English Editing and Proofreading for Life Science and Medical Papers
Dr. Lee Thurston earned a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BSc in Biochemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Dr. Thurston’s research has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, and he also holds several patents for compounds he discovered and developed. His doctoral thesis involved pioneering work in the development of etoposide-related DNA topoisomerase II inhibitors for potential use in cancer chemotherapy. He has held research positions at Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC, and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD, both involving pesticide residue studies.
After completing his PhD, Dr. Thurston continued his research career at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he designed and synthesised glutamyl aminopeptidase inhibitors as probes to study the biological significance of angiotensin III. After his work in New York, Lee joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin and constructed ring-contracted analogues of the clinical antitumor drug vinblastine for potential use as chemotherapeutic agents.
In 1991, he joined the American Chemical Society (ACS) journals division as a Science Editor. At ACS, in addition to editorial responsibilities, he served as molecular graphics software specialist and Chemical Abstracts search expert. While at ACS, he edited thousands of manuscripts in more than 30 journals with content at the interface of chemistry and biology. He has successfully worked with authors from a wide variety of language backgrounds to craft clear, concise English language versions.
In 2006, Lee continued his career as a freelance science editor/writer. His reviews of new laboratory instrumentation have been published in The Scientist. With a wide breadth of knowledge in the chemical and biological sciences and nearly 20 years of editorial experience, Dr. Thurston brings a comprehensive skill set and a highly informed perspective to each manuscript.
Specialties: biochemistry, medicinal and organic chemistry, molecular biology, environmental science.
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Avoid beginning a sentence with an antecedent (e.g., “Its”) or a demonstrative pronoun (e.g., “this”).
When a number is used to describe a single measurement, a singular verb is used (10 ml was added). However, if the subject is considered in separate parts, a plural verb is required (10 ml drops were added one by one).
The definite and indefinite articles should be used in formal writing; however, they may be partially excluded in headings, titles, figures, and lists.
Avoid pleonasms: for example, are found to be in agreement-agree, give consideration to-consider, in order to-to.
When a sentence begins with a number, the number must be written in full.
Avoid using a split infinitive unless the sentence requires it to avoid awkwardness or confusion.
Do not use the possessive apostrophe in acronyms (Incorrect: DNA’s).
Do not begin sentences with “and”.
"Hopefully, I could send you as many manuscripts as I can this year. Please continue to help the publication of our research reports. Thank you."
Tokyo University of Pharmacy & Life Sciences, Japan. May 2009.
"I am very much satisfied with your editing service. The manuscript has been beautifully overhauled and transformed in to a better communicable form. I wish I can write such good English. Your editors have done an excellent job. I owe a lot to all of you. If I can publish this paper in JAMA I will share my happiness with you all by informing you. Thank you. "
Immunobiology Div, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow 226001, UP, Indi
"It has been long since I asked you to edit our manuscripts. I appreciate for a series of your wonderful works and also, your help for my collaborators at Kyoto University. I am now a professor at Fukushima Medical University and a dean of graduate school. Your help was quite important for my career. Thank you. "
Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan. November 2010
"With your editing service, I made my papers accepted in several journals: Appl. Environ. Microbiol., ISME J., Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., and etc. I appreciate your editing service and will continue to send you more of my work in the future. "
Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Kyonggi-do, South Korea. May 2010.
"Thank you for quick and beautiful editing of our paper.Yesterday, I have re-submitted our paper. And several hours ago, the paper was accepted in Nucleic Acids Research. I appreciate you and other editors in BioEdit. Someday, I will request you to edit our next paper. "
Yokohama City University, Kanagawa, Japan. December 2010
"I'd love to inform you that our manuscript was finally accepted to Nature. I appreciate you very much that your edition of our previous version of manuscript was so helpful to be accepted. "
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. December 2010
"I just want to thank you for your editing.The manuscript entitled “The carboxy-terminal region ....” was accepted within one day. Thank you for your good editing. "
Nara Women's University, Nara, Japan. December 2010
"I really appreciate your immediate, meticulous editing of my revised manuscript free of charge. I hope this re-edited manuscript will be accepted for publication. Thanks again. "
National Institute of Infectious Disease, Tokyo, Japan. November 2010