Author: Abbey Bigler-Coyne

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Abbey is a science writer who enjoys making important biological science and public health information accessible to everyone.

Posts by Abbey Bigler-Coyne

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Career Conversations: Q&A with Structural Biologist Lauren Parker Jackson

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Dr. Lauren Parker Jackson. Credit: Vanderbilt University.

“A confusing experimental result almost always means you’ve stumbled upon something interesting and maybe even exciting. I think that’s what makes science fun,” says Lauren Parker Jackson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Check out the highlights of our interview with Dr. Jackson to learn how she became a biologist and what she studies in her lab.

Q: What sparked your interest in science?

A: I credit my high school chemistry, physics, and biology teachers with getting me interested in science. They were quirky, they were talented, they were energetic, and they weren’t afraid to push us. As a teenager, I did a lot of science fairs and quiz bowls, where two teams compete to answer academic questions. As a high school junior, I took part in the Governor’s School for the Sciences and Engineering, where I spent a month at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studying chemistry in a lab. That exposed me to research for the first time.

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From Music to Mathematics: MARC Scholar Pursues Career as Biostatistician

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Raven standing in a desert landscape.
Raven Delfina Otero-Symphony. Credit: Julie Custer.

At 9 years old, Raven Delfina Otero-Symphony wanted to be an astronaut. As a fourth-year statistics student at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, she still dreams of working for NASA—but as a statistician. You might be surprised to learn that she spent high school and her first semester of college preparing for a career in music, convinced that science and mathematics weren’t for her.

Strings to Stats

Raven enjoyed and excelled in both STEM and humanities classes as a child. As she got older, her interest in STEM wasn’t encouraged, and she began to believe she “just wasn’t a science person.” She concentrated on music because she felt very supported in that pursuit. She played the viola—a stringed instrument slightly larger and deeper in tone than a violin—and performed in symphonies throughout high school.

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A Roundup of 2021’s Quality Quotes

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Happy almost New Year! Throughout 2021 we spoke to more than two dozen NIGMS-supported researchers for the Biomedical Beat blog. They shared their work, career journeys, experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, and more. Here, we’re showcasing a few of their outstanding quotes. You can learn more about these scientists by checking out the links to the original blog posts.

Quality Quotes
A headshot of Sally Hodder, M.D., on a black background with fireworks and the title Quality Quotes a 2021 Roundup.
Credit: West Virginia University.
A headshot of Brian Munsky, Ph.D., on a black background with fireworks and the title Quality Quotes a 2021 Roundup.
Photo Credit: Colorado State University.
A headshot of Akhila Rajan, Ph.D., on a black background with fireworks and the title Quality Quotes a 2021 Roundup.
Photo Credit: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
A headshot of Marcos Ramos-Benítez, Ph.D. on a black background with fireworks and the title Quality Quotes a 2021 Roundup.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Ramos-Benítez.

"The more diversity you have in your lab, the better the science, the stronger the science, and the more creative the ideas."

Read more: Career Conversations: Q&A with Microbiologist Josephine Chandler

“When folks participate in the science, when there is good community discussion about the trial designs and the results, then I think those populations may be more trusting of the results.”

Read more: COVID-19 Vaccine and Therapeutic Trials ACTIV-ate in West Virginia

“Having a career in science is really the best way to rechannel the inner child, to remain forever curious about the world.”

Read more: Career Conversations: Q&A with Biological Engineer Brian Munsky

“There’s always uncertainty associated with science: whether a project that you propose is going to take off, whether you’re chosen for a certain job, whether you get the grant that you applied for. Learning to embrace that uncertainty is an important skill.”

Read more: Career Conversations: Q&A with Biologist Akhila Rajan

"The importance of research in people’s day-to-day lives has never been so exemplified as during the pandemic. You could see how a basic science observation, something that was done in the lab, could translate in a matter of weeks into a public health recommendation and then shape how people were behaving."

Read more: Researcher Shares Science en Español and Builds a Community

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Stitching Together Basic Science and Surgery

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Sepsis researcher Dr. Philip Efron standing with his arm around Dr. Darden, who is giving a thumbs-up sign. Dr. Darden with her mentor, Dr. Philip Efron. Credit: Courtesy of Lyle Moldawer, Ph.D.

“I’m an African American woman from Memphis, Tennessee; you don’t see very many people like me in medicine or in science,” says Dijoia Darden, M.D. She’s working toward becoming an academic physician, which will allow her to treat patients, teach, and conduct research. “I’m hoping that as an academic physician, I can inspire other women, especially women of color, to pursue things they’re passionate about.”

A Path to Medicine

Dr. Darden was drawn to science from a young age, inspired by her microbiologist mother. She recalls that her mom often helped her create science fair projects, including one where she grew penicillin-producing bacteria taken from a lemon. Later on, during her high school summer breaks, Dr. Darden worked in a lab that studied how certain genes might contribute to cancer.

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Science Snippet: The Marvels of Membranes

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Like skin that covers and protects our bodies, membranes surround and protect cells and organelles. Membranes are semi-fluid barriers composed mainly of lipids and proteins. They provide structure; control the import and export of molecules such as ions, nutrients, and toxins; and support cellular communication.

An illustration of a cell cut in half with gray lines indicating its borders and borders of adjacent cells. The cell contains a variety of round and oblong structures in several colors.
A cross section of a cell with its membrane and adjacent cell membranes outlined in gray. The colorful structures are organelles with membranes. Credit: Judith Stoffer.

The lipids that compose membranes are primarily phospholipids. (Cholesterol is another lipid often present in membranes that helps regulate their stiffness.) Phospholipids have hydrophilic (water-loving) “heads” and hydrophobic (water-fearing) “tails.” Within the human body, a water-loving environment, they line up so that their tails face one another and their heads point outward. In membranes, this alignment makes a bilayer barrier that is two lipid molecules deep.

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Career Conversations: Q&A With Biological Engineer Brian Munsky

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A headshot of Dr. Brian Munsky. Dr. Brian Munsky. Credit: Colorado State University.

“I think having a career in science is really the best way to rechannel the inner child, to remain forever curious about the world,” says Brian Munsky, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Check out the highlights of our interview with Dr. Munsky below to learn how his childhood practical jokes led to him running a research group that uses computational and experimental methods to study complex processes inside cells.

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In Other Words: The Pathways Inside Our Bodies

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For many people, the word pathway may bring to mind stepping stones in a garden or a trail through a forest. But when biologists talk about a pathway, they’re referring to a series of actions among molecules in a cell that leads to a certain product or change within that cell. Pathways maintain balance during walking, control how the eyes’ pupils respond to light, and affect skin’s reaction to changing temperature. They control our bodies’ responses to the world, and errors in them can lead to disease.

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Quiz: What Can Research Organisms Reveal About Health?

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Scientists often use research organisms to study life. Examples range from simple organisms like bacteria to more complex ones such as mice. NIGMS funds studies of research organisms to understand biological processes that are common to all organisms, including humans. Errors in these fundamental processes can cause disease, and better understanding of these malfunctions can aid in the development of potential treatments.

Research organisms may also reveal novel biological processes that can lead to important scientific or medical technologies. For example, researchers studying interactions between viruses and bacteria made a discovery that led to the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) gene-editing system, which was recognized by the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

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Career Conversations: Q&A With Biologist Akhila Rajan

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A headshot of Dr. Akhila Rajan. Dr. Akhila Rajan. Credit: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

“What makes being a scientist exciting is that I don’t know what I’m going to find tomorrow,” says Akhila Rajan, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the basic sciences division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Rajan is supported by an NIGMS early stage investigator Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award. These awards provide stable and flexible funding for a program of research that falls within NIGMS’ mission. Check out the highlights of our interview with Dr. Rajan to learn about her research and journey as a scientist.

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Cool Images: Spooky and Spectacular

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It’s the spookiest time of the year! To celebrate Halloween, we’re showcasing scientific images that capture the spirit of the holiday, from a brain shaped like a bat to protein “cobwebs” in a quail embryo. Check out our image and video gallery for even more scientific photos, illustrations, and videos.

Cool Images
A tadpole-shaped creature outlined in blue, with branching green structures throughout its body.
Credit: Andreas Velten, Eliceiri Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Fourteen mosquito larvae resembling orange worms grouped together.
Credit: Gantz Lab, University of California, San Diego.
Weblike structures over a group of green spots.
Credit: Evan Zamir, Georgia Tech.

This image may bring to mind a bat spreading its wings, or you may feel like a skull is peering at you, but what’s actually shown is a honeybee brain. The bright-green spots are tyrosine hydroxylase, an enzyme that allows the brain to produce dopamine. Dopamine is involved in many important functions—such as the ability to experience pleasure—in both bees and humans.

The eerie green “skeleton” in this photo is really the vasculature (blood vessels) of a zebrafish embryo. The blue areas are cell bodies. Zebrafish are useful research organisms for studying development because their eggs and embryos are see-through, making it easy for scientists to watch changes take place.

Researchers edited the genes of these creepy-crawly mosquito larvae using a technique called CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). This species of mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, can transmit diseases including West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and avian malaria. The gene-editing toolkit used on these larvae could ultimately help stop Culex quinquefasciatus from spreading pathogens.

The “cobwebs” in this image are actually a protein called vimentin in a quail embryo. The green spots are cell nuclei. Vimentin is part of the cytoskeleton and helps cells maintain their structure and resist mechanical stress. The protein is found in many animals and in humans.