Editor's Note

One year later

Comfort Dorn
March 19, 2021

The last time I ate a meal inside a restaurant was March 12, 2020. I use the word "restaurant" loosely because I was at Dulles International Airport in Virginia grabbing a sandwich and a beer before an overnight flight to Amsterdam – where I was to meet my daughter and her family for a fun trip to see friends on a Greek island.

You can guess what happened next.

Amsterdam locked down. We canceled our island trip. Daycare was closed, so I spent the next 10 days trying to keep my 2-year-old granddaughter out of her parents' hair while they attempted to do their jobs remotely, all of us crammed into their tiny Dutch house. I panicked briefly when President Trump announced that U.S. citizens who were overseas would not be allowed back home, but otherwise I had fun teaching little Penelope how to make biscuits and taking her on walks to all the nearby playgrounds. We ordered carryout food from the suddenly shuttered restaurants in their neighborhood. I learned that in seven months I was going to have a second grandchild.

That trip seems so long ago. Back then, only a few people were wearing masks or distancing at the airports. A handful of folks had donned what appeared to be disposable hazmat suits, but I dismissed them as outliers. When I returned to Dulles, a nice man took my temperature, asked me if I felt OK and told me to stay home for two weeks.

Meanwhile, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology office closed, and the society's annual meeting was canceled. Because most of our members lacked access to their office mail, we didn't print three issues of this magazine. Shortly before the shutdown, we learned that the ASBMB's three journals would be going open access. Somehow, that had to happen with almost everyone working from home.

Since then, the way we do everything has shifted, layered with all the ordinary changes of work and life and coping. I got a new hip in July. My younger daughter got engaged in August. My mother turned 90 in September. My grandson was born in November.

The ASBMB (along with everyone else) learned to exist and thrive online, and the crowning result will be a virtual annual meeting in April. We've seen a lot of staff changes, culminating with the retirement in February of Barbara Gordon, our longtime executive director, and the selection of Steve Miller to take on that position.

All these changes have happened in the flat, surreal twilight of online existence. I have to wonder how different everything will feel next March when (fingers crossed) we can all be in the same room again.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Comfort Dorn

Comfort Dorn is the managing editor of ASBMB Today.

Related articles

How to choose a booster shot
Tina Hesman Saey, Science News

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Opinions

Opinions highlights or most popular articles

Debugging my code and teaching with ChatGPT
Essay

Debugging my code and teaching with ChatGPT

Oct. 16, 2025

AI tools like ChatGPT have changed the way an assistant professor teaches and does research. But, he asserts that real growth still comes from struggle, and educators must help students use AI wisely — as scaffolds, not shortcuts.

AI in the lab: The power of smarter questions
Essay

AI in the lab: The power of smarter questions

Oct. 14, 2025

An assistant professor discusses AI's evolution from a buzzword to a trusted research partner. It helps streamline reviews, troubleshoot code, save time and spark ideas, but its success relies on combining AI with expertise and critical thinking.

How AlphaFold transformed my classroom into a research lab
Essay

How AlphaFold transformed my classroom into a research lab

Oct. 10, 2025

A high school science teacher reflects on how AI-integrated technologies help her students ponder realistic research questions with hands-on learning.

Writing with AI turns chaos into clarity
Essay

Writing with AI turns chaos into clarity

Oct. 2, 2025

Associate professor shares how generative AI, used as a creative whiteboard, helps scientists refine ideas, structure complexity and sharpen clarity — transforming the messy process of discovery into compelling science writing.

Teaching AI to listen
Essay

Teaching AI to listen

Sept. 18, 2025

A computational medicine graduate student reflects on building natural language processing tools that extract meaning from messy clinical notes — transforming how we identify genetic risk while redefining what it means to listen in science.

What’s in a diagnosis?
Essay

What’s in a diagnosis?

Sept. 4, 2025

When Jessica Foglio’s son Ben was first diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the label didn’t feel right. Whole exome sequencing revealed a rare disorder called Salla disease. Now Jessica is building community and driving research for answers.