Facetime with Scientists

For Zee, turning the body's own immune system into a more efficient killer of cancer cells isn't science fiction; it's what she works on daily! Zainab Hakeem is a PhD candidate in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department at the University of Georgia. She is working with the immune cells with the most bad-a** name—Natural Killer cells—to help them kill cancer cells more efficiently by binding tightly to antibodies that, in turn, find and latch onto specific molecules on the surface of cancer cells. Zee uses biochemistry, tuning molecular receptors and proteins to control their interactions, to help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Learn more with Zee in this podcast from her work in the lab!

Caterra Leavens in a cell and molecular biologist who is studying type 1 diabetes. Specifically, she is creating gene-edited insulin-producing beta cells from stem cells in the lab. One day, these cells may be transplanted into humans to treat this disease! Oh yes, Caterra also has type 1 diabetes herself, which is why she has a particular passion for developing a cure. Learn more about her PhD research in this podcast episode where I interview her in the lab!

Nuri Smith is a researcher working to better understand ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease)... by growing tiny spinal cords in a dish! By studying balls of neurons, motor neurons, and muscle cells, Nuri is learning more about how ALS progresses and produces symptoms -- and eventually how we might treat this disease in a targeted way. Listen to Nuri talk about organoids, her experiences in the lab, her commitment to communicating brain science, and more in this podcast!

Jane Waters leads the ant lab at Providence College. Her lab studies ants and other insects, exploring their natural history, collective behavior, and metabolic physiology. It turns out that ants can teach us a lot about broader rules of social interaction, the energy use of growing organisms (or even cities!), and even the human brain! Learn more about ants and get a glimpse at some fascinating ant species and ant behavior in this Facetime with Scientists podcast episode.

Emma has always dreamed of designing rockets. What she didn't expect was that she wouldn't design their shape, but the materials they are made of (and the materials they will take on their missions to the Moon and beyond)! Through her education and research in mechanical engineering, she's become an expert in extreme materials processing and characterization. Learn more about materials science with Emma as she polishes a metal sample for electron microscopy in this latest episode of Facetime with Scientists!

Manuela Guzmán, is a visual Artist and illustrator born in Bogotá, Colombia. She recently completed her MFA program of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her subject of choice? Insects!Manuela is fascinated by all the ways insects influence the world around us, and our views on the world, and hopes to inspire people to get curious about insects and nature through her art. As she writes in her thesis, "in the context of an environmental emergency marked by extraction, extinction, and global warming, this project responds to the urgent need to change our relationship with non-human life. An “affective” approach in scientific communication becomes essential for the way we learn about our surroundings."In this podcast episode, dive into Manuela's art while learning about insects!

Stephanie Morphet is a biomedical scientist turned circus artist and hair hanger. She studied tuberculosis in the lab, working to develop point-of-care diagnostic tools, before deciding to pursue a full-time circus career. But she has brought her scientific mindset with her into circus, especially pertaining to her pursuit of a Guinness World Record for the most amount of weight held while hanging from only her hair! Hair hanging is all about maintaining the strength and health of your hair and scalp, which is all about protein chemistry and skin health. In this podcast episode, I talk to Stephanie about hair hanging, the science and chemistry of hair, the scientific mindset, and more!

Malaika Mahmood is an expert on pain. She studies not just how pain is registered by our nerves at the site of injury, but how it is processed in the brain. Pain perception is complex and involves multiple brain regions working together, including those that process emotion and control movement and action. It's no wonder that chronic pain can make us depressed - in fact, it can even rewire our brains long-term. Malaika is studying pain in mouse models to better understand which brain cells and brain regions are involved in pain processing, and how we might harness the brain's own power to soothe pain.

Cassandra is a research associate at Seattle Children’s Center for Global Infectious Disease Research. She's been known to dissect hundreds of mosquito salivary glands in a day to isolate malaria parasites in the hunt for a better understanding of this disease's dynamics of transmission from mosquito to human (or mosquito to animal) and back again. Cassandra and her colleagues are studying mosquitoes and malaria to help develop new automated tools for research (a mosquito-dissecting robot, anyone?!), and new routes for vaccination.

Isabelle Neylan studies copepods - think the little green Plankton from SpongeBob! - and how they deal with stressors like excessive heat in the splash pools where they live. Understanding the mechanisms of stress resilience and plasticity in copepods can help us better understand how ocean food webs may respond to future environmental conditions. We may even be able to learn a thing or two about how we humans can better adapt to stress from these tiny creatures! Join Isabelle in the lab with your host Paige Jarreau, as Isabelle extracts RNA from copepods and talks life as a scientist!