ResearchGATE and Its Savvy Use of the Web

(page 2 of 2)

Mirzaei focuses on using medicinal plants to improve milk production and reduce methane emissions by cattle, and has so far found about 30 researchers on the Web site with similar interests. "I'm finding more every day," he says.

The folks at ResearchGATE are aggressively pushing the use of the site in the developing world. Rajiv Gupta, an adviser and investor at ResearchGATE and Madisch's former boss at Harvard Medical School, has been invited to lecture on neuroradiology at some of the top science-oriented universities in India early next year. He plans on using the Web community as a primary tool for reaching out to students there and maintaining relationships with them after the lecture series ends. He'll post his study materials on the site and create forums for discussion. Gupta was struck early on by how many scientists from developing nations asked to join some of the forums he set up on ResearchGATE shortly after it launched. "I saw that there's a large unmet need," he says.

Other Research-Oriented Networks

ResearchGATE is not the only research-oriented social networking site. Academia.edu, Lab Meeting, and Ologeez are in the game, as well. But Madisch says he's trying to distinguish his offering from others with powerful collaboration tools and subcommunities within the site dedicated to research specialties. He's also particularly interested in promoting connections between scientists in rich and poor nations. "There are no borders now. I'm sure this will increase significantly the communication flow between Third World countries and Western countries," he says.

To help boost those connections, Madisch in October announced an alliance between ResearchGATE and Seeding Labs, a nonprofit in Cambridge, Mass., that rounds up surplus used laboratory equipment in the U.S. and ships it to researchers in poor countries. It has already produced some stirring success stories. For instance, Argentine scientist and professor Ricardo Morbidoni, who did postdoctoral studies in the U.S., has set up a lab with donated equipment provided by Seeding Labs at Argentina's University of Rosario. He and his team developed new protocols for drug-resistant tuberculosis diagnostics that have since been adopted by the country's public health services.

Nina Dudnik, Seeding Labs' chief executive, sees ResearchGATE as a powerful way of connecting with donors and overseas researchers who need equipment. Also, she says, it will allow Western donors to keep in touch and help the new owners of the equipment use it properly. "This is becoming like Habitat for Humanity," she says, referring to the well-known program where volunteers help poor people build their houses. "Scientists in the U.S. are putting sweat equity into these labs overseas. They like to get involved in a deeper way."

Hamm is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York and author of the Globespotting blog.

Business Exchange

Track and share business topics across the Web.