Kate Bass

Feature Writer

B.Sc.

Biochemistry and Pharmacology

Kate always had a flair for writing, and as a child, commonly entertained herself by writing books or TV shows.

While at middle school, Kate’s passion for science was uncovered by a teacher who she still remembers to this day. Kate was fascinated by the many complicated processes of the human body, and how it is possible to measure the effects of numerous factors, such as exercise, light, and eating and drinking, on the functions of the body. There was no going back; she was hooked.

During biology A level classes, many of Kate’s questions elicited the same response "You will have to do a biochemistry degree to find that out". She was keen to learn all the details, so that is exactly what she did.

Despite being engrossed in her new-found passion for research, Kate did not forget her love of words and combined the two.

Aged 17 years, she was runner up in the Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer Award for an article she wrote, detailing novel treatment strategies for Parkinson's disease, a condition from which her great uncle was suffering at the time.

She was rewarded with a subscription to the magazine New Scientist, which she continued to self-fund thereafter.

On graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc.) in Biochemistry, Kate started to take more of an interest in the job section of the New Scientist. One day, she noticed an advertisement for a medical writer. With the confidence of youth, she ignored the stipulation for 2 years of experience and applied straight away.

To her delight, and surprise, Kate was the candidate selected for the job and quickly moved to the other side of the country, knowing no-one, to take up her position as medical writer for a global pharmaceutical company.

Kate has been a medical writer ever since. During that time, she has gained experience in writing a wide variety of scientific material for range of audiences, including manuscripts, scientific abstracts/posters, white papers, newsletters, news articles, clinical trial reports, website content, and e-learning modules. She has also travelled a lot to Europe and the Far East, organising symposia at medical congresses and standalone meetings.

Kate’s passion for new biomedical discoveries remains, and her work with News Medical provides a unique but great way of keeping up with the latest research across many different areas of science and medicine.

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Articles from Kate

Tens of thousands of premature deaths could be prevented each year

Heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, and unintentional injuries cause nearly 900,000 premature deaths in the US each year. A recent study showed that 20–40% of deaths from each of these causes could be prevented.

2 May 2014

FDA proposes rule to include e-cigarettes under its tobacco authority

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently proposed a new rule to regulate additional tobacco products as part of its implementation of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

25 Apr 2014

Delayed umbilical cord clamping is effective even when newborn is placed on mother's abdomen

A recent study has shown that a newborn benefits from delayed cord clamping even when placed immediately on the mother's abdomen.

17 Apr 2014

Tissue reconstruction using autologous engineered implants has been successfully achieved in humans

Reconstruction of damaged/absent tissue using engineered autologous (from the patients’ own cells) implants has been successfully achieved in humans for the first time.

11 Apr 2014

Treatment for opioid overdose now available for use by non-medical personnel

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first naloxone treatment specifically designed to be given by family members or caregivers to treat a person with opioid overdose.

4 Apr 2014

Ketamine offers novel treatment for patients with severe depression

New data show ketamine (a drug widely used for anaesthesia and pain relief) has a rapid antidepressant effect in some patients with severe depression. The first UK study of ketamine intravenous infusions in people with treatment-resistant depression was conducted by the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford.

3 Apr 2014

Review examining effects of public smoking ban finds large drops in pre-term births and child hospital visits for asthma

The introduction of laws banning smoking in public places and workplaces in North America and Europe has had a positive impact on child health.

28 Mar 2014

New tool pinpoints genetic sources of disease

Many diseases are the result of either variations in the genome or reversible chemical changes to DNA, known as the epigenome. New data obtained by Johns Hopkins scientists show a connection between genetic variants and epigenetic information.

20 Mar 2014

Incidence of colon cancer in the US is decreasing with increased use of colonoscopy

Colorectal cancer, commonly called colon cancer, is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Research, published today, by the American Cancer Society shows that the incidence of colorectal cancer among adults aged 50 years or more has fallen by 30% in the US over the last 10 years. This is thought to be primarily due to the widespread uptake of colonoscopy screening, which has almost tripled among adults aged 50 to 75 years (19% in 2000; 55% in 2010).

17 Mar 2014

Warmer temperatures allow malaria to spread to higher elevations

Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, infects more than 300 million people each year. Cooler highland regions have historically provided havens from malaria, but it has been predicted that the disease could be especially sensitive to climate change, since both the Plasmodium parasites that cause it and the Anopheles mosquitoes that spread it thrive at warm temperatures. The potential impact of global warming on the worldwide incidence of malaria has been debated for more than two decades.

7 Mar 2014