Visitor of the Week: Justin Waldern

Meet Justin Waldern of the University at Albany, SUNY. The fourth-year graduate student works with Marlene Belfort whose lab is part of the RNA Institute. Justin is on campus for his first CSHL meeting – Transposable Elements – during which he gave a talk titled “Group II intron distribution aligns with host gene function”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My research focus is on mobile genetic elements (genes that can move from one location to another). Mobile genetic elements are everywhere; but what I’m interested in is where they are, why they are in these spots, and what they could potentially be doing there.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
The idea that certain genes can move around fascinated me. Even more so, the fact that they are in so many places makes me wonder why.

How did your scientific journey begin?
An undergraduate degree requirement involving research is what really got me into science. I always enjoyed learning new things, but the hands-on immersion in research made me realize how much I enjoyed discovering something that nobody knows.

Was there something specific about the Transposable Elements meeting that drew you to attend?
First of all, I’ve heard fantastic things about CSHL meetings, and the Transposable Elements meeting in particular. This meeting has incredible researchers at the top of the field presenting their work, and to be presenting my own research alongside them is both humbling and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
Mobile elements are everywhere! They have biological relevance and definitely aren’t “junk” DNA.

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?
New ways of thinking about mobile elements in a broader context.

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?
The meeting has been fantastic and perfectly balances high quality presentations with an environment that encourages networking.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I’ve met so many people! This meeting is well organized and very centrally located, which greatly encourages networking and collaborations.

Thank you to Justin 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: Brenda Raud

Meet Brenda Raud of the Institute for Infection Immunology at Twincore Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint venture between the Hannover Medical School and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany. The Argentinian national is a fourth year PhD student in the Research Group Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunometabolism led by Dr. Luciana Berod.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I am interested in understanding how specific metabolic programs and the availability of nutrients can influence the outcome of an immune response. My current research focuses on the role of lipid metabolism in T lymphocytes, which play a key role in adaptive immunity and inflammation.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
My project was inspired by previous research published by my lab showing the important role fatty acid synthesis has for the activation and function of pro-inflammatory T cell subsets, and suggested that blocking pathway could be a potential therapy aiming at treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The data presently available also implied that the complementary metabolic pathway, fatty acid oxidation, was crucial for the function of the opposite, regulatory, immune response. Thus we set to find more about this apparent symmetry of immune function and metabolic programs.

Brenda during her poster presentation at the meeting

How did your scientific journey begin?
I was inclined to science since childhood. I grew up in a small town in the Patagonian Andes where exposure to “formal” science environments was limited and universities were far. But I attest my interest in biology and motivation to pursue a career in science to growing up where I did and being surrounded by nature. As a teenager, my experience as part of the Argentinian team at the International Biology Olympiad cemented my interest in science and the international community that it comes with. I studied biotechnology in Argentina, and during my undergraduate studies I studied and did research in both Germany and the United States. I became very interested in immunology, and returned to Germany for my PhD.

Was there something specific about Nutrient Signaling meeting that drew you to attend?
This meeting was brought to my attention by a fellow at CSHL, and meeting speaker, who suggested that attending would be a good opportunity to improve my knowledge of metabolism and find new perspectives. From my research, I was familiar with the work of some of the speakers, such as Navdeep Chandel or David Sabatini, but I learnt a lot about the role of metabolism in many settings, such as aging and cancer. In addition, CSHL is very prestigious and famous for the meetings and courses, and I loved the opportunity to experience it myself!

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
This meeting was a great way to expand my knowledge of metabolism and, more importantly, about the approaches and technologies available to better study this field. I think there are several ideas that could be applied to the study of immune cell function. Moreover, the quality of presenters was excellent and, as a student, I learnt a lot about how to present and discuss data.

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?
Coming from an immunology lab, many of the techniques and workflows presented at the meeting were novel for me and I was inspired by many of the approaches presented to study the metabolites of specific organelles. These new approaches really change the way we can look at the reality of cellular metabolism, which is very organized and compartmentalized, and could certainly be used to better understand the metabolism of immune cells. Alternative splicing is also an interesting topic when studying certain immunological genes, and thus I found the alternative splicing fluorescent reporters very innovative.

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 suggest to join any meeting that aligns with his or her interests! It is a great environment, and all participants are exceptional. It was an amazing scientific event that I can only recommend.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The campus was beautiful, and I very much enjoyed the guided tour we had at the beginning. I loved the science-themed sculptures, architecture, and decorations. Not to mention, since it is autumn, the landscape is lovely and the trees have leaves of amazing colors.

Thank you to Brenda 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: Jannine Forst

Meet Jannine Forst of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The postdoctoral scholar is a member of the Human Paleogenoics Lab led by Prof. Lars Fehren-Schmitz. She is on campus strengthening her programming skill set via Programming for Biology – her first course at CSHL.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
My research is in ancient DNA - using genetics to study archaeological material, from humans to animals, diseases to microbiomes. My current project is concerned with deciphering the human population history of Pre-Columbian South America, specifically at Machu Picchu, but my personal research interests lie in population genetics, human health, and disease.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
I’ve always been interested in history, archaeology, and genetics - which made ancient DNA research a perfect match for me.

How did your scientific journey begin?
My mom, a geneticist, definitely inspired me. She encouraged me to explore all the topics I found interesting and supported me in my endeavors, no matter the direction they took me. From watching Bill Nye the Science Guy as a kid to summer camps at the museum, she helped cultivate my curiosity which eventually led me to ancient DNA research.

Was there something specific about the Programming for Biology course that drew you to apply?
I came to the Programming for Biology course looking to jump-start my programming skills. With the widespread use of high-throughput sequencing, researchers cannot manually look through the hundreds of thousands of sequences per sample generated. So programming in a common language like Python - which is what this course teaches - is becoming indispensable for many biologists, ancient DNA researchers included.

What and/or how will you apply what you've learned from the course to your work?
For my work, I will start by coding solutions to the many small ideas that pop up when analyzing ancient genetic data, which is very different from working with modern genetic data. I will also make all the e-books, problem sets, and resources given to me at Programming for Biology available to my lab mates.

What is your key takeaway from the course?
Learning how to program mainly takes practice! Practice, practice, and more practice.

If someone curious in attending this course asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
Be prepared for a lot of work but a lot of fun! You will learn a lot of things in a very short period of time. The instructors did a great job on the course material, structure, and timing.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
What I liked most about my time at CSHL is the community. The meetings and conferences eat together so you get to interact with various interesting people who you may not normally have a chance to meet.

Thank you to Jannine 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: Megan Povelones

Meet Megan Povelones of Penn State Brandywine. Since 2012, the assistant professor in biology has been running her lab alongside a technician and handful of undergraduates. Megan is on campus for The Evolving Concept of Mitochondria: From Symbiotic Origins to Therapeutic Origins meeting where she presented a poster entitled “The single mitochondrion of the kinetoplastid parasite Crithidia fasciculata is a dynamic network”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I study how single-celled parasites called kinetoplastids adapt their mitochondrial shape and function to survive in different hosts. As early-diverging eukaryotes, these mechanisms may reveal shared properties of mitochondrial networks in a variety of organisms.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
In graduate school I was studying mitochondrial DNA replication in Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of African sleeping sickness. In a genetic screen for replication defects, I by chance discovered a protein that altered mitochondrial shape. It fascinated me that the kinetoplastid mitochondrion had such an unusual shape (a single branched network in each cell) and that this shape was developmentally regulated, but that the proteins required for maintenance and remodeling of mitochondrial structure were completely unknown.

How did your scientific journey begin?
I was lucky to have fantastic mentors starting with a dynamic high school chemistry teacher, Mary Fuller. She loved science, adventure, travel, and rode a Harley, so clearly I wanted to be just like her. I read a lot of popular science books in high school, primarily about infectious diseases and epidemiology. I began my graduate studies thinking I wanted to be a virologist, but after rotating in a parasitology lab I was amazed by their complexity and beautiful cell biology and have been working on kinetoplastids ever since. My graduate mentor, Paul Englund -- an amazing scientist, mentor, and generally good person -- inspired me with his passion for science, scientific rigor, and the remarkable clarity with which he thought about and communicated scientific ideas.

Was there something specific about The Evolving Concept of Mitochondria: From Symbiotic Origins to Therapeutic Opportunities meeting that drew you to attend?
As a parasitologist, I welcomed the opportunity to attend a meeting focused on mitochondria. I was also drawn to the idea of a meeting that is a mix of historical retrospectives and current, cutting-edge developments. I enjoy learning about the history of science and the people who made it happen. My undergraduate students enjoy hearing these stories too, and I look forward to sharing some of what I’ve learned in the classroom.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
As this is a historical meeting, some of the speakers are sharing an overview of their work as it has developed over the course of their career. At this level, it is clear that while they are all brilliant scientists, there is a considerable amount of resilience, persistence, and luck that is required for success in science. This can be an important message, particularly for trainees and young scientists.

What did you pick up or learn from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?
I’m interested in mitochondrial remodeling reactions within the single mitochondrial network of kinetoplastid parasites. At this meeting, I’ve seen the work of others who have used markers for specific mitochondrial compartments and super-resolution microscopy techniques to provide detailed insights into these processes. This is something I’m eager to apply to my system to learn if fusion and fission in kinetoplastid mitochondrial networks is mechanistically similar to that in mammals.

If someone curious in attending one of our future history meetings asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
I would say it is a great opportunity to learn the history of a field while getting caught up on the latest research. You get to hear directly from those who made landmark discoveries, and you will come away with a greater appreciation for the process of science.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
It’s very pretty here. I like seeing the water everywhere I walk, and all the sculptures. I also like seeing the names and pictures of famous scientists everywhere. It really feels like being part of a community. It’s great to be at a place where science is so prevalent and so celebrated.

Thank you to Megan 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: Shantanu Shukla

Meet Shantanu Shukla of the Genome Sciences and Technology Program, a joint initiative between the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He is a graduate research assistant working towards his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Dean Myles in the Neutron Diffraction Group at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in ORNL. Shantanu is presently training at our annual course on X-Ray Methods in Structural Biology – his first course at CSHL.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I am investigating the selective substrate translocation across bacterial membranes facilitated by primary and secondary transporter proteins.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research? 
In March 2016, I met Dr. Matthew Cuneo, a very talented and dynamic beamline scientist, who first introduced me to the regulation of substrate transport across bacterial inner membrane. I have since been interested in understanding the membrane channels and transporters in bacteria for improving their druggability. Dr. Myles and Dr. Cuneo suggested that I investigate specificity versus affinity profiles of these selective transport systems (especially of their periplasmic binding proteins) which then motivated me to further investigate the role of both structure and dynamics in selective substrate binding and transport across bacterial inner membrane. 

How did your scientific journey begin?
Darwin’s theory of evolution based on natural selection has had a profound impact on me and my scientific career. I was in 8th grade when I first read about the adventures of Charles Darwin onboard HMS Beagle and his postulation of the theory of evolution. That same year, as part of my summer science project, I cataloged different species of birds found around the old colonial-era town of Jamalpur in India and couldn’t help but notice how evolution shaped speciation in birds. I then realized that what is postulated as a hypothesis can be tested and confirmed in science. Since that day, both bird watching and science have become personal passions.

Was there something specific about the X-Ray Methods in Structural Biology course that drew you to apply?
As someone with no or limited knowledge of X-ray diffraction, the fact that this training program encourages students in my situation to apply was the strongest reason for my application. Additionally, the focus on lab training is another strong point of this training program that attracted me. Plus, this course brings in the most experienced instructors -- some of who are pioneers of their fields -- to teach crystallography.

What and/or how will you apply what you've learned from the course to your work?
At SNS, we are focused on determining positions of hydrogens in protein structures, which account for around half of the total atoms in a system. Both X-ray and neutron crystallography require growth of high-quality protein crystals, but the crystals required for neutron analysis are much larger (x1000-fold). The first step to solving any neutron structure is to collect X-ray data on the same system and then jointly refine the X-ray data with the neutron diffraction data to get a complete density of individual atoms. X-ray crystallography is, therefore, the stepping stone to neutron crystallography. To this end, I will use the knowledge gained at this course towards crystallization, diffraction data collection, and data refinement of protein structures in my lab.

What is your key takeaway from the course?
My key takeaway from this course is that even in this era of fast computers and robustly automated algorithms, there is still a need to train good crystallographers. Macromolecular structure determination is not a trivial task and a clear understanding of the theoretical background is often a key determinant of the success or failure of any crystallographic project.

How many CSHL courses have you attended?
This is my first CSHL meeting, but I would definitely look forward to attending more: the Cryo-Electron Microscopy course looks very interesting.

If someone curious in attending this course asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
I would encourage them to apply for this course – even if they have limited X-ray crystallography experience (as was my case). I would share with them my own experience so that they feel equally motivated to apply for this program. I would also tell them about how the productive interactions I have had with the instructors and fellow course participants has positively changed my approach towards my own research.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
It is a privilege for me to attend this course; and it is not just the course itself but also the whole atmosphere -- it is so energizing around here. Also, the sheer beauty of this place is unmistakable and will be difficult to leave at the end of the course.

Shantanu received a scholarship from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to cover a portion of his course tuition. On behalf of Shantanu, thank you to the NIGMS for supporting and enabling our young scientists to attend a CSHL course where they expand their skills, knowledge, and network.

Thank you to Shantanu 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.