Visitor of the Week: Yi Fei Lee

Meet Yi Fei Lee of the Genome Institute of Singapore within the Agency for Science, Technology and Research! The PhD student is a member of the Laboratory of Translational Cancer Biology led by Dr. Tam Wai Leong. She spent most of this week with us at The PARP Family & ADP-ribosylation virtual meeting. This is Yi Fei’s first meeting at CSHL!

Tell us about your research.
The molecular profiles of lung adenocarcinoma differ between ethnic groups, and we use sequencing data from one of the largest Asian clinical cohorts to predict new driver genes. I'm currently working on understanding the mechanisms underlying how these genes drive cancer formation or progression, as well as how we might be able to therapeutically exploit them.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I've always been interested in cancer research because it is such a prevalent healthcare problem, and also an intriguing intellectual one to tackle. Cancer cells are diverse and able to grow and rewire themselves rapidly, presenting new therapeutic vulnerabilities yet also conferring resistance to existing therapies - it's almost like a cat and mouse game. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality so I hope that incremental findings in this field could lead to better clinical outcomes.  

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I have always had an interest in the sciences so it was only a natural extension to try out research. During my undergraduate days, I interned at different labs and was fortunate to have had inspiring mentors who helped me to grow as a scientist and shape my research interests. The potential in uncovering new knowledge that could be used to meet currently unmet needs also keeps me motivated.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I hope to be able to identify novel biomarkers or drug targets that can enable better stratification of patients for more effective treatments. I would love for my work to be able to add value to the field and contribute to improving therapeutic outcomes. 

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I like tinkering around in the lab and being curious, so designing and carrying out experiments to test my hypotheses has always been an enjoyable process. I’m also thankful for the collaborative and supportive environment and love bouncing ideas off colleagues.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
Through my research, I came across a PARP protein and realized there is so much to learn about this fascinating family of proteins! I felt that this meeting would be a good platform to interact with and understand the work of other researchers in the field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The meeting gave me new insight into the balance and cross-talk between ADP-ribosylation and other post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, and how that in turn regulates protein activity. I will be using these new ideas to relook at my data from different angles and plan some new experiments.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Although meetings are inevitably in virtual format these days, a lot of care and thought has gone into creating channels for discussion and interaction between the participants, and I find this to be very valuable. I actually also liked that I could take my time to look at the posters on the virtual platform – there are so many interesting and informative ones! I’m enjoying my first CSHL meeting and my advice would be to make use of the available platforms to engage with other participants.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The meeting is still in progress, but one of the most memorable moments for me thus far has been the Meet the Speakers session where I got to chat with the speakers – Drs. Lee Kraus and Anthony Leung. I was able to gain a sense of how the field has evolved and what other exciting pursuits lie ahead. I also enjoyed learning about the research interests of other trainees in a more informal setting, and this definitely added a more personal touch to the virtual format of the meeting. 

Thank you to Yi Fei 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.

Visitor of the Week: Gemma Camara

Meet Gemma Camara of the Bishop’s University in Quebec, Canada! The undergraduate student is completing her research studies under a second experiential learning course at Dr. Rona Graham’s lab at Sherbrooke University, that is co-supervised by Bishop’s University Psychology Department Chairperson Dr. Jonathan Carriere. She spent most of this week with us at the 2020 Neurodegenerative Diseases: Biology & Therapeutics virtual meeting where she presented her first-ever poster entitled “The relationship between cognitive scores and detection of specific odours in the elderly”.

 Tell us about your research.
Olfactory dysfunction is important as it is a common early sign of neurodegeneration. My research project looks at three important questions:

1. If seniors experience general loss or loss of specific scents,

2. The difference in scent identification abilities between males and females,

3. If there is a relationship between correct scent identification and cognitive test scores.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I started studying under Dr. Graham in her lab during the winter of 2020 with the co-supervision of Dr. Adrianna Mendrek at Bishop's University. Throughout this research experience, I’ve discovered a passion for olfactory function by working on Dr. Graham's research.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I always had a passion for health science. Bishop's University piqued my interest because it is an English University with smaller classes, which is not easy to find in Quebec. The field of Neuroscience spoke to me; I love the professors and opportunities that this program provides. It is the reason I am here today. Students get a tremendous amount of support to pursue whatever they desire.  

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
Many elderly do not self-report olfactory dysfunction because of its subtle change in daily life. If olfaction is related to cognitive decline and early-onset AD, we could prolong its function by introducing early interventions such as olfactory therapy.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself finishing my Ph.D. in five years, maybe even giving a TED Talk about my research. The subject will most likely be on the physiology of neural pathways and related to olfaction, but I am open to other issues. I am in my third and last year of undergrad for now, and there is still a lot of research to do in the field of olfactory dysfunction.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
The people and science! I love the fact that when you find another researcher who has a similar passion, two strangers can instantly connect and work together or give each other advice, suggestions, etc.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
My supervisor Dr. Graham had suggested this meeting. She is always looking to guide me through new opportunities that will allow me to grow and go beyond my comfort zone. I am very grateful to have such a good mentor.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
During the first night’s social event when Dr. Aaron Gitler asked me if I had applied to Stanford. I never thought to push myself to be a part of any of the “Ivy Leagues” before but his question made me think about the limitations I've set for myself. The sky's the limit, and there are tons of great Universities looking to take on smart ambitious students who are hardworking and who put themselves out there. I plan to continue working hard as a researcher so that soon I’ll be giving a presentation on one of our “groundbreaking” findings.

Also, during the Meet the Speakers event, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Dr. Fenghua Hu and Dr. Goncalo Castelo-Branco, who both gave fantastic presentations on the first day.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Participate in as many of the conference activities as possible! Fully immersing myself has been a great experience. The speaker and poster presentations enable an opportunity for feedback on published and unpublished data. You will have so many great interactions with the participants!

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The conference is still not over! But so far, the most memorable moment for me was the icebreaker on the first day. I love conversing with researchers from different universities. Everyone is extremely approachable and eager to give and receive feedback on their work. Thus far, every presentation has been impressive; I would highlight the presentation by Dr. Chloe Lee-Lopez on Male sex chromosomes attenuate cytokine response to inflammation in aging brain.

Thank you to Gemma 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 Gemma Camara

Visitor of the Week: Erika Estrada

Meet Erika Estrada of the University of California, Davis! Erika is a PhD Student in Linda Harris’ lab who serendipitously “flew” into science. She took part in this week’s Advanced Sequencing Technologies & Bioinformatics Analysis virtual course – her first at CSHL. Erika shares her career plans and we look forward to her shepherding the next generation of scientists.

Tell us about your research.
My research focuses on enhancing microbial food safety with an emphasizing on produce, and tree nuts.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
Honestly, serendipity. While I was flying back from a conference, the person sitting next to me was working on a presentation. I peeked on his screen and saw pictures of microbes, soil and water samples. I asked him about his job, he was an extension faculty at UC Davis and he offered me a job in his lab. After just a couple days of working in his lab, I knew that I wanted to study foodborne pathogens for the rest of my life.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
My future students. In the near future, I would like to become a professor in hopes to inspire, mentor and guide students through their academic career. I hope my story can show them that if I did it (got a PhD and become a scientist) then so can they.

Erika receiving the Developing Scientist Award at the 2019 International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Meeting.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
My ultimate career goal is to become an extension faculty and a professor for an academic institution. As an extension specialist, I want to generate, transmit, and apply knowledge for the direct benefit of the food industry, farmers, and my community. I hope that through my research I am able to develop practices that enhance produce food safety.

As a professor, I want to share my knowledge and academic journey with the younger generations, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, like myself, to motivate them to pursue careers in science.

What do you love most about being a researcher?

I think what I love most about being a researcher is that I get to study something that no one has studied before. I get to provide answers to questions that ultimately have a positive impact in my community, and the food industry.

What drew you to apply to this course?
Currently, I am working on a project aiming to do comparative genomic analysis of multiple Salmonella isolates obtained from a 3-year pistachio survey in California. The ultimate goal of this project is to understand the underlying reasons for unique microbial contamination profile in pistachios.  However, this is the first time during my academic career that I have to do use advanced Bioinformatics tools and techniques. During this quarantine, I have taken a couple of free online courses on UNIX, and read about different software that would be beneficial to process my sequences. Honestly, learning the basics of UNIX, NCBI databases, and data processing software using YouTube, online classes and different websites has been one of the most challenging and satisfying things I have done in my whole academic career. However, I believe that attending this course would be a valuable opportunity to obtain formalized training in the topic and to keep instilling my passion for learning about the application of sequencing technologies and bioinformatics analyses.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this course?
Definitely try to get familiar with R and Unix so that you are able to truly focus on learning about the bioinformatics tools and technologies covered rather than focusing on understanding the code.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Course?
I think the most memorable thing that happened during the course was learning about the power of R when we were building visual tool, such as graphs, plots and heat maps, to actually see the results of our analysis. After this course, I am committed to learn more about R.

Thank you to Erika 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.

Images provided by Erika Estrada

Visitor of the Week: Vasiliki Liaki

Meet Vasiliki Liaki, a graduate student at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Spain! Vasiliki is a Greek national working in the Experimental Oncology Group led by Mariano Barbacid, and this week, she took part in her first meeting at CSHL – JAK-STAT Pathways in Health & Disease.

Tell us about your research.
In our group, we focus on identifying viable therapeutic strategies against KRAS mutant pancreatic and lung tumors. I am specifically interested in identifying and targeting the tumorigenic KRAS signaling of advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) using genetically engineered mouse tumor models and patient-derived organoids.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
My background had been in Molecular Genetics in Cancer and Aging. For my PhD studies, I wanted to focus in translational research in cancer; therefore, I chose this group, since the research work in Mariano’s lab is pioneering in the field of tumor mouse models and KRAS biology.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I have been interested in the STEM fields since a young age, but biology was my favourite. During my BSc and MSc studies, I visited different labs involved in cancer genetics, and I had mentors whose research work and laboratory skills were inspiring. I am currently drawn to the Molecular Oncology field, so I would say investigating the oncogenic signalling of PDAC is fascinating and is basically what keeps me motivated.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
The pancreatic cancer research field is in urgent need of new findings, not only on molecular diagnostics but therapeutic strategies as well. In our group, including Dr. Carmen Guerra, we are hoping our studies contribute to the fight against pancreatic cancer and, ultimately, improve the clinical outcome of this highly aggressive and lethal disease.  

What do you love most about being a researcher?
As a researcher, you never have a dull day. We explore so many different areas. Working collaboratively with our colleagues, bench work, animal experiments, results analysis, writing, presentations, teaching, scientific communication. It is admittedly not easy and we constantly face challenging problems but it is never boring!

What drew you to attend this meeting?
My supervisor informed me about this meeting and I thought it would be a great opportunity to stay updated with recent developments in the field of JAK-STAT pathways and Interferon responses and the application in different areas, including COVID-19. The CSHL meetings have cutting edge research with scientists presenting both interesting topics as well as new and exciting techniques. It is also encouraging to talk with leaders in the field, so it was something I didn’t want to miss.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The meeting offered new insight regarding the STATs and their function in the regulation of DNA methylation as well as the crosstalk of their signaling pathways with others in various diseases. I plan to use the new information to reevaluate some of my own data and design new experiments.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
It was my first CSHL meeting and even though it was virtual, it was quite interesting and fun. The Slack app helped a lot to interact with the rest of the attendants and the speakers. I really enjoyed the Meet the Speakers session. I would strongly recommend attending this meeting and encourage the participants to get familiar with the available tools and engage as much as possible.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The meeting is not over yet, but I would definitely single out the cancer-related talks of Michael Farrar, Veronica Sexl and Daniel Gough. I found it particularly funny, when during the Q&A after his presentation Michael Farrar indignantly answered “I know right?? We looked at it SO MANY TIMES but we never found it increased!”

Thank you to Vasiliki 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.

Images provided by Vasiliki Liaki

Visitor of the Week: Brooke N. Dulka

Meet Brooke N. Dulka from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee! Brooke is a postdoctoral research fellow in Fred Helmstetter’s lab. She joined us this week at the virtual edition of our Scientific Writing Retreat and shared sage advice applicable to almost any virtual professional function: Even though “it’s not an in-person event…that doesn’t mean that you won’t have meaningful interactions with people that have the potential to shape the course of your future.”

Tell us about your research.
My research is focused on the molecular mechanisms of memory. Specifically, I am interested in the plasticity that occurs at synapses during the destabilization of a memory.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I studied stress in graduate school, but I have been interested in memory for a long time. This particular project is interesting because strategies that modulate memory destabilization processes (or reconsolidation) hold the promise of weakening the fear memories that underlie traumatic stress disorders.

Immunofluorescence picture of GFP labeling of prelimbic cortex terminals in the periaqueductal gray. Credit: Brooke N. Dulka

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I have always been interested in science, but for a long time I thought I would be a clinician. I even worked in a few clinical psychology labs as an undergrad and volunteered on a 24-hour crisis hotline. But the more I interacted with people who had experienced trauma, the more I realized that I wanted to understand the biology of these experiences and how disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder could be treated more effectively. After I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Kent State University, I joined the neuroscience lab of Dr. Aaron Jasnow, and it was there that I fell in love with brain research and really began my scientific journey.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
Science is incremental, not everyone is going to make a big discovery, but that’s okay! It is my hope that my research will lay a solid foundation of knowledge which future scientists will use to answer even more critical questions.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I love that being a researcher lets me be both curious and creative.

What drew you to apply to this course?
I applied to this course because I love writing, and I want to be the best writer that I can be. It is only by improving our communication skills that we, as scientists, can better reach the people who need science the most – the public.

What is your key takeaway from the Course; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
“There is no good ‘scientific writing’ – there is only good writing.” I think it is important to remember that scientific writing, at its core, is no different than any other type of writing.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this course?
Do it! This course is a great way to sharpen your writing tools and meet some really cool people.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Course?
One of most memorable moments for me was when Quincey Justman said, “Science communication draws the line between what is known and what is unknown.”

Thank you to Brooke 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.

Images provided by Brooke N. Dulka