Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez’s research on pigeons, like her life, is one of charting an original path. Her experiences as a Mexican-Italian-American woman, professor, artist and mother have provided her with fascinating and unusual perspectives to study the biology of parental behavior. And in so doing, she is redefining what it means to be a scientist. Continue Reading
iBiology Podcasts
Esteban Burchard Part 3: Inclusion of Minorities in Science and Medicine: An Inclusive Future
There is ample evidence that race can be a major factor in health outcomes. But racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical and biomedical research. In this series, Dr. Esteban Burchard talks about the consequences of this underrepresentation and what does it mean for equity in research and medicine. He also explains how race… Continue Reading
Esteban Burchard Part 2: The Impact of Race and Genetic Ancestry on Medicine: Which Box Do I Check?
There is ample evidence that race can be a major factor in health outcomes. But racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical and biomedical research. In this series, Dr. Esteban Burchard talks about the consequences of this underrepresentation and what does it mean for equity in research and medicine. He also explains how race… Continue Reading
Esteban Burchard Part 1: Racial Bias in Science and Medicine: Who’s Included?
There is ample evidence that race can be a major factor in health outcomes. But racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in clinical and biomedical research. In this series, Dr. Esteban Burchard talks about the consequences of this underrepresentation and what does it mean for equity in research and medicine. He also explains how race… Continue Reading
Huda Zoghbi Part 3: Possible Future Therapies for Rett Syndrome
In her third lecture, Zoghbi explores possible therapies for MECP2 disorders. First, using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Zoghbi’s team together with collaborator Dr. Jianrong Tang were able to rescue learning and memory deficits, enhance neurogenesis, correct abnormal neural network activity, and improve MeCP2-linked gene expression changes in a mouse model of Rett Syndrome. Then, she… Continue Reading
Huda Zoghbi Part 2: Pathogenesis of MeCP2 Disorders
In her second lecture, Zoghbi explains how MeCP2 molecularly modulates neuronal function. Their studies uncovered a critical link between cytosine methylation, MeCP2, and the methylating enzyme Dnmt3a, in Rett Syndrome. They hypothesized that MeCP2 partially causes Rett-Syndrome symptoms by failure of reading methylated DNA marked by Dnmt3 and indeed showed that Dnmt3-dependent mCH plays a… Continue Reading
Huda Zoghbi Part 1: Rett Syndrome: Genomes, Epigenomes and Neuropsychiatric conditions
Dr. Huda Zoghbi’s work has provided insight into Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) by focusing on Rett Syndrome, a postnatal progressive neurological disorder. By studying the genetics of Rett Syndrome, her group made the seminal discovery of X-linked Methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) as the gene that causes Rett Syndrome. Zoghbi’s group showed that the severity… Continue Reading
Evelyn Witkin: The SOS Response in Bacteria
Witkin provides a historical perspective on how working at Cold Spring Harbor (CSH) shaped her scientific career and led to the discovery of the SOS DNA damage response in bacteria. At CSH she worked with the pioneers of bacterial genetics, at a time when there was a major discovery every other week. As a PhD… Continue Reading
Chris Voigt: Genetic Circuits: Programming Living Bacteria
Dr. Chris Voigt explains that, for synthetic biologists to engineer cells that can make complex chemicals or perform complex functions, they must be able to tell the cell which genes to turn on and at what time. To do this they build genetic circuits composed of a series of gates that respond to a specific… Continue Reading
Ron Vale: Discovering Kinesin
Vale explains how doing science often follows a winding path with unexpected, sometimes wonderful surprises, and uses his own story to illustrate his point. When Vale was a graduate student, he initially hoped to show that myosin was involved in axonal transport, but ended up discovering a new molecule which he called kinesin. Continue Reading
Jessica Polka Publishing in a Pandemic: The Preprint Revolution
As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in the beginning of 2020, there was a need for the rapid dissemination of scientific information to understand everything from how the virus spreads, to how it affects the human body, to how the disease can be treated and prevented. Jessica Polka, Executive Director of ASAPbio, explains that, for this… Continue Reading
Jan van der Meer: Synthetic Biology: Principles and Applications
Dr. Jan van der Meer begins by giving an introduction to synthetic biology. Through this introduction to synthetic biology, he explains that DNA and protein “parts” can be put together to form biological circuits in a manner analogous to making electrical circuits from transformers, capacitors, and the like. These circuits can be designed for many… Continue Reading
Sven Truckenbrodt: X10 Expansion Microscopy
In the cytoplasm of cells, thousands of tightly packed molecules and structures execute the numerous processes necessary to maintain life. Although there are many ways to study cellular processes, one of the simplest ways to understand the different parts of a cell is to visualize them. Dr. Sven Truckenbrodt sought to better understand the machinery… Continue Reading
Robert Singer Part 3: Imaging Translation and Degradation of Single mRNAs in Living Cells
In his last lecture, Singer continues the story of the life and death of RNA. His lab has developed several more fluorescence microscopy techniques that let them study, in real time, the translation and degradation of mRNA. These techniques allow them to track when and where translation begins, how quickly a ribosome binds to a… Continue Reading
Robert Singer Part 2: RNA Localization: Following Single mRNAs from Birth to Death in Living Cells
To understand the relationship between RNA localization and translation, it is necessary to visualize the movement of the RNA in real time. In his second lecture, Singer explains how his lab found an ingenious way to label RNAs in live cells and follow their movement. In the nucleus, RNA moves by diffusion and stochastically finds… Continue Reading
Robert Singer Part 1: Seeing is Believing: Imaging the Expression of Genes within Single Cells
In this series of lectures, Dr. Robert Singer explains how it is possible to follow a single mRNA molecule from its birth to its death. Singer begins by explaining that cell cultures are heterogeneous and analyzing single cells provides spatial and temporal information not available from bulk analysis. He outlines how his lab developed techniques… Continue Reading
Blake Simmons Part 2: Conversion of Biomass into Aviation Biofuels
In his second talk he reviews makeup of the plant cell wall and how hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin can be broken down for use in aviation biofuel production. He describes the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) approach to maximize carbon efficiency at every step in the production of biofuels, from developing and feedstocks, deconstructing biomass, and… Continue Reading
Blake Simmons Part 1: Driving the Future: Biofuels
Biofuels have been around for decades, but interest in them has grown considerably in recent years due to climate change. While they have the potential to provide a sustainable and renewable way to power our transportation systems, Dr. Blake Simmons points out that in order to become a viable replacement for fossil fuels, biofuels must… Continue Reading
Alexandra Schnoes Part 2: Internships for Graduate Students and Postdocs: Finding and Going on an Internship
There are many career options open to PhD scientists, however it can be difficult to determine which career is right for you. In a series of talks, Dr. Alexandra Schnoes describes how internships for graduate students and postdocs might be a good way to explore careers and help make an informed career decision. She discusses… Continue Reading
Alexandra Schnoes Part 1: Internships for Graduate Students and Postdocs: Confident Career Decision-Making Through Internships
There are many career options open to PhD scientists, however it can be difficult to determine which career is right for you. In a series of talks, Dr. Alexandra Schnoes describes how internships for graduate students and postdocs might be a good way to explore careers and help make an informed career decision. She discusses… Continue Reading
Jared Rutter Part 3: Mitochondria: The Fuel and the Fire
In his Part 3, Rutter emphasizes the challenge of mitochondrial protein synthesis. How do the components of the electron transport chain (ETC) assemble in the right stoichiometry at the right time? Rutter introduces the LYR family of proteins, which aid assembly of ETC components. LYR proteins interact with a common binding partner, the acyl carrier… Continue Reading
Jared Rutter Part 2: Mitochondrial Metabolism and Cell Decisions
In Part 2 of his talk, Rutter describes his group’s work to unravel the relationship between the activity of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier (MPC) and the behavior of numerous cell types, including cancer and stem cells. His group found that forced expression of the MPC in multiple stem cell models led to reduced “stemness” and… Continue Reading
Jared Rutter Part 1: Mitochondria: The Mysterious Cellular Parasite
Mitochondria are integral to the metabolism of eukaryotic cells, yet many of their properties are not fully understood. In Part 1 of this iBioSeminar, Dr. Jared Rutter lays out the foundational knowledge of mitochondrial structure and origin, and shares what is currently known about mitochondrial roles in metabolism, protein homeostasis, and signaling. He ends by… Continue Reading
Juliette Rooney-Varga Part 2: Let the Games Begin: Climate Change Education
Part 2: Rooney-Varga discusses the need for integrating climate change into biology education and why it can be difficult to understand and teach. She explains that introducing simulation-based role-playing games to students is an effective and fun way to teach how decisions and actions taken today will impact climate change in the future. Continue Reading