Visitor of the Week: June Bryan de la Pena

Meet June Bryan de la Pena of the University of Texas at Dallas. Under the direct supervision of Dr. Zachary Campbell, the Filipino national is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Laboratory of RNA Control and the Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS). June Bryan was on campus this week for the Translational Control meeting. This is June Bryans’ first CSHL meeting and his participation debut included him presenting a poster entitled “Mechanistic insights into translational controls that drive chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy”. 

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My current research is focused on the translational control mechanisms that govern chronic pain. In particular, we study translation in peripheral pain-sensing neurons in response to insult or injury and how it contributes to pain plasticity. 

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
I have always been fascinated by the notion of doing research to improve our quality of life. Chronic pain causes tremendous burden and suffering to millions of people worldwide; yet current strategies to manage it are limited and has even led to new problems, such as the opioid epidemic. The enormity and the obvious need of solving this problem has led me to focus on this topic. 

How did your scientific journey begin? 
My scientific journey began at home. My father, a national Farmer Scientist in the Philippines, encouraged me to wonder, dream, and explore. My mother also nurtured my inquisitiveness. With the full support of my family, I set out on my scientific journey, crossed the ocean, and braved the exciting world of scientific research. In this journey, I have met a lot of people that inspired me to move forward and soar higher. 

Was there something specific about Translational Control meeting that drew you to attend?
My primary motivations to attend this meeting are to be exposed to the translational control field and to become abreast of the latest developments and techniques. In addition, I was given the opportunity to present my preliminary data and receive input from colleagues.  

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
In this meeting, I learned that translational control is a huge, diverse, and exciting field. The principles and techniques of translational control can be used to shed light into the mechanism of – and ultimately develop – new treatment strategies for various clinical disorders.   

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
The field of translational control is all new to me. This meeting has exposed me to what other people are working on and has given me ideas on how to expand and tweak my current research project. I have also established contacts with colleagues who I can potentially collaborate with in the future. 

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 only have good words to tell them. This meeting is jam-packed with relevant and the latest content for anyone interested in translational control. Each session was very informative, and the speakers are all well-respected in the field. The atmosphere is filled with contagious enthusiasm that promotes discussion and learning. 

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
This is my first CSHL meeting and I will definitely attend another one in the near future. This has been one of the most comprehensive and informative meeting that I have attended so far, and has set the standard for me of what a scientific meeting should be.  

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
This was my first time in CSHL and I am greatly pleased. Surrounded by lush greenery and breathtaking waterfront, the campus is both relaxing and stimulating. The food was great too!

Thank you to June Bryan 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.

Visitor of the Week: Sulagna Das

Meet Sulagna Das of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. A postdoctoral fellow in Robert H. Singer’s lab, Sulagna was on campus for her first CSHL meeting, Single Biomolecules. She also presented a talk titled “Simultaneous imaging of activity-regulated endogenous mRNAs in hippocampal neurons.”

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My research focuses on visualizing single mRNAs in space and time in hippocampal neurons, and understanding how their dynamics contribute to long-term memory formation and maintenance.
 
How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
I have been studying neuroscience since my first foray into research! Our amazing capability to learn and remember relevant information always intrigued me, and when I learned from Eric Kandel’s work that underlying memory storage is a dialogue between genes and synapses, I decided to focus on this exciting field. To understand how this dialogue is maintained over space and time, the live single molecule imaging of mRNAs and proteins in neurons is important. 
 
How did your scientific journey begin? 
I was inspired by my grandfather who was a scientist and solving equations about mechanical fatigue even at the age of 80. He always said that the power of observation can unravel lots of scientific mysteries which triggered my interest in biology, a dynamic system where you can learn a lot by observing complex cellular behavior. 
 
Was there something specific about Single Biomolecules meeting that drew you to attend?
The first Single Biomolecules meeting at CSHL is very timely, especially since the field is rapidly expanding. More and more people have adopted single molecule imaging to understand the complex dynamic behavior of their favorite biomolecule. I was specifically interested in the new improvements to the imaging technologies, better image analysis methods, and how one can use these technologies to understand gene expression.   

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
How biological systems work is an example of how chemicals interact in different physical dimensions to bring out the complex behavior. The Single Biomolecules meeting brought together physicists, chemists, and biologists with the sole aim of trying to deconvolve complex biological systems to single molecules and understand how each of these molecules interact to determine cellular structure and functions.  

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
One of the challenges in single molecule imaging is to discern signal from noise in our live imaging datasets. To analyze the datasets with robustness and precision is something I tried to pick up from the meeting. I have established contacts, where an exchange of resources for data analysis will help me in my future experiments.  

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?
This meeting was a great learning experience and the close interactions developed during the meeting can lead to potential collaborations in the near future. I would strongly encourage everyone working on single molecule imaging or planning to work on it, to attend this meeting. It was the perfect combination of the technological advancements in the field and the applications to various biological problems.  

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
My time at CSHL has been rewarding both scientifically and as a way to take a break from the hustle of city life! This is a great place to do and think about science while you take a long walk in the campus soaking in the great views and incredible history of the place.

Thank you to Sulagna 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.

Photo by: Sulagna Das

Visitor of the Week: Chirayu Chokshi

Meet Chirayu Chokshi of the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute at McMaster University (Canada). The graduate student, who’s working towards a PhD in Biochemistry with a focus on brain tumor stem cells, is a part of the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Research Program led by Sheila K. Singh. Chirayu is on campus participating in his first CSHL meeting – Genome Engineering: The CRISPR/Cas Revolution – and also presented a poster titled “Discovery and validation of genes essential for survival of recurrent Glioblastoma brain tumor initiating cells”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My research focuses on discovering novel therapeutic targets responsible for therapy resistance in glioblastoma, the most common and a highly aggressive form of malignant brain tumor in adults. I use CRISPR-Cas technology to probe brain tumor initiating cells for context-specific genetic vulnerabilities. 

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
Glioblastoma remains a therapeutic challenge. Despite the use of gold standard therapy, patients face a median survival rate of less than 15 months. Previous research heavily focused on using multiomic analyses to capture snapshots of glioblastoma progression and inform therapeutic efforts. Through a collaboration between my current supervisor, Dr. Sheila K. Singh and Dr. Jason Moffat at University of Toronto, I learned about the potential of CRISPR-Cas technology to functionally direct target discovery in glioblastoma in an unbiased manner. Today, I utilize this genetic engineering tool in combination with multiomic data to identify novel therapeutic targets in treatment-resistant glioblastoma. 

How did your scientific journey begin? 
My scientific journey began during a lecture I attended in 2014 by Saul Perlmutter at UC Berkeley. Going in with little knowledge about astrophysics, I was blown away by his research which led to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe. At that lecture, I realized the potential of science to answer seemingly impossible questions about the world around us. I was especially inspired by Dr. Perlmutter’s use of supercomputers to analyze light emitted by supernovae and arrive at the conclusion that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. 

Was there something specific about Genome Engineering: The CRISPR/Cas Revolution meeting that drew you to attend?
The main reason I attended this meeting is to learn about new applications of CRISPR Cas technology from the world leading experts.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
My key takeaway from this meeting is that CRISPR Cas technology is constantly evolving and leading to an infinite amount of applications to gain insight into various diseases.  

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
At this meeting, I was pleasantly surprised to see the many original, innovative applications of CRISPR Cas technology to answer important scientific questions. From the development of modulators of Cas activity to fate mapping with CRISPR technology, I am excited to apply these new technologies to gain insight into glioblastoma progression. Specifically, I would like to set-up CRISPR Cas screening experiments to ask specific questions about the regulation of stemness in glioblastoma cancer stem cells.

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 tell them that this meeting is a great way to learn about recent advances in CRISPR Cas technology, network with leading experts, and set-up future collaborations. 

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
This is my first CSHL meeting and I would love to attend future CRISPR-Cas and cancer modelling meetings. 

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
CSHL is a very special place. Irrespective of where you look around this campus, you’ll always see a beautiful view of historic architecture integrated with nature.

Thank you to Chirayu 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.

Visitor of the Week: Viraj Doddihal

Meet Viraj Doddihal of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The Indian national is a graduate student in Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado’s lab and, for two weeks, was on campus for the Proteomics course. 

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I am studying animal tissue regeneration, using the planarian flatworm as a model system. My project focuses on studying the role of protein phosphorylation in the planarian regeneration. 

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research? 
I was introduced to regeneration biology during my undergraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, India. I was fascinated by this phenomenon and worked a semester with Dr. Girish Ratnaparkhi studying Hydra regeneration. I next worked on planarian regeneration with Dr. Dasaradhi Palakodeti at the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) at NCBS in Bengaluru, India. These early experiences in regeneration biology helped me choose my current project at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.     

How did your scientific journey begin? 
I think it is to a large extent because of my parents and my family. They have always allowed me to question and explore as per my curiosity. In addition, they made sure I received the best possible education which led to me attending high school at Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala in Mysuru. My very inspirational high school teachers laid the foundation for my career in science.

Searching for proteins.
Photo: Viraj Doddihal

Was there something specific about the Proteomics course that drew you to apply?
The course has a good balance of theory, experiments, and data analysis. I wanted to learn how to use mass spectrometers (MS), and analyze the big data sets generated from discovery proteomics experiments.  

What and/or how will you apply what you've learned from the course to your work? 
The course gave me an in-depth understanding of MS and other techniques that are available to study proteins in conjugation with MS. I plan to utilize these techniques as a new tool kit to probe regeneration in planarians.  

What is your key takeaway from the course?
In addition to understanding the power of mass spectrometry to study proteins in cells and tissues, the key takeaway for me was to always design orthogonal experiments to address any question. We, the students of the course asked a variety of fundamental biological questions, but are all using proteomics as an approach. This helped me appreciate the power of proteomics to answer questions in biology.

Sailing trip
Photo: Viraj Doddihal

If someone curious in attending this course asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
I would strongly encourage them to attend the course. Anybody interested in understanding the workings of MS and design of proteomics experiments should definitely attend the course. Additionally, the course provides a good balance of academia and industry thus giving students an opportunity to explore both the fields. 

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I really enjoyed our walks to the beach and the student gatherings we had there. We all enjoyed our sailing trip. The daily hike up the beautiful hill for the classes made sure that I got some exercise after sumptuous meals. 

I would like to thank the instructors and TAs for relentlessly answering all our questions and making the course fun and fruitful. Also, a big thank you to all my friends from this course who made it a memorable experience. 

Thank you to Viraj 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.

Visitor of the Week: Koen Schipper

Meet Koen Schipper of the Netherlands Cancer Institute. A PhD student in a group led by Jos Jonkers. He is at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for his first CSHL meeting – Mechanisms & Models of Cancer – where he presented a poster titled “Actomyosin relaxation enables tumor formation upon loss of E-cadherin expression in the mammary gland”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My current research focuses on the process of tumor initiation in lobular breast cancer. We primarily use mouse models and cell culture approaches to determine the driving forces behind tumor development. 

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
I have always found the transformation of a normal cell into a tumor cell very interesting; especially since a small alteration in a single cell can have such tremendous impact on an entire organism. Mouse models are particularly suitable to study tumor development since you have the optimal environment to study the early phases of tumor initiation. 

How did your scientific journey begin? 
I did a bachelor study in bio-pharmaceutical sciences during which I discovered an interest for courses about signal transduction and how it is altered in disease. As a result, for my masters I decided to delve deeper into the signaling routes frequently deregulated in tumorigenesis and, during my research internships, I truly understood how much we still don’t know in this field and how much there is left to discover.   

Was there something specific about Mechanisms & Models of Cancer meeting that drew you to attend?
Several former lab members have been to this meeting and all of them highly recommended it as one of the best meetings they have attended; and so I had to experience it as well. The meeting also has a nice format with a number of short talks giving young scientists ample opportunities to present their work. 

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
Discussing your research with those outside of your own field is very useful. You are able to see how they interpret your results and think about potential future directions. It can really open up new avenues for your own project. 

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
The main thing I plan to apply to my research is to broaden how I look at the effects I see in our mouse model in human patients with germline CDH1 mutations. This way, I am able to validate our findings and identify possibilities to prevent cancer development in these families.

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?
Just like the people who recommended I attend, I would encourage them to come and experience this great meeting and venue for themselves. 

How many CSHL meetings have you attended?
This was my first CSH meeting but, if I get the opportunity, I will definitely attend future meeting(s) or a course. 

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I really liked the atmosphere of the CSH campus. Compared to most institutes located in big cities, it is calm and helps you to relax and think about your research from a different perspective.

Thank you to X 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.

Photo: Koen Schipper