ResearchGate, the social network for people involved in scientific research, now has over 2 million members and is enabling new research collaborations by changing the way scientists can work online.

GigaOM points to the success story of Rafael Luque, Professor of Organic Chemistry at Universidad de Córdoba in Spain, who signed up to ResearchGate in 2008 and found an unlikely co-author in Rick Arneil Aracon, a graduate of Xavier University in the Philippines. The pair developed a highly efficient, eco-friendly, and low-cost catalyst for biofuels made from corn cob residues and in September 2013, Rick will be joining Rafael’s lab as a PhD student. Without ResearchGate, this collaboration may never have happened.

ResearchGate