People Behind the Science Podcast

By Dr. Marie McNeelyScience

People Behind the Science Podcast episodes

March 09, 2020 544: Dr. Natalia Vergara: Scientist with Her Sights Set on Using Stem Cells to Study and Treat Retinal Degeneration
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Dr. Natalia Vergara is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Natalia received her B.S. in biochemistry from the National University of the Litoral in Argentina. She worked as an instructor and research intern at the National University of Entre Ríos for about three years before beginning graduate school. Natalia was awarded her PhD in retinal regenerative biology from Miami University in Ohio. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She served as a Research Associate Faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for about two years before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado. Natalia has received awards for research and for mentoring, including the Ruben Adler Research Award from the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2012, and she was selected as an Emerging Vision Scientist to participate in the Third Annual EVS day on Capitol Hill by the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research in 2017. In our interview, Natalia tells us more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:39)
In her free time, Natalia loves hanging out, cooking, and enjoying food with friends and family, including her husband and two young kids. Natalia is also an avid traveler, and she delights in the thrill of discovery that comes along with exploring new places.
The Scientific Side (5:05)
Natalia uses stem cells to understand how the retina forms during development and how it degenerates during disease with the goal of developing therapies to help patients who suffer from vision loss. For her research, Natalia uses a type of stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells which can be reprogrammed so they can form any type of cell in the body. With these cells, they can make human retina tissue using any individual’s cells in a petri dish in the lab to better understand diseases, test treatments, and potentially prepare retinas for transplant.
A Dose of Motivation (7:48)
“Each person lives in the universe that they are capable of imagining.”
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” – Richard Feynman
What Got You Hooked on Science? (11:17)
The thrill of discovery, the ability to ask interesting questions, and the opportunity to go to new places and see new things all drew Natalia to science. In tenth grade, Natalia took a cell biology class in high school, and this was the first time she was introduced to the idea that all cells in your body come from one undifferentiated cell. She was fascinated by how this could happen. Natalia grew up in a small city in Argentina, and she was able to attend a free public university for college. However, at that time, the economy was in a recession, she didn’t know any scientists, and she didn’t know that being a scientist was a career option. Natalia knew she wanted to do something challenging that could benefit society. She chose to major in biochemistry, and the biochemistry program had a strong focus on both science and clinical applications. After college, Natalia taught biology classes for nursing students and volunteered as a researcher in a biology lab. This was her first exposure to research. Through a Rotary Club scholarship, she had the opportunity to travel to the U.S. to do a research internship at the University of Miami in Ohio. It was there that she fell in love with research. Natalia returned to the same lab for graduate school, and she has continued to work in the field of retinal biology ever since.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (22:29)
The last year of her PhD graduate program was one of the most difficult times for Natalia. She had a fantastic experience in graduate school until her final year where she began feeling the pressure to finish her degree. At that point, she had started several projects, but many of them weren’t going anywhere. She had been in the program for five years, and she had no idea how she was going to finish putting together a story that she could defend as her thesis. It took a lot of determination and hard work to pull everything together. Natalia started many different experiments and spent a lot of time in the lab. In the end, she was able to assemble a story and publish two papers during her final year before successfully defending her thesis. After making it through this experience, Natalia felt like she could do anything.
A Shining Success! (25:05)
Natalia is very happy to have been awarded her first grant to pursue research in Down syndrome. Retinal biology has not been well-studied, but evidence has shown that people with Down syndrome have lower visual acuity and that their retinas may be larger than people without Down syndrome. They are also at high risk for developing early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Many people may know that Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain, but it also affects the retina, causing issues with visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and color perception. These visual problems can make activities in everyday life more challenging and ultimately impact quality of life. Combining the visual problems in people with Down syndrome with the problems that develop in Alzheimer’s disease makes this population particularly vulnerable. As a result, Natalia’s work in this area could have a big impact in helping people and making a difference in their lives. She had never done research in Down syndrome previously, so it was really meaningful to have her work modeling Down syndrome using stem cell-derived retinas selected for this opportunity. In addition to receiving research funding, Natalia is excited to become a member of the funding agency’s community of investigators studying a variety of aspects of Down syndrome. The group meets each month to talk about their research, and this is a great chance to troubleshoot, collaborate, and get new ideas.
Book Recommendations (28:08)
The Last Sword Maker by Brian Nelson, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom by Sean B. Carroll.
Most Treasured Travel (30:52)
A few years ago, Natalia went to an eye development conference in Tuscany in Italy. This was her first time visiting Italy, and she was entranced by the beautiful mountains, the old cities, and the sense of history. She traveled to Rome after the conference, and it was amazing to see modern architecture mixed with Renaissance art and ruins from the Roman Empire. The food was also phenomenal. Going to Japan for a conference as a graduate student was another memorable travel experience. It was really striking how out of place she felt there because she couldn’t speak the language, many people at the conference didn’t speak English or Spanish, and she couldn’t even read the characters on a map or street sign to sound out words or orient herself. Exploring Japan was a wonderful experience, but it was also very humbling.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (35:04)
In a previous lab, Natalia and her colleagues celebrated successes with champagne. These included having grants awarded, papers published, and students graduating. The group would pop the cork towards the ceiling so it made an indentation in one of the ceiling panels. Then they would circle the dent and write a note about the success. It was cool to have a record overhead of all the good things that happened in the lab. In her current lab, Natalia loves celebrating everyone’s birthdays. They take turns bringing in cake to share with their department, and it is a fun way to make everyone in the group feel valued.
Advice For Us All (40:25)
You have to be proactive and make your own opportunities. You can do good work and be an excellent scientist, but if no one knows about your work, and you wait for opportunities to come to you, you might miss out on a lot. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for what you want or need. Often, there are many people out there who are willing and able to help.
Guest Bio
Natalia’s research team uses stem cells to understand the mechanisms of retina development and degeneration and to develop treatments for retinal diseases. Born in Argentina, Natalia obtained her PhD in biology at Miami University in Ohio, where she studied the mechanisms of lens and retina regeneration in amphibians. Later, during her postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she was introduced to stem cell research, and she was part of a team who developed the first 3D human retina derived from stem cells that was able to respond to light. She joined the Faculty at the University of Colorado in 2017 as part of CellSight, the ocular stem cell and regeneration program in the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center, where she applies this technology to the development of treatments for retinal degenerative diseases. Natalia is also involved in education and outreach, as well as in activities to promote diversity and inclusivity in science, to further advance her goal of serving society through science. Outside of work, Natalia spends time with her husband, Brian, and their two young kids. She enjoys traveling and learning new things, as well as hiking, reading, baking, and eating good food (especially chocolate!).

Photo Credit: Brooks Canaday

The post 544: Dr. Natalia Vergara: Scientist with Her Sights Set on Using Stem Cells to Study and Treat Retinal Degeneration appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
43 min
March 02, 2020 543: Dr. David Sedlak: Working to Purify and Preserve Our World’s Water Supply
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Dr. David Sedlak is the Plato Malozemoff Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Co-Director of the Berkeley Water Center, Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Reinventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure, and Director of the Institute for Environmental Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, he is author of the book Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource. David earned his Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Cornell University. After college, he worked as a Staff Scientist at Environ Corporation in Princeton, New Jersey. David then attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he was awarded his Ph.D. in water chemistry. Prior to joining the faculty at UC, Berkeley, David conducted postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology in Dübendorf, Switzerland. Throughout his career, David has received numerous awards and honors, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Development Award, the Paul L. Busch Award for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, a Fulbright Alumni Initiative Award, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecture Award, and the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for Excellence in Water Research. He has also been named an Elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, as well as a Rydell Distinguished Visiting Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College and the Francqui Foundation Chair, Ghent University. In our interview, David shares more about his life and research.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:01)
When David isn’t working, he enjoys long-distance running. He often runs along the many trails in the Berkeley area, and he participates in an annual local trails marathon.
The Scientific Side (3:44)
David is working to create technologies that will allow future generations to have access to adequate amounts of clean, safe water.
A Dose of Motivation (4:28)
“If it were easy and obvious, someone would have done it already.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (6:51)
Interest in the environment is what first drew David towards science and engineering. He grew up close to the water in Oyster Bay, NY, and he spent a lot of time outside around the bay. As the years passed, David saw and experienced pollution issues in the water, and it made him wonder how we could better live in harmony with the natural environment. He recognized that science could be one path towards solving these problems. David began college as a natural resources major, but he quickly realized that he would rather solve larger scale environmental problems than focus on the management aspects. In his second year of college, David got involved in research, and it was a great experience. After graduating, David worked for an engineering company that helped clean up hazardous waste sites around New York City. Working in these real-world polluted sites and interfacing with communities dealing with these problems, he realized how much he still had to learn. He decided to go to graduate school to pursue a career developing ways to destroy chemicals that contaminate our environment and our water.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (18:14)
In one project, David and a graduate student in the lab were trying to measure very low concentrations of a synthetic estrogen compound (the active ingredient in birth control pills) in water. The techniques they were using worked well in the lab and when they were working with relatively clean water. However, after reviewing data the graduate student spent months in the field collecting and processing, they realized they had a problem. He had to go back to the drawing board. At the same time, David was preparing to be considered for promotion and tenure. David and the student adjusted the methods to better purify their samples, and they spent the next year in the field repeating the experiments from the previous year. Ultimately, the project was successful, but the year-long delay was incredibly stressful.
A Shining Success! (22:51)
About 8 years ago, a postdoc in David’s lab did a series of experiments trying to break down a simple organic chemical called benzene. In textbooks, this is done with a simple oxidation reaction that creates only one product called phenol. They designed an experiment where they would monitor the disappearance of benzene and the formation of phenol. At the end of the experiment, they could only account for about half of the benzene that was lost. This unexpected finding launched a project that has taken seven years to solve. They discovered that there are actually several different reactions that occur, and the products that are created are more complex, and in some cases much more toxic, than the single product they originally expected. This has important implications for how wastes containing benzene should be treated before being released into the environment. David and his team discovered something no one had ever seen before, and they also came up with a solution where the products could be subjected to a second biofiltration step with bacteria to break down the toxic chemicals produced by the initial reaction.
Book Recommendations (26:51)
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Hans Rosling, and Ola Rosling; Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource by David Sedlak
Most Treasured Travel (29:45)
The campus at the University of California, Berkeley has been the most meaningful place that David’s work has taken him. The school has employed many inspiring researchers and has a great history of amazing discoveries. Stepping onto the Berkeley campus for the first time as a new faculty member was intimidating, but this environment has been incredibly intellectually stimulating. If you visit UC, Berkeley, you should definitely walk through the center of campus to visit the clock tower. From the top of this tower, you can get an excellent view of the campus and listen to the ringing of the bells. Also, take the opportunity to walk around campus and step into different lecture halls. There is something interesting going on in every building every day.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (33:02)
When David was a postdoc, he worked on a project analyzing the chemistry that occurs in cloud droplets. Cloud droplets are exposed to sunlight and they contain trace amounts of metals and soil. Interesting reactions occur within these droplets, and they are good models for processes that could be used to purify water. As part of the project, David had to go out into the high hills of Northern England to collect cloud water samples. He didn’t really know what to expect, but he packed up his equipment, rented a van, and convinced his wife to accompany him as a field technician. When he arrived, David saw that all of the other field research groups were outfitted with recreational vehicles with electricity, heat, refrigerators, music, and other useful amenities. In contrast, David and his wife spent their time sitting in a cold, dark van for 36 hour intervals, and they couldn’t run the engine to turn on the heat during the experiments. They were miserable, and this was the first and last time David ever collected cloud droplets.
Advice For Us All (39:07)
Never write a textbook or feel pressured to do something else that you feel is expected of you, but isn’t really necessary. Instead, do the things that make you happy, that other people aren’t doing, and that you think are going to have the biggest contribution to solving big problems. Also, if you like to dream and be creative, a career in research is a great fit. The sky is the limit.
Guest Bio
David’s career has been focused on the development of new technologies to provide a safe and abundant water supply to future generations. To achieve this goal, he directs a team of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who study everything from the mechanisms through which chemicals are degraded in advanced water treatment plants to the ways in which nature-based treatment systems can be integrated into water treatment. Recognizing that change requires a lot more than simply conducting research, David serves on various government advisory panels and works with water utilities and cities around the world to implement new approaches for obtaining and treating water. He also engages with members of the public and decision-makers to build support for these approaches whenever he can reach a large number of people (e.g., writing books, op-ed pieces, magazine articles, TED talks). In his remaining time, he chases his energetic dog around the many trails running through the Berkeley Hills and spends his time discussing ways of protecting the environment with his wife (MS in environmental engineering), daughter (BS in chemistry) and son (working on BS in Chemistry).
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42 min
February 24, 2020 542: Dr. Jonathan Toner: Studying Water on the Surfaces of Planetary Systems
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Dr. Jonathan Toner is a Research Assistant Professor in Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He received his B.S. degree in Physics from The College of New Jersey and his PhD in Geophysics from the University of Washington. Jon next conducted postdoctoral research in three postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Washington, including a NASA Astrobiology Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2017, he accepted his current faculty position there. During our interview, Jon tells us more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:18)
When he’s not working, Jon enjoys being outdoors, hiking, climbing, mountaineering, traveling, and spending time with his wife and daughter. They recently bought a house in Seattle, and Jon has been dedicating a lot of time lately to renovating their new home.
The Scientific Side (4:21)
Jon conducts research on planetary surfaces, such as Earth, Mars, and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, to identify and better understand sources and potential sources of water. This work has important implications for future exploration endeavors and the search for possible life. In addition, Jon studies how the environmental conditions on Earth and other planetary systems may have contributed to the origins of life.
A Dose of Motivation (6:27)
During some of Jon’s climbing and mountaineering adventures, he has been confronted with difficult and discouraging situations. These have ranged from challenging technical routes, poor weather conditions, and getting stuck out in the wilderness. Knowing that he has been able to overcome a myriad of challenges to tackle seemingly impossible tasks has motivated and inspired him in his life as well as his work.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (10:02)
As early as kindergarten, Jon was already proclaiming that he wanted to be a scientist. He didn’t have other scientists in his family, but he was captivated by the work of historical scientists like Albert Einstein. In high school, Jon became particularly interested in the theory of relativity and number theory. He also benefited from an excellent physics class in high school. However, during college, Jon didn’t connect with any scientific mentors, and as a result, he struggled to feel engaged with his coursework and apply himself to his studies. His ability to perform well on tests helped him make it through undergraduate and be competitive in graduate school applications. At the time, Jon wasn’t sure if graduate school was the right path for him, but he chose to apply to the University of Washington because he was drawn to the beautiful mountains there. Unfortunately, during his senior year of college, Jon sustained serious injuries after falling 40 feet while rock climbing. Shortly after the accident, Jon’s prospective graduate school advisor invited him to join him on a geoscience expedition to Antarctica. Jon had to say yes. This experience would be his first foray in scientific research and his first real exposure to the field of geoscience.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (19:56)
One line of research in Jon’s lab examines the origins of life. Different research groups have identified chemical reactions that could lead to the formation of life, and Jon’s lab is interested in identifying whether the conditions required for these chemical reactions could have been present on Earth or in other planetary systems. Researchers have previously asserted that the presence of free cyanide on Earth’s surface may have given rise to chemical reactions that could have formed the building blocks of nucleic acids that are critical to life. Jon’s lab recently submitted a paper that investigated whether there could have been high enough cyanide concentrations on the surface of the early Earth for this to occur. They sent the paper to a prestigious journal and were disappointed when the paper was rejected. One of the reviewers was really positive, but the other reviewer likely had alternative views about the origins of life and provided really negative feedback. After working hard on this project for more than a year, this was incredibly frustrating.
A Shining Success! (23:04)
Jon’s lab recently published an interesting and compelling paper in another prestigious journal. This paper investigated whether high enough concentrations of the element phosphorus could have existed on the surface of early Earth to fuel chemical reactions to create life. In a laboratory setting, researchers had determined that in order for key chemical reactions to occur, you would need concentrations of phosphorus that are about one million times higher than the concentrations of phosphorus that exist in most environments currently on Earth. However, Jon and his lab identified a specific environment called carbonate-rich lakes that have the concentrations of phosphorus that would be necessary for these chemical reactions. These types of lakes are found on all continents today, and evidence suggests they would have been more likely to form in the conditions on early earth. Seeing his graduate students working on this project and having success in the lab has been extremely rewarding.
Book Recommendations (25:59)
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Most Treasured Travel (28:01)
Antarctica was the very first place that Jon visited for science, and it was a remarkable experience. To get there, he flew to New Zealand, took a military jet to McMurdo Base Station, and then was carried by helicopter about 50-70 miles to their field research site. While much of Antarctica is a vast open expanse of ice sheets, Jon visited a unique environment on the continent called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. These dry valleys exist because the Transantarctic Mountains create a snow shadow and prevent ice and glaciers from moving through the valleys. As a result, the ground is covered in bare soil. The scenery and rock formations are fascinating and other-worldly. Jon and his colleagues had an amazing time camping out there for 1-2 months while conducting field research.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:11)
One thing that was really unexpected during his trips to Antarctica was the food. Jon had low expectations for the quality of the food, particularly because he knew they would be camping in a really remote area. However, he was pleasantly surprised by the delicious halibut steaks, filet mignon, Alaskan-caught salmon, prawns, scallops, and other delicious fare that they feasted on throughout the trip. Their provisions seemed even more phenomenal after being invited by a team of New Zealand scientists to share their meal of ramen noodles with tuna.
Advice For Us All (37:58)
Jon’s father once told him that 99% of life is just showing up, and this notion can be very liberating. Even if you don’t feel ready to face a task, showing up is easy. Taking that first step of being there is something you can do, and then from there you can take the subsequent steps to do a great job. Also, be open to new things. Despite his early interest in science, Jon never thought he would pursue a career doing planetary science. However, he has really been enjoying being a scientist in this field.
Guest Bio
Jon is a planetary scientist who studies liquid water in extreme environments on Earth, Mars, and beyond. His research covers a wide range of topics such as subsurface oceans within moons of Saturn (Enceladus) and Jupiter (Europa), the formation of water on Mars today and in the past, the chemistry of Antarctic soils, and environmental conditions on the early Earth. Recently his research has focused on understanding what environments life might have originated in. When not in the lab, Jon is actively exploring the mountains around Seattle, Washington. He runs on trails, scales cliffs, ascends glaciers, and has stood on top of many peaks in the Cascade Mountains and in other parts of the world. When not so active, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, and fixing up their new Seattle home.
The post 542: Dr. Jonathan Toner: Studying Water on the Surfaces of Planetary Systems appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
41 min
February 17, 2020 541: Dr. Crystal Marconett: Learning How Long Non-Coding RNAs Contribute to Lung Cancer Development
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Dr. Crystal Marconett is Assistant Professor of Research Surgery in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She received her B.S. degree in molecular, cell, and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Crystal next earned her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley where she was awarded the Chancellor’s Predoctoral Award and the California Breast Cancer Research Program Dissertation Fellowship. Afterwards, Crystal was awarded an American Cancer Society and Canary Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at the University of Southern California before joining the faculty there. In our interview, Crystal will tell us more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:18)
Beyond being a scientist, Crystal loves spending time with her two young children, crocheting, and skiing. Another one of her hobbies is painting houses. For Crystal, painting is a relaxing, rhythmic activity, and she really enjoys how you can step back and enjoy a finished product at the end of just one day.
The Scientific Side (3:39)
Crystal’s work centers around understanding the molecular origins of lung cancer. She is interested in how cancer arises in the lungs, what types of cells are involved, what genetic mutations may be happening, and the causes of these mutations. In addition, Crystal’s lab is working to develop new cures for lung cancer and determine which patients will respond best to these treatments.
A Dose of Motivation (4:44)
Her friends and family members who have suffered from cancer have really motivated and inspired Crystal to do the work she does.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:38)
Unfortunately, Crystal’s grandmother was diagnosed with melanoma when Crystal was very young. It was difficult to see her grandmother undergo medical treatment and slowly slip away. Crystal knew she wanted to do something to help. However, no one in her family had gone to college before, so she wasn’t sure what path she should take to get there. Crystal knew as early as elementary school that she didn’t want to be a medical doctor. She wanted to make the drugs and treatments that would help people get better. In high school, Crystal participated in a bridge program that allowed her to take classes at the University of California, Santa Cruz when she was still in high school, giving her a head start in college. Getting accepted to Berkeley for graduate school was a major milestone, and she had an opportunity to work with a fantastic mentor there. Crystal was convinced that she would go straight to work in a biotech industry position after graduate school, but there were few jobs available at the end of 2009 when she graduated. She happened to come across an ad on Craig’s List for a postdoctoral position at the University of Southern California. It was a great fit, and Crystal has been at USC doing exciting research ever since.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (16:56)
It took some time for Crystal to figure out how the academic system worked and how to navigate through it. There were many situations along the way where faculty and others told her she should drop out and do something else. During graduate school, there was incredible pressure to perform or leave the program. This resulted in many talented people not finishing their degrees, but Crystal managed to succeed in launching her scientific career despite these challenges. A current challenge she faces now is securing funding for her research. Crystal didn’t fully appreciate what academic science entailed until she became a faculty member. Running a lab feels similar to running a small business in many ways because Crystal dedicates a lot of time to fundraising, while other members of her lab do the more hands-on work of writing papers and conducting experiments.
A Shining Success! (22:50)
In graduate school, Crystal was tasked with finding the mechanism of a drug interaction with a hormone receptor. They thought they knew what the mechanism might be, but they needed to gather the data to support their hypotheses. Crystal set out to perform a critical experiment to obtain the data they needed. As she was standing in the dark room by herself in her stained hooded sweatshirt, she reviewed the results and had an astounding realization. The mechanism was completely different from what they had originally observed. The mechanism they were expecting was occurring, but it was occurring as a result of another process at the level of proteins. With the processed film in her hands, Crystal ran through the halls of her building screaming. When she got to the lab and shared her findings everyone in the lab started celebrating with her, including her advisor. The observation Crystal made that day became the basis of a major paper she published in graduate school, and it led to further follow-up studies that allowed her to finish her graduate program earlier than anticipated.
Book Recommendations (26:25)
Ricky, the Rock That Couldn’t Roll by Jay Miletsky
Most Treasured Travel (27:47)
In 2015, Crystal attended a Gordon Research conference that was held at a beautiful location in Italy. The conference was full of exciting science, but her favorite part of the trip was her layover on the way there. Crystal wasn’t able to get a direct flight into Pisa, so she had to stop in Istanbul. The layover for her flight was a full day. She knew she didn’t want to stay at the airport the whole time, so she got a room at a hotel in Sultan Ahmed right across from an iconic mosque in the center of town. This trip was definitely outside Crystal’s comfort zone because she was traveling alone to a new place where she didn’t speak the language, but it was one of the coolest experiences she’s ever had. Everyone she encountered was so nice, the food was amazing, the architecture was beautiful, and it was wonderful to walk around and take in the culture.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (31:21)
Crystal remembers working late in the lab one night in graduate school with one of her colleagues during Hanukkah. They were both Jewish, and they made a Menorah out of conical tubes so they could still celebrate their holiday tradition without having to leave the lab. Their mentor was also working late, and he gave them a formal Jewish blessing. This was a really memorable and meaningful bonding moment at a time when they were all overworked and overstressed.
Advice For Us All (36:06)
Be perseverant, and just keep going. Remember that your mental health is more important than a career, job, or scientific finding. It’s okay to take some personal time for yourself and to prioritize your happiness.
Guest Bio
Crystal’s lab focuses on lung cancer research. They utilize bioinformatic and computational science alongside in vitro experimentation to understand fundamental mechanisms of lung adenocarcinoma disease progression. As an associate member of the Norris Cancer Center and junior faculty member in the Departments of Surgery, and Biochemistry/Molecular Medicine, Crystal’s lab’s focus is on understanding the contribution long non-coding RNAs play in the development of lung cancers. They have characterized a novel role for lncRNAs in mediation of the DNA damage response, and Crystal is keen on translating these basic mechanistic understandings into actionable therapeutic options.
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40 min
February 10, 2020 540: Dr. David Weiner: Developing DNA Vaccines and Treatments for Cancer and Other Disease
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Dr. David Weiner is Executive Vice President, Director of the Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, and the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust Professor in Cancer Research at The Wistar Institute. He is also Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. David received his B.S. in biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, his M.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati, and his Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Afterwards, David worked as a research fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the faculty there. He held a joint position as Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine from 1990-1993. David returned to The Wistar Institute in 2016 to accept his current positions. Among his many awards and honors, David has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Society for Vaccines. He has also received the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, the Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team, the prestigious Hilleman Lectureship from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a Stone Family Award from Abramson Cancer Center for his groundbreaking work on DNA vaccines for cancer immune therapy, and the Scientific Achievement Award from Life Sciences Pennsylvania. In addition, David was named a “Top 20 Translational Researchers” in 2016 by Nature Biotechnology.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:10)
David and his wife enjoy reading and going on walks with their dog Ruby. Ruby is a Shih Tzu Yorkie mix that they rescued after a recent hurricane in Puerto Rico.
The Scientific Side (4:01)
In the lab, David and his colleagues are creating drugs using the same DNA codes and signals that our bodies use naturally. These drugs are natural compounds that can prevent people from getting sick or can help them be healthier. One area of David’s research focuses on developing DNA vaccines to prevent illness. These DNA vaccines are designed to create specific proteins that trigger the immune system to respond to fight particular pathogens.
A Dose of Motivation (6:25)
“I would like you to stop thinking. There is no thinking in science. There is only creating and engineering and doing. Don’t get stuck and tie yourself up by thinking too much. […] Don’t ruminate. Just move forward.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:32)
One of David’s cousins had lupus, a disease where a person’s immune system attacks their own tissues and organs. This is a complex, inherited disease, and it made David think a lot about genetics when he was a kid. The fields of genetics and molecular biology were still relatively new as he was growing up. Early in college, David was really interested in becoming a gym teacher because he liked sports and appreciated the importance of being active. At the same time, he was also interested in genetics. David’s cousin worked in a genetics lab, and she encouraged him to pursue genetics. As a result of this encouragement, David began working as an undergraduate research student in a lab that studied chromosomes and how chromosomes may contribute to disease. The more he learned, the more fascinated he became. David decided to go to graduate school, and it was there that he furthered his interest and expertise working at the intersection of genetics and the immune system.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (21:35)
In the 1990s, David and his colleagues first described and published the approach of administering DNA to trigger the immune system to treat disease. This approach sparked interest in the field, and many different research groups began working in this area. David’s group was the first to initiate clinical trials, establish the safety of the DNA approach, and provide evidence that it provoked an immune response in the clinic. They also had promising results showing that DNA could be used to cure a myriad of diseases in animal models. However, people don’t always respond the same to treatments as other animals. After a few years and some clinical trials, David and his colleagues were becoming concerned. Their treatments produced an immune response in people, but the response was much lower than they had hoped, and it was perhaps not a high enough level to be useful. This was a really unexpected turn of events. It was a difficult decision, but David’s lab decided to stop and focus on the details of how to generate an appropriate and sufficient immune response across different species. They created internal standards that hadn’t been developed, and these allowed them to judge the quality of an immune response to their treatment versus other products. From here, they determined how to improve their product to get a better immune response. Because they spent the time working out these pieces of the puzzle, they now are able to generate an immune response in about 100% of cases, and this allows them to be more confident in their measurements and decisions.
A Shining Success! (27:26)
Using DNAs for therapeutic purposes is showing great promise, but they are still early in the process of developing these treatments. David and his team now consistently see immune responses after treatment, but there is still a long way to go. Currently, David is very interested in cancer immune therapy applications for DNA administration because there is a lot of potential to have a big impact on patients. He began working with companies to improve delivery devices to make DNAs more consistent and more potent as therapeutics. The combination of changing both the DNA sequences they use and the formulations of the delivery devices has allowed them to develop methods to deliver high concentrations of therapeutic to very small, localized areas in the body. With these methods, millions of cells take up DNA and express it in a particular area. This opens up interesting new possibilities for drug delivery because people may be able to make enough of the drugs they would need with their own cells, exactly where the drugs are needed in the body. They are excited to have had multiple research papers published in this area recently and to further develop these methods as a clinical tool that people may find useful.
Book Recommendations (30:55)
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card
Most Treasured Travel (32:35)
Some of David’s most meaningful travel opportunities have occurred when he was invited to places to help solve a problem. For example, he traveled to Uganda during the height of the AIDS epidemic years ago to determine how to deploy a vaccine. David also visited River City in Thailand to contribute his expertise to helping manage infectious disease there. On another occasion, David went to Seoul, South Korea during the height of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. The city was eerily quiet, schools were closed, and the ambient tension was palpable. There was a lot of pressure on David and his colleagues to come up with a solution. Going into this trip, they weren’t certain they had a good solution, but they were transparent about the potential positive and negative outcomes, and they did their best to provide benefit.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (37:04)
Having a sense of humor and being able to laugh at yourself can be helpful when you’re faced with a lot of criticism. David was previously invited to participate in a TV interview as a scientific expert in the midst of a disease outbreak. The segment was intended to be serious, but when he, his wife, and his three daughters watched his interview later at home, his daughters burst out laughing. They told David that he was so boring when he talked about his work that he would put the audience to sleep! Communicating science can be tough because a lot of complicated terms and jargon are used, and this often makes it difficult for the audience to connect and understand what is being said.
Advice For Us All (41:32)
Enjoy the people who surround you in your life and work. Remember that the connections you make are important, you’re all in this together, and it is a team effort. Also, keep in mind that we are currently living better, longer, and happier than any other generation before us on Earth. Advancing science and our understanding of the world has helped us get to this point. We can’t live without science, so we should enjoy living with it.
Guest Bio
David directs a translational molecular immunology research team focused on creating novel immunotherapy approaches for disease prevention and treatment using synthetic nucleic acid technology. Accomplishments of the team and collaborators include the first clinical studies of DNA vaccines, with a focus on advances in gene optimization and electroporation (EP)-mediated DNA delivery. Their work has revitalized the field, rapidly and safely moving new advances into human studies. These include the world’s first Zika vaccine, the first MERS vaccine, an advanced Ebola Vaccine, and a novel HIV vaccine, among others. Additionally, the Weiner laboratory has helped to develop immunotherapy approaches that are currently in clinical testing for HPV-associated cancer, prostate and other cancers. The first clinically efficacious therapeutic DNA vaccine for HPV cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) has moved into a licensure trial (REVEAL). David is an avid trainer, advisor and advocate for students, fellows and junior faculty as he is highly committed to developing the careers of young scientists.
The post 540: Dr. David Weiner: Developing DNA Vaccines and Treatments for Cancer and Other Disease appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
44 min
February 03, 2020 539: Dr. Ana Spalding: Investigating Issues at the Intersection of People, Policy, and Marine and Coastal Environments
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Dr. Ana Spalding is Assistant Professor of Marine and Coastal Policy and Affiliate Faculty at the Pacific Marine Energy Center at Oregon State University. She is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama as well as at the Coiba Research Station in Panama. Ana received her B.A. in Economics and International Studies from the University of Richmond, her M.A. in Marine Affairs and Policy from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, and her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Afterwards, Ana conducted postdoctoral research at the STRI in Panama before joining the faculty at Oregon State University.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:16)
Recently, Ana has been having an amazing time participating in the Corvallis Rowing Club. She used to row in college, and it has been fun to get back into the sport with people from a variety of ages and backgrounds.
The Scientific Side (3:43)
As a social scientist who works in marine and coastal policy, Ana’s research is focused on the intersections of people, the environment, and policies. She is interested in understanding people’s perceptions of the ocean and coast, policy and management frameworks surrounding resource use in these areas, and the major cares, concerns, and conflicts that people have related to coastal areas.
A Dose of Motivation (5:21)
Ana is motivated by the guiding principle of providing a platform to voices that aren’t typically heard in our society or represented in discourse on different issues.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:08)
Growing up in an indigenous community in the mountains of Panama, Ana cultivated a deep curiosity for the problems experienced by people in the developing world. Her interests led her to study economics in college, and she was skeptical that the economic models she learned about in class would work across all of the different cultures and developing areas. Spending a year studying abroad in Argentina opened Ana’s mind to the possibilities of political participation and activision surrounding the developing world. She began to appreciate how important natural resources were for developing countries, and she decided to focus her studies on marine and coastal resources. Before beginning her master’s degree program, Ana visited the island of Bocas del Toro in Panama for a research expedition. Sitting on the boat en route to the island, everything seemed to fall into place in her mind. Doing social science research on marine and coastal systems would be a great way to link her interests in the environment, development, and people.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:22)
In the work that she does, Ana invests a lot of her time and energy in developing relationships and explaining the importance of the human dimensions relevant to the areas she studies. It is incredibly frustrating when other scientists, funders, institutions, and individuals don’t appreciate her work as practically or scientifically important. Ana believes strongly in the value that social science research can provide and the impacts it can have on communities. As a result, challenges in getting support and recognition for her work are difficult on a personal level, but also at a larger scale because they impact communities and people Ana cares deeply about.
A Shining Success! (20:25)
Ana’s recent interdisciplinary collaborations with individuals from multiple institutions to study the impacts of ocean acidification have been an enormous success. Through these collaborations, she has further increased her knowledge of the natural and physical science relevant to this topic, and it has been incredibly rewarding for Ana to share her approach to understanding the social science elements. Ana and her collaborators recently held a workshop on ocean acidification in Oakland, California, and it was phenomenal to see how excited the attendees were about their efforts to bring together multiple different approaches and scientific fields to make progress towards understanding and solving issues related to ocean acidification. Another success for Ana was seeing one of her graduate students participate in an interdisciplinary team as part of a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship program. The students were working on marine reserves in Oregon, and it was wonderful to see these four talented women from very different backgrounds come together to plan and complete such a creative and innovative project.
Book Recommendations (23:57)
A Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey by Jane Goodall, Becoming by Michelle Obama, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.
Most Treasured Travel (25:51)
Though Panama is among Ana’s favorite places, she has been to so many amazing destinations for science. Recently, Ana travelled to Kuching on the island of Borneo to attend the International Marine Conservation Congress. Her family was able to join her for the trip, and she’ll never forget spending her son’s seventh birthday at Bako National Park watching proboscis monkeys, vipers, and other wildlife. The scientific conference was fantastic, and Ana really enjoyed sampling the local cuisine, reading up on the history of the region, and visiting some of the remarkable natural and cultural sites.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (31:10)
Over the years, Ana has had so much fun with her colleagues, collaborators, and research teams. She recently enjoyed spending time at Bodega Bay working with collaborators on an interdisciplinary project investigating ocean acidification and its impacts. It was amazing to share meals with them, meet their families, and talk to them about topics both within and outside of science. For the past four years, Ana has also worked with other faculty to teach field courses to students at their facility in Newport, Oregon. During the field courses, the faculty stay together in trailers on campus. At least twice per week, they all go out on the water really early in the morning to catch crab and fish. They cook their day’s catch for dinner and spend the evenings eating, talking, and laughing together. Ana has also co-developed a field course on how to conduct social science research. In this field course, she traveled with a group of nine students to Bocas del Toro in Panama. They worked hard conducting research during the day, and then they had fun going to the beach and riding their golf cart into town in their down time.
Advice For Us All (34:49)
Be patient. Also, you should feel connected to and find passion in your work. For aspiring scientists, be creative and think outside of the box. There is a wide range of workplaces that would benefit from your expertise. Remember that academia is one path scientists can pursue, but this isn’t the only path.
Guest Bio
Ana’s research is currently focused on the study of adaptive capacity of resource-dependent communities in California to ocean acidification, and science-policy engagement related to ocean acidification on the West Coast of the United States. Beyond the U.S., she studies the current state and future of Anthropocene ocean governance; particularly as it relates to marine protected areas, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, narratives around Equity and the Blue Economy, and the role of the ocean in achieving climate and societal goals. Outside of work, Ana is either hanging out with her two kids and husband, rowing with the Corvallis Rowing Club, or trying to train the newest addition to her family, the Tutty dog.
The post 539: Dr. Ana Spalding: Investigating Issues at the Intersection of People, Policy, and Marine and Coastal Environments appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
39 min
January 27, 2020 538: Dr. Simon Sponberg: Finding Out How the Brain Controls Movement in Moths During Flight
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Dr. Simon Sponberg is Dunn Family Professor and Assistant Professor in the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences, as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He received his B.A. in physics and biology from Lewis & Clark College and his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Afterwards, Simon conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington before joining the faculty at Georgia Tech. He has been the recipient of an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biological Informatics, the University of Washington Postdoctoral Mentoring Award, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Neuroethology, an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in the Neurosciences, and a Hertz Fellowship. In our interview, Simon shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:23)
When he’s not doing science, Simon loves to cook. Cooking is an excellent creative outlet, it allows him to experience and understand other cultures, and it’s fun to cook with people and enjoy the results together afterwards. Simon is also a big fan of hiking and spending time outdoors.
The Scientific Side (5:19)
Through his research, Simon is interested in understanding how the brain works with muscles to make bodies move. Animals move gracefully in nearly all environments on Earth, and many types of movement can be difficult to perform in robotics and other created systems. Simon uses animal models to study how the body and the muscles inform the brain in terms of the information we take in and how we react to the environment.
A Dose of Motivation (6:43)
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’” – Isaac Asimov
What Got You Hooked on Science? (11:23)
At the age of six, Simon remembers examining the discarded exoskeletons of cicadas near his house. He’d pick up one skeleton, study it, and then move onto the next one. However, one of the cicada skins he picked up had not been fully shed, and the cicada inside suddenly started making a loud buzzing sound. It was terrifying. After this somewhat traumatic experience, Simon never imagined he would go on to have a career studying insects. During middle school, Simon had a great teacher who led a program called the Future Problem Solvers. This program brought together groups of students to compete using critical thinking to analyze and solve science fiction problem scenarios. Participating in this program prompted Simon to think more about the future, the problems we would have, and the solutions we would need. Entering college, Simon wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue for a major. He liked various scientific disciplines, but he was also interested in philosophy, history, and international studies. A conversation with a professor who was a biophysicist helped Simon narrow his focus. Simon started off as a physics major, but a comparative physiology class piqued his interest in how animals solve problems in their environments in different ways. He realized that he wanted to study the intersections of organismal biology and physics.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (27:53)
When Simon was a postdoctoral fellow, he worked on a project investigating force production and timing of activation of a single pair of muscles in moths. The goal for this project was to see if the moth’s brain could precisely modulate the timing of activation of one of these muscles. Simon put a lot of time and energy into planning the experiment, building a flight arena for moth, creating the visual stimuli that would induce turning during flight, performing the experiments, and collecting all the data from moth muscles. When he started to analyze the data, Simon was extremely disappointed to discover that he couldn’t identify any coherent pattern for how the brain was modulating the muscles. This was particularly frustrating because it seemed like he could hear a pattern of activity in the electrical recordings when he was listening. Simon struggled for months to understand what may have gone wrong. He eventually discovered that the timing of muscle activity was even more precise than he originally expected, and that the way he was analyzing the data wasn’t careful enough to identify that level of detail. After making this realization, the story started to make sense again. Simon conducted additional followup experiments, and he was excited to see that the new data also supported this new idea that the timing of modulation of the muscle was at the level of less than a millisecond.
A Shining Success! (32:14)
Simon was excited to join a few of his trainees on a trip to the Argonne National Lab to perform experiments to uncover the underlying molecular structure of contracting moth muscles using the particle accelerator. Getting a grant for time on the x-ray beam there is highly competitive, and they only had a few days to do their experiments. They planned to prepare samples of moth flight control muscles, ship them to Argonne National Lab, finish the muscle preparations onsite, and start the experiments. With the first muscle sample, they got a little bit of good data. However, the next few muscles didn’t yield any data, and the fourth muscle provided wildly varying force data. Something was wrong, but they couldn’t figure out what. Over the next two days, a student prepared 20 different muscle samples, they completely disassembled and reassembled all of their equipment, and still nothing was working. They were running out of time, and the pressure was mounting. Simon soon realized that all of their muscles must have lost viability during shipping, and they had just spent two full days working with muscle that was too damaged to provide useful data. He was able to get new samples sent over from his former postdoctoral advisor, and they began working feverishly to collect the necessary data. Simon had to return to Georgia Tech before the experiments were concluded, but his trainees managed to finish collecting a good set of data that they could use for their projects.
Book Recommendations (38:20)
Momo by Michael Ende, The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Most Treasured Travel (41:23)
This past summer, Simon traveled to India to visit a colleague at the National Center for Biological Sciences near Bengaluru. The lab was in an area surrounded by about 200 acres of jungle, and Simon had a wonderful time spending several days doing science with them. Afterwards, Simon traveled to a monastery in southern India that is home to a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks in exile. The Dalai Lama created a program where experts teach neuroscience to the monks, and neuroscience, physics, and biology are incorporated into the monastic education curriculum. Simon spent a few weeks teaching neuroscience there, and this was an amazing opportunity to share his science with people who were passionate about the topics he was discussing, but were approaching their studies with different perspectives and backgrounds from his own.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (43:52)
The first rule of Simon’s lab is “Don’t trust Simon”. This rule encourages trainees not to trust Simon to do their science and think for them. Simon’s goal is to encourage students to formulate their own ideas, develop independent critical thinking, and not just follow along with what he says. The rule also alludes to the fact that Simon can at times be mischievous, have a dry sense of humor, and joke around both in and out of the lab. For example, during his postdoctoral fellowship, Simon and his labmates set up a remote control system to control their advisor’s computer. From the next room over, they could wirelessly make the computer start playing music, adjust the volume, and other unexpected behaviors. They would often turn on jazz music when someone was entering their advisor’s office to shift suspicion to the office visitor.
Advice For Us All (51:04)
Choose to invest your time and intellectual energy on the problems you feel are the most challenging, interesting, and important to address. Also, try to find a supportive work environment where you are inspired by the people around you and where the questions you want to answer will be appreciated. For scientists, you will likely hit a point in some of your projects where it seems like everything is falling apart because some of your data don’t fit with the story you’ve put together. These are difficult times, but also times that may yield some of the most interesting stories and insights. Keep motivated, have confidence, and trust in the scientific process.
Guest Bio
Simon’s work examines how brains work with muscles and bodies to achieve movement. He is curious how animals manage to move in many ways through so many different environments. Currently he works on fast flight and rapid running, mostly in insects, whose small brains nonetheless produce amazing repertoires of movement. Most recently he and his group (the Agile Systems Lab) has been exploring how precisely neurons orchestrate motor activity, how the versatility of muscle arises from the physics of billions of organized tiny molecular motors, and how flowers blow in the wind (and what that does to the pollinators around them). His background is in biology and physics and he loves working with people from a variety of fields to understanding the neuromechanics of life. Outside of work, Simon loves hiking, cooking, and traveling (or all three together) especially if they involve mountains. He grew up in Montana, spent a lot of time up and down the west coast and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
The post 538: Dr. Simon Sponberg: Finding Out How the Brain Controls Movement in Moths During Flight appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
55 min
January 20, 2020 537: Dr. Kristen Rasmussen: Examining Extreme Weather Events and Earth’s Most Intense Storms
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Dr. Kristen Lani Rasmussen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Kristen received her bachelor’s degree in meteorology and mathematics as well as music from the University of Miami. She then attended the University of Washington where she was awarded her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Sciences. Afterwards, Kristen conducted postdoctoral research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research before joining the faculty at Colorado State University. She has received a number of awards and honors in her career, including the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Science from the Desert Research Institute, the College of the Environment Outstanding Community Impact Award from the University of Washington, and the Very Early Career Award from the American Meteorological Society’s Mesoscale Processes Conference. In addition, she was recently awarded the Graduate Mentoring and Advising Award from Colorado State University as well as the George T. Abell Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award from the College of Engineering at Colorado State University. In our interview, Kristen tells us more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:37)
In addition to spending quality time with her fantastic family, Kristen enjoys playing jazz trumpet. She has played jazz and bluegrass music with various bands in Colorado.
The Scientific Side (3:44)
Research in Kristen’s lab focuses on studying extreme events, particularly weather events such as heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, hail storms, and other events that have a big impact on humans and society. She is interested in examining these extreme event systems in the context of our current climate and how they may change in the future.
A Dose of Motivation (4:24)
Kristen has an intense work ethic, and she is motivated by Malcolm Gladwell’s idea that you need to deliberately practice skills for about 10,000 hours to become an expert and be successful.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (6:34)
A passion for weather research was passed down to Kristen from her father. He studied winter weather in Colorado and absolutely loved his career. Kristen remembers jumping in the car with her dad every time there was a blizzard to go collect data on the snow at his field site. As an undergraduate student, Kristen participated in a large field campaign in which they studied clouds in the Caribbean. While launching weather balloons in the middle of the night on a boat out in the middle of the Caribbean, Kristen realized that she loved being in the field doing research. This passion for research compelled her to apply to graduate school, and it continues to drive her in the work she does today.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (16:37)
In her first year of graduate school, Kristen struggled to transition to the new way of thinking that was needed to be a successful graduate student. In her earlier years of school, there was always a known answer that she and her classmates had to find. Now, she was faced with a situation where she had a question, she and her adviser didn’t have an answer, and they didn’t know if they would ever have an answer. However, Kristen was expected to make meaningful progress towards answering the question. She approached her advisor a few times with different data analyses, and each time, he would ask her what was the point. What question was she answering with these data? After one of these sessions, Kristen returned to her desk and realized she had been thinking about the process of science all wrong. After re-framing her thinking, she started to make progress on her project.
A Shining Success! (19:53)
When Kristen was a postdoctoral fellow, she decided to shift the focus of her research to apply the skills she learned in graduate school to a different topic. She wanted to investigate how convective storms of varying strengths may change in a future climate. This involved applying her cloud dynamics expertise to the field of climate change. The paper she published on this work has been very important and garnered a lot of attention in the field. Originally, Kristen viewed this as a side project she was pursuing to broaden the scope of her research, but it has evolved into an entirely new line of research that she continues to pursue in her lab today.
Another exciting success occurred during Kristen’s field work in Argentina. One of their main goals was to observe and collect measurements on a very large mesoscale convective system during their field campaign. They were nearing the final few days of their trip, and they still had not observed this weather event. Then, on the second to the last day, there was a large storm system developing in the region, and they were able to place their instruments to capture exactly what they needed to observe. The whole research team was nervous about whether that particular type of storm would occur and whether they would be able to collect all of their measurements, but it turned out to be a huge success for them.
Book Recommendations (23:36)
The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job by Karen Kelsky , Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
Most Treasured Travel (25:43)
Argentina has been Kristen’s favorite place that her science has taken her. She studied severe storms in the foothills of the Andes mountains remotely using satellite data for about 10 years before she was able to see these storms firsthand in the field in Argentina. It was so exciting to be there to witness these storms, but it was also amazing to interact with the local people who regularly experience this extreme wether. Kristen participated in outreach events for local K-12 students in Argentina to talk about the weather they were studying and help the students appreciate the remarkable magnitude of these weather events.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (30:32)
Music has been an important part of Kristen’s life, and she even double majored in music and science in college. She has been surprised to find that many high level scientists are also great musicians. When she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, they had a tradition of having scientists in their department play music during their holiday party. They ended up having to cut out songs because they didn’t want the program to go longer than an hour, but there were so many musicians in the department who wanted to participate.
Advice For Us All (34:57)
Don’t stress too much about your career path. Take the best opportunity that is provided to you, and you never know what doors will open. Also, try to work with people who have your best interests in mind. Being a scientist is really exciting. You get to study things you never thought were possible, but there will certainly be ups and downs in your career. Build your perseverance, cultivate a strong work ethic, and you will be successful.
Guest Bio
Kristen’s research interests include investigating the global population of convective storms using data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation (GPM) spaceborne precipitation radars, extreme deep convection in South America, flooding in Pakistan and India, cloud and mesoscale processes, high-impact weather, hydrometeorology, cloud-climate interactions, and convection-permitting regional climate modeling. Her graduate research primarily focused on cloud and mesoscale processes of high-impact weather in South America using the TRMM satellite and flooding in India and Pakistan. She has participated in field campaigns in the U.S. Great Plains, Caribbean, Maldives, Colorado, Argentina, and British Columbia to sample weather around the world.
The post 537: Dr. Kristen Rasmussen: Examining Extreme Weather Events and Earth’s Most Intense Storms appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
39 min
January 13, 2020 536: Dr. Laurel Buxbaum: Studying Stroke Patients to Understand How the Brain Controls Perception and Action
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Dr. Laurel Buxbaum is Associate Director of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI), Director of the Cognition and Action Laboratory, and Research Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. Laurel received her B.A. in Biological Bases of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (with specialization in Neuropsychology) from Hahnemann University. Afterwards, she completed an NIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship at MRRI and the University of Pennsylvania. She has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and she has published nearly 100 scientific articles and book chapters. Over the course of her career, Laurel has received numerous awards and honors, including the Kenneth M. Viste Award of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation, the Arthur S. Benton Mid-Career Award of the International Neuropsychological Society, the Widener University Graduate Award for Excellence in Professional Psychology, the Maimonides Society Manuscript Award, and the Cohen Award for Research Excellence from the Einstein Healthcare Network. In our interview, Laurel shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:27)
When she’s not at work, Laurel enjoys reading, taking walks around the beautiful arboretum near her house, attending dance fitness classes at a local studio, spending time with friends, and going out to listen to her husband’s funk band play live music.
The Scientific Side (4:45)
Laurel’s research examines how the brain controls perception and action. She studies people who have had strokes in particular parts of their brains to uncover where in the brain strokes may cause certain difficulties or impairments. She also uses a wide variety of techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eye tracking, and electroencephalography, to further understand how we perceive and interact with our environment.
A Dose of Motivation (5:57)
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” – Albert Einstein
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:14)
Science and biology have fascinated Laurel for as long as she can remember. When she was in college, the field of neuroscience wasn’t as prominent as it is today. She took some basic courses, but there really wasn’t a lot of content available in areas like cognitive neuroscience. For a while, she considered applying to medical school, but taking a course on counseling changed her mind. Laurel appreciated the interpersonal nature of the field and the opportunities it would give her to help people. She decided to pursue graduate school in clinical psychology, with specialization in neuropsychology. Following graduate school, Laurel accepted a position as a neuropsychologist at a psychiatric hospital. Later, she worked with stroke patients at MossRehab where she met the two people who would later become her postdoctoral advisors. Though Laurel had not had much prior exposure to research, she fell in love with it, and she has been doing research ever since.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:20)
Getting grant funding is an ongoing struggle in science. There have been several times when Laurel spent months working hard on grant proposals, often with talented colleagues, only to have these grant proposals rejected. While this is always discouraging, it is helpful to know that many other scientists have gone through the same experience. Laurel also recovers from these difficult times by taking some time away from work, doing things she enjoys, and recharging her emotional strength. Persistence and grit are critical to success in science.
A Shining Success! (19:55)
About 3 years ago, Laurel was awarded a large, multi-year research grant. This was an exciting achievement, and Laurel is grateful to have had success in receiving funding for her research over the years. She also enjoys celebrating the successes of junior colleagues and students in her lab as they publish papers and advance their careers. These celebrations bring the group together, build camaraderie, and help acknowledge all the hard work that goes into these achievements.
Book Recommendations (3:48)
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Most Treasured Travel (21:48)
Last year, Laurel attended the International Neuropsychological Symposium held in Cassis, France. Cassis is an idyllic village right on the Mediterranean Sea, and it is surrounded by picturesque cliffs. Throughout the meeting, Laurel and her colleagues enjoyed amazing views and delicious fresh seafood at every meal. Memories from this trip are a great escape during stressful times or on a cold winter day.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (24:01)
At MRRI, they have a tradition of playing a white elephant game together around the holidays, and there have been so many funny and quirky memories from this game over the years. For example, there is an infamous statue of marine mammals standing in a circle and holding each others flippers that makes an appearance every year. It has become a tradition for the person who receives this gift to re-gift it the following year, and this tradition has been going on now for over 10 years.
Advice For Us All (27:04)
Make sure to get enough sleep and exercise. Doing these two things will help you be more competent and confident, and your problems may not seem as daunting. Also, realize that self-doubt is common. Nearly everyone’s self-esteem has faltered at some point. Be kind to yourself, and keep persisting. Success will come.
Guest Bio
Laurel’s research focuses on improving our understanding of how the brain represents objects, actions, and the body. Her background in clinical neuropsychology informs some of her primary methods, which use lesion-symptom mapping and resting state functional connectivity in individuals with stroke to understand brain-behavior relationships. Using behavioral methods and eyetracking, her work has focused on understanding how skilled tool use action memories are organized, how these memories compete with one another for selection in the right place and time, and how action errors are monitored and corrected in the healthy and lesioned brain. When not working, Laurel enjoys reading and spending time with friends and family, including her musician husband, 19-year old son, and black cats Cyrus and Spike.
The post 536: Dr. Laurel Buxbaum: Studying Stroke Patients to Understand How the Brain Controls Perception and Action appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
29 min
January 06, 2020 535: Dr. Tim Long: Developing Novel Materials with Wide Applications from Medicine to Manufacturing
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Dr. Tim Long is Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech. He was awarded his B.S. in Chemistry from St. Bonaventure University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech, Tim worked as an Advanced Research Scientist and subsequently a Senior Research Scientist at Eastman Kodak Company, an Advanced Technical Program Research supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a Principal Research Chemist with Eastman Chemical Company. Tim has received numerous awards and honors over the course of his career, including the Virginia Outstanding Scientist of the Year Award, the Robert L. Patrick Fellowship Award, the ACS POLY Mark Scholar Award, the Carl Dahlquist Award from the Pressure Sensitive Tape Council, the American Chemical Society Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Cooperative Research Award, the Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Research Excellence, the Collano Innovation Award, the Interdisciplinary Research Team Fellowship Award, the Faculty Research Award from the Virginia Tech Department of Chemistry, the IBM Faculty Award, and the 3M Company Faculty Award. Tim has also been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society Polymer Division. In our interview, Tim shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:03)
In his job, Tim spends a lot of time in his office, in front of computers, in the lab, and inside at conferences, so he likes to spend his free time outside. There are beautiful mountains near his home in Virginia, and Tim has fun hiking, mountain biking, and enjoying nature with his family.
The Scientific Side (4:08)
Tim’s lab is working on a wide variety of research projects that are focused on novel macromolecular structures to tailor the properties and processing of polymers. His work has applications across many industries, including the development of chemotherapy treatments and electro-active devices important for prosthetics in medicine.
A Dose of Motivation (5:55)
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” -Albert Einstein
“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” – Linus Pauling
What Got You Hooked on Science? (10:13)
During his childhood, Tim loved experimenting with his chemistry kit in their family’s basement. He remembers collecting fingerprints from all of his family members and trying to blow things up next to the washing machine. His curiosity drove him to learn more about the world. In high school, Tim had an exceptional chemistry teacher, and she helped him realize that he wanted to become a scientist. Tim attended a small, liberal arts college, and he enjoyed getting involved in undergraduate research. This prepared him to attend graduate school, where he learned how to do scientific writing, present his research, collaborate with colleagues, and work with people from diverse backgrounds. After finishing his PhD, Tim accepted a position at Eastman Kodak Company to be closer to his family and contribute to their cutting edge research. After years working in industry, Tim returned to Virginia Tech to do academic research in chemistry and share his knowledge with the next generation of scientists.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (19:42)
There are many different struggles in science, but the important thing is to make sure you learn from your failures. Tim has struggled with whether he should move into a new field, deciding whether the field is too crowded, and worrying about whether anyone is interested in research in a field. Sustainability is another topic that is always on Tim’s mind. He does research on plastics and polymers, and it is difficult to listen to all of the stories in the media about the negative impacts of these materials on our planet. Tim’s biggest challenges are to ensure that what he does in the laboratory is sustainable, try to follow the strategies of green chemistry, and engage in responsible discovery. He wants to deliver solutions that won’t have negative impacts on people or our environment.
A Shining Success! (22:37)
One of the greatest joys of being a professor has been training his students. Seeing students come through the lab and go on to change the world has been Tim’s most meaningful success. It has been wonderful to stay in touch, and he was excited when his former graduate students returned recently for a reunion. Listening to their talks and seeing photos of their families reminded Tim that he is very fortunate to be a professor.
Book Recommendations (25:38)
The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James Watson, books by Nora Roberts
Most Treasured Travel (29:42)
Tim went on a trip to Mainz, Germany with 25 undergraduate students as part of a study abroad program. Mainz is a beautiful town, and it is considered the birthplace of his research field. It was amazing to walk around and envision scientists from a hundred years ago coming up with their innovative ideas right on those very streets. Tim was relieved that all of the students made it back from the trip without any major incidents, and he still keeps in contact with many of the students today.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (27:31)
When Tim was working at Eastman Kodak Company, he shared a lab with another synthetic organic chemist. His colleague loved classical music, but Tim loved listening to rock and roll. They were constantly changing the radio in the lab back and forth between their respective stations, but they were great friends. Back in graduate school, Tim also worked with phenomenal people in the lab. Curiosity drove them to calculate the amount of helium that would be required to lift a small fluorescent glow stick. Once they calculated the anticipated amount, they had to test their hypothesis. They filled a garbage bag with helium, tied a string to a glow stick, and released it outside the lab. Of course all of this happened right as a police car was driving by. Fortunately, they didn’t get in trouble, but watching this floating glow stick was one of his most memorable lab moments.
Advice For Us All (36:12)
Take risks in your career, and follow your passions. Remember that money isn’t everything. If you are passionate, you can be successful and make a meaningful contribution to science. Also, engage society. Scientists should get out in the community and share their work with the public and the press.
Guest Bio
Tim’s research group investigates structure-property-morphology-processing relationships of polymers. These range from high performance thermoplastics and thermosets to biologically-derived/inspired macromolecules. In particular, Tim’s research focuses on the effect of noncovalent interactions on polymer properties, including hydrogen bonding and ionic aggregation. The design, performance, and societal implication of novel polymeric materials directs his research platform. He is especially interested in the following technologies: (1) new materials for advanced manufacturing, (2) bio-inspired thermoplastics, (3) adhesive technology, and (4) charged polymers for actuators. Polymers featuring tailored monomer sequences and designs afford microphase separated structures, and they also enhance the performance of adhesives and 3D printing technology. The use of biologically derived monomers, such as urea, afford bio-degradable thermoplastics which release significant levels of ammonia. Alternatively, polymers containing nucleobases afford sequence-controlled adhesives and microphase separated morphologies. 3D printing techniques enable controlled polymer placement, unlocking new architectures and constructs that have never been engineered before. Taking advantage of these techniques allows for the unprecedented processing of polyimides or the development of time-controlled dissolvable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based constructs. Lastly, structure-property relationship development of high-performance polymers, such as polyesters, polysulfones, and polyimides, offers opportunities to enhance properties, including processing, barrier, stability, and mechanical properties.
The post 535: Dr. Tim Long: Developing Novel Materials with Wide Applications from Medicine to Manufacturing appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
42 min

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