An interview with Vel from LaTeXTemplates.com

On the 31st July we had the pleasure of going for lunch with Vel Gayevskiy, creator of LaTeXTemplates.com, who was visiting the UK for a couple of weeks following a Bioinformatics workshop.

We've known Vel for a number of years and have exchanged many emails but never met in person before this summer! We took this opportunity to ask Vel a few questions about his research, why he decided to create a site for LaTeX templates, and what his plans are for the future.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your research?

Sure, I'm Vel and I live in Sydney since the end of last year (New Zealand before that). I'm a Biologist by training and moved into Bioinformatics during my PhD and now my job is in clinical genomics. My PhD research was on the microbial ecology of the yeast that makes beer, bread, wine, etc in New Zealand using whole genome DNA sequencing. I've now made the transition into human genomics which has involved learning a bit of medicine and a whole lot more about bioinformatics and website development. I'm really enjoying it, it's quite fun to be part of one of the frontiers of technology and science!

Why did you create LaTeXTemplates.com?

I created LaTeXTemplates.com after learning LaTeX and being frustrated that there was no single source of LaTeX templates out there. I like to jump right in when I learn a new language and templates provided me a starting point that I could modify to suit my purposes and learn LaTeX at the same time. I initially made a page with templates on my blog but after I noticed this was receiving far more traffic than the blog itself, I decided to do it properly and eventually launched LaTeX Templates in April 2012. It started with just putting up templates I found online but I now spend quite a bit of time on each one making it better from a code perspective and more importantly easier for users to fill out.

What brings you to London this summer?

I'm here to help design a cancer genomics workshop for Australia by attending a similar existing workshop at the European Bioinformatics Institute. That's over now so I'm traveling around and seeing the UK as I've never been before!

Have you used Overleaf? If so, what do you think? :)

Of course, I usually use it to make quick modifications to a template, try things out or help solve problems someone is having with a template. It's really convenient having a persistent service that lets you get straight to the document on any computer. Unfortunately, the penetration of LaTeX in Biology is quite low so I haven't been able to try out Overleaf's author tools for my publications. I'm looking forward to seeing the scientific publishing process improved by Overleaf as it's quite frustrating at the moment!

What are your plans for the future?

Updates to LaTeX Templates have slowed in the last year due to a number of personal events coming to fruition (finishing PhD, wedding, new job, international move) but also due to my work on an upcoming project involving LaTeX that it's a bit early to talk about yet :)

Editors note: You can see all of Vel's templates at www.latextemplates.com, and if you want to try any out simply click the "Open in Overleaf" button to get started! If you've worked on any interesting LaTeX projects please let us know, we'd love to meet up for a chat!