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Nobel Prize Recap

October 19, 2015 M. Isabel da Silva Leave a comment

Over the past few days, the Nobel Prize committees have announced the 2015 winners for the three science-based Nobel Prizes: Medicine or Physiology, Physics, and Chemistry. So who are these people, and why do they deserve the Nobel Prize?

Here’s everything you need to know:

1. Nobel Prize in Physics

Who: Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald
What for: “The discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”
Why we care: During the 1960’s, scientists calculated the theoretical number of neutrinos created by the nuclear reactions of the sun (which is what gives us light), and the amount of them that should reach Earth. When compared to measurements on Earth however, about 1/3 to 2/3 of the neutrinos that should reach us could not be found. While there were plenty of theories about why this happened, none of them were proven until Kajita and McDonald came along. Kajita showed that neutrinos in our atmosphere can switch between two identities before they reach the instruments we use to measure them. McDonald then showed that we’ve only been measuring neutrinos of a single identity. As Rachel Feltman of the Washington Post explains, “if we can only detect tortilla chips, then we might not detect the ones that turn into Doritos”. To continue this analogy, McDonald set his machines to detect Doritos and found that those numbers accounted for the missing “chips”, erm, neutrinos from our original measurements on Earth. Most importantly, Kajita and McDonald’s data show that neutrinos, which scientists thought were mass-less particles, do actually have a mass. This revelation not only disproves part of the Standard Model of physics, but may also help us to determine how neutrinos could have influenced the birth of the Universe.

2. Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology

Who: William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura, and Youyou Tu
What for: To Campbell and Omura for “discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites” and to Tu for “her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria”
Why we care: Parasitic disease in humans is a constant threat to public health. One such disease, Lymphatic Filariasis, afflicts more than 100 million people across the world. Unfortunately, scientists have not been able to develop any effective therapies to date. That is, until now. The award committee acknowledges Campbell’s and Omura’s research that led to the discovery of a new class of compounds that has so far been extremely effective in treating parasitic diseases. Meanwhile, Tu is credited for her 1970’s discovery of a separate class of chemicals that is highly effective against malaria. By the 1960’s, early attempts to treat malaria were proving unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the number of malaria cases continued to rise across the globe. Digging deep into the ancient literature on Chinese herbal medicine, Tu was able to extract a chemical called Artemisinin, and demonstrate that it rapidly kills malarial parasites during their early developmental stages. To this day, the drug is still used for treating severe cases of malaria.

3. Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Who: Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar
What for: “having mapped, at a molecular level, how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard the genetic information”
Why we care: Every time a cell divides in our body, our DNA must be copied in its entirety, letter by letter. This happens millions of times each day. However, our body isn’t perfect and so for every 100,000,000 letters read, our cells will on accidentally copy a wrong letter. With all the DNA replications that happen each day in your body, this means your DNA should mutate hundreds of times each week. However, that does not happen. What Lindahl, Modrich, and Sancar discovered is that the body is able to detect these copying errors and fix them. Their research is incredibly important for understanding how the body works at a molecular level, and may even help us understand how cells become cancerous and how we might be able to prevent it.

Student Stories

Three Qualities Strong Leaders Possess

September 7, 2015 M. Isabel da Silva Leave a comment

By Carrie Lewis

What makes a successful leader?

Is “leadership” just one of those skills that if you have it, you have it, and if you don’t, you don’t? Is it something you can take a class or a workshop on and suddenly be an expert? Do you need to be in charge of other people to be a leader? Do you consider yourself a leader?

There are many qualities that strong leaders possess, and while these qualities may come more naturally to some than others, leadership skills require continuous development for everyone.

I have taken on a variety of leadership roles, from being on the student council throughout high school, to being a THON captain in undergrad, to chairing the Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC) as a grad student. As I have navigated through the responsibilities of different leadership positions, I have learned to hone different qualities to improve my leadership skills and enhance the experiences and efficacy of each group that I was leading. You could Google the phrase “how to be a successful leader” and get hundreds of lists from different sources, but to simplify things and put them in terms of being a leader in graduate school and science, I have assembled a list based on my own experiences.

This post is a sort of “prequel” to a new blog series I’ll be starting soon — the Student Leader Spotlight Series — to highlight different student leaders in the Huck Institutes and closely related graduate programs and the awesome things that they do, so be on the lookout for that!

1. Ability to delegate

You may be wondering why the idea of giving work to other people is the first attribute I chose to highlight as the quality of a good leader. Why not something like determination or confidence?

“The hallmark of great leadership is whether the organization and initiatives that are ongoing and planned continue beyond the leaders’ departure.” This was said to me by Dr. Troy Ott, Professor of Reproductive Biology here at Penn State and Associate Director of the Huck Institutes, and it was something that I definitely took to heart.

Delegation is a skill that I only recently began to hone, and I wish I had done so sooner. First of all, delegation allows you to focus on the bigger picture of a project or idea rather than worrying about smaller details that other people in your organization could be taking care of. Delegating tasks to others also shows them that you have confidence in them and that you trust them – not only is this a huge morale boost, but it also makes the members of the organization feel like they are necessary “cogs in the machine.” Finally, and perhaps most importantly to us as graduate students, delegation saves you precious time – not only time to work on other aspects of the project at hand but also time for future projects, time for that little thing we do called scientific research, and time for yourself.

If being a good leader simply means being able to tell other people what to do, why is it really considered a skill? Well, in order for the delegation of tasks to actually work, it must be done so effectively. Understanding the personalities and work habits of those you are leading is necessary to successful delegation. Secondly, don’t just delegate tasks that you don’t want to do because they’re boring or difficult – if it’s something that you should specifically be doing, then do it. When you do find a task suitable for someone else, make sure to explain to them why you chose them.

It’s also important to ensure you communicate if you have specific standards for how a task should be done to minimize confusion and frustration for all parties involved. Finally, make sure to give some independence to those working on delegated tasks while also periodically (without sticking your nose into every single detail) doing follow-ups to see if there are any questions or concerns. You should then give credit when credit is due – make sure those who are working for you understand how much you appreciate them!

2. Communication

I already spoke a bit to the importance of communication surrounding the delegation of tasks, but good communication skills are a cornerstone to all facets of leadership. The most crucial aspect to this particular skill is understanding that communication is a two-way street — it’s just as important for you to listen to those around you as it is for you to make sure they know your thoughts.

My favorite part of acting as the Chair of the HGSAC was getting to sit in a room with other graduate student leaders and listen to their ideas and what they hoped to accomplish. In fact, that’s exactly how this blog got started! The old adage that two heads are better than one rings especially true in group work, so if you find yourself leading a group of people, make sure you realize that others might have just as good of ideas as you do and that taking the time to listen to those ideas can go a long way.

When you are the one doing the talking, it’s essential that you do so in a clear and concise manner. No one likes to hear someone drone on and on about a topic for fifteen minutes when the same information could have been discussed in five. Transparency – saying exactly what you mean and not forcing people to read between the lines – is also key. Finally, don’t be afraid to be personal. Maintaining professionalism with those you work with is important but that doesn’t mean you have to be a robot or not talk about anything but work. Developing meaningful relationships with those around you will make them more likely to open up and share their great ideas.

3. Self-confidence

The last skill I’ve chosen to highlight is self-confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how can you convince other people that you have good ideas, persuade them that their precious time is worth investing in your efforts, and inspire them to follow you?

People tend to naturally follow those who are confident because they seem more trustworthy and competent. However, it’s also important to make sure that as a leader, you aren’t too confident and you’re able to recognize when you need help (hmm…delegation?!). For the most part, confident leaders are more decisive, motivated, and generally happy.

If self-confidence isn’t your strong suit, try doing a better job of self-praising. Also, don’t do self-assessments by comparing yourself to others because that will just drive you crazy. Set realistic goals, obtain them, and then congratulate yourself. Finally, remember that no one is perfect and that failure is just part of life – as scientists, we should know this better than anyone!

If you’re looking to hone your leadership skills, check out these helpful resources!

Student Stories

Taking Your Elevator Pitch to the Next Level

August 20, 2015 M. Isabel da Silva Leave a comment

By Nate Girer

We’ve all experienced it as graduate students.
You try explaining your research to your friends and their eyes get big, as if you’ve just tried to teach them Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Or when asked about your research at a scientific conference, you’re left with empty nods and an unenthusiastic, “nice, that sounds interesting”.

An important part of graduate student life is being able to effectively explain your research to other people, whether they be attendees at a conference, a speaker you’re having lunch with, or even just Mom and Dad.

In fact, graduate students should have an “elevator pitch” ready for such situations. By “elevator pitch”, I mean a quick and simple explanation of their research, lasting no longer than a typical ride on the elevator. Of course, fitting all your research into a short 2-minute pitch is actually quite difficult. So to help take your elevator pitch to the next level, here are a few tips:

1) Start off your pitch with something identifiable, or perhaps a story

The worst thing you can do is jump right into the nitty-gritty of your research. Instead, start by relating your research to something everyone knows. A person is much more inclined to listen to you if what you have to say is somehow related to his/her life.

Stories also serve as great openers. For example, my research involves the cellular receptor known as aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). But I don’t mention that at all when I start. Rather, I start with a quick story about a chemical that binds to the receptor, known as dioxin, and how it was once used to poison the Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. Sounds way more interesting, right?

2) Make it a conversation

The surest way to lose somebody’s attention is to talk at them, not with them. Don’t just regurgitate your pitch from memory, make it conversational. A really good way to keep your listener involved is to ask questions. Not only does this force listeners to pay attention to you, but asking questions allows you to gauge their knowledge of the subject area and determine if they’re following your words or not.

3) Teach along the way

Obviously, science is a complicated subject. Not everyone is going to know the terms you begin spewing out, so be prepared to teach them along the way. When I explain my work, I realize that not everyone knows what a cellular receptor is. However, a quick hand-gesture of my fist (the ligand) fitting inside the palm of my other hand (the receptor) provides a pretty decent 2-second introduction about what a cellular receptor does. Small lessons like this can go a long way for someone without a science background!

4) Keep it simple

In science, it’s all about the details. In real life, no one has time for all the details. When giving your pitch, you should make sure to leave these out. Think about your project in its broadest terms. For example, my work seeks to understand how AHR expression in the liver influences fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) regulation. We’re also interested in understanding AHR’s role in hepatic energy storage, fatty acid metabolism, glucose metabolism, and the insulin pathway. To investigate this, we use several different mouse models that carry unique genetic variations of the AHR gene, and challenge them with different diet compositions.

However, all I really need to say for my pitch is that, “We examine the role of AHR in our body’s metabolic processes by looking at how genetic variations of this gene affect the body, and how changes to our diet can further alter those effects.”

5) Be excited about it!

Another major issue I see all the time is that people show a lack of enthusiasm when giving their pitch. How am I supposed to get interested in what you do if you don’t seem interested. As much as we hate repeating our pitch over and over (especially at scientific conferences), you don’t want that to show on your face. A smile here and there, or a positive tone of voice can make a world of difference.

6) Practice, Practice, Practice!

If you want to be good at something, you have to put in the effort to practice. Your elevator pitch won’t be perfect after one afternoon. Try practicing it in the shower or in front of your pet. Once you develop your initial pitch, you should always be thinking of ways to improve upon it. The fact that you’re reading my blog post is a good sign, but don’t stop there. Seek advice from other sources, too!

7) Be flexible!

Last, but not least, be flexible. Your audience won’t be the same each time you give your pitch, therefore your pitch shouldn’t be the same either. While you should have a solid of idea of what your pitch is, don’t keep a word-for-word copy of the pitch in your head. Remember point #2, be conversational! Be ready to take the pitch in different directions, depending upon who you are talking to.

Personally, I keep three “versions” of the elevator pitch in my head. One is really simple and fast, best used for people who know nothing about science; for people who have some semblance of scientific knowledge, I have an extended version of it. Finally, I have an entirely separate pitch that I like to use at scientific conferences.