Visitor of the Week: Josh Garton

Meet Josh Garton of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Josh recently started his postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Carol Webb’s lab, and also collaborates with Dr. Patrick Gaffney at OMRF. He spent this week at Gene Expression and Signaling in the Immune System – his second CSHL meeting in as many years. At both CSHL meetings, Josh presented a poster and the one he presented this year is titled “ARID3a is associated with alterations in expression of hematopoietic transcription factors”. Though “this was the first time [he presented] a poster virtually, [he] was still able to have helpful discussions with other researchers on Slack.”

Tell us about your research.
I am investigating the understudied epigenetic regulator, ARID3a that is over-expressed in blood cells or people with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) where its expression is associated with increased disease severity. We want to understand the mechanisms by which ARID3a regulates gene expression and chromatin accessibility in those different cell types.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I chose this project for two reasons: 1) I’ve always been interested in how cells make and execute decisions and the Webb lab gave me an opportunity to learn bioinformatic approaches and how to analyze next-generation sequencing data. 2) SLE is an autoimmune disease for which there are few treatments available and I wanted to use sequencing data to identify genes that will be relevant to understand and treat this disease.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
Curiosity has always driven my passion for science. I’ve always been interested in how a cell can sense stimuli from the environment or other cells and how they use that information to make and execute decisions.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I want to contribute to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus research and hope to identify new drug targets.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
The ability to explore my curiosity, learning new things, and solving challenging problems.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
This meeting always has cutting edge research from researchers using new and exciting techniques that combine molecular biology techniques to approach biological questions. It is also encouraging to talk with leaders in the field about new and exciting ideas.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
This meeting has offered new insight into techniques used to study important enhancers and epigenetic regulators. I plan on using the information learned to reevaluate some of my own data and to set up new collaborations to extend those studies.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
This is a great meeting for scientists at any career stage. Although the meeting was virtual, there was stimulating discussion and offered a unique ability to connect with experts in the field. It is always exciting to see new and unpublished data. The senior researchers are readily accessible to younger researchers.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
This was the first time I’ve participated in a meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was encouraging to see the presentation of data from both students and senior researchers. It was also amazing to connect with other researchers to discuss experiments and data.

Thank you to Josh 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 Josh Garton

Visitor of the Week: Maria Benitez-Guijarro

Meet Maria Benitez-Guijarro of Centro Pfizer-Universidad de Granada-Junta de Andalucia de Genomica e Investigacion Oncologica (GENYO) in Granada, Spain. Maria is a member of Dr. Jose L. Garcia-Perez’s lab in GENYO and is also working with Dr. John LaCava’s group via Michael Rout’s lab at the Rockefeller University. She is at the 2020 Transposable Elements virtual meeting where she presented a poster titled “The LINE-1 Interactome Is Dynamic During Cellular Differentiation”.

Tell us about your research.
I am researching about the mobile elements of DNA, specifically the LINE-1 retrotransposon. These are DNA sequences that can "jump" and move within our genomes; being involved in the evolution itself, in development, genetic diseases, cancer and even in our brains. We want to understand how our cells control their activity to ensure that they are behaving well and not causing us any harm.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I discovered DNA mobile elements through my thesis director, Jose L. Garcia-Perez during my master's degree. I found it a fascinating world and I loved the project I was going to work on. From that moment on, I found it more and more enthralling.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I had always enjoyed science, especially that related to biology and biochemistry. Becoming a researcher was always among my desires, but the influence of my thesis director and my supervisor John LaCava have encouraged me to go deeper into this career. Their way of working and the intellectual motivation to answer the different questions inspire me and encourages me to keep moving forward.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I would love to find something new and feel that I have made an important contribution to the knowledge in my field. In the future, I would also like to use my knowledge in a more applied way and be able to teach others what I have learned.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I love working in the lab, studying things no one else has ever seen, work collaboratively with my colleagues and supervisors, the intellectual enjoyment to connect different knowledge, learning something new every day, meeting new people, and traveling. I can't choose just one thing.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
Learning more about the latest in the field of mobile elements, sharing my research, and building my network. The possibility of attending the talks of the great scientists in my field and the opportunity of learning from them was something I did not want to miss.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
I have really learned from the talks of Abhimanyu Banerjee, Todd Macfarlan and Tessa M. Bertozz, all great presenters! I found them all very interesting and they gave me a different point of view about what I am researching.  It has been a pleasure to listen to them! I hope that what I’ve learned will help me to develop my work.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
The organization of the meeting by CSHL has been magnificent. Despite it being a virtual meeting, it has kept me eager to attend the talks and the opportunity to ask questions and interact with other researchers directly through Slack has made the experience very complete. I would not hesitate to recommend attending this meeting, it is amazing to be able to enjoy all the fascinating findings directly from their authors!

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The moment when Marlene Belfort revealed all the human production (babies/children) in her laboratory was very funny as it shows that we scientists know more than just how to produce science! And the moments of "Oh look how cool what researcher X is showing!" with my colleagues. Sharing the passion for science is one of the best things about attending a meeting!

Thank you to Maria 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 Maria Benitez-Guijarro

Visitor of the Week: Tingting Duan

Meet Tingting Duan of the University of Iowa. She is a postdoctoral fellow in Pamela Geyer’s lab within the Department of Biochemistry. This week, Tingting was with us at the Germ Cells virtual meeting where she presented a poster titled “Integrity of a mitotic nuclear lamina is required in germline stem cells”.

Tell us about your research.
Progeria, or the pre-maturing ageing syndrome is caused by mutations in various nuclear lamina components and is linked to defects in stem cell homeostasis. My research focusses on understanding how nuclear lamina components promote stem cell survival and regulates stem cell mitosis in Drosophila.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I am interested in understanding mechanisms required to regulate stem cells maintenance and differentiation.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I trained to be a physician; however, during medical school, I realized that while great strikes have been made on many diseases, such as cancer and progeria, there is still a lack of deep understanding. I decided to become a scientist to understand the fundamental disease mechanism and contribute to the development of better therapy.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Producing better publications and getting ready to start my own lab.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
Satisfying my curiosity: From doing experiments and reading others’ work, learning the explanation behind every observation.    

What drew you to attend this meeting?
It is a great opportunity to learn and meet people in the community.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The most interesting thing was the mutation in the stonewall gene seems to phenocopy the germline phenotypes of the mutant (ote) I am interested in. I think I may look more into it after the meeting and maybe look at stonewall expression in my mutant.    

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Consider taking a couple of days off for the meeting and find a quiet place to listen to the talks because it can be difficult to become fully involved with the meeting while you are in the lab. I missed a number of the talks I wanted to hear because I decided to keep up with work and normal lab activity.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
I joined the Meet the Speakers session with Geraldine Seydoux and Rui Martinho where I had the chance to ask questions and gained insight. 

Thank you to Tingting 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 Tingting Duan

Visitor of the Week: Maeve McNamara

Meet Maeve McNamara of Harvard Medical School! She is a post-graduate visiting research fellow in Dr. David Sinclair’s lab working primarily with Dr. Daniel Vera and Dr. Alice Kane. Maeve joined the Sinclair lab in virtually attending the 2020 Mechanisms of Aging meeting where a number of the lab members presented their work; including a poster she co-authored with Graduate Student Patrick Griffin titled “TIME-Seq: A method to identify regulators of biological aging based on high-throughput sequencing of epigenetic clocks.”

Tell us about your research.
I am working with a group of talented post-docs and graduate students to build clocks that measure the rate of aging in humans and mice. We are also performing screens to identify factors that can rejuvenate aged cells to a younger, healthier state.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
David is a pioneer in the aging field, and I wanted to join his group to gain expertise in reprogramming and epigenetic analysis. I’m drawn to epigenetics as a phenomenon which explains how both genetic and environmental factors work synergistically to influence biological outcomes. I’ve learned immensely from David’s leadership and through collaborative work with Daniel Vera, Alice Kane and Amber Mueller, three post-docs in our lab.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
My most meaningful clinical experiences have been in the company of aging adults and terminally ill patients. In my undergraduate thesis, as a biology and film double major, I directed a documentary that highlighted the experiences of four older women coming into old age. These experiences fuel my passion for understanding aging in multi-disciplinary ways. I’m drawn to the aging field as an inherently interdisciplinary space for scientific discovery.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I am currently applying to MD and MD/PhD programs. In my future career, I hope to be a leader in geriatric medicine and translational research with a focus on epigenetics, biomarker discovery, and health-span interventions. I hope to be an advocate for our ever-growing aging population through clinical compassion and research innovation.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I rarely do the same thing from one day to the next—I love the problem-solving, creativity and grit that research demands. I’m thankful for the incredible research mentors throughout my early career who have shared with me their love for scientific discovery. The opportunity to collaborate with multi-disciplinary scientists gives me energy and inspiration. I hope to someday be a mentor for young girls and women who want to pursue careers in science and medicine, as I know how critical this has been for my own journey to science.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
Our entire lab attends this meeting every year. Although I was looking forward to attending my first Cold Spring Harbor meeting in person, I’ve had a fantastic experience so far.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The aging field is endlessly fascinating and it pays dividends to have multi-disciplinary collaborators who can bring novel perspectives and techniques to deepen your research questions.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Take advantage of opportunities to meet fellow colleagues!

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
I was really proud to see two of colleagues, Alice Kane and Jae-Hyun Yang present their work during the Systems Biology and Epigenetics sessions. It was great to meet fellow aging scientists in the Thursday morning breakfast session!

Thank you to Maeve 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 Maev McNamara

Visitor of the Week: Eric Cordeiro-Spinetti

Meet Eric Cordeiro-Spinetti of the Van Andel Institute! The fourth year graduate student is a member of Scott Rothbart’s lab at the Center for Epigenetics and Eric spent most of this week with us at his first CSHL meeting: Epigenetics & Chromatin. He joined the meeting with a number of his lab mates; two of who presented a poster each. Due to the “quality and mythical hype” of CSHL meetings, attending one has been on Eric’s must-do list and “the hype is real” – even in a virtual format.

Tell us about your research.
I’m investigating how the enzymatic activity of a methyltransferase regulates muscle formation. We are looking into the biochemistry of the enzyme, searching for targets and their role in cellular biology by testing differentiation of myoblasts into myofibers.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I chose this project for two reasons: 1) Our lab developed a high-throughput screening method to define the selectivity of lysine methyltransferases that I could use to find new and exciting enzymatic targets. 2) In order to invent regenerative medicine approaches in the future, it is important to first understand development. So, I decided to put our lab’s tool into use to solve an interesting question within the skeletal/cardiac muscle that will be relevant to understand and treat important diseases.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
Curiosity has been the biggest driving force since my undergrad and masters in Brazil until my doctorate here in the USA. Currently, the ruthless pragmatism displayed by my mentor and the lab are inspiring to get through the PhD.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I’ve been doing science long enough to know that my work will just be another brick on the wall. However, there is a gap in that wall wherein my work could shift the perspective on the actual target of my enzyme to regulate gene expression.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I will be back in my hometown of Rio de Janeiro to help the scientific community in Brazil by either setting up a research program or running for State Parliament.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
When we study biology it is impossible not to fall in love by the story of life. As a researcher, I have the challenge and opportunity to edit a paragraph, or even one page, of this beautiful story.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
I always wanted to attend a CHSL meeting for the quality and mythical hype. I saw this meeting with great scientists in my field from all over the world and there were sessions on post-translational modifications – my research focus -- where I knew I would learn about different technical approaches and how they can be used to solve biological puzzles.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
When you are grinding at the bench constantly solving technical issues, it’s easy to forget about the beauty of science when the story is complete. This meeting gave me the extra energy to keep pushing after everything that has happened year.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
The Cold Spring Harbor hype is real! I got to see first-hand amazing talks on a wide variety of research topics that were not initially of my interest; but given the fascinating findings, it’s impossible not to engage! Also, in the virtual format, it seemed that people are willing to ask more questions due to ease of typing live on chat and then getting answers later on Slack.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The first day was already remarkable! The first session included a keynote lecture by Shelley Berger who delivered an amazing talk about how socializing can affect the life span of ants. Interestingly enough, she was able to trace a parallel to the social isolation we are experiencing with COVID-19 and how “smelling” our peers via Zoom could help us overcome this!

Thank you to Eric 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 Eric Cordeiro-Spinetti