In the News: A link roundup

1) Dr. Kristi Curry Rogers, a biologist and geologist at Macalester College, shares her thoughts on evolution and it's role in the world today. 

2) Dr. Michael Fischbach, a chemist at UCSF, talks to the NYT about the research his lab is conducting on the microbiome, as well as the results of a study his group recently published in the journal Cell. 

Link to the NY Times article
Link to the study published in the journal Cell

Peter Walter, PhD (right) speaks with UCSF's vice-chancellor of Research Keith Yamamoto, PhD

3) Dr. Peter Walter (above right), a biochemist at UCSF, is the recipient of the 2014 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. Dr. Walter is sharing this award with Kazutoshi Mori, PhD, a researcher at Kyoto University. 

The two scientists are being honored for their work on the Unfolded Protein Response or UPR, a cellular quality-control system which is believed to play a role in certain neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer. This is Walter's second major award of the year--he and Mori also shared the Shaw Prize in May. 

Link to the Lasker Foundation announcement

Link to UCSF's celebration of the achievement

Maryam Mirzakhani: First woman to win Fields Medal

Maryam Mirzakhani, a professor of mathematics at Standford University, has been awarded the 2014 Fields Medal for her work in the fields of geometry and dynamical systems. Mirzakhani is the first women to ever win the Fields Medal (1), which is often regarded as the "Nobel Prize of mathematics."

Let me repeat that: She is the first woman EVER to win the Fields Medal. 

In a statement from Mirzakhani, she says, "This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians. I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years."

Congratulations Maryam Mirzakhani! Can't wait to see your future work! 

1) The Fields Medal, officially known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded every 4 years to 2-4 outstanding mathematicians under the age of 40. It is widely regarded as the highest honor a mathematician can receive and is often described as the "Nobel Prize for mathematics." The other winners for 2014 are Artur Avila, Manjul Bhargava, and Martin Hairer. 

LIVE from the ACS Meeting

The 248th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting began this past Saturday and will run through tomorrow. With the theme of "Chemistry and Global Stewardship" I could not think of a better host city than San Francisco. And because the meeting was in San Francisco, it was especially convenient for many people at my university to attend the talks. We could literally walk to the convention center from campus. 

Although environmental chemistry took center stage at this meeting, there were many other excellent sessions throughout the week. With over 14,000 chemists in attendance, and many simultaneous sessions, it was frequently challenging to decide which talks to attend! 

I presented a poster of some of my work in the Biological Chemistry poster session. This was my second time presenting at ACS--but my first time as a graduate student. It was exciting to talk about my work with others in the field and see where things are moving. I already have a bunch of new ideas for my project!

One of the other great things about ACS is meeting and connecting with people. It was exciting to run into (literally!) several people I knew from Macalester and be introduced to their friends and colleagues. Even introducing myself to complete strangers, we usually only needed to talk for a little bit before finding a common friend. 

Old and new friends at the POLY poster session

I'm really glad I was able to attend and hear about all of the cutting-edge ways that chemistry is impacting medicine, energy and the environment. I can't wait to see what new innovations are developed from this research in the next few years. It was great #ACSsanfran and hopefully I will be there in Denver for 2015!

Friday Funnies: I F*cking Love Science Edition

"Forgive me, scientists, for I have sinned"

Adam Ruben, PhD, author of the book Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School has a new post on the Science/AAAS magazine. Follow the link below to read the full post.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_05_20/caredit.a1400126

Scientist Profile: Sophie Dumont

The Scientist does a profile on UCSF's own Sophie Dumont. Check out the link below!
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39778/title/Sophie-Dumont--Forces-at-Play/

Friday Fun: Elementary School Edition

"What do owls eat?"

This past Thursday was my last SEP science lesson for this school year. Building from our digestion theme from the last visit, this lesson was all about owl pellets. Owls frequently swallow their prey whole. However, they cannot digest the prey's fur or bones, so they regurgitate the material. 

Scientists often collect the owl pellets and study their contents to determine seasonal eating habits and estimate populations of various rodent species. Owl pellets are also a common first dissection for elementary school children, as the bones are well-preserved, it feels like a treasure hunt for the kids, and they can learn fantastic scientific method skills like asking questions (What do owls eat?), testing their hypotheses (performing the dissection), analyzing the results (What did we find in the owl pellets? How many of each rodent are there?) and drawing conclusions. 

The children were incredibly excited to do the owl pellet dissection--constantly calling one of us over to show what they had found or to ponder what a particular bone was used for. It was a whirlwind end to the semester, but everyone (including the teachers) seemed to really enjoy it.

After both classes were finished, the teachers presented us each with a bouquet of flowers

Flowers! 

and a packet of really cute thank-you letters. 

This student drew a picture of the preserved small intestine we brought. 

Fun and cute excerpts from our thank-you letters:

1) Dear Mr. Louise (sic) and Ms. Christina...

2) I liked to touch the guts but the guts stinked (sic).

3) It was cool when you put germs on our hands. 

4) I remember when you had five senses.

5) Thank you for visiting our class room and teaching us cool science stuff? (sic)

This was my third year in a row volunteering with SEP. I also think this was my favorite year. The teachers we partnered with were absolutely amazing! The students were always so well-prepared before we came in and always asked insightful questions. Their preparation and the students genuine enthusiasm made it really easy to get them thinking aloud and participating in the experiments. 

As Henri Poincaré, the French mathematician wrote:

"The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because

he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful." 

I hope Louise and I had a positive influence on the students and that some of them choose to stick with science. It's a field with many ups and downs, but it's also so full of wonder and awe.