The team has been collaborating on the paper for over a year. The partnership began with Science Signaling expressing interest in sleep and energy, one of Tudor’s long-time research interests. She brought on Feeney, who was an undergraduate biology student at the time, as well as McCarthy and Petruconis, who had moved on to PhD programs at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. 

Both have found the experience helpful as they embark on PhD journeys, which require designing their own research as part of a thesis project. 

“In order to develop a thesis, you have to read a ton of literature, identify a gap in the research, and demonstrate how you would solve it,” McCarthy explains. “Doing a review like this is really good practice — not only is the work we’ve done important to the field, but it’s important to my development as a scientist.” 

Petruconis, who is entering her third year of the pharmacology program at Penn, agrees. 

“We all really pushed each other to be better scientists and think critically throughout the process,” she says. “It’s great practice to really delve into the literature and understand what it means to have a grasp on a particular area of the field.”