Visitor of the Week: Nicholas Hiers

Meet Nicholas Hiers of the University of Florida! The second year PhD student from Dr. Mingyi Xie’s lab joined us at this week’s Regulatory & Non-Coding RNAs. This not only is his first meeting at CSHL but his first one as a researcher and he made his debut with a bag; presenting a poster titled “The target-directed miRNA degradation interactome in cancer.” Here is Nicholas on his poster presentation experience: “This was my first in-person poster, and I think it went very well. I got to talk about our lab’s science to a bunch of big names and fresh faces, and I also got some nice feedback and a couple new ideas from it as well.”

Tell us about your research.
My research primarily relates to dysregulated small non-coding RNAs (microRNAs) as it relates to cancer progression and severity. I specifically study the mechanisms that determine microRNA birth/biogenesis and death/degradation to better understand altered microRNA-mediated gene expression in cancers.   

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
The degradation of microRNAs recently became a hot topic in the non-coding RNA field, so I was eager to take on a project related to that area. My PI described this subject as a sort of black box, and the prospect of discovering something both novel and impactful was too good to pass up.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I can confidently say that the inspiration for my scientific journey is personal curiosity. I desperately want to better understand how life “works” and this curiosity is generally what fuels my investigations.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
This is difficult to choose, I personally really enjoy research as a creative outlet, but I also get a lot of personal fulfillment and pride from the work that I do.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
It is not everyday that there is a conference for almost exclusively non-coding RNAs, how could I pass up that? That, and the stacked lineup of talks from many of the big names in the field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
My main takeaway is that this field is full of such great and diverse science, much of which is of such quality that it is personally motivating for me to reach that standard.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Just come! Everyone is friendly, the campus is gorgeous, and you will get so many fresh ideas and perspectives from all the talks/posters.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
That’s a tough one, but probably getting to see my coworker Tianqi give a talk on her research. It was really exciting to see her explain her science to all of the bigshots in the field, and she ended up nailing the talk!

Is this your first in-person meeting since the pandemic? If so, any thoughts you’d like to share?
It was, it was also my first conference in general. I feel like the pandemic has made everyone far too used to isolation, and it was really nice to just be around a lot of like-minded people in my field now that the pandemic has settled down.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
Without a doubt, the best thing about this meeting has been the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of friends and colleagues from around the world. I have not experienced anything like this since becoming a researcher, and it has been such a positive experience that I will 100% be returning to CSHL.

Thank you to Nicholas for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by NIcholas Hiers

Visitor of the Week: Lina Abou Zeid

Meet Lina Abou Zeid of the University of Guelph (Canada)! The PhD student in Dr. Richard Mosser’s lab is taking part in this week’s Regulatory & Non-Coding RNAs meeting. This meeting represents many firsts for Lina: 1) It is her first virtual meeting; 2) It is her first CSHL meeting; and 3) It is where she first virtually presented her poster entitled “Effect of hyperthermia and HSP70 overexpression on miRNA biogenesis”. Lina “was happy to share [her] work with fellow scientists [at this virtual meeting]…but it made [her] appreciate having the opportunity to discuss [her] work with them in person [because] nothing beats the genuine looks of curiosity and the rewarding smiles at the end of each talk.”

Tell us about your research.
I am investigating how microRNA biogenesis is affected by conditions of cellular stress (such as hyperthermia) that ultimately lead to cell death.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
The astonishing involvement of microRNA mediated gene silencing in almost all eukaryotic cellular processes intrigued my curiosity into learning about how their biogenesis is regulated.  I wasn’t surprised to learn of the involvement of the dysregulation of microRNA biogenesis in the progression of various diseases such as cancer, and what led to my journey of investigating how stressed cells manage microRNA biogenesis in order to efficiently undergo cell death, which various tumor cells cleverly avoid.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
The opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the knowledge of human molecular biology excites and inspires me to keep asking questions. The more questions I ask, the more I realize that there is still a lot to learn. In addition, with all that modern molecular and cellular techniques have to offer today makes now a better time than ever to pursue science.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I am hoping to add to the understanding of the regulation of non-coding and regulatory RNA. Through my work, I aim to fill some of the present gaps in knowledge that may result in the development of therapeutics for diseases where regulatory non-coding RNAs play a major role.  

What do you love most about being a researcher?
Ever since I can remember, I have loved solving puzzles and watching mysteries. The idea of filling in missing pieces of the puzzle has always appealed to me. I love the process of finding out what questions to ask, exploring possible experimental designs, persevering through failed attempts and finally the rewarding gain of insight (even from negative data).  

What drew you to attend this meeting?
I loved the diversity of the sessions and panelists. This meeting presented a great opportunity for me to learn about a wide range of new topics in RNA biology and hear about exciting advances in my field. I was also very excited to get the opportunity to listen to and connect with several of the important experts in my field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
I’ve learned about new technologies and advancements in microRNA biology that can benefit me in planning experiments for the remainder of my degree. I also realized the importance of diversifying my knowledge beyond my own field of expertise and learning from approaches employed in different fields.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Explore topics outside of your own, you never now where the next helpful idea comes from! Also don’t miss out on making meaningful connections and brainstorming with the brilliant minds present in this meeting; it is a wonderful opportunity. I would love to attend this meeting again in the upcoming years.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
Since it was my first virtual meeting, I was truly touched at how resilient and accommodating all the speakers and organizers were. Their love for sharing new ideas and discussing science was evident throughout the meeting.  I especially loved the fun Zoom backgrounds a lot of the speakers shared.  

Thank you to Lina for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Lina Abou Zeid

Visitor of the Week: Sunil Bhattarai

Meet Sunil Bhattarai of the Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack Meridian Health JFK Medical Center. A postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Stroke Research and Noncoding RNA Biology led by Ashutosh Dharap, Sunil is on campus for the 2018 Regulatory & Non-Coding RNAs meeting. It is his first meeting at the Laboratory and he commemorated it with by presenting a poster entitled “Expression of LncRNAs in post-ischemic mouse cortex”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I am exploring the roles long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays during ischemia. We recently reported hundreds of new lncRNA in a post-ischemic mouse brain, and are now attempting to understand the functional roles of lncRNA in post ischemic brain.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
My interest towards neural disorder and neuroscience led me to this work where the overarching role is to find the long non-coding RNA mediated neuroprotective therapy in a post-stroke brain. 

How did your scientific journey begin? 
The major event that really piqued my interest in science was a spinal cord injury suffered   by one of my family members. This was when I first realized the difference in regeneration capability of neurons in the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. This incident eventually led me to join a lab studying neural injury and regeneration. 

Was there something specific about Regulatory & Non-Coding RNAs meeting that drew you to attend?
I was drawn by the opportunity to meet the people  working exclusively in the RNA field. I met and spoke with one of the meeting speakers, Dr. Angela K. Cruz from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil who is also studying long non-coding RNAs. We discussed our research and shared ideas on a way to probe functional roles of long non-coding RNAs. We exchanged e-mails and will definitely be in touch to continue discussing our work.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
One of the key takeaways from the meeting is how tricky and difficult long non-coding RNA can be to work with.

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
I had the opportunity to meet people doing similar work and learned about the technique you can use to study the nuclear organization in space in a high-throughput manner.

If someone curious in attending a future iteration of this meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
I would definitely encourage anyone to attend the meeting here in CSHL. Unlike some other big meetings that I have been to, the attendees here are closely knit so you are more likely to interact and have an opportunity to collaborate with them. Additionally, you are more likely to get a thorough look at the work in the field and possibly identify the next place or lab you might be interested to work. Furthermore, it is compelling to attend a meeting in a place fertile in scientific discoveries and achievements. 

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
This is my first CSHL meeting, and I will be definitely attending others in the future.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The ability to meet and make contacts with colleagues working in my field ; and I had the chance to talk with one of the eminent people in the field: Dr. Samie Jaffrey. Although my work is not directly related to the work being done in his lab, it was great to converse with him, get his advice on career development, and listen to his insights about the RNA field. 

Thank you to Sunil for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured scientists - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Photograph provided by Sunil Bhattarai