People Behind the Science Podcast

By Dr. Marie McNeelyScience

People Behind the Science Podcast episodes

December 21, 2020 584: Dr. Audrey Dussutour: Studying Smart Slime Molds and Collective Intelligence in Ant Colonies
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Dr. Audrey Dussutour is a National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Scientist at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. Audrey received a Masters Degrees in Ecology from Paul Sabatier University, a Masters Degree in Neurosciences and Ethology from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, and a PhD in Animal Behavior working in laboratories from both of these universities. She next conducted postdoctoral research at Concordia University in Canada and at the University of Sydney in Australia. Audrey has received numerous awards and honors for her exceptional work, including the Adolphe Wetrems Award of the Belgian Royal Academy, the Young Investigator Award of the French Society for the Study of Animal Behavior, the Outstanding Paper Prize from the Journal of Experimental Biology, Lauréate du Prix Le Monde de la Recherche, and the Young Researcher Prize from the French Society for the Study of Animal Behavior. Audrey joined us for an interview to talk about her experiences in life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:37)
When she’s not in front of her computer screen for work, Audrey loves going out to the movies and watching DVDs from her extensive collection. Some of her favorite directors are John Cassavetes and David Lynch, and she gets into sci-fi films as well.
The Scientific Side (3:18)
Audrey studies animal behavior and collective intelligence in ant colonies and slime molds. In ant colonies, she examines how the ants regulate traffic to avoid traffic jams. By observing how they behave, she can create algorithms that may help alleviate our own traffic jams. In slime molds, Audrey investigates the different cognitive abilities they are able to display even though they don’t have brains.
A Dose of Motivation (4:21)
“Just to be sure, we should do it again.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (6:29)
Her interest in science started early during her childhood. Audrey initially wanted to become an astrophysicist, then a veterinarian, and in college she discovered the field of animal behavior research. The first experiments Audrey worked on as a college student were in the field of neuroscience using mouse models, but she quickly realized this area of research was not for her. While a master’s student, Audrey worked in ecology studying honey bee behavior, but her allergy to bee stings cut her honey bee research career short. Once she was introduced to the field of ant behavior research, she loved it. This line of research still continues in her lab today.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (16:19)
When Audrey conducted an experiment examining the link between nutrition and longevity in ants, she ran into an unexpected complication. She chose a species of ants that was supposed to live for about two months, and she started with about 10,000 ants. Different nests were fed different diets, and she tracked them over time to see which diets allowed the ants to live the longest. This involved going in to the lab each day to monitor how much the ants were eating and how many were still alive. At two months, most of the ants were still alive. The project continued for a full year and a half before the very last ant in the experiment died. This meant, Audrey worked in the lab every single day for a year and a half, skipping all holidays and weekends. The last ant standing lived for ten days longer than all the others, and Audrey even began to have dreams about the day the ant would die and the experiment would be over. After confirming their findings in a separate species of ants, Audrey and her lab retired from research on longevity.
A Shining Success! (20:17)
Among Audrey’s many successes, she highlighted the first scientific paper she ever published. This was written on her master’s degree research project, and it was published in the prestigious journal Nature. Another major success occurred during her postdoctoral fellowship in Australia when she established that ant colonies use collective nutrition. Audrey demonstrated that foragers adjust the types of food they bring back based on the needs of the colony, and that digestion is a collective task in which certain types of food are pre-digested by larva before being consumed by adult ants. The third big success she mentioned was being the first person to ever record learning in a unicellular organism. Using slime mold, Audrey demonstrated that a single individual slime mold can learn, and this knowledge can be transferred to other slime mold individuals. This exciting success led to her being invited to write a book that has been very well-received in France.
Book Recommendations (24:27)
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, Tout Ce Que Vous Avez Toujours Voulu Savoir Sur Le Blob Sans Jamais Oser Le Demander by Audrey Dussutour
Most Treasured Travel (26:53)
Australia was Audrey’s favorite place she has traveled to for science. She spent three years there as a postdoctoral fellow, and the wildlife was completely different from what she was used to in Europe. Each weekend felt like a holiday since Audrey was able to visit some of the phenomenal national parks, experience the beautiful beaches and snorkeling sites, and check out the famous Blue Gum Forest in the Blue Mountains. In downtown Sydney, there were many fantastic pubs, and the Sydney Opera House was amazing.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (28:52)
Audrey’s colleagues like to bet about things when there is a disagreement. However, instead of betting money, they bet tacky, small gnome statues. If you lose a bet, you receive a gnome that must be kept on display in your office. The winner of the bet gets to choose the gnome statue, and they are often funny or embarrassing. Everyone has at least one gnome, but there is one scientist she works with whose office is full of gnomes from losing bets.
Advice For Us All (33:50)
If you need statistics to tell if there is a difference in your data, there isn’t a difference. When you replicate your data many times, and the results persist, then statistics aren’t necessarily required to confirm there is a difference. On the other hand, it can be misleading to interpret an imperceptibly small statistical difference with a p value of 0.045 as meaningful. If you want to do science, you have to think about science becoming your life. You don’t have to be the best student in your class though. The most passionate people are the ones who succeed in science.
Guest Bio
Within Ethology, Audrey is working in the exciting field of collective behavior and swarm intelligence. Her expertise comes from a variety of fields such as mathematics, computer science, neurobiology, cell biology, and animal behavior. Most recently, Audrey’s work has focused on the origin of cognition using slime molds. She has discovered that non-neural organism are capable of learning, redefining the notion of intelligence. In France, Audrey is actively involved in public outreach through conferences, school visits, documentaries, and radio shows. Outside of work, Audrey has a strong passion for movies, she possesses a collection of thousand DVDs, enjoying some blockbusters as much as independent cinema. She shares this passion with her musician husband in down town Toulouse also called the “pink city”.

*This episode was originally released on December 25, 2017.
The post 584: Dr. Audrey Dussutour: Studying Smart Slime Molds and Collective Intelligence in Ant Colonies appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
38 min
December 14, 2020 583: Dr. Erica Middleton: Applying Learning Principles to Improve Language Rehabilitation in Aphasia
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Dr. Erica Middleton is an Institute Scientist and Director of the Language and Learning Laboratory at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute. She received her undergraduate training in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was awarded her PhD in cognitive psychology with a specialization in psycholinguistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI) and the University of Pennsylvania before accepting her current position at MRRI. Her work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, and has been recognized with the Stanley and Helene M. Cohen Prize for Research Excellence from the Einstein Healthcare Network. In our interview, Erica shares more about her life and research.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:18)
Beyond her scientific interests, Erica is passionate about organic gardening and cooking. She and her family have been having fun creating a variety of dishes in the kitchen, including experimenting with different kinds of macaroni and cheese.
The Scientific Side (4:14)
Many people who have had a stroke experience a long-term impairment in their ability to produce or comprehend language. This impairment is called aphasia. Erica’s research focuses on applying fundamental learning principles to improve language rehabilitation in people with aphasia.
A Dose of Motivation (7:00)
Every day, you should get up, work hard, and leave the end to itself.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:17, 21:53)
Before beginning to pursue science, Erica was an art major. However, after her first semester, she decided to leave the program and move back to her hometown. It took some time for Erica to determine what she wanted to do for her career, but she knew she was interested in philosophy and consciousness. She went back to school and enjoyed learning about disorders of consciousness and how the brain works. These experiences directed her towards cognitive psychology, and she decided to go to graduate school to continue her studies. During graduate school, Erica became fascinated by language, but she was interested in shifting towards more clinical research. This is what brought her to MRRI for postdoctoral training, and she ultimately established her own independent lab there.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (15:51)
The global pandemic has introduced a variety of challenges for Erica and her lab. It was difficult to transition suddenly to working remotely full time when a lot of their research depends on in-person interactions with research participants. However, they have been taking things one day at a time and have re-tooled their operations and approaches to adapt to the current circumstances. Over the past several months, the lab has developed a remote testing protocol that will allow them to engage with people with aphasia in their homes and to safely conduct high-quality psycholinguistics research. Beyond being able to work remotely with local research participants, these remote protocols will allow Erica to recruit participants from all over the country, enriching her research and making opportunities to participate in research more accessible.
A Shining Success! (18:33)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many scientific conferences were cancelled this past year. These conferences are important venues for researchers to come together, exchange ideas, and advance their science. As a member of the Program Committee for the Academy of Aphasia, Erica and her fellow committee members coordinated the first completely virtual conference ever held by the Academy of Aphasia. It was a remarkable success. The conference usually has around 100 attendees, but the virtual conference this year drew in around 500 attendees from all over the world. It was exciting to see that the virtual format allowed many people to attend, including a lot of young investigators and people from under-resourced areas, who may not have been able to participate in previous years. It was also really great to see her colleagues, even if it was through a webcam.
Book Recommendations (26:10)
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, LaRose by Louise Erdrich, and The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Most Treasured Travel (20:18)
Erica attended the 2010 meeting of the Academy of Aphasia held in Athens, Greece, and it was a wonderful experience. This was her first international conference and only the second time she had travelled overseas. It was amazing to read and work on papers in the small restaurants (called tavernas) with the Acropolis in view. Also, there was so much culture and history to explore. Erica particularly enjoyed visiting an exceptional natural history museum where she was able to see firsthand quite a few of the artifacts she remembered learning about in an art history class during her first semester of college.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (24:24)
The labs that Erica has been a part of over the years have all had a strong sense of family. She’ll never forget getting together with her undergraduate research mentor on the weekends to play guitar or going out for happy hour with her graduate school and postdoc labs. In her current lab, Erica and her colleagues have had to put their happy hour gatherings on hold for now, but they look forward to getting together in person again soon.
Advice For Us All (30:01)
Be mindful and live in the present moment. It is easy to be always worrying about the future and fretting over the past, but it is important to experience life and take it easy on yourself. In our current circumstances, it can help to take life one day at a time. Know that we are all in this together. There are so many members of the scientific community working really hard to find solutions, and we can overcome this.
Guest Bio
Erica’s research is dedicated to furthering our understanding of how words are represented and processed during language production and comprehension. A major focus of her work concerns examining how such processes are disrupted in people with acquired language impairment from stroke, a disorder called aphasia. Her current research grant seeks to leverage a scientific understanding of fundamental learning principles to improve the rehabilitation of aphasia. Erica lives with her partner in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and she holds the privilege of being a half-time mom to his two children from a previous marriage. Erica’s passions include introducing the kids to cool things (e.g., Whoopee cushions; sparklers), organic gardening, cooking, reading, birding, and hiking in New Jersey’s state parks.
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32 min
December 07, 2020 582: Dr. Eva Harris: Spreading Enthusiasm for Research on Dengue and Influenza Viruses to Improve Global Health
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Dr. Eva Harris is a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology as well as Director of the Center for Global Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the founder and president of the Sustainable Sciences Institute. Eva received her PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship and served as an Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley. Eva has received a number of awards and honors during her career, including the McArthur Genius Fellowship, being named a Pew Scholar, receiving a National Recognition Award from the Nicaragua Minister of Health, being named a Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and being awarded the Prytanean Faculty Award for outstanding women faculty. In our interview, Eva shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Guest Bio
Eva has developed a multidisciplinary approach to study the molecular virology, pathogenesis, immunology, and epidemiology of dengue, the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease in humans. Her work investigates the mechanism of dengue virus translation and replication and host cell-virus interactions, as well as viral and host factors that modulate disease severity. One major research focus has been the development of a mouse model to study viral tropism and pathogenesis, investigate the immune response to dengue virus infection, and generate a better model of disease. This has resulted in a mouse model for antibody-dependent enhancement of dengue disease that is being used to dissect antibody determinants of protection, enhancement, and therapeutic efficacy and to test different classes of candidate antiviral compounds. Eva’s field work focuses on laboratory-based and epidemiological studies of dengue and influenza in endemic Latin American countries.
*This episode was originally released on August 10, 2014.
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46 min
November 30, 2020 581: Dr. Rodrigo Quian Quiroga: Unraveling the Mechanisms Behind Memory in the Human Brain
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Dr. Rodrigo Quian Quiroga is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Systems Neuroscience at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. He is also an author of the books Borges and Memory, Principles of Neural Coding, Imaging Brain Function with EEG, and The Forgetting Machine. Rodrigo received his undergraduate training in physics from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and was awarded his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Luebeck in Germany. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Research Center Juelich in Germany and he received a Sloan Fellowship to conduct research at the California Institute of Technology. Rodrigo also worked briefly at RIKEN in Japan and at the University of Nijmegen in The Netherlands. Rodrigo has received numerous awards and honors including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, a Young Investigator Award from the American Epilepsy Society, and Rodrigo was also named one of 10 UK RISE Leaders in Science and Engineering in 2014. Rodrigo spoke with us about his experiences his career, research, and life.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:37)
Rodrigo enjoys getting out of the lab to give his mind a break from thinking about experiments. In particular, he enjoys hanging out with his wife and kids, playing sports, and practicing Judo.
The Scientific Side (3:22)
Rodrigo is interested in understanding how memory works and how the brain works in general. He conducts experiments to determine how the neurons in our brain make us see, feel, make decisions, and remember the things we experience and learn in our lives. The memory research in Rodrigo’s lab investigates how memories are formed, stored, consolidated, and forgotten.
A Dose of Motivation (4:15)
Curiosity and passion motivate Rodrigo to go into the lab each day and do the experiments he does.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (6:12)
Rodrigo’s academic performance throughout his school years was fine, but he was not necessarily a top tier student. He had other interests, including sports, spending time with friends, and having fun, that occupied him during his earlier years. Though he studied physics and math in college, Rodrigo was always curious about the brain. As an undergraduate student, Rodrigo chose to do his final year project on chaos theory. However, he designed an applied project that focused on the brain and paired him with a neurologist mentor who took interest in Rodrigo’s mathematics and physics-based approaches. The project didn’t work out, but it taught Rodrigo a lot and captivated his interests. He was awarded a fellowship and moved to Germany to continue doing research. Partway through his time there, Rodrigo’s advisor told him that he could present the work he was doing as a PhD thesis. Rodrigo took him up on the offer and was awarded his PhD after only two years. He later changed his research field from applied mathematics and physics to studying neuroscience.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:21)
The start of Rodrigo’s scientific career was really frustrating. The very first project that he worked on involved trying to apply chaos theory to electroencephalography (EEG) data in college, and it was a disaster. Rodrigo attempted to replicate experiments from another research group that claimed their data from EEG recordings of activity from the brain supported that neural activity was a chaotic system. Rodrigo spent two years working hard trying to replicate these results, but eventually he discovered that the previously reported results were incorrect, and the question they were pursuing didn’t even make sense. Even though the project wasn’t a good idea, Rodrigo was glad he did it because it helped him get into neuroscience which was something he was really passionate about. It also taught him the importance of asking the right questions in research.
A Shining Success! (22:07)
The scientific achievement for which Rodrigo is most well-known is discovering “concept cells” or “Jennifer Aniston neurons” in the brain. When he decided to switch his career from math and physics to neuroscience, he moved to the California Institute of Technology and started studying recordings from neurons. Before this point, he had never even seen a neuron before. However, Rodrigo brought with him a lot of useful tools from math and physics, and he realized he could used these tools to solve problems in neuroscience. This was particularly important because many neuroscientists weren’t aware of or didn’t know how to use these techniques. His first success was using math and physics techniques to develop new methods to identify neurons from a neural recording. In a recording, you can see the activity of different neurons, but he used mathematical tricks to see activity from more neurons than could be done with other methods at the time. With this algorithm and a few other tricks, Rodrigo discovered a type of neuron that no one had ever seen before. These neurons responded to specific people. The most famous and very first neuron of this type that he found was active only in response to photos of Jennifer Aniston. It responded to all photos of Jennifer Aniston (not just a specific photo), and it didn’t respond to pictures of any other people. This was really rewarding and opened a whole new line of research to examine why we have neurons that respond to specific concepts within an area of the brain called the hippocampus that is involved in memory.
Book Recommendations (29:32)
The Forgetting Machine by Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, The Aleph and other short stories by Jorge Luis Borges
Most Treasured Travel (30:23)
When Rodrigo moved from Argentina to Germany, there was one scientist whose papers he was fascinated by but never had the opportunity to meet. He flew in to Spain and traveled the rest of the way by train, stopping in different cities along the way. One of the stops brought him to Amsterdam, and Rodrigo knew that this scientist hero of his worked at the University of Amsterdam. Rodrigo pulled one of the papers out of his bag, got the scientist’s address listed under the author affiliation, and took a bus to the University of Amsterdam. Once there, Rodrigo managed to find the scientist’s office, but his secretary said he wouldn’t return for a few hours. Rodrigo got coffee in the cafeteria and waited. He was surprised when the scientist found him in the cafeteria, met with him, and invited him to see the hospital where they did neural recordings. They spent the entire next day together, and it meant so much to Rodrigo to be regarded as a colleague even though he was just fresh out of college.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:04)
There are so many scientists Rodrigo has met who are amazing human beings. It is fun to meet people at a conference, grab dinner, have a beer, and have great conversations. Rodrigo enjoys meeting and talking with people who are working at all levels in science, not just the very best researchers. Most scientists are quite approachable. In his own research group, they developed a tradition of meeting after work on Fridays to relax, chat, and enjoy a beer together. Sometimes, excellent scientific ideas come out of these pub discussions with colleagues.
Advice For Us All (37:26)
Don’t always listen to advice. When Rodrigo was interested in using tools and techniques from physics and math to get more information out of neural recordings, he met with one of the renown experts in the field. This expert basically told Rodrigo that the problem was already solved, it would be a waste of time to work on, and that Rodrigo shouldn’t try it. This was exactly what Rodrigo needed to hear at the time because it made him want to prove that person wrong. Pursuing the idea despite being advised against it led to one of Rodrigo’s most important discoveries. Rodrigo is fortunate because he is doing exactly what he wants to do in life. If you realize what you want to do and can manage to do it, you will have passion that will make you want to go into work every day.
Guest Bio
Rodrigo’s main research interest is on the study of the principles of visual perception and memory. He discovered what have been named “Concept cells” or “Jennifer Aniston neurons” which are neurons in the human brain that play a key role in memory formation. This finding was selected as one of the top 100 scientific stories of 2005 by Discover Magazine. His work has been published in about 100 research articles and has received world-wide media attention, including articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Daily Mail, New Scientist, The Independent, and other media outlets. Rodrigo is the author of 3 books, including Borges and Memory, which links the thoughts of Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges with memory research in neuroscience. Rodrigo has held visiting positions at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg, the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, the University of California Los Angeles, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Buenos Aires, and CONICET.
*This episode was originally released on February 19, 2018.
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42 min
November 23, 2020 580: Dr. Kenneth Heilman: Dedicating His Attention to Cognitive Disorders in the Clinic, the Classroom, and through Conducting Research
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Dr. Kenneth Heilman is the James E. Rooks, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Health Psychology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He is also Director of the Memory Disorders Clinics, the Center for Neuropsychological Studies, and the Behavioral Neurology-Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Program at the University of Florida. Ken received his M.D. from the University of Virginia and continued his training in Internal Medicine at the Cornell University Medical Center. Afterward, he served as Captain in the Air Force and was Chief of Medicine at NATO Hospital in Izmir, Turkey during the Vietnam War. When Ken returned, he completed his Neurology Residency and Fellowship at Harvard University an then joined the faculty at the University of Florida. Ken is the recipient of a University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship, the Clinical Research Award from the University of Florida College of Medicine, and the Behavioral Neurology Society Outstanding Achievement Award. He has also authored multiple books including The Believer’s Brain which published in 2014. He is here with us today to tell us all about his journey through life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (02:28)
Ken enjoys spending his free time with his family and out on the golf course. Exercise is also a priority in Ken’s life, and quality time on the treadmill has become part of his morning routine.
The Scientific Side (03:15)
At work, Ken’s time is divided between taking care of patients in the neurology clinic, teaching students, residents, and fellows, as well as conducting research. His research focuses on learning how the brain works, what is going on when it doesn’t work, and how to fix it when it’s not working well.
A Dose of Motivation (06:40)
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (15:15)
Ever since he was young, Ken was fascinated by taking things apart to see how they worked. When his mother was going to throw away an old, broken clock, he was able to disassemble and fix it. In medical school, there were many paths Ken could have taken, but he decided to work on understanding the intricate complexities of the human brain. His attention was caught by one patient in particular who had neglect syndrome and was completely unaware of half of his environment and half of his own body.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (20:38)
Many of Ken’s biggest career challenges occurred in his early school years. He was held back in third grade because he struggled with reading out loud. As a high school student, Ken wanted to apply to academic colleges. Unfortunately, he was pressured to attend vocational school because people thought he couldn’t read well, and he struggled in his language classes. It wasn’t until many years later that Ken realized that he had been struggling with a reading disability called phonological dyslexia.
A Shining Success! (25:12)
Ken describes how being able to work with patients as well as conduct research has been really rewarding. He has observed interesting phenomena in patients and brought these insights back to the laboratory to more closely examine the brain mechanisms involved. As a result, Ken has been involved in describing multiple entirely new neurological diseases that had never been reported before.
Book Recommendations (30:50)
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, The Warsaw Ghetto Memoirs of Janusz Korczak  by Janusz Korczak
Most Treasured Travel (33:03)
One of Ken’s favorite travel experiences was a visit to a patient who had a very unusual language disturbance that had never been described. This patient was not able to comprehend what objects were but could name them. Ken and his colleagues wrote a paper about this patient and submitted it to the journal Brain. The reviewers asked for one additional experiment to confirm their findings, and administering these tests to the patient was one of Ken’s most exciting and memorable moments. The findings were fascinating, and they were successful in publishing their paper.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (38:00)
When Ken attends conferences, he enjoys meeting with his colleagues in the evenings to talk science over dinner. During one conference in La Jolla, CA, Ken was able to squeeze in a tee time on a beautiful golf course immediately following his invited lecture. This meant he had to postpone the question and answer session until the next day, but he had a wonderful time and another scientist from the conference joined him on the course.
Advice For Us All (46:00)
Follow your heart and follow your dreams. In the end, it is important to be able to look back and know that you are leaving the world a little better than it was before.
Guest Bio
Ken’s research has been supported by the VAMC and/or NIH for more than 40 years. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 14 books, more than 100 chapters and more than 600 peer reviewed publications. He and his coworkers have described several new diseases/disorders and their treatment (e.g., orthostatic tremor), and helped to better understand many neurobehavioral disorders (e.g., emotional communication, sensory-motor neglect, anosognosia, and apraxia). As Director of the Behavioral Neurology-Dementia Post-Doctoral program, Ken has helped to trained more than 70 post-doctoral fellows, the majority of who hold academic positions and several of whom are now leaders in academic neurology, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Ken has received many honors including membership in Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi, and the Dana Foundation, as well as the Clinical Research and the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the University of Florida. He is a past President and Distinguished Career Award recipient from both the International Neuropsychology Society (INS) and the Society for Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. Ken is an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association, a Fellow in the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the Wartenberg Keynote Lecturer at the AAN. In 1965 he married Patricia Phillips and they have three children (David, Nicole and Eden) and three grandchildren (Brooke, Ashton, Ethan).
*This episode was originally released on November 23, 2015
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48 min
November 16, 2020 579: Dr. David Holtzman: Untangling the Mechanisms and Mysteries of Alzheimer’s Disease
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Dr. David Holtzman is the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and Chairman of Neurology, Professor of Developmental Biology, Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and a Head of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at Washington University in St. Louis. David received his Medical Degree from Northwestern University and completed Residency in Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. David has received many awards and honors during his career, including a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar Award in Aging Research, the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology for research on Alzheimer’s disease, a MERIT award from the National Institute on Aging, the MetLife Award for research on Alzheimer’s disease, and two of his research discoveries were listed in the top 50 scientific innovations in 2006 by Scientific American. He is also an elected member of the American Neurological Association, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. In our interview, David tells us more about his life and research.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:52)
In his free time, David loves to play tennis, cycle, hike, go to vineyards, and travel. He particularly enjoys exploring the culture of different places while traveling with his wife.
The Scientific Side (17:38)
Much of the research in David’s lab is dedicated to better understanding the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, particularly looking at mechanisms and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.
A Dose of Motivation (4:43)
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common, costly, and devastating diseases of the brain, but we still do not yet have a good treatment. This motivates David every day to do the work he does.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (7:41)
The gateway to David’s interest in science was his childhood fascination with animals. He got hooked on biology watching wildlife and learning about animals. Over the years, David got involved with the local Humane Society and programs at the St. Louis Zoo. During high school, he heard about six year medical programs that involved two years of focused undergraduate education followed by the standard four year medical school curriculum. Though there weren’t any physicians in his family, they supported his interests in going into medicine. It wasn’t until after his residency that David began to pursue scientific training, and the field of neurodegeneration captivated him.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (19:44)
When David first started as a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, he began working on apolipoprotein E (APOE), an important genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease. He was convinced APOE played a particular role in the brain that linked it to Alzheimer’s disease. As his work progressed, it became clear to him that his original hypotheses may not be correct. At this point, David had to change the trajectory of his research program. He had been applying his expertise in neurobiological approaches, but he needed to take more of a biochemical approach in order to address the questions he was interested in. This meant learning new techniques and re-equipping his lab before he could move forward.
A Shining Success! (24:53)
A former graduate student in David’s lab was investigating a protein called amyloid beta, and they noticed that levels of the protein fluctuated frequently. They were not anticipating this phenomenon. Through further conversations and experiments, they discovered that the protein levels were changing as a result of the sleep-wake cycle. This observation led them to discover that the sleep-wake cycle is not only critical for regulating the levels of amyloid beta, but also that manipulating sleep could affect Alzheimer’s disease pathology in animals over time. This has led to interesting follow-up research projects exploring the impacts of the accumulation of amyloid beta on sleep and how sleep could potentially be used to delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Book Recommendations (27:47)
Madness and Memory: The Discovery of Prions – A New Biological Principle of Disease by Stanley B. Prusiner
Most Treasured Travel (30:53)
One of the most memorable places David has traveled for science has been Australia, and he has had great scientific interactions with colleagues at the University of Melbourne. Melbourne is a fun city to visit and has an interesting history. When there, David was struck by the variety and natural beauty. He enjoyed exploring the Great Barrier Reef and breathtaking rainforests.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (33:21)
David has been impressed by the wide variety of hobbies and interests of some of the scientists he knows. While visiting a scientist at the University of Melbourne, David discovered that his colleague also owned a vineyard. It was fun to tour the vineyard and marvel at his colleague’s knowledge of all the details about winemaking and growing grapes. In addition, one of David’s fellow researchers in Germany is an avid birdwatcher. Whenever they meet up at conferences, he always knows the best local places to go to see different species of birds.
Advice For Us All (37:06)
Follow your nose, and don’t feel inhibited by what you currently know. If you think something is important, and you want to pursue it, figure out a way to do it.

*This episode was originally released on December 19, 2104
The post 579: Dr. David Holtzman: Untangling the Mechanisms and Mysteries of Alzheimer’s Disease appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
41 min
November 09, 2020 578: Dr. Sudha Seshadri: Identifying Factors that Contribute to Cognitive Decline to Predict and Prevent Dementia
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Dr. Sudha Seshadri is a Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and a Senior Investigator at the Framingham Heart Study. She also serves as Co-Director of Medical Education for the Neurology Residency and Clerkship programs. Sudha attended medical school at the Christian Medical College of Madras University in India. Afterwards, Sudha completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and a fellowship in the Neurobiology of Aging and Alzheimer Disease at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Sudha previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. She also completed a residency in Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and she joined the faculty at Boston University in 2001. Sudha is the recipient of the E. Merck Gold Medal in Neurology and Allied Sciences, the Jack Spivack Excellence in Neurosciences Research Award from Boston University, and she is also a Member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society. Sudha joined us for an interview to discuss life, science, and medicine.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:53)
Sudha’s work is a big part of who she is and her purpose in life, but when she’s not at work, she loves to read. She has been an eclectic reader since she was a kid, devouring everything from poetry to novels and nonfiction. Reading has been an escape, a way to get information, and a source of inspiration. Sudha occasionally writes her own poetry as well. In addition, she likes to spend her free time walking, trekking, going for short runs, and being a parent to her daughter.
The Scientific Side (7:03)
She divides her time at work between being a clinical neurologist who sees patients with memory problems and being a researcher. In her research, Sudha is trying to determine why the brain and cognitive function decline with age, and what modifiable factors determine this decline, with the hope of better predicting and preventing it. She is able to leverage robust data sets from the Framingham Heart Study that began studying a cohort of people in 1948 and started collecting information related to dementia in 1974. Sudha believes that there are many different pathways that lead to dementia. She hopes in the future to be able to stop the progression of the disease and convert it to a chronic and manageable illness.
A Dose of Motivation (11:21)
“I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.” – From Dirge without Music by Edna St. Vincent Millay
“We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams;
World losers and world forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.” – From Ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
What Got You Hooked on Science? (20:13)
When Sudha was about 5 years old, her mother fell ill with a neurological disease, so Sudha spent much of her childhood visiting her in the hospital. Seeing her mother change over the years sparked passion and a sense of purpose in Sudha to understand the brain and become a physician. In high school, she toyed with the idea of studying physics because she found it intellectually fascinating, but with her father’s encouragement, she ultimately chose to pursue biology to become a physician. Once Sudha committed to medicine, she really enjoyed it. When it came time to specialize in medical school, she had to choose between neurology and neurosurgery. While she liked neurosurgery, the broader scope of neurology won out in the end.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (27:17)
Sometimes failures and challenges can redirect your life in good ways. Initially, Sudha had her heart set on doing neurology at a particular institution, but she ended up not getting accepted there. Instead, she accepted a position at another institution where she happened to meet the man who would become her husband. They have raised a wonderful daughter, and everything turned out well. Sudha was also sure she would stay in India after completing her neurology training there, but her husband really wanted to study cardiology in the U.S. with the Framingham Heart Study. They decided to move to the U.S. together with their three year old daughter, and Sudha started a fellowship there. Sudha enjoyed working with the participants of the Framingham Heart Study and had excellent mentors. She had to make a difficult choice between becoming a full-time researcher or taking time out to do another residency. Though choosing the residency set her research career back about four years, she wanted to be able to treat patients, she is a better neurologist because of this extra training, and she is able to take her clinical questions into the research realm to find the answers.
A Shining Success! (32:13)
Last year they reviewed data from the Framingham Heart Study over the past 30 years, and they discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that a person’s risk for developing dementia at a given age was going down. The average age at which a person develops dementia has increased from about 80 years old in the 1970s to about 85 years old today. These trends are exciting, and they are following up to understand why this is occurring. Another success for Sudha has been the exceptional mentees she has worked with over the past 10 years. One of her first mentees heard her speak at a meeting and asked afterwards if she could join Sudha’s lab. Sudha didn’t have funding at the time, and she barely had a lab. They submitted a Fullbring Fellowship application, and it was funded! Within five years after leaving Sudha’s lab, this individual is now a full professor and a valuable colleague. It has been a joy to see her mentees go on to do great things and to know that she can make a substantial impact through mentoring and collaborative science.
Book Recommendations (3:55)
They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Most Treasured Travel (35:25)
Paris and Bordeaux are among Sudha’s favorite cities she has visited. One of Sudha’s former mentees is from France, and she has become one of Sudha’s treasured colleagues. This individual showed Sudha around Paris the first time she was there, and Sudha absolutely loved it. It was fun to watch the people, walk by the river, and take in the sense of history of the city. Paris was beautiful, and the food was great. While Sudha didn’t used to have a particular interest in food, travel has sparked her appreciation for good food and wine. Now Sudha likes cooking for her husband and her daughter when she visits.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (37:40)
When she travels to different cities with her collaborators, they have fun going out to dinner together and catching up. It is also nice for Sudha to see some of her younger colleagues developing friendships and having fun together at conferences. They are doing exceptional research and putting in a lot of work, but funny things inevitably happen when they get together. At one conference in Toronto three of her colleagues were excited to have a room on the 36th floor with a spectacular view. However, when the electricity went out during their stay, they had to earn their view by climbing 36 flights of stairs at the end of a long day. Also, the French are sometimes given a reputation of being laid back and not working as many hours, but none of Sudha’s French colleagues fit this stereotype.
Advice For Us All (43:00)
Life happens along the way, and we decide how our lives will progress by our choices, actions, and everyday decisions. Sometimes life takes you to wonderful places you didn’t realize you would ever go. Dementia is part of the journey in life for many people. Though dementia can be tragic, it isn’t entirely about losing things. In some cases, gifts can emerge that are a source of joy. For example, some people with dementia go through a phase of extreme visual and musical creativity as they lose their language abilities. Look for the little gifts in this tragic process. Also, remember that we all need to work together in this world. So much progress has been made, and we can hardly imagine how much more capable of managing disease we will be in the next 50 years.
Guest Bio
Sudha has published 300 papers on risk factors and genes for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain aging. She leads several international genetic collaborations, reviews papers, and grants, and she enjoys teaching and mentoring students and young researchers from all over the world. In recent years, she has been fortunate to travel to many countries and learn from a diverse group of colleagues with whom she also works through long conference calls and webinars. Professionally, her goal is to integrate population neuroscience with clinical care and research, as well as laboratory based biological research, to identify effective prevention and treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. She considers it the greatest privilege of her life that she gets to be a part of so many lives. Her hunch is that what we call Alzheimer’s dementia is an end-result of many biological pathways, and understanding which specific patients will respond to a specific treatment will let us help more people. Her dream is, in her lifetime, to change Alzheimer’s disease from an inexorably progressive curse to one where progression can be largely arrested, and at least in some persons, memories lost can be retrieved. Personally, Sudha is a proud and lucky mother, wife, sister, aunt, daughter, and friend. She wishes she had more time to read poems and books and write long-form letters, and she treasures the opportunities she gets.
*This episode was originally released on September 18, 2017
The post 578: Dr. Sudha Seshadri: Identifying Factors that Contribute to Cognitive Decline to Predict and Prevent Dementia appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
48 min
November 02, 2020 577: Dr. John Morris: A Remarkable Researcher Progressing towards Understanding and Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
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Dr. John Morris is the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Professor of Pathology and Immunology, Professor of Physical Therapy, and Professor of Occupational Therapy at Washington University in St. Louis. He also is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, as well as the Memory and Aging Project. Dr. Morris received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and completed his Residency in Internal Medicine at Akron General Medical Center and his Chief Residency in Neurology and Residency in Neuropathology at the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital. He then spent some time in private practice and later as an emergency room physician. Dr. Morris first came to Washington University for a postdoctoral fellowship and joined the faculty soon after. Dr. Morris has received many awards and honors during his career, including the Distinguished Achievement Citation from Ohio Wesleyan University where he completed his undergraduate education, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick’s Alzheimer’s, and Related Disease from the American Academy of Neurology, the Carl and Gerti Cori Faculty Achievement Award from Washington University, the Peter Raven Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Science St. Louis, and the Washington University School of Medicine Second Century award. In this interview, he shares stories about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:58)
When he isn’t working, Dr. Morris enjoys spending time with family, reading a wide variety of books, and cycling on some of the fantastic bike paths in the St. Louis area.
The Scientific Side (3:57)
Much of Dr. Morris’s research has been focused on understanding the process of the development of Alzheimer’s disease, compared to the process of normal brain aging. One of his major goals is to understand the causes of Alzheimer’s disease so that we can develop new therapies to treat and prevent this disease.
A Dose of Motivation (6:23)
Dr. Morris acknowledges that he is incredibly privileged to be doing the work that he does. He is motivated by the importance of the research they are doing to improve the lives of older adults as well as the dedication of the scientists, researchers, and volunteers that he works with.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (10:47)
Growing up, Dr. Morris never really considered the possibility that he wouldn’t pursue a career in medicine. His father was a retired physician, and his mother was a retired nurse, so studying medicine seemed like a natural choice for his own career. While Dr. Morris admits that he wasn’t the most diligent medical student, his subsequent training experiences and the mentors he worked with had a big impact in shaping his career. About a year after finishing medical school, he was recruited to serve as a physician in Fairbanks, Alaska to help treat people who were coming from all over the world to build the Alaska Pipeline in the 1970s. At the time, Dr. Morris was having second thoughts about whether he actually wanted to dedicate his life to being a physician. Fortunately, it turned out that he really enjoyed practicing medicine. A series of exceptional mentors during residency and fellowship opportunities that followed piqued his interest in neurology, dementia, and academic research.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:08)
One of the quandaries that Dr. Morris encountered early in his career is that their neuropathology assessments during the autopsies of people who had shown no symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease revealed that about one third of these individuals actually had the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains. This was a really unexpected finding. Dr. Morris and his colleagues were left wondering if they had somehow failed to detect symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease when these individuals were alive or whether Alzheimer’s disease might be a chronic disorder that starts developing decades before symptoms can be detected. With additional research, they determined the latter was the case, and they developed the concept of “pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease”. During this stage of the disease, pathologic lesions begin occurring in the brain, and symptoms may not be detected until decades later once the damage reaches a particular tipping point. This discovery introduced an entirely new set of challenges because it meant that they would need to be able to recognize these brain changes in healthy people earlier in life if they wanted to have a chance of preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
A Shining Success! (21:23)
In 2012, Dr. Morris and his colleagues launched the first ever clinical trial of a medication to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in a cohort of people who were determined to be at high risk of developing the disease. It was so exciting to see that the work they had been doing over the past few decades to understand the mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, identify treatment targets, and develop therapeutics was finally to the point of having an impact on potentially preventing this disease in people who did not yet have any detectable symptoms.
Book Recommendations (23:36)
Alzheimer: The Life of a Physician and the Career of a Disease by Konrad Maurer and Ulrike Maurer
Most Treasured Travel (25:29)
Dr. Morris has travelled around the world to meet with colleagues and share his research. Some of his most memorable moments on these trips included exploring the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, seeing the Great Wall of China, visiting the Taj Mahal in India, and witnessing the splendor of the pyramids in Egypt.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (30:14)
Dr. Morris and one of his colleagues were co-recipients of the prestigious Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, and they were interviewed in advance of the award ceremonies. The keynote speaker for the ceremony was Dr. Roger Bannister, one of the world’s most eminent neurologists who also holds the distinction of being the first ever person recorded running a sub-4-minute mile. The last question of the Dr. Morris’s interview was about advice that could help junior investigators be successful, and he talked about the importance of working hard, aligning with good people, and collaborating. At that point, Dr. Morris thought the interview had concluded, and he added a joke about how it didn’t hurt that in his case he was devilishly handsome. He was quite surprised when that statement was included in the interview video that was later played during Dr. Bannister’s keynote speech. However, Dr. Morris’s joke ended up being well-received by the audience, and even Dr. Bannister looked over at him and told him that he was indeed incredibly handsome.
Advice For Us All (32:32)
In science, there are sometimes major breakthroughs that occur when people are very gifted, very lucky, or both. However, in most cases, science advances incrementally, building on the work that you and others have done. Maintain focus on your ideas, be persistent, and incorporate the talents of other people through collaborations to find success in science.
Guest Bio
Dr. Morris is an internationally renown researcher on Alzheimer’s disease. Over the course of his more than 30 year career in research, he and his team have conducted pioneering research on early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease as well as the development of new treatments for this devastating disease. In addition to his faculty and research appointments, Dr. Morris is a board member for the St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer Association, Director for the American Academy of Neurology, and Chair of the Clinical Task Force for the National Institute of Aging’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Research interests of Dr. Morris include healthy aging and Alzheimer dementia, antecedent biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in nondemented elderly to evaluate risk for Alzheimer dementia, and trials of investigational drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer dementia. Dr. Morris has authored or coauthored 4 books and more than 400 published articles (current h-index 95). Dr. Morris is a member of several professional societies and serves also on numerous scientific and community advisory boards. He is ranked in the top 1% of investigators in the field of Neuroscience and Behavior by Essential Science Indicators database.
*This episode was originally released on June 14, 2014
The post 577: Dr. John Morris: A Remarkable Researcher Progressing towards Understanding and Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
35 min
October 19, 2020 576: Dr. Mina Bissell: Changing How We Think About Cancer by Revealing the Critical Role of Context in Tissue Specificity
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Dr. Mina Bissell is a Distinguished Scientist in the Life Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from Radcliffe College and a M.Sc. in Bacteriology and Biochemistry as well as a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University. Afterward, Mina was awarded a Milton Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University followed by an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. She started off at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to study cell biology and cancer viruses and has dedicated over 40 years of her career to exceptional research there, rising through the ranks to her current position. Mina has received many awards and honors during her career. Just to name a few, she was awarded the highest award of the Department of Energy called the Lawrence Award, the Lifetime Achievement Prize from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor, the Susan G. Komen Foundation Brinker Award, an Honorary Doctorate from Pierre and Marie Curie University, and many more. In addition, Mina has been elected as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. A few years ago an award in Portugal was created in Mina’s name, and the Mina J. Bissell Award is given every 2 years to a person who has changed our perception of a field. In this interview, Mina shares her journey through life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (03:09)
In her free time, Mina loves to exercise. She keeps an elliptical in her office at work and a stationary bike in her office at home to fit in exercise while she is talking to people. Mina is married, and she has two children and four grandchildren. She really enjoys being able to spend quality time with her family. Mina is also passionate about theatre, and she tries to fit in as many shows as she can whenever she travels to places like New York and London. You can also find Mina reading a good book, hiking, and gardening when she’s not busy in the lab.
The Scientific Side (07:50)
Her work is related to some very fundamental questions in biology. There are trillions of cells in our bodies, and every cell in a person’s body has the same genetic information. Mina studies the area of tissue and organ specificity that answers the question of why the cells in a particular part of your body form the structures they do and not something else. For example, how does your nose know to be a nose and not an eye. Tissue and organ specificity are fundamentally related to cancer. When cells forget their tissue-specific functions, they start doing something else. They can begin to pile up, form tumors, and travel elsewhere in the body.
A Dose of Motivation (12:25)
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” -Albert Einstein
“Don’t ask what a cell can do; ask what it does do!” – Gloria Heppner
What Got You Hooked on Science? (16:38)
To this day, Mina is still not sure what exactly inspired her to pursue science. She graduated from high school as the top student in Iran and came to the United States to attend Bryn Mawr College. At that time, she didn’t have any idea what she wanted to study. Mina debated between majoring in chemistry or majoring in English, but she ultimately chose chemistry. However, Mina stresses the importance of making your own career and always keeping a second career in mind in case your first plan doesn’t work out.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (22:30)
Mina was two months pregnant with her second child when she interviewed for a postdoctoral position working in the laboratory of Melvin Calvin, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. She got the job, and was seven months pregnant when she walked in for her first day of work. The moment Melvin saw her, he fired her on the spot, saying he didn’t allow pregnant women to work in his laboratory. Mina also shares her frustrations working with a horrible boss who (among other things) was trying to take over her space and wouldn’t sign her grants to allow her to get the funds for her research and staff.
A Shining Success! (27:30)
One of her early projects focused on cancer cells in chickens. Previous research showed a particular virus causes cancer in chickens and also causes chicken cells in culture to become malignant/cancerous. However, Mina discovered that when this same virus is delivered to a chicken embryo, the cells do not become malignant. She demonstrated that the relevant cancer genes were active in the embryo, just like they were in cultured cells, but something in the embryo was preventing the cells from becoming malignant. This was an important finding that stressed the importance of the context of a cell in tissue specificity. No one believed her results at first. Mina also shares
Book Recommendations (06:27)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
Most Treasured Travel (48:31)
Mina’s favorite and most cherished travel memories come from her time in Italy. There is a town called Trento, which is home of the Pezcollar Foundation. Years ago, she won an award from the Pezcollar Foundation and was able to travel to Italy to give lectures and receive the award. The award was given to her in this beautiful palace, they had dinner in another lovely palace, and musicians played a sonata they had composed for her. Her husband was able to travel with her, and it was a phenomenal experience. During this trip, Mina also met a wonderful immunologist who she is still close friends with today.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (59:34)
Mina often has the opportunity to talk to students when she travels, and she has really enjoyed sharing her stories with them. One story Mina likes to tell is that when she was struggling to work with a difficult boss, she told herself that if it didn’t work out, she would open a Persian restaurant, and it would be an excellent restaurant. She encourages the students to keep a second career in mind because it can give you the courage to make changes in your life. Mina also shares some funny anecdotes from her time working with Melvin Calvin.
Advice For Us All (59:18)
Don’t be arrogant. It kills curiosity and passion.
Guest Bio
Mina is a pioneering scientist investigating the roles of the extracellular matrix and cellular/nuclear microenvironment in tissue specificity and malignancy. Her work has important applications for improving our understanding of cancer, and much of her research has focused on clarifying the processes underlying development of breast cancer. Through her innovative research, Mina has changed some central paradigms that have strengthened the importance of context in the development of cancer. Mina was born in Tehran, Iran, into a highly-educated, well-off family who was very supportive of her academic pursuits. She raised two children as an early-career scientist, starting her family while she was a first year PhD student. Mina strongly advocates for women’s ability to pursue both a fulfilling career, as well as a happy family life, and she serves as a role model in this regard for many of her students and colleagues.
*This episode was originally released on January 11th, 2016
The post 576: Dr. Mina Bissell: Changing How We Think About Cancer by Revealing the Critical Role of Context in Tissue Specificity appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
1 hr 10 min
October 12, 2020 575: Dr. Kerri Morgan: Conducting Research to Help Communities Better Support People With Disabilities
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Dr. Kerri Morgan is an Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy and Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis and a certified Assistive Technology Professional (ATP). In addition, Kerri is an accomplished Paralympic and World Champion athlete. Kerri received her Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas Christian University and her MS degree in occupational therapy from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She has served as an intern at the White House in the Presidential Personnel Office, and prior to joining the Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University in St. Louis, Kerri worked in the Occupational Therapy Department at the Devonshire Hospital in London, England. She later enrolled in the Program in Movement Science at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis where she was awarded her PhD. Kerri completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama-Birmingham before accepting her current position. In our interview, Kerri shares more about her life and research.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:27)
When she’s not doing science, Kerri loves spending time with family, including her twin boys. In addition, Kerri enjoys playing wheelchair rugby and racing. She finds that having other activities gives balance to her life and in turn makes her a better researcher.
The Scientific Side (4:22)
Through her research, Kerri is working to understand how to better support people with disabilities in the community. Studies in her lab investigate the needs of people with disabilities, their goals, available community interventions and programs, what is working, and how communities can ensure that people are able to do the things that they would like to do.
A Dose of Motivation (5:08)
One key motivator for Kerri is that she has lived with a disability for most of her life, so she has a personal understanding of many of the challenges faced by the populations she studies. Kerri has had goals, including physical fitness goals, and it has been difficult to find the resources necessary to meet these goals. She would like to contribute to making it easier for people with disabilities to fully participate in their communities.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (7:37)
Growing up with a disability, Kerri spent a lot of time undergoing different kinds of therapy. However, it wasn’t until she was older that she really started to appreciate the impact that therapy had on her life. When she started college, she was torn between whether to pursue business or psychology. Most of her family members had business backgrounds, but Kerri realized that business wasn’t the right fit for her. She wanted to pursue a career where she could help people, so she majored in psychology. As she considered different career paths, Kerri reflected that she wanted a profession where she could really give back to the community. She realized that she had valuable experiences and perspectives she could share as a occupational therapist, so she decided to get a master’s degree in occupational therapy. During her master’s degree program, Kerri worked with Dr. David Gray and began to appreciate the value of research and the need for more research in their field. After graduating and working in a research lab for about 10 years, Kerri made the decision to get her PhD in movement science to develop her own independent research program.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:38)
There are many barriers to engaging people with disabilities, including those related to finances, transportation, and insufficient support. When designing and delivering interventions, Kerri and her team have to think about how to overcome a variety of different barriers, not only for their research studies, but to ensure that these interventions are feasible for people to continue to participate in over time in their own communities. For example, coaching people in how to use the public transportation available in their communities may help them participate in a particular exercise intervention for a research study, but it may also help them to continue to exercise after the study is over.
A Shining Success! (20:49)
A major success for Kerri involved working with an engineer in the Program in Physical Therapy to develop a wheelchair treadmill to help train people in manual wheelchairs in how to push their wheelchairs in ways that put less strain on their upper extremities. Through this project, they also discovered that the device they developed could be a good exercise device for manual wheelchair users. They have published a few papers on the device, and it has been exciting to see how their work seemed to get other people thinking about developing new technologies for people with disabilities. Another success in Kerri’s lab has been their continued dedication to involving people with disabilities in every project in the lab. Whether it is insights from members of their research staff, feedback from their advisory board, or qualitative data from participants, they make sure to always incorporate perspectives from people with disabilities in their work.
Book Recommendations (25:14)
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
Most Treasured Travel (26:32)
Kerri had an opportunity to travel to Denmark and Norway while working in Dr. David Gray’s lab. It was exciting to see that the people there had an immense appreciation of the work Kerri and her colleagues were doing, and there was a strong desire to implement programs and interventions in Denmark and Norway. This was really motivating. During the trip, Kerri enjoyed exploring the towns and visiting some of the great museums and galleries there. As an athlete, Kerri had the opportunity to go to Christchurch, New Zealand to compete in the IPC Athletics World Championships. Christchurch was one of the most beautiful places Kerri has ever visited, and the people there were so supportive of hosting the Paralympics in their community. It was also memorable because she performed particularly well on the racetrack!
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (29:39)
One of the great things about traveling to attend scientific conferences is that you get a chance to get to know other people in your field in the down time after presentations are over for the day. This is something that Kerri is really missing right now since many conferences have switched to a virtual format during the pandemic. In her own lab, Kerri and her group have been having discussions about books they’ve all read and documentaries they’ve all watched. These conversations are great because they help them all keep learning, growing, and getting new perspectives that may inform their work.
Advice For Us All (34:07)
In research, it is essential to be patient. You aren’t going to be able to solve big problems overnight. Also, barriers and setbacks are inevitable in science. You’re not going to get every grant or have every paper accepted, but this is normal. Remember when you get constructive feedback that everyone is trying to help you make your work better in order to help people, and their feedback can make you a better researcher.
Guest Bio
In her research and clinical work, Kerri is generating new knowledge to help guide interventions to improve the participation of people with lower limb mobility impairments. Kerri’s research focuses on answering important questions in the areas of disability, participation, physical activity, and assistive technology. She has worked with people with spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, post-polio syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other conditions. Through her research, she has helped develop and test standardized measures to assess participation as well as factors that facilitate or serve as barriers to participation. Kerri also served an important role in creating a community-based program that provides health, wellness, and assistive technology services for people with disabilities. In addition, she was involved in the development of a motor-driven roller system (WheelMill System) that can be used for wheelchair training and exercise for people who use manual wheelchairs. Beyond her work, Kerri is an avid wheelchair athlete, and she has competed internationally in wheelchair rugby, sprint racing, and middle-distance racing. In her free time, she also enjoys hanging out with her family and having fun with her two-and-a-half-year-old twin boys.
The post 575: Dr. Kerri Morgan: Conducting Research to Help Communities Better Support People With Disabilities appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
37 min

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