back to China, she joined a bioinformatics group, where she studied the relation between DNA double-strand break repair and chromatin 3D structure using high throughput genomic experiments. Mengtan joined the editorial team of Communications Biology in January 2024 and is based in the Shanghai office.
Contact: mengtan.xing@cn.springernature.com
Consulting Editor: Huijuan Guo, PhD, Springer Nature, Germany
Huijuan joined Communications Chemistry in April 2022. She received her Masters degree from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science, studying fungal natural product chemistry. She then moved to Germany to receive her PhD in Analytic Chemistry from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology. Subsequently, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, exploring broader aspects of modern genomics/metabolomics/proteomics to investigate natural product biosynthesis as well as medicinal chemistry. Huijuan is based in the Berlin office. You can follow Huijuan on Twitter @guo_huijuan
orcid.org/0000-0002-1308-4069
Contact: huijuan.guo@nature.com
