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Haley Bridgewater: Taking the Sting Out of Vaccines

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Haley Bridgewater, a graduate student at Boise State University in Idaho, is sure she wants to continue studying infectious diseases after she graduates with her Ph.D., but she’s finding it difficult to choose a specific topic within that branch of biomedical science. “My problem is that I like them all. The more I look into specific research topics to narrow down my options, the longer my list of potential topics grows,” she says.

A portrait image of Haley Bridgewater standing on a bridge over a river.
Haley Bridgewater in front of the Boise River on Boise State University campus. Credit: Elise Overgaard, Ph.D., Boise State University.

Haley’s early introduction to science wasn’t related to the biological sciences at all. She grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where her dad studied nuclear chemistry. Discussions about chemistry, physics, and rockets surrounded her, and she would often stare up at the night sky to catch a glimpse of a meteor shower or the International Space Station passing by. But she was even more curious about what was below her feet: What makes an insect different from a rock? What does the microscopic world look like? She received a microscope one year for her birthday and carried it with her everywhere so she could try to answer these questions.

Global Experiences

Haley took an advanced biology class in high school, where she learned not only about the living world, but also the many exciting scientific careers available, such as becoming a researcher. She moved to Tacoma, Washington, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), where she majored in biology and global religion.

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How Do Cells Recycle and Take Out the Trash?

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Cells rely on garbage and recycling systems to keep their interiors neat and tidy. If it weren’t for these systems, cells could look like microscopic junkyards—and worse, they might not function properly. So constant cleaning is a crucial biological process, and if it goes wrong, accumulated trash can cause serious problems.

Proteasomes: Cellular Garbage Disposals

One of the cell’s trash processors is called the proteasome. It breaks down proteins, the building blocks and mini-machines that make up many cell parts. The barrel-shaped proteasome disassembles damaged or unwanted proteins, breaking them into bits that the cell can reuse to make new proteins. In this way, the proteasome is just as much a recycling plant as it is a garbage disposal.

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Investigating the Inner Workings of Ion Channels With Sudha Chakrapani

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A headshot of Dr. Chakrapani.
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Sudha Chakrapani.

“Curiosity was a central theme in my learning process,” says Sudha Chakrapani, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the department of pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. As a high schooler in India, she especially enjoyed her science classes because they fostered her curiosity and allowed her to ask more questions than other subjects did. She was curious about how to use science to solve the challenges she and her community faced, like access to safe drinking water. Seawater surrounded them, so could they find a way to convert it into drinking water?

As part of India’s annual National Teachers’ Day celebration, high school seniors take on the role of educators and teach their younger peers for the day. Dr. Chakrapani loved the experience, and it solidified what she already knew: She wanted to go to college to be a science teacher. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she entered back-to-back master’s programs in biochemistry and biomedical engineering, where she had the opportunity to do hands-on research.

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Slideshow: Creepy Crawlies

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This time of year, many creepy crawlies take center stage to frighten people of all ages. To celebrate Halloween, we’ve conjured up a slideshow of fascinating but spooky species that NIGMS-funded scientists study. Some of these creatures drink blood like vampires, while others—frogs, worms, flies, and salamanders—are perfect cauldron ingredients for a witch’s brew. Check out the slideshow—if you dare!

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Chemistry by the Numbers

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Numbers are everywhere in chemistry. You can’t balance equations, determine limiting reactants, or calculate percent yields without them. So, let’s dive into some of the significant figures in chemistry!

3

An atom shown as three red and four blue spheres clustered in the center, with three gray spheres each on a gray orbit encircling the cluster.
A lithium atom with three protons (red) and four neutrons (blue) in the nucleus and three gray electrons orbiting around them. Credit: iStock.

That’s the number of different types of particles—protons, neutrons, and electrons—that make up atoms, the basic unit of all matter. Protons are positively charged, neutrons are neutral, and electrons are negatively charged. The number of protons in an atom determines what element it is, and atoms usually have an equal number of protons and electrons. Atoms can have different numbers of neutrons, though, and atoms with the same number of protons and different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes. Protons and neutrons make up the core—or nucleus—of an atom, and electrons orbit around them.

4.9 Million

That’s how many miles per hour the electron in one hydrogen atom in a molecule of water is moving. At that rate, the electron could make it from New York City to Los Angeles in about 2 seconds!

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Advice to Future Scientists

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This post is part of our miniseries on becoming a scientist. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed!

We’ve interviewed many NIGMS-funded researchers over the years to learn about their career paths and passions inside and outside the laboratory. Many have shared advice for students who are interested in pursuing a career in science. We’ve compiled a handful of those nuggets of advice here and hope that they help you find inspiration to chase your career goals. Check out the links to the full Biomedical Beat blog posts featuring these researchers if you haven’t already.

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What Is CRISPR?

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It might sound like a science fiction author made up genetic engineering, but it’s a real tool researchers use in the laboratory! A gene is a segment of DNA that codes for a protein. The information within a gene directs the building of a protein, block by block, through the process of gene expression. For a variety of reasons, including learning about certain cellular processes, scientists use genetic engineering in the lab to manipulate a cell’s genes and the proteins they encode.

Bacteria, shaped as a cluster of orange spheres with bumpy surfaces, on top of an uneven surface.
Streptococcus bacteria under the microscope. Species in this genus, such as Streptococcus pyogenes, have a CRISPR-based defense system. Credit: NIAID/NIH.

One of the most commonly used genetic engineering techniques is called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), named for the odd, repeating sequences that researchers found in bacterial DNA in 1987.

Eventually, researchers discovered that these sequences are part of a bacterial immune system. (Just like humans, bacteria are susceptible to viral infections!) Some bacteria are able to insert short sequences of DNA from viruses that previously infected them into their own genome, allowing them to “remember” and more quickly recognize that virus in the future. If the invader tries to attack again, the bacterium recognizes and kills it by chopping up the part of its DNA that matches the “memory” using a special type of protein, an enzyme called CRISPR-Associated (Cas) protein. Our own immune systems also have the ability to remember pathogens through our adaptive immune response.

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How Many Ounces Are in a Cup—and Other Measurement Morsels

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A measuring cup that amounts to 1 cup or converted measurements of 8 ounces, 16 tablespoons, or 240 milliliters. A measuring spoon set showing one spoon that amounts to 1 tablespoon or converted measurements of 1/2 ounce or 3 teaspoons.
Credit: NIGMS.

Do you find yourself frustrated while baking when trying to convert between measuring units, like cups to ounces? First of all, we can help with that one: 1 cup is equal to 8 ounces (oz), 16 tablespoons (Tbsp), 48 teaspoons (tsp), or 240 milliliters (mL).

Based on their names, you can probably guess that people began using the tools they had, like cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons, to measure ingredients in the kitchen. They eventually standardized these units of measure because not all spoons or cups were the same size. So now, instead of a recipe calling for milk that fills half a teacup or enough water to fill a coffee cup, we use the standard measuring cup, tablespoon, and teaspoon. In the research lab, scientists use scales and balances to measure solids—not cups—and a variety of tools to measure liquid, from syringes and pipettes to graduated cylinders and flasks—but never spoons!

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Inventing New Ways to Build Bonds: Q&A With Elias Picazo

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A portrait image of Dr. Elias Picazo.
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Elias Picazo.

“Science has always impacted me, but I didn’t realize how much until I actually became a scientist,” says Elias Picazo, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. We talked to Dr. Picazo about his path to becoming a scientist, some of the challenges he faced along the way, and his research inventing new ways to make chemical bonds.

Get to Know Dr. Picazo

  • Books or movies? Movies
  • Beach or mountains? Mountains
  • Favorite music genre? Pop
  • Rainy or sunny? Sunny
  • Salty or sweet? Sweet
  • Music or podcast? Podcast
  • Washing glassware in the lab or dishes in your kitchen? Glassware
  • Favorite lab tool? Magnetic stirrer
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Cells by the Numbers

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If you like this post, check out our other “By the Numbers” posts!

Cells are the basic unit of life—and the focus of much scientific study. They’re categorized based on whether or not they have a distinct nucleus. Prokaryotic cells, like some bacteria such as blue-green algae, don’t have distinct nuclei. Instead, their nuclear material is spread throughout the cytoplasm. Eukaryotic cells—or cells with nuclei—make up humans, animals, plants, and fungi. Here are just a few of cells’ fascinating facets.

30 Trillion

That’s about how many human cells adults have in their bodies. Males are on the higher side with about 36 trillion cells, while females average about 28 trillion cells.

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