It was so great to see my former PI from Berkeley. Dr. David Raulet came to visit Brown and gave a fascinating talk on his most recent work on NK cellular therapy potentials. During Q&E shared some of his interesting thoughts on cancer from an evolutionary perspective (would love to read/understand more). Also, it was wonderful to actually understand the actual immunology much more than I did the last time I had seen him when I graduated from Berkeley in 2013 ( coincindentally in a Berkeley pizza staple: Jupiter. Here we are at a Brown University pizza staple: Flatbread) :)
Providence Area Aging Research Forum (PAARF) Presentation
Hi!
I’m super stoked to share that I will be presenting my research on how the dysregulation of the immune signaling pathways impacts neurodegeneration on a molecular and cellular level. I am so happy to be afforded this opportunity to present new and exciting work to the general public in a casual setting. Age related disease impacts so many people and I hope to be able to share what I have learned in my progress here at Brown. The other talks are sure to be amazing as well!
Simply Neuroscience: Brain Disease Round Table
This past year I had the privilege of speaking on a panel on Brain Diseases with two incredible scientists Dr. Carolina Gubert and Ms. Shelby McGraw. This event was organized by the organization Simply Neuroscience where we described our research as well as took questions from the audience. The audience seemed composed of some really amazing younger scientists who are itching to pursue research for a career! This was such an engaging and wonderful event to participate in because each of us had a different specialty and perspective on current disease research, future directions, and how COVID has impacted the fields. I was especially excited to be able to speak with Dr. Carolina Gubert who’s research has been a huge inspiration for me to even pursue a PhD. Below is the video of the panel, as well as a description of what each of the panelists research. Thank you so much to the organizers and participants of this event!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EfOWIvv0Jc&t=4870s
This panel was held on May 23. It consisted of an explanation from each of the panelists on what their study and research is on, experiences regarding neurological diseases, and a live Q & A session. The bios of the panelists are below.
Ms. Jackie Howells:
Jackie is a PhD Candidate at Brown University in the Pathobiology Program. An ecologist by training, she obtained her B.S. from UC Berkeley in Environmental Science and completed her capstone thesis on mircohabitat use of lizard species in White Sands, New Mexico. During her time at Berkeley she worked as lab assistant in an immunology lab and post-graduation began to work on clinical immunology at UCSF as a senior research associate. In her current PhD work she is investigating the relationship between the immune and nervous systems. She dabbles in various artistic pursuits outside of research.
Ms. Shelby McGraw:
Shelby completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Guelph studying Neuroscience and Psychology. Her thesis project focused on reconsolidation-based memory updating in mice and identifying the underlying molecular mechanisms involved. Shelby is currently her masters degree in Neuroscience at the University of Guelph where her research focuses on the progressions of Alzheimer's Disease pathology in the brain. Outside of the lab, Shelby enjoys practicing yoga and playing piano.
Dr. Carolina Gubert:
Dr. Carolina Gubert is a current Research officer at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia. She completed her PhD in the graduate program Biological Science: Biochemistry at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 2018. At the same institution, she completed her Masters degree and biomedical bachelor degree. Her work focuses on a purinergic receptor as a new hope of treatment for psychiatric disorders. She is interested in the gene-environment interactions and the mircobiota-gut-brain axis in brain disorders.
Journal Club: Connections from the mushroom body output neurons to the central complex, Li et al. 2020
With the global pandemic still raging through the United States in addition to massive socio-economic and political strife, I’ve been really asking myself a couple of questions:
A) What is the role of a professional biomedical scientist in our current society?
B) What skills are most vital to fulfill the responsibilities that are required to be functional in this role?
C) If the responsibilities that I currently have do not align with the ones necessary to contribute to helping to reduce human suffering which stems from biomedical issues, what skills should I focus on building?
I haven’t really come up with solid answers for these questions yet, but I am bouncing around different ideas in my head and trying out new methods//learning new skills and slowly implementing them to see if they work to align my efforts/time to work towards fulfilling the role of the scientist necessary for this period of time, and hopefully have a bit of fun doing so.
Sci Comm is revealing itself to be invaluable for both lay people and scientific experts. For the lay person, it provides a way to learn about scientific concepts and methodology without having to spend excruciating amounts of time learning jargon or paying exorbitant fees to read papers past the pay wall. Science should be inclusive and I find it deeply concerning that even between biomedical fields jargon, concepts and historical interpersonal competition has resulted in scientists really being disconnected from working with each other. This is also a canary in the coalmine basically shrieking at the top of it’s lungs that if trained biomedical scientists cannot grasp each others work, the significance of it’s impact will be tarnished by the fact that very few people will be able to a) understanding the actual meaning. b) come to incorrect conclusions about the implication c) lose trust if those findings(as interpreted by the person reading it) turn out to be incorrect in their material lives.
I have been completely blown away by some recent science art I have seen in attempts to engage with other scientists and the public about science finding and concepts and I think they are one of the best ways to fulfill parts of the role of a professional scientist. I have been experimenting with different ways of presenting data and trying many different mediums, but currently stop motion has been a blast. Here is a recent stop motion that I created for the Kaun Lab journal club on Li et al. 2020 “ The connectome of the adult Drosophila mushroom body: implications for function” for Figures 19 and 20 (plus supplements.) The video can definitely be cleaned up more in the future, but I quite enjoyed making it, and I think it might be helpful to visual learners or those who tend to maybe zone out during slides like myself. I hope you enjoy!
Crystal Growing - Experiments at home
I really missed hands on experiments and luckily had a cool fluorite crystal growing kit to scratch that bench work itch! It turned out pretty cool, this shows day 1 time lapse and day 12 result! Music: Candy shoppe by Emeralds.
I used a bit of artistic license in my methods section video below, it was so fun to make! Music: Crystal Suite-Steven Halpbern
Although this is kinda silly, it really reminded me of the joys of really simple scientific experiments as hobbies for pleasure and innate curious inquiry , and science can be about enjoying the observation of the world’s natural phenomenon, even in a tiny mason jar at home.
A day in the life of a Drosophila scientist…
A day in the life of a drosophila biologist!
The first part of the video shows a classic method in drosophila research known as fly flipping because you flip flies from one vial of food to another with fresh food so they can remain healthy! It’s common vernacular for drosophila researchers to ask for a “flip” of flies when they are in need, meaning a vial of them!
The second part of the video shows a process fondly known in the fly community as fly pushing, where you use C02 as anesthesia to sort flies based on things like phenotypic markers (for example you can distinguish whether a fly is carrying a genetic mutation by eye color! It’s called fly pushing because you can use a paintbrush or feather to push your flies as you sort.
click the link below!
https://vimeo.com/440196447
https://youtu.be/jmbx4uyqzWw?si=KTETPwguyOPtOnNs
Tau2020 Global Conference
Earlier this month I presented my work at a conference for the first time at the inaugural Tau2020 Global Conference and it was one of the most fruitful experiences I’ve had in my grad student life so far! It was amazing to see 600 scientists all gathered to discuss one extremely complicated protein: Tau. I learned so much from the experts in this field who were more than willing to share data, tools, and discuss which questions remain to be answered. The role of the immune system in tauopathy pathogenesis seems to be a very compelling avenue to pursue , which has made me even more excited about what questions my PhD research may help to answer. The work I presented was on altered innate immunity in a novel Drosophila model of primary tauopathy. I’m incredibly grateful to the Alzheimer’s Association (Twitter: @alzassociation) for awarding me a fellowship to attend this conference, and I cannot wait for the next one!
Information for the conference can be found here: https://tauconsortium.org/initiative/tau2020-globalconference/
2019 Boston Area Drosophila Meeting (BAD)
I’m thrilled to be one of the 2019 BAD Meeting Organizers. I just began working with Drosophila as a model organism this summer and I have fallen in love with them, so I am very excited to commiserate and learn from local Drosophila enthusiasts this summer. The meeting will be held June 11th 2019 at 95 Cushing St. Providence, RI (Brown University)
Check out the information from the BAD website at : https://bostonareadrosophilameeting.com/
Grad School Milestone Completed: Joined a research group(s)
I have officially joined two research groups! I will be co-supervised by Dr. Marc Tatar and Dr. Karla Kaun.
I am so incredibly excited to really get to dig deep into a project with such a stimulating and creative group of scientists! I am especially thrilled because of how interdisciplinary the two groups are. Members of the labs span the departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology.
I feel so grateful to be able to explore one of the most elusive mysteries in biology: the brain. And due to working with experts in such wide ranging fields, we will be able to explore neuropathology from a myriad of perspectives, and I get to be one of these lab coat wearing scientists! Together maybe we can figure out the elephant that is neurodegenerative disease!
Brown University Fun!
One of the perks of being a grad student at Brown is the amazing colleagues and friends you make. This is one inspirational group!
Mentorship
Starting Out
Looking back on my very short career so far in science I have realized that above all one key to success is mentorship. This is especially true as a woman in science, as we truly do stand on the shoulder's of the female scientists that came before us and shattered glass ceilings that made our careers a possibility instead of a distant dream. I have been extraordinarily lucky by having fantastic mentorship throughout my studies and lab work which have also translated into my non-professional life. Because of this, I am writing my first blog post first to thank all of my mentors over the years, to describe what I believe to have been the most helpful to me, and finally to define ways I can pay this amazing mentorship forward.
The first clearly defined mentor I had was Dr. Erica Bree Rosenblum at U.C. Berkeley. I could not have asked for a more enthusiastic, caring, and skilled mentor. At the time I was looking for a lab in which I could conduct my senior thesis, I knew I was interested in ecology, but never had any real research experience, except for my own small field projects in biology classes. I scoured the ecology lab websites at Berkeley and was immediately fascinated by her research on rapid evolution of lizards at White Sands National Park. I e-mailed her asking if she had time to meet to discuss her research more as I was looking for something to write my thesis on. Bree quickly responded and we set up a meeting time. Perhaps this is also where luck came in for me as a young hoping-to-be scientist. Not everyone you e-mail to chat about their work will have the time to write you back, but in this case, Bree was a new faculty and I happened to be the first undergraduate to reach out to her. After interviewing over skype with her graduate students, I was invited to do field research in White Sands and given an NSF REU grant for my thesis research.
Bree responding to my e-mail completely changed the trajectory of my life. The main reason was that someone I admire greatly and aspired to be like believed in me, which in turn made me believe in myself. Belief in myself gave me the confidence to explore and express my scientific ideas and theories which is what is truly at the root of being a scientist.
Life coach by proxy
In the Rosenblum lab I worked directly for Dr. Simone Des Roches, who at the time was the graduate student I worked for and she became a second mentor and now life long friend. From Simone I learned that a mentor extends beyond an academic teacher. Simone taught me about how to conduct research, she showed me the inner workings and relationships within academia. More importantly she showed me how to survive the pressures of pursuing a career in science by prioritizing relationships and hobbies along with work. It's very easy to idealize the mantra that if working hard an sacrificing everything else, but in the long run this never leads to a happy life which in turn leads to more fulfilling and clear eyed research.
My next mentor embodied a balanced lifestyle was Dr. Hilary Thomas at the University of California at San Francisco in Dr. Jeff Bluestone's Lab. She headed up a Type 1 Diabetes clinical trial and hired me as a research assistant. Hilary became a clinical principal investigator, managed our research projects, and had a lovely family to boot. She showed me that it is possible-with the correct prioritization and mastering workflow efficiency- that a researcher can have a fulfilled balanced life. She helped me through my mistakes by showing me that sometimes taking breaks can actually improve efficiency and quality of work when I got stuck on certain assays (which is something I still struggle with but am getting better at learning when I need to take a break!)
Passion, respect, and belief in your work
While in Dr. Bluestone's lab I developed mentor-mentee relationships with other post-docs, medical fellows, and specialists who all showed me the value of believing that your work will actually make the world a better place. When you are surrounded by experienced people who believe in their work and have an emotional connection and drive to succeed in order to help others, you learn that genuine desire to help others drives the greatest research and provides the energy required to do thorough and impactful research. This aspect of mentorship is the most important and inspiring to me as a young scientist starting out my own independent research. I truly feel that if you believe that your findings from your research will help others and that is the main driver of your work, then, like my mentors, you will be able to carry on even through the most disenchanting parts of scientific studies. Observing the passion and drive of my mentors I have realized that I share that same enthusiasm and devotion to helping others.
A thank you
Each and every mentor I have has greatly impacted my goals and values both academically, scientifically, ethically, and personally. I believe that the mentor-mentee relationships are one of the most important and precious relationships that any young ambitious person can have. I thank all of my mentors for teaching me invaluable lessons and believing in me, and I hope that one day I can pay it forward to other young scientists.