This episode features Megan’s interview with Dr. Andrea Gomez who studies the role of RNA splicing in synaptic plasticity

Dr. Andrea Gomez saw the perfect opportunity to delve into her recent fascination with red blood cells when a classmate’s nose began to bleed during elementary school. Much to her teacher’s horror, Andrea swirled the pooling blood around with a stick, hunting for the tiny red blood cells she had recently learned comprised the liquid. Andrea learned two things from this – teachers don’t approve of impromptu science experiments involving blood, and red blood cells aren’t visible to the naked eye. This was Andrea’s modus operandus as a child; she was fascinated by the invisible elements that compose living things. As a professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute of UC Berkeley, Andrea remains fascinated by the tiny building blocks of biology and has focused in particularly on the study of RNA. Now, she is equipped with upgraded investigative tools – a microscope, and her own lab.