I am a scientist, writer, editor, and visual thinker.

Currently, I’m an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University where I study oncogenic viruses using cryogenic electron microscopes. I work jointly in the Xiong and Didychuk laboratories in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University investigating the mechanism of coupling between the fundamental biological processes of transcription and translation in bacteria. Previously, I earned my B.A. in Chemistry and Studio Art from Kenyon College. My artwork explores landscape, mapping, and memory.

I review books and art exhibitions, particularly those with connections to science and technology. This writing — on algorithmic art, a forgotten female scientific illustrator, and the mechanisms of mass extinctions — has appeared in Scientific American, Kenyon Review, and Rain Taxi Review of Books.

As a developmental editor, I work with academics in disciplines ranging from sociology, psychology, and medical anthropology, to computer science, law, and evolutionary biology. Previous projects have included journal articles, reviews, proposals, academic job market materials, and two book manuscripts published with the University of Chicago Press and University of California Press.

Selected Awards
XXIX Biennial Conference on Phage/ Virus Assembly, Poster Award. 2025

American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow. 2025-2027

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship. (awarded; declined in order to accept ACS fellowship) 2024

FASEB Virus Structure and Assembly Conference, Poster Award. 2024

Beyond the Ivory Tower, Writing Workshop. 2022

Kenyon Review Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers, Nonfiction Finalist. 2021

National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow. 2015-2019

Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. 2010-2012

Science
Primary literature & dissertation:
Visualizing the translation landscape in human cells at high resolution. Nature Communications. 2025. W. Zheng, Y. Zhang, J. Wang, S. Wang, P. Chai, E. J. Bailey, W. Guo, S. Devarkar, S. Wu, J. Lin, K. Zhang, J. Liu, I. Lomakin, Y. Xiong.

NusG-mediated coupling of transcription and translation enhances gene expression by suppressing RNA polymerase backtracking. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2022. E. J. Bailey, M. E. Gottesman, R. L. Gonzalez.

The mechanism of NusG-mediated transcription-translation coupling and the role of RacR in transcription regulation in Escherichia coli. Doctoral Dissertation, Columbia University. 2019. E. J. Bailey

Writing

Book reviews:
Core Samples: A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood. Rain Taxi Review of Books. 2025

Watershed: Attending to body and earth in distress. Rain Taxi Review of Books. 2023

From apocalypse to apocalypso: On An Ecotopian Lexicon. Kenyon Review. 2021

On The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen. Kenyon Review. 2020

Art exhibition reviews:
An uncanny display: Algorithmic art at the Whitney. Scientific American. 2018

A pioneering female scientific illustrator, rediscovered. Scientific American. 2018

Is it art or is it science? Scientific American. 2017

Developmental Editing
Book manuscripts & proposals:
Unequal Worlds of Care: The Politics of Global Health in Malawi.
Amy Zhou. University of California Press. 2026

State-Sanctioned Sanity: Public Psychiatry and the Therapeutic Politics of Escape in the Republic of Cameroon. Elizabeth A. Durham. Book proposal, under contract with University of California Press, 2025

Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles.
Neil Gong. University of Chicago Press. 2024

Selected journal articles & reviews:
"Legally Magic" Words: An Empirical Study of the Accessibility of Fifth Amendment Rights. Roseanna Sommers & Kate Weisburd. Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 119, No. 3. (2024).

“I Was Open to Anywhere, It’s Just This Was Easier:” Social Structure, Location Preferences, and the Geographic Concentration of Elite College Graduates. Robert Manduca. Qualitative Sociology, 47, 153–185 (2024).

Art
Archipelago, group exhibition. Organization for Human Brain Mapping. Montreal, QC. 2023
Making Art in the Age of Algorithms, symposium lightning talk. Center for Science and Society, Columbia University. New York, NY. 2018
Smart Dust, group exhibition, SLA307. New York, NY. 2017
Young Emerging Artist Award, Alegre Fiber Art Retreat. Grand Junction, CO. 2017
Scopa Stills #1 & #2, permanent display. Lakeside Apartments, Princeton, NJ. 2014
Topography, exhibition. Gund Gallery. Gambier, OH. 2012
Ex Mattatoio, site-specific group exhibition. Rome, IT. 2010

Elizabeth J. Bailey