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Podcast: The Story Collider
Episode: Adventures with Dads: Stories about chasing down our fathers
Episode pub date: 2019-06-14

This week we share two stories from people who have go on wild goose chases to find their dads.

Part 1: In his last year of medical school in Colombia, Gabriel Duran Rehbein finds out his father has been kidnapped.

Part 2: After seeing her dad lose control of his mind, art student Minerva Contreras decides to study the brain, in hopes of understanding him.

Gabriel Duran Rehbein, MD describes himself as a huge nerd and a pathological optimist. He is currently making full use of both those characteristics as a Research Fellow in the Viviane Tabar Lab at MSKCC, where his work focuses on the development of a novel real-time drug screening platform for primary brain tumors using patient-derived three-dimensional explant cultures. He obtained his MD from Universidad de los Andes in his native city of Bogotá, Colombia. When he is not in the lab, Gabriel enjoys reading, attending concerts and spending time with friends. He is always on the lookout for places to go salsa dancing.” 

Minerva Contreras is a senior at Universidad Autonoma  de Queretaro, where she is majoring in Biotechnology Engineering with a  focus in Biomedical Sciences. Her undergrad research has lead her to  explore different areas within neurobiology such as the molecular  biology of glioblastoma at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and  neurodegenerative diseases at UCSD Sanford Consortium for Regenerative  Medicine. Before discovering her passion for science, Minerva completed  an AA in Filmmaking; she believes this was an important contribution to  her appreciation for diversity and humanities. Her future goals include  pursuing a doctoral degree in Neurosciences, as well as creatively  communicating science to the general public, especially future  generations, in a relatable fashion. As of next fall, she will be a grad student in the Neurosciences PhD program at UCSD.  In her spare time, she enjoys going  on hikes with her dogs, strength training, and spending time with her  family and friends.   

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Podcast: People Behind the Science Podcast – Stories from Scientists about Science, Life, Research, and Science Careers
Episode: 501: Modeling Social Systems to Inform Interventions and Impact Policies – Dr. Brian Goode
Episode pub date: 2019-05-13

Dr. Brian Goode is a Research Scientist at the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech, formerly the Biocomplexity Institute. Brian’s background is in engineering, and his current research aims to understand how data-driven and theoretical models can be applied to the real world. For example, in one project, he is working to predict outcomes for people and their families using data from their first nine years of life. Their goal is to make the best models they can, identify the considerations needed to apply these models to reality, and then determine how their models can be used to help craft interventions and policies. Lately, Brian has been spending his weekends with his wife repairing and preparing their sailboat. He learned how to sail during graduate school, and he is excited to be nearly ready to set sail in his own sailboat. Brian received his B.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech. He was awarded an Office of Naval Research assistantship to complete his doctoral work. Afterwards, Brian went on a working holiday visa to Australia where he was a Field Engineer for Infrastructure Management Group, a bartender in Port Douglas, Queensland, and started freelance web developing while traveling. He then became an English Teacher in Thailand, and a Logistics Engineer at JB Hunt Transport Services, Inc. before returning to Virginia Tech to accept a postdoctoral fellowship. In 2016, Brian transitioned into his current position as a Research Scientist at Virginia Tech, and in 2017, he was awarded an Innovation Award from the Fragile Families Challenge held at Princeton University. In our interview, Brian will tell us more about his life and research.

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Podcast: ReproducibiliTea Podcast
Episode: Episode 20 – Priya Silverstein
Episode pub date: 2019-05-28

Episode 20 – Priya Silverstein

Buckle up to hear Priya discuss running (and publishing) replication research and diversity in science. This was perhaps the most eventful recording session we have ever had, but we really enjoyed the conversation. The more diversity the better!

Music credit: Be Jammin – Alexander Nakarada
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Podcast: Science: Disrupt
Episode: Episode 70: How to Write our Future
Episode pub date: 2019-05-25

In this episode we chat to science fiction author, Anne Charnock. For Anne’s latest novel “Dreams Before the Start of Time” received the Arthur C Clarke award in 2018, and explores the future of fertility, and pre-natal genetic screening. Anne was also a Phillip K Dick Award nominee for here 2013 novel “A Calculated Life”.

It’s becoming more and more clear that sci-fi and futurism can have great influence in our culture. In our chat with Anne we dive into the role of sci-fi as a launchpad for scientific exploration, the ethical obligations of the writer, the power of daydreaming, and how writers balance literary freedom with the maintenance of good grounded science. 

Relevant links:

• Anne’s website & twitter 
• Anne’s chat with Elsa Sotiriadis at Hello Tomorrow (video) We also have this piece: ‘Why Science Needs Fiction‘ showcasing Elsa’s sci-fi recommended reading

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Podcast: Hello PhD
Episode: 103: Laboratory of Horrors!
Episode pub date: 2018-10-29

“Hey, I won’t be able to make it over for movies tonight.  I’ve got to finish these timepoints…  Yeah, I know it’s the third time this week, but I promise I’ll leave a early tomorrow…  Okay, sorry.  Goodnight.”

Gary ends the phone call and sighs.  This is not the first time he’s had to cancel a date to finish up an experiment.   He’s starting to detect some resentment in his girlfriend’s voice.

As the minutes tick by on his timer, Gary sees lights flip off in the adjacent laboratory bays.  Even the postdocs have gone home.  Looks like it’ll be another long, lonely night – just him and an incubator full of cells.

He’s scrolling through his phone to find a playlist that can keep him awake for the next few hours when there’s a faint clink of glass somewhere in the darkened part of the lab.

He finds the playlist just as he hears a faint tap, tap, tap coming from the same direction.

“Maybe one of the postdocs left a cage of mice here by accident,” he thinks.  He pops out his ear buds and listens again… tap… tap… tap…

But the sound is too rhythmic to be mice. 

“They really need to fix that faucet.  That thing has been leaking for weeks.”

Tap… tap… tappity tappity tap.  Whatever is dripping seems to be coming faster now.

“Is someone there?” Gary asks, feeling stupid for the uncanny tightness now rising in his chest.  Tap… tappity tap tap… 

The sound that was just dripping is now streaming, a thin drizzle falling onto the soapstone bench.

Gary stands, and keeping his eyes toward the source of the sound, creeps carefully toward the light switch.  That’s when a nauseating wave of stench hits his nostrils.

His pupils constrict as he reaches the switch and the lights flash across a viscous puddle slowly growing larger on the bench to his right.  The pool has spilled over the edge, dripping foul, sticky liquid onto the floor. 

The odor is unmistakable and overpowering. He tears up, each breath a painful struggle to get enough air.

His eyes slowly follow the vile stream to its source…

“Dammit!  Who spilled that bottle of β-mercaptoethanol and didn’t clean it up!?”

Little Lab of Horrors

Life in grad school may not have many horror-movie freak-outs, but there are plenty of harrowing and traumatic experiences to thrill even the most stoic scientist.

In celebration of Halloween, we asked our listeners about their lab and grad school horror stories!

We heard chilling tales of fires, floods, and freezers on the fritz.  There are stories of dissertations delayed, pilfering PIs, and even explosions! Eeeek!

When you tune in, be sure to sample our new favorite pumpkin ale from Rogue Brewing.  It’s the Limited Edition Pumpkin Patch Ale, made from pumpkins they grow themselves!  

And here are a few of the resources we mentioned in the show:

* Caminos en Ciencia podcast*

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