People Behind the Science Podcast

People Behind the Science Podcast

By Dr. Marie McNeelyScience
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People Behind the Science Podcast episodes

  • 825: Dr. Zach Eilon: Sizing Up Signals in Seismic Waves to Understand Earth’s Interior Structure

    Dr. Zach Eilon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and he is also conducting research at Brown University. He hails from the United Kingdom where he completed his undergraduate and masters degrees in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Afterwards, he was awarded the Herchel Smith Scholarship to attend Harvard University for a year for a Special Studentship. Zach was next received his MPhil and PhD in Seismology from Columbia University. He recently completed his position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University. Zach has joined us today to talk about his experiences in life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (2:16)

    Zach spends his free time hanging out with friends, scoping out potential new houses on the internet with his wife, and running. He recently completed his first marathon and is looking forward to the next one. In addition, Zach is an enthusiastic home chef, and he loves listening to a wide array of podcasts.

    The Scientific Side (4:16)

    In terms of his research, Zach is interested in understanding the earth’s tectonics, including how continents are built, how they break apart, and what is going on under the earth’s surface beneath the ocean floor. He wants to know how tectonic plates move and interact with each other. To study these tectonic movements, Zach uses data collected on the energy released during earthquakes. This energy picks up different signals on its way through the earth, and Zach creates computer programs to interpret those signals and produce snapshots of what is occurring inside the earth, including the types of rock that are present, their temperature, and other features.

    A Dose of Motivation (7:46)

    “Make everything as simple as possible and no simpler.” – Albert Einstein

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (12:44)

    Growing up, Zach always loved mathematics and physics. He was fortunate to have a lot of family members in academic positions, so he understood that becoming a professor was a career path he could take. Zach went to Cambridge University in the U.K. planning to study physics, but he quickly realized that his true passions lay elsewhere. During his first year, Zach was captivated by the geology lectures of one of his professors. The course field trips to Scottish Islands to map the features of the rocks there sealed the deal.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (24:38)

    Zach will soon be engaging in more projects that involve instrumenting the ocean floor. This process is fraught with challenges. They have to sail out to the middle of the ocean and throw ocean bottom seismometer instruments off the side of the boat. The instruments sink to the bottom and record data on the ocean floor for about a year. Afterwards, the researchers return to collect the devices. If the device is still working and has battery life, it responds to a signal they send, and it floats to the surface. Each instrument costs tens of thousands of dollars. It is really frustrating when, after a year of waiting for the data, you send the signal and nothing happens. You can try a few times, but eventually you have to accept that the device is either broken or the battery is dead, and you have to abandon it. In the past, one of these devices responded to their signal, but it couldn’t come to the surface because the feet of the device were trapped in a new lava flow on the ocean floor.

    A Shining Success! (28:23)

    Last year, Zach collaborated with other researchers on a project that involved deploying a whole fleet of ocean bottom seismometers near the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate off the northwest coast of the United States. They laid instruments across the entire plate, producing an amazing new dataset that allowed them to analyze the signals from an entire oceanic tectonic plate. Zach devised a new method of analyzing a certain phenomenon recorded in the data. The phenomenon is called seismic attenuation. It is the rate at which seismic waves lose their energy, and it is related to the squishiness of the earth. The more squishy the earth is, the faster the energy loss will be. Zach came up with a new way to measure this property and applied it to their superb new dataset. What they saw was remarkable. The Juan de Fuca plate had the strongest attenuation signal they had ever seen. This told them that there is likely a lot of molten rock trapped within pockets inside the upwelling molten rock, way deeper than they had previously thought. These findings challenge some of the existing ideas about the mid-ocean ridge process where these plates are formed, which is one of the fundamental tectonic processes on the planet.

    Book Recommendations (32:09)

    The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power by Daniel Yergin

    Most Treasured Travel (34:17)

    Zach’s favorite fieldwork site is in the Northern Volcanic Zone of Iceland. The location they traveled to was far off the beaten path, so they started in a four-wheel drive car and then continued on foot to reach the sites where they were to deploy their arrays of seismometers (instruments that measure motion in the ground). After hiking out to the remote spot selected, they dug holes, put the instruments in, leveled them out, and built solar panel arrays to keep the instruments powered through the winter. Part of the excursion involved traversing fresh lava fields lugging 100 pound batteries. The lava fields of black, jagged rock looked like the surface of the moon and were riddled with hollow pockets. Every now and then, Zach’s foot crashed through the thin layer of rock over a hollow tube and he found himself knee-deep in sharp rock. It was dangerous but exhilarating to be out there.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (36:52)

    The seismology group at Columbia University, where Zach earned his PhD, had a weekly tradition of “record reading”. They picked a recent earthquake, and the students, faculty, and research scientists came together to talk about the earthquake. The group reviewed where the earthquake occurred, why it occurred there, the history of earthquakes in the area, and the records from instruments that recorded the earthquake. It was a lot of fun to get together, ask questions, and interpret the data on the earthquake. These sessions sometimes resulted in interesting discoveries that informed their research directions.

    Advice For Us All (41:26)

    The amount of time you spend on something does not translate to the amount of time people want to hear about it. This is important for a lot of things, including in writing scientific papers. Also, be excited about the work you do, and let your excitement show. Excitement is contagious, so it is important to tell people why your work is awesome and to show them that you are passionate about it.

    Guest Bio

    Born and raised in London (U.K.), Zach completed undergraduate and masters degrees in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, with a focus on geophysics, geology, and seismology. He moved to the U.S. in 2010 to study at Harvard University for one year to do a “special studentship” funded by a scholarship from Cambridge. Zach liked the U.S. so much that he decided to stay on for graduate school (he also was a big fan of the charming American woman whom he would later marry). Zach completed a PhD in geophysics at Columbia University, spending the majority of his time conducting research at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Currently Zach is wrapping up his post-doctoral research at Brown University, where he is combining multiple seismological data types to make detailed and (hopefully) informative images of the Earth’s upper mantle. This summer, he also started a full-time teaching and research faculty position at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Other than pondering the mysteries of earthquakes and shallow Earth structure, Zach spends his time cooking, running, and cursing the ineptitude of the England football (soccer…) team.

     

    *This episode was originally released July 24, 2017. 

    The post 825: Dr. Zach Eilon: Sizing Up Signals in Seismic Waves to Understand Earth’s Interior Structure appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    45 min
  • 824: Dr. Tess Russo: Looking Beneath the Surface to Study the Science of Water Movement, Distribution, and Quality

    Dr. Tess Russo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at The Pennsylvania State University. She received her PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Her fantastic work is already getting a lot of attention. Last year, Tess was featured by the Green Sense Podcast, Scientific American, and she is a guest on an upcoming episode of Startalk Radio with the wise and wonderful Neil Degrasse Tyson. Tess is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science

    Tess recently bought a new house, so she is spending a lot of time doing home renovations. When she’s not working on her house, she likes to visit family and travel.

    The Scientific Side

    Tess is a hydrologist which means she studies water. Her research examines how water moves, how much of it there is in the world, and how the actions of humans change how water moves in the world.

    A Dose of Motivation

    “Success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

    What Got You Hooked on Science?

    As far back as Tess can remember, she has been interested in problem-solving, including riddles and puzzles. Her great uncle worked for NASA, and he always used to bring her different kinds puzzles to solve. In grade school Tess also really enjoyed her science classes, especially physics and math.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges

    One of the failures that Tess still struggles with right now is getting grants and papers rejected. This is particularly painful because she feels like she spends so much time working on a paper, and it’s tough to get it back peppered with harsh comments and criticism.

    A Shining Success!

    Getting the offer for her current job as a tenure-track faculty member at Penn State was a big success for Tess. She almost didn’t believe it when she first received the offer, and Tess is thrilled to be surrounded by brilliant, accomplished scientists and flattered that they saw potential in the work that she does.

    Book Recommendations

    The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

    Most Treasured Travel

    A recent trip to Papua New Guinea ranks among Tess’s favorite travel experiences. The people she interacted with there were wonderful and generous, the science was fascinating and worked out well, and the scenery was absolutely stunning.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories

    Tess has had some funny and unexpected experiences doing field work, including run-ins with wild animals and attempts to catch a fish with her bare hands. She was also recently a guest on Star Talk Radio with  Neil Degrasse Tyson and had a fantastic experience.

    Advice For Us All

    Don’t be afraid of failure and trying new things, even if you don’t know if it will work.

    Guest Bio

    Tess’s research addresses hydrologic system responses to environmental change. She is interested in developing methods to help quantify the relative impacts of human and natural drivers on hydrologic systems, developing models of the system to project future conditions and test management strategies, and using field observations and modeling to improve our understanding of fundamental physical processes. To address these goals, she uses field instrumentation and observations, numerical and statistical models, GIS, and laboratory analyses.

     

    *This episode was originally released April 1, 2015.

    The post 824: Dr. Tess Russo: Looking Beneath the Surface to Study the Science of Water Movement, Distribution, and Quality appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    39 min
  • 823: Dr. Ganesh Anand: Probing Protein Dynamics from Molecular Switches to Shape-Changing Viral Particles

    Dr. Ganesh Anand is an Associate Professor of Chemistry as well as Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Pennsylvania State University (or Penn State University) at the University Park campus. He is also an elected Board Member of the International Society for Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS). He received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and his master’s degree in biological sciences from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India. Next, Ganesh attended Rutgers University where he earned his PhD in biochemistry. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow at the University of California San Diego. Ganesh served on the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore for over a decade before accepting a faculty position at Penn State where he is today. His lab is recognized as a Waters World Center of Innovation in Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry. Ganesh is founding member and former Director of the Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass) and the former Vice President of the Singapore Society for Mass Spectrometry. In this interview, he shares more about his life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (2:49)

    Beyond his scientific interests, Ganesh has also been passionate about music for as long as he can remember. He takes voice lessons now and enjoys singing in choirs in his free time.

    The Scientific Side (3:57)

    Research in Ganesh’s lab examines molecular switches. He wants to know how molecules interact with one another and they switch from one state to another. These tiny molecular switches act almost like electrical switches turning on and off the functions of different molecules. He also does research on viruses and how they change shape to infect their hosts.

    A Dose of Motivation (5:00)

    “Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached.” – Swami Vivekananda

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (7:10)

    Growing up in the 1970s, Ganesh was swept up in the excitement of the moon landing and the Apollo space program, and this launched his interest in science. His father was a physicist working in radio and satellite communication, and Ganesh was also fascinated by the idea of packaging information and sending it across the world using telephones or other media. With his father as a role model, Ganesh became more interested in science during his school years, starting with physics and then transitioning to biology. As an undergraduate student, Ganesh was exposed to molecular genetics, and he was captivated by how DNA and molecules can transform a single cell into a whole plant or an animal. When he worked in a lab for a year conducting studies on protein folding, he was struck by how the research blended biology, physics, and chemistry. Ganesh decided then that he wanted to pursue research on proteins, and he continues to do research on protein dynamics today.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (22:17)

    Self-doubt can be difficult to overcome, particularly for early-career scientists. When doing the experiments for his first paper as a graduate student, Ganesh worried about whether he could get the experiments to work. One particular experiment was critical for this first paper, and when he ran it in the lab on a Saturday, it didn’t work. After sharing the bad news with his advisor, Ganesh decided to try again. He toiled away in the lab and didn’t finish until 2:00 am Sunday morning, but it was worth it. When he next saw his advisor, Ganesh was pleased to report that the experiment worked, and they now had the key piece they needed for the paper. Being able to put aside his self doubt was important for his success. It has also been instrumental as Ganesh entered new areas of research, including when he began working on viruses.

    A Shining Success! (25:36)

    Ganesh and his team recently published a paper on how Protein Kinase A (PKA) resets itself after stressful situations. This was a particularly satisfying victory because researchers had been searching for clues about the features of the stress reset molecule for decades to no avail. Ganesh’s team determined that the molecule is more like a fuzzball than a rigid rock, and in light of their findings, results from prior studies also made more sense. The paper was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, where many major breakthroughs in molecular sciences have been published, and this was an exciting honor. They celebrated their success by getting the group together for two dinner parties.

    Book Recommendations (28:36) 

    The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People by Judith Orloff, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

    Most Treasured Travel (30:47)

    One particularly memorable travel opportunity brought Ganesh to Copenhagen, Denmark. He was invited to be an external examiner for the PhD dissertation of a student there, and it was eye-opening to be part of the process. There was a prolonged ceremony, and Ganesh got to meet the PhD candidate’s family and see the lab where they worked. It was a cool experience, and he also got to explore the city of Copenhagen a bit. Visiting Hamlet’s Castle was a high point of the trip, and Ganesh enjoyed learning more about the history and culture in Denmark.

    Ganesh also had a fantastic time visiting the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He was there for a full month on sabbatical, and it was a remarkable experience. The campus is beautiful, the architecture of the buildings is amazing, and it was really enjoyable to get a break from administrative responsibilities and focus on making connections and learning about the research that other scientists were doing there.

    In terms of conference travel, one of Ganesh’s favorite conference destinations was Taos, New Mexico. The town is located in the desert, and it has phenomenal views of the mountains. It was wonderful to be immersed in great science while surrounded by breathtaking scenery.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (33:48)

    When Ganesh was a graduate student at Rutgers, they had a ritual where every day at 3:00 pm, everyone paused what they were doing and drank coffee together. This was a fun activity that brought the group together, helped build camaraderie, and gave them a chance to get to know each other better. In terms of funny stories, one that Ganesh will never forget happened when he was a new faculty member at the National University of Singapore. Ganesh took his lab out for lunch, and when it was time to pay the bill, the waiter mistakenly gave the bill to one of Ganesh’s students, thinking that he was the lab leader. This humorous mix-up led the student to make major life changes to improve his health, and 20 years later, he and Ganesh still joke about it.

    Advice For Us All (37:49)

    Acknowledge self-doubt, but then put it aside and try to look at the positive side of things. As a scientist seeking answers, you have to look deep within, trust your intuition, and not let self-doubt take over. Resilience is very rewarding, and learning and mentoring are lifelong endeavors. Keep learning and keep looking for mentors who will cheer you on, understand you, celebrate your successes, and lift you up when things don’t go your way.

    Guest Bio

    When people think of proteins, many envision molecules arranged in static structures, but the dynamic nature of proteins is critical for many biological functions. Ganesh’s lab studies protein structures and protein dynamics in a variety of different contexts, including cell signaling pathways. In cell signaling pathways, proteins and protein complexes can act as molecular switches that can toggle between active and inactive states to transmit information within a cell. Information can also be shared between cells when membrane proteins act as molecular switches. Ganesh and his team are also investigating protein dynamics in viral systems to better understand how virus proteins change shape as they infect their hosts. This work may inform the development of new antiviral agents. To conduct their research, Ganesh and his team uses techniques and approaches from biophysics, including amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDXMS), native mass spectrometry (native-MS), and Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM). Their overall goal is to integrate protein dynamics with structural tools for describing biological function. When he’s not busy in the lab, Ganesh enjoys immersing himself in music and singing in local choirs.

    The post 823: Dr. Ganesh Anand: Probing Protein Dynamics from Molecular Switches to Shape-Changing Viral Particles appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    42 min
  • 822: Dr. Jacquelyn Gill: Using Lake Sediments to Get to the Core of Key Issues in Ecology and Conservation

    Dr. Jacquelyn Gill is an Assistant Professor of Paleoecology and Plant Ecology at the University of Maine. She received her Masters degree and PhD in Geography from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Afterward she served as a the Voss Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University before joining the faculty at the University of Maine. She was the recipient of the E. Lucy Braun Award for Excellence in Ecology, the Student Section Award for Excellent Women in Ecology, and the Cooper Award all from the Ecological Society of America. She also received the Trewarth Award for Best Student Paper, the Graduate Peer Mentor Award, and the Whitbeck Dissertator Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Jacquelyn is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science

    When she’s not thinking about science, Jacquelyn likes to be outdoors, exploring the forest and coastline in Maine. Her indoor hobbies include a weekly trivia night, knitting, and reading.

    The Scientific Side

    Jacquelyn is a paleoecologist. She studies ecology and climate change over the past 20,000 years since the end of the ice age. This involves taking a forensics-like approach to analyzing the sediments and fossil records in lakes and bogs that give clues about past climates and landscapes.

    A Dose of Motivation

    The phrase “only connect” has come to mean a lot to her, with implications for connecting with people, the natural world, and also building connections across fields in science.

    What Got You Hooked on Science?

    Jacquelyn grew up in a Navy family that moved around a lot, so she saw a variety of landscapes across the country, as well as spend time living in the Mediterranean during her childhood. She was fascinated by the vastly different landscapes, biomes, geology, and environments she experienced. However, Jacquelyn also had a passion for history and literature, and it wasn’t until later in college that she made the decision to pursue science.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges

    In college, she did a summer internship doing field work on a seabird breeding island. Her project focused on using tiny computer clusters they had ordered to collect data on a type of small, burrowing seabird. They waited weeks for the shipment to arrive, only to find that the Department of Defense interrupted the shipment to use the computers for another purpose. With only two weeks left and no data, Jacquelyn was really struggling to pull something together and feeling like she had failed majorly.

    A Shining Success!

    Exciting successes in science came early for Jacquelyn. While trying to determine what she would like to study in graduate school, she reviewed the literature and came up with a really interesting hypothesis about the relationships between ice age plant communities, large herbivores, and an herbivore-dependent fungus. She pursued this for her M.S. Degree, and her work was published in the journal Science!

    Book Recommendations

    Intuition by Allegra Goodman

    Most Treasured Travel

    The La Brea Tar Pits had been on her must-see list of places to visit because they have such a rich record of natural history and are so significant for research in her field. She was really fascinated by the tar pits themselves, but even more enthralled by opportunities to explore the museum’s behind-the-scenes collections of all the specimens recovered from the tar pits.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories

    Much of Jacquelyn’s field research Jacquelyn involves collecting sediment core samples from lakes. To do this, her team anchors a small floating platform in the middle of a lake, and up to four or five people work on this platform with all their equipment to collect data. Sometimes things accidentally fall overboard, and though they recover what they can, lost equipment is occasionally “sacrificed to the lake gods” and never to be seen again.

    Advice For Us All

    Take advantage of every opportunity when you are in college or grad school to talk to and connect with people. A lot of the great things that have happened in science rely on a certain serendipity of having a chance conversation with someone.

    Guest Bio

    Jacquelyn is a paleoecologist and biogeographer. She is interested in using the natural experiments of the past to inform conservation in the Anthropocene. Jacquelyn applies an interdisciplinary approach combining paleoenvironmental reconstructions from lake sediments, modern field ecology, and modeling.  Research in the Gill Lab focuses on climate change, extinction, and biotic interactions through time, from species to communities to ecosystems. Current projects include 1) the causes of novel plant communities and ecostystems in North America at the end of the last ice age, 2) the ecological consequences of the extinction of Pleistocene megaherbivores, 3) the conservation lessons of climate-driven extinctions in the last 2.5 million years, 4) the sensitivity of penguin-vegetation relationships to abrupt climate change in the Falkland Islands, and 5) the ability of New England plants to keep pace with climate change.

    *This episode was originally released February 23, 2015. 

    The post 822: Dr. Jacquelyn Gill: Using Lake Sediments to Get to the Core of Key Issues in Ecology and Conservation appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    52 min
  • 821: Dr. Chad Orzel: Illuminating the Quantum Physics of Ultracold Atoms

    Dr. Chad Orzel is the R. Gordon Gould Associate Professor of Physics at Union College. He is also author of the popular science books How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog, Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist, and the soon-to-be-released book Breakfast with Einstein: The Exotic Physics of Everyday Objects. In addition, Chad regularly contributes blog articles for Forbes Magazine. He received his B.A. in Physics from Williams College and his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Maryland. Before joining the faculty at Union College, Chad conducted postdoctoral research in the Physics Department at Yale University. In our interview, Chad shared his experiences from his life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (2:00)

    Free time can be hard to find with two kids and a puppy at home, but Chad enjoys hanging out with his family, reading science fiction and fantasy books, and playing basketball when he has the chance.

    The Scientific Side (3:04)

    Chad studies ultracold atoms to improve our understanding of atomic physics. He uses lasers to drop the temperature of samples of atoms to just millionths or billionths of a degree above absolute zero. At these very cold temperatures, the atoms move very slowly, and interesting quantum effects arise.

    A Dose of Motivation (5:37)

    “Work, finish, publish.” – Michael Faraday

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:33)

    Being a scientist has always been Chad’s dream job. When someone asked him in kindergarten what he wanted to be when he grew up, Chad said he wanted to be either a paleontologist or a marine biologist. His interest in physics developed during high school with the help of an excellent physics teacher during his junior year. In college, Chad had a chance to work in a lab during the summer after his freshman year. This involved developing lab exercises for classes in the physics department, and he really enjoyed it. He took a similar position the following summer and then experimented with a more research-oriented job the next year. This led him to his undergraduate thesis area of laser cooling. Chad had a phenomenal experience in college, and decided that, like his professors, he too wanted to become a faculty member at a small college where he could help get students excited about research.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (16:01)

    In graduate school, Chad had a tough time with his qualifying exam in his second year. It was a two-day test, and the last question on the first day had him stumped. He had no idea how to solve it. This experience left Chad shaken going into the second day, and when he didn’t immediately see how to address the next set of questions, he just shut down. Chad completely blanked. Shortly after handing in his blue book, he came up with the solutions, but it was too late. Fortunately, Chad had a second chance, and he did well on his remedial oral exam and question session with the exam committee. Later in graduate school, Chad went through nearly a full year where he felt like every day he went to the lab, he broke something. Another rough patch occurred during the first few months of his postdoctoral fellowship when the equipment wasn’t working right, and he had no idea why. Chad had to take everything apart and put it all back together again before they started getting results.

    A Shining Success! (19:00)

    As a postdoc, Chad did some cool experiments looking at a quantum mechanical effect that occurs when you take a bunch of atoms, cool them to close to absolute zero, and then chop the sample up into pieces. No one had ever done something like this before, and it was incredibly exciting. Not only were the results of the experiment thrilling, but Chad was also delighted to return to his graduate school group to present his findings. He intended the presentation to last about 20 minutes, but after close to an hour and a half, he still had a few slides left. There were so many questions, but he knew all the answers, and it was a phenomenal discussion.

    Book Recommendations (26:05)

    The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics by Robert Oerter, Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn by Amanda Gefter, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel, How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog by Chad Orzel, Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist by Chad Orzel, and Breakfast with Einstein: The Exotic Physics of Everyday Objects by Chad Orzel.

    Most Treasured Travel (28:30)

    During graduate school, Chad had an opportunity to spend a summer living in a suburb of Tokyo to work with a research group that was studying neon atoms. There was a particular experiment with neon that would have nicely complemented Chad’s lab’s work with xenon, so his goal was to get this experiment to work during the trip. Unfortunately, during his final week, a critical piece of equipment broke, and they weren’t able to fix it in time to get the project done. Despite the scientific setback, visiting Japan was a fantastic experience. Chad had a particularly great time exploring the city of Nikko in the mountains north of Tokyo where you can see a spectacular waterfall, many temples and shrines, and a memorial for the founding ruler of the Tokugawa shogunate.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (31:12)

    In Chad’s graduate school laboratory, there were several experiments being conducted across different rooms, and there were 3-4 people working on each experiment. It was a tradition to gather the whole group together for lunch every day, and it was a lot of fun. In particular, there was another lab member who shared Chad’s enthusiasm for the show The Simpsons, so they spent time nearly every week talking about the latest episodes. Chad enjoyed having conversations with people from other parts of the lab to learn about their work, and it was great to get connected to a bigger community of people by seeing them every day.

    Advice For Us All (35:11)

    Sometimes you just need to cut your losses, and hand in what you have. Also, remember that scientists are people, and science is a human endeavor. Scientists are really excited about a particular area, but science isn’t something that only scientists can understand and enjoy.

    Guest Bio

    Chad’s research is on the behavior of atoms cooled to within millionths of a degree of absolute zero by interactions with laser light. At these ultra-cold temperatures, the quantum character of the atoms becomes more apparent, and understanding their interactions requires consideration of their wave nature and the quantum property known as spin. Outside of work, Chad keeps busy chasing after his kids (ages 10 and 7), occasionally coaching youth sports, and playing basketball with a group of faculty and students. He lives in Niskayuna, NY with his wife Kate Nepveu, their two children, and their new dog Charlie the pupper.

    Photo credit: Matt Milless

    *This episode was originally released December 3, 2018.

    The post 821: Dr. Chad Orzel: Illuminating the Quantum Physics of Ultracold Atoms appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    41 min
  • 820: Dr. Michelle Starz-Gaiano: Studying the Molecular Information Cells Use to Move Through Their Environments

    Dr. Michelle Starz-Gaiano is Professor and Chair of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and her PhD in Developmental Genetics from New York University. Afterwards, Michelle completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She joined UMBC in 2008 and has received the Donald Creighton Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the UMBC Graduate Student Association for her excellent mentorship. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (2:13)

    Michelle often spends her free time cooking and baking. Her kitchen looks a little like a lab, and she enjoys experimenting with making different foods. Michelle and her family also like to spend time together, travel, and listen to music.

    The Scientific Side (3:05)

    Michelle’s research uses fruit flies to examine how cells in the body go to the right place at the right time. Understanding why and how cells use their genetic information to move through the body is critical because if this movement doesn’t happen correctly, it could, for example, impact embryo development or affect how immune cells mobilize after an injury. Conversely, preventing cancer cells from moving could keep cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.

    A Dose of Motivation (5:29)

    “Chance favors the mind which is prepared.” – Louis Pasteur
    “As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.” – Ted Lasso

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (7:28)

    Visits to the library and time spent reading were abundant in Michelle’s childhood, as her mom was a former librarian. Chemistry and math were Michelle’s favorite subjects in school, and she planned to be a math major when she enrolled in college. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that majoring in math wasn’t a good fit. As Michelle considered her options, she took a genetics course that changed everything. Michelle’s interest in science grew throughout college as she worked on her first research projects cloning a human disease gene and mapping the human genome. When she graduated, Michelle wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next, so she spent some time working in a new lab at MIT. While there, Michelle saw what getting a lab started was like, and she worked on a project examining how a transcription factor controlled when different types of cancer cells divide. Michelle’s experiences in the lab helped her realize she wanted to pursue graduate school and a career in academic research.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (18:44)

    Michelle has been studying a set of cells in the ovary of the fruit fly where eggs are produced. Certain cells need to migrate across the developing egg chamber to be next to the egg cell in order for the fly to make an egg that can be fertilized. She wants to know how these cells know which way to go and how they move through the tissue to get to their destination. They collaborated with mathematicians to model the chemical cues that the cells may follow as they move. This allowed them to make predictions about what the cells encounter or touch during their migration to better understand how they use the information they receive. However, the first time she submitted the grant for this project, it wasn’t funded. When you put so much work into writing a grant, and you think the proposal is fantastic, it’s really tough when it gets rejected. It’s hard not to take it personally, but Michelle’s strategy is to give herself some time to be upset, listen to some angry music, step away from the project, and then go back to the reviewers’ comments later to understand what you can improve upon or explain better.

    A Shining Success! (23:14)

    Recently, Michelle had a proposal accepted to work at the Advanced Imaging Center at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus. This provided an amazing opportunity to use some of the highest end microscopes in the world to look at their samples in order to see the chemical cues that cells may be using to move to specific target areas in the body. Michelle and her colleagues worked for a few weeks straight, and they were rewarded with exceptionally detailed images of their cells moving through tissues. It was a lot of work, but it was also so much fun.

    Book Recommendations (24:54)

    Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; My Friends by Fredrik Backman

    Most Treasured Travel (26:15)

    A few summers ago, Michelle was invited to be a speaker at a conference at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University. The conference brought together scientists from a variety of different fields to talk about collective movements: from herds of animals moving through the desert to cells moving through the body to the biophysics of molecules moving. Thinking about how to apply ideas and findings from these different systems to her own work was fascinating. Being at Cambridge was amazing as well because there is so much history at the university. Michelle had the opportunity to see Isaac Newton’s dorm room during a tour, and it was remarkable to see the room, including the little cat door that he had installed. While she was in the UK, Michelle also got to visit one of the Premier League soccer stadiums and see some of the sights in London with her family.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (28:39)

    There is a great group of scientists in Michelle’s department, and they have a holiday party every year. Each lab is tasked with building a holiday ornament using only lab supplies, and they have to write a story or a poem about the ornament or its origins. It’s always entertaining to see the creative ideas people come up with in designing things like pipette tip wreaths or angels made out of glass microscope slides. The contest is highly competitive, and people get really into it. Everyone’s stories are fantastic as well and involve things like lab elves messing up experiments or holiday miracles when experiments work. This contest gives the group a chance to showcase their creativity, and the winning lab has a celebratory pizza party.

    Advice For Us All (31:52)

    Don’t try to do everything all by yourself — working with others can be helpful and fun, and you can learn a lot. If possible, try to work on something that you are really interested in and think is worth doing because that will help you get through the challenges. Also, remember to slow down sometimes, be curious, and keep an open mind.

    Guest Bio

    Michelle’s research aims to understand the molecular information that cells use to migrate through their environments. She is especially interested in how animal cells move to the right place at the right time without getting lost or running late (like she does when she goes almost anywhere). Her research group uses different methods to identify the genes and structures that guide moving cells, with a focus on using molecular genetics and microscopic imaging strategies to uncover the incredible beauty of biological systems. She and her lab members conduct their experiments on fruit flies, which have small and easy-to-image organs. They also employ a variety of genetic tools available in flies that have been developed through decades of effort by a creative community of scientists. Since the genes in fruit flies are similar to those in other animals, discoveries from fly genetics can help researchers answer important questions about all kinds of cells, for example, how cells respond to infection or damage, how cells form an embryo, and why some cancers become metastatic. Michelle also collaborates with mathematicians to develop computational models of cells and signals, which is very helpful for characterizing things they cannot yet image. Outside of the lab, she is interested in ways to improve scientific teaching and student success. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, and she is an active member of the Society for Developmental Biology. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, baking, exercising, and traveling.

    The post 820: Dr. Michelle Starz-Gaiano: Studying the Molecular Information Cells Use to Move Through Their Environments appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    37 min
  • 819: Dr. Maureen Donnelly: Making Great Leaps Studying the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Frogs

    Dr. Maureen (Mo) Donnelly is a Professor of Biology and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida International University (FIU). She is also a Research Associate in the Department of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Maureen received her PhD in Biology from the University of Miami and completed postdoctoral research at the American Museum of Natural History and at the University of Miami. She worked as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Project Director at the University of Miami before joining the faculty at Florida International University. Maureen is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science

    Mardi Gras is Mo’s favorite holiday, and she likes to spend her free time preparing for riding in the each Mardi Gras parade. She was able to ride on a float in the parade in New Orleans, and it was an incredible experience.

    The Scientific Side

    Mo studies amphibians like frogs and toads. These organisms are all currently at risk for extinction, and her lab is dedicated to trying to understand how to prevent losses of species in the future.

    A Dose of Motivation

    If you look at life like it’s an adventure, then it’s never boring.

    What Got You Hooked on Science?

    When Mo left high school, she wanted to study Chinese philosophy and religion, with the goal of translating a Chinese philosophy book. With concerns about being able to support herself, she decided instead to be a dental hygienist. During an anatomy and physiology course at a junior college, Mo asked the professor a question and the response was that we didn’t know. This sparked a realization that there were still many unanswered questions in science. This and a fantastic field course set her on the path to a career in biology.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges

    In graduate school, Mo shared an exciting idea for a dissertation project with her advisor before traveling for field work. To Mo’s horror, one of her committee members heard about her idea from her advisor and wrote her idea into a grant while she was away. This person took all of her dissertation ideas and experiments, and she was very close to quitting and leaving academia.

    A Shining Success!

    Mo was delighted with her recent election as the President Elect of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. It was meaningful to be elected by her peers, and she has the honor of being the president of her favorite society in the year that the society turns 100!

    Book Recommendations

    The Emperor of All Maladies: A biography of cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Most Treasured Travel

    One of Mo’s favorite travel experiences was going to Papua New Guinea with her husband and her mentor Jay Savage to visit her youngest academic brother. He was conducting field research in the remote mountains there, and this was the wildest area she has ever visited.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories

    Mo has made it a tradition in her lab to include pre or post meeting excursions with the lab group. They took it to an extreme for a meeting in Manaus, Brazil in 2003. She and her students attended the meeting and a group of them took an exhilarating tour of northern Brazil!

    Advice For Us All

    No matter what your profession, it is important for all of us as human beings to have meaningful work. Bringing your best to your work is a way to make it meaningful. It helps to have passion for what you do because the passion will carry you through all the rough patches of your career.

    Guest Bio

    Dr. Donnelly joined the FIU faculty in August, 1994, and her first laboratory was located on the Biscayne Bay Campus of FIU. She received Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor in 1999, and moved to the University Park (MMC) campus in the Spring of 2002 to make way for the growing Marine Biology program at FIU.  She was promoted to Professor in 2006.  Her new laboratory has supported several students conducting research with amphibians and reptiles in south Florida and a variety of tropical locations. To date, she has mentored 7 PhD students and 16 Master’s students.  She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and has co-edited two contributed books.  She co-authored a field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the La Selva Biological Research Station with her long-time collaborator Craig Guyer in 2005.  Her research has focused on the ecology and evolution of the Strawberry Poison Frog, the amphibians and reptiles of Pantepui, and the ecology of defense in the poison frog Oophaga pumilio, and a variety of studies that deal with aspects of amphibian conservation.  Mo became an Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the largest College at FIU in the Fall of 2008.  She can be reached at [email protected].

     

    *This episode was originally released on December 12, 2014. 

    The post 819: Dr. Maureen Donnelly: Making Great Leaps Studying the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Frogs appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    50 min
  • 818: Dr. Mark Saffman: Shining Light on the Exciting Capabilities of Quantum Computing

    Dr. Mark Saffman is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received is B.Sc. with honors in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology. Mark worked as a Technical Staff Member at TRW Defense and Space systems and subsequently an Optical Engineer at Dantec Electronics Inc. in Denmark before going back to graduate school to earn his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Next, Mark worked as a Senior Scientist at Riso National Laboratory in Denmark before joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mark has received many honors and awards during his career including the Vilas Associate Award from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, as well as the Research and Creative Work and the William Walter Jr. Awards from the University of Colorado. In addition, he has been named a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Mark joined us in this interview to talk about his experiences in life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (2:36)

    For Mark, physics is a hobby as well as his job. When he’s not thinking about physics, Mark likes spending time with his family, including his young kids. Getting outside and enjoying nature is a great way for Mark to relax and unwind.

    The Scientific Side (3:22)

    Mark’s research focuses on quantum computing. Most people are familiar with things like computers and smartphones. Computing power has increased tremendously over the years by nanoscale fabrication in our electronics. We are now able to put more processing units on very small silicon chips, but the advances at this level are reaching their limits. People are now building computer chips so small that each device contains just a few electrons or atoms. At this very small scale, things work differently, and you can describe how they work with quantum mechanics. Mark and his colleagues are trying to build a new kind of computer called a quantum computer that can solve some types of problems that are unreachable for current supercomputers. A quantum computer uses individual atoms and has power that exceeds what you can do with known classical computing approaches.

    A Dose of Motivation (6:47)

    “Don’t worry, be happy.” – Meher Baba

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:03)

    Though Mark grew up in an academic environment, and his father was a professor, he didn’t plan on becoming a scientist. In fact, Mark’s initial plan was to become an organic gardener on a commune after finishing high school in the 1970s. That plan didn’t work out, but Mark found that he was pretty good at science. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Mark wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next, so he decided to work in industry. Over the years, Mark worked on many different projects, gained experience, and began to identify the areas in science in which he was most interested. A desire for academic freedom to pursue the topics he was most curious about drove Mark to return to graduate school and seek a faculty position.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (17:54)

    Science is challenging because you are trying to answer questions that no one knows the answer to, and an answer may not exist. You have to get used to the feeling of not knowing what you are doing all the time. For Mark’s experiments, they need money to buy complex equipment and pay people working in the lab, so Mark spends much of his time writing proposals for research funding. This is a challenge because you put a lot of time into writing proposals that may or may not be awarded. When Mark first started on the faculty, he had a difficult time getting support for the research direction he wanted to pursue. He decided to change his research focus to quantum computing which was a new and growing area at the time. Fortunately, substantial resources have been dedicated to quantum computing research in recent years.

    A Shining Success! (20:58)

    About 6-7 years ago, Mark’s lab was the first research group to create a phenomenon called entanglement using atomic quantum bits (qubits). Entanglement is one of the building blocks needed to build more complex and powerful quantum computing devices. They conducted experiments where they trapped atoms, shined a laser on them, and got the atoms to interact with each other in a way that is strongly correlated. Work on this project began in 2002, and it wasn’t until 2010 that they were able to demonstrate entanglement for the very first time. It was really exciting and also a relief since they had spent so many years on the project.

    Book Recommendations (23:52)

    The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo, Quantum Mechanics of One- and Two-Electron Atoms by Hans Bethe and Edwin Salpeter

    Most Treasured Travel (25:30)

    Mark travels to many different places to give talks and attend conferences. For him, part of what makes the travel great is the people you get to spend time with. Years ago, he attended a workshop on the island of Crete in Greece. They stayed in a hotel on the northern side of the island by the beach. It was amazing to go to breakfast, go for a morning swim in the ocean, attend conference presentations, talk about science with his colleagues, and then hit the beach again afterwards. The science at the workshop was excellent, and the location was a lot of fun.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (27:13)

    A large part of what makes science so rewarding are the interactions you have with colleagues, students, and competing labs. You meet many people who become your colleagues and friends. It is interesting because you see some of these people very infrequently (maybe only for a day or two every year or two), but you can always pick up where you left off because you have a shared interest in the science. Mark also enjoys a tradition of weekly lunches with his lab group near the lake on campus, and he occasionally has the group over to his house for a lab BBQ.

    Advice For Us All (31:48)

    It is easy to get stuck sometimes because something isn’t working that you think should work. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect it to start working. You have to change something or do something different to get a different result. Also, find something that you are truly excited about, and pursue it. Don’t just follow a career path because other people are doing it, or because it is something you think you should do. Working in science is a wonderful career where every day is different, you can have fun, and it is extremely rewarding.

    Guest Bio

    Mark Saffman is an experimental physicist working in the areas of atomic physics, quantum and nonlinear optics, and quantum information processing. He has made significant contributions to optical solitons, pattern formation, sources of entangled light, and quantum computing. His current research effort is devoted to the development of neutral atom based quantum computing devices. His research team was the first to demonstrate a quantum CNOT gate between two trapped neutral atoms, and the deterministic entanglement of a pair of neutral atoms. This was done using dipole mediated interactions between highly excited Rydberg atoms. He is currently developing scalable neutral atom platforms using arrays of trapped atoms. When not busy with physics he enjoys time with family, travel, and exploring somewhere far away from the nearest computer to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.

    *This episode was originally released on October 23, 2017.

    The post 818: Dr. Mark Saffman: Shining Light on the Exciting Capabilities of Quantum Computing appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    36 min
  • 817: Dr. Luiz Bertassoni: Creating New Cancer Models and Advancing Regenerative Medicine

    Dr. Luiz E. Bertassoni is the founding director of the Knight Cancer Precision Biofabrication Hub and Professor in the Division of Oncological Sciences at the Knight Cancer Institute, where he is also co-section head for Discovery and Translational Oncology. He is also faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research (CEDAR) Center, and the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) School of Dentistry. Luiz is co-founder of 2 biotech spin-off companies which resulted from his work on cancer research and regenerative medicine: he is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of HuMarrow and Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of RegendoDent. Luiz was awarded his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana in Brazil. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco. He then enrolled in a graduate program and received his PhD in Biomaterials from the University of Sydney. Next he accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in Harvard Medical School and MIT’s joint program in Health Sciences and Technology. He served on the faculty at the University of Sydney before joining the faculty at OHSU in 2015. His work on vascular bioprinting was listed in the top 100 research discoveries by Discover Magazine, and he has received over 30 national and international research awards, including the Medical Research Foundation New Investigator award, the Silver Family Faculty Innovation award, and many others. In this interview, Luiz shares more about his life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (3:46)

    Luiz is a big fan of surfing, and he enjoyed frequent trips to the beach while completing his PhD in Sydney, Australia, and a postdoctoral fellowship in San Francisco, California. In addition to spending time in the water, Luiz loves music. He is a singer-songwriter who plays various instruments, including guitar, drums, bass, and piano.

    The Scientific Side (5:24)

    In his research, Luiz applies engineering tools to biology to build human tissues in the lab. The goal of Luiz’s lab is to create new models to better understand cancers and develop methods to regenerate lost or damaged tissues.

    A Dose of Motivation (6:16)

    Use the adversities in your life as fuel to go above and beyond. Push through the challenges to achieve what you set out to achieve.

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:50)

    Luiz grew up in an academic household where his father was a university professor, and his mom worked as a principal in his high school before transitioning to teaching in a university. On his way home from school, Luiz remembers stopping by the university and sitting in the back of his dad’s classroom listening to his lectures until he was done for the day. When deciding on his own career, Luiz was drawn to innovation and doing things differently. As he prepared to enter dental school, he started making lists of problems in the field that didn’t have ideal solutions and contemplating his own solutions. These were his first forays in developing research questions. Luiz continued asking questions of his professors in dental school, and his research interests continued to grow and evolve. An opportunity arose to complete research training in the United States while Luiz was in dental school, and he worked full-time for six months in a research lab at UCSF. He returned to UCSF for a postdoc position after finishing his dental school program, and Luiz has continued to answer interesting questions and tackle difficult research problems ever since.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (20:17)

    In addition to the major challenges that you encounter when you’re trying to break new ground and innovate in science, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get funding for scientific research. New and important research can’t happen without funding, and Luiz has had to get creative about how to get support for his research. It’s also critical to remember that to do good research, you have to have good people working in the lab. For Luiz, creating and maintaining an environment that allows people to do their best work is a priority. People need to feel appreciated and accepted, and the group needs to work together towards the same goal even if each individual is having their own struggles. This can be difficult as a leader because every individual has their own unique background, expectations, skills, cultures, and way of communicating.

    A Shining Success! (25:50)

    After graduating from dental school in Brazil, Luiz felt like there wasn’t an expectation that he would be working at the highest level with some of the best biomedical engineers in the world. Attending his first few meetings as a postdoc at Harvard and MIT, Luiz was happy to discover that he could make important contributions and that people appreciated what he was bringing to the table, even though he didn’t have the same background or training. Luiz also overcame many hurdles in publishing their first paper in the prestigious journal Nature. That was a big win for his group. Perseverance and hard work paid off.

    More recently, Luiz has brought together a tremendous amount of support and close to 20 investigators from multiple institutions and cities to create the Knight Cancer Precision Biofabrication Hub, a relatively new research center for which he is the founding Director. It has been exciting to see this grow from its humble beginnings to the point where they have demonstrated that they are doing valuable work and have something unique to offer the field. The work has the potential to really make a difference and help patients, and they have created an important new research infrastructure for the entire university and the state. This has been a major victory that brings Luiz a lot of pride.

    Book Recommendations (29:48)

    Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

    Most Treasured Travel (33:07)

    Shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Luiz was invited to give a presentation at a conference in Australia. Their flight had a stopover in Fiji, and Luiz, his wife, and their daughter enjoyed some time in Fiji before heading to Australia for the conference. It was a fantastic trip, and they were able to visit old friends in Australia as well. The timing of the trip was perfect too since they were able to get away for a while before travel was suspended due to the pandemic. Luiz is also really looking forward to an upcoming trip to Greece in July. His wife and daughter will be accompanying him on this trip as well, and it will be particularly meaningful because this was the place his wife said she wanted to go to most in the world when she was first diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. Now that she is healthy again, Luiz is excited to make this dream trip a reality.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (35:54)

    Luiz once attended a small conference that was held at a beautiful winter resort in Canada. There were a lot of big names in the field attending the event to talk about their research. After the conference events concluded on one of the evenings, there was a celebration, and a prominent scientist in the field came out wearing a dinosaur costume and started dancing. It was an unexpected and hilarious turn of events that showcased the sense of humor and fun, even at the highest levels of science.

    Advice For Us All (40:57)

    Persevere against all odds. You have to have hope and grit, and you have to believe you can do it. Work really hard, and let your results do the talking. Life can be challenging, but try to stay positive and care for those around you. Science is a group effort, and it’s a lot more fun to work together as a group. Stay on course, keep your head down, and get the work done. Once you’re finished, raise your head up high, and be proud of your achievements.

    Guest Bio

    Luiz leads a multidisciplinary research group working on various aspects of cancer and regenerative medicine, with a focus on advanced biofabrication methods, including 3D bioprinting, organs on-a-chip, and organoids. Early on, Luiz’s research focused on the nanoscale structure and function of mineralized tissues and biomaterials development. From there, he began working in the area of regenerative medicine and cancer. In one area of his work, Luiz and his team develop new biomaterials and use 3D bioprinting and other approaches for biofabrication of healhty tissues and tumor models. They have also gotten involved in organ-on-a-chip research, which combines tissue engineering and microfluidics to make miniaturized versions of systemic organs and cancer to understand how they behave on a micro scale. Overall, his goal is to develop models that provide a better understanding of cancer, and new regenerative materials that take into account all of the nanoscale complexity of the tissues they want to regenerate. Outside of the lab, Luiz enjoys surfing and music. He sings and plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, and he records and releases his songs online.

    Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by Innovative Research, Inc.

    The post 817: Dr. Luiz Bertassoni: Creating New Cancer Models and Advancing Regenerative Medicine appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    43 min
  • 816: Dr. Shannon Manning: Deciphering Genetic Variations in Bacteria that Lead to Disease

    Dr. Shannon Manning is a Michigan State University (MSU) Foundation Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She earned her B.S. in biology from the University of Michigan, her M.P.H. in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology, and her Ph.D. in Molecular Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. Afterwards, Shannon was awarded an Emerging Infectious Disease Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Shannon is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

    People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

    Life Outside of Science (1:58)

    When she’s not working in the lab, Shannon loves spending time with her family. On the weekends, Shannon can often be found at soccer games, swim meets, and other activities cheering on her four kids. Gardening is also one of her favorite hobbies, and she has been cultivating a wonderful assortment of flowers.

    The Scientific Side (3:24)

    The goal of Shannon’s research is to understand how pathogens (bacteria or viruses) cause disease in people. How likely a person is to get sick may be due to the different types of pathogens they are exposed to, but also genetic variation within a specific type of pathogen. Not every bacteria of a particular species is exactly identical, and some are more effective at attaching to targets and infecting hosts.

    A Dose of Motivation (4:45)

    “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

    What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:35)

    Shannon has always loved science, but as an undergraduate student, she had an opportunity to work as a research assistant in a lab studying bacterial evolution. This hands-on experience taught her a lot about bacteria, and she realized this field was something she was interested in pursuing as a career.

    The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (18:12)

    The beginning of Shannon’s independent academic research career was challenging. She interviewed for faculty positions at several institutions and was disappointed to receive negative feedback that she wasn’t a good fit for jobs she really wanted. Despite having doubts about whether she could make it in academic science, Shannon persevered. She incorporated the feedback she was given to improve how she presented herself, her experiences, and her research program, and she was ultimately rewarded with an excellent job offer.

    A Shining Success! (20:43)

    Recently, Shannon received the National Postdoctoral Association Mentorship Award. It meant a great deal to Shannon that the three postdoctoral researchers in her lab took the time to nominate her, and they wrote wonderful letters of support. Shannon had no idea she was being nominated, so she was surprised and excited to receive the notification that she had been selected.

    Book Recommendations (22:31)

    Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett, The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston

    Most Treasured Travel (24:18)

    A few years ago, Shannon traveled to Amsterdam to present at a scientific conference. Over 500 people attended her lecture, and it was the first time she ever presented to such a large audience. Shannon was nervous, but it was a great experience that gave her confidence going into future talks. It was also wonderful to meet and learn from well-known researchers in the field whose research she had been following for years. While there, Shannon was able to explore the outdoor market in Amsterdam, and she enjoyed taking it all in while strolling down the city streets.

    Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (27:48)

    In Shannon’s lab, celebrating birthdays is an important way to bring lab members together. One of her graduate students makes phenomenal cupcakes that are often a celebration staple. Regardless of whether they are indulging in custom cupcakes or a quick store-bought cake, it is fun for everyone to gather in Shannon’s office, awkwardly sing happy birthday, and hang out together.

    Advice For Us All (32:23)

    You have to believe in yourself and you should do what you love. There are always going to be challenges and disappointments on the path to success. Just work hard and do what you believe in, and you’ll make it to your goals.

    Guest Bio

    Shannon’s current research focuses on the molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics of bacterial pathogens including diarrheagenic E. coli and group B Streptococcus, a leading cause of bloodstream infections and meningitis in newborns. She is particularly interested in determining how genetic variation contributes to differences in clinical outcomes. Since 1998, she has contributed to over 65 publications and book chapters, and some of her recent work has been featured on Michigan Radio, WKAR, and in multiple news sources. She currently serves as an ad hoc reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and as the primary mentor for seven undergraduate researchers, six graduate students, three postdoctoral fellows, and three research assistants.

     

    *This episode was originally released on September 26, 2016. 

    The post 816: Dr. Shannon Manning: Deciphering Genetic Variations in Bacteria that Lead to Disease appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.

    36 min

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Science Podcast - Journey through the minds of today's brilliant scientists