Category: Being a Scientist

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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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Building the Future of Research: Celebrating Postdocs and Training Programs

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To celebrate the 2024 National Postdoc Appreciation Week, we’re revisiting some scientists we’ve interviewed on the blog and how their postdoctoral experiences and NIGMS-funded training shaped their careers.

Headshots of the six researchers featured in the blog post.
Top row, left to right: Drs. Ahna Skop, Jeff Mudridge, and Nkrumah Grant. Bottom row, left to right: Drs. Mia Huang, Jesse Hall, and Caroline Palavicino-Maggio. Credit: NIGMS.
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What Careers Can Biomedical Scientists Have?

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This post is part of a miniseries on becoming a biomedical scientist. Check out other posts in the series if you missed them!

Many of us enjoy learning about topics like plants, weather, or rocks, but did you know that you can make a career out of your love for science? Scientist is a job title, just like carpenter, firefighter, or lawyer. At NIGMS, we work to get students interested in careers in health science. Read on to learn about some of the different jobs that biomedical scientists do and the level of education they require. (Find more info on the different education paths in our first post of this series.) And who knows, maybe this post will spark your interest in pursuing one of these jobs in the future!

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Membranes, Malaria, and the Mosaic of Science: Q&A With John Jimah

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Dr. John Jimah standing in a lab.
Credit: Todd Reichert, Princeton University.

“I think it’s really an exciting time for science. Some people might think that everything out there to be discovered has already been discovered, but that’s far from the truth. There is still much, much more to discover,” says John Jimah, Ph.D., an assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. We talked with him about how he moved internationally to pursue his career, how his current research on cell membranes could help treat malaria, and how science holds space for everyone.

Get to Know Dr. Jimah

  • Books or movies? Movies
  • Coffee or tea? Mocha
  • Beach or mountains? Beach
  • Cats or dogs? Dogs
  • Music, podcasts, or quiet? Podcasts
  • Early bird or night owl? Early bird
  • Childhood dream job? Judge
  • Favorite hobby? Bicycling
  • Favorite piece of lab safety equipment? Gloves
  • A scientist (past or present) you’d like to meet? Leonardo da Vinci
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From Fireflies to Physiology: Q&A With Yvon Woappi

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A headshot of Dr. Woappi.
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Yvon Woappi.

“In high school, one of my teachers encouraged me to take an advanced biology class, and I’m so glad I did,” says Yvon Woappi, Ph.D. “The class opened my eyes to the fact that there were other people who loved nature like I did—they’re called biologists!” Now, Dr. Woappi is an assistant professor of physiology and cellular biophysics at Columbia University in New York City. We talked with him about his early love of nature and the night sky, the support he received from NIGMS training programs, and his research on wound healing.

Get to Know Dr. Woappi

  • Coffee or tea? Tea
  • Favorite music genre? Makossa, which originated in Douala, Cameroon
  • Cats or dogs? Cats
  • Rainy or sunny? Rainy
  • Ocean or lake? Ocean
  • Childhood dream job? Painter
  • Favorite hobby? Chess
  • Favorite lab tool? Fluorescent microscope
  • Favorite pipette size? 100 microliters
  • A scientist (past or present) you’d like to meet? Jonas Salk (who developed a safe and effective polio vaccine)

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How Can I Become a Biomedical Scientist?

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This post is the first in our miniseries on becoming a biomedical scientist. Check out other posts in the series if you missed them!

Do you love learning about science but aren’t sure how to turn it into a career? Or maybe you already know that you want to be a scientist but you’re wondering what steps it takes? If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place!

A researcher wearing a lab coat and goggles and looking at test tubes in a rack.
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.

For most people, the path to becoming a scientist starts in the classroom, where you might be introduced to topics like biology, chemistry, and physics. After high school, some science-loving students choose to follow a path to becoming a doctor or a teacher, but those are just two of the many biomedical scientific careers available. Regardless of what field you’re interested in, here’s a rough guide to the different levels of training that scientists may have.

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Trainee Colton Pelletier Builds a Rotifer-Studying Robot

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Colton Pelletier posing in front of complex laboratory machinery and a computer screen.
Colton Pelletier with Roti-Bot. Credit: Grace Boland, RWU.

During his time at Roger Williams University (RWU) in Bristol, Rhode Island, Colton Pelletier built a robot that will help simplify data collection for research projects in the lab he worked in—and others—for years to come. Aiding in Colton’s success in the lab was NIGMS funding through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program. INBRE funds statewide networks of higher education in IDeA states such as Rhode Island, which have historically received low levels of NIH funding. The program supports faculty research, mentoring, student participation in research, and research infrastructure by connecting primarily undergraduate institutions with research-intensive universities in the state.

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Where the Sugars and the Proteins Play: Q&A With Mia Huang

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A headshot of Dr. Huang.
Credit: Scripps Research Institute.

“I think there’s a very creative side to science, in figuring out how to approach a problem, which I find really engaging,” says Mia Huang, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. In an interview, Dr. Huang discussed her shift in interest from medicine to science, her graduate school work on nature-inspired antifreeze molecules, and her lab’s exploration of the roles of sugar-coated proteins in our bodies.

Get to Know Dr. Huang

  • Coffee or tea? Coffee
  • Favorite music genre? EDM
  • Cats or dogs? Dogs—I’m a proud mom to a 15-pound Bernedoodle
  • Rainy or sunny? Sunny
  • What was your childhood dream job? Scientist—I’m living the dream!
  • Favorite hobby? Playing video games
  • Favorite piece of lab safety equipment? Safety goggles
  • A scientist (past or present) you’d like to meet? Gilbert Ashwell and Anatol Morell (accidentally co-discovered the asialoglycoprotein receptor)

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Exploring Ribosome Assembly and RNA Modification: Q&A With Eda Koculi

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Dr. Eda Koculi standing in a lab with an old chemistry textbook lying open on the bench behind her.
Dr. Koculi standing in her lab next to her childhood chemistry book that changed her life. Credit: Luis Miranda, UTEP Media.

“Being a scientist is thrilling, and it’s also tremendously fun,” says Eda Koculi, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). “In my opinion, science is the only profession that allows a person to simultaneously express their creativity, quench their intellectual curiosity, and serve society.” We spoke with Dr. Koculi about how she became a researcher, what she’s uncovering about how ribosomes are built and modified, and how she encourages students to pursue scientific careers.

Get to Know Dr. Koculi

  • Coffee or tea? Coffee
  • Favorite music genre? Classical
  • Salty or sweet? Salty
  • Early bird or night owl? Night owl
  • Washing glassware in the lab or dishes in your kitchen? Glassware
  • What was your childhood dream job? A scientist or a teacher—and I have both my dream jobs.
  • Favorite hobby? Hiking
  • Favorite piece of lab safety equipment? Geiger counter
  • Favorite molecule? RNA
  • A scientist (past or present) you’d like to meet? Marie Curie

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The Third Product of Cell Division: Q&A With Ahna Skop

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A headshot of Dr. Ahna Skop.
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Ahna Skop.

“Throughout my career, I’ve enjoyed studying topics that no one else seems to care about. I always tell people that I like searching through the scientific garbage bin for inspiration,” says Ahna Skop, Ph.D., a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We talked with her about the backyard experiment that helped her gain confidence in her scientific abilities, her career-long pursuit to better understand a detail about cell division that others had written off as unimportant, and her desire to build an accessible scientific community.

Q: How did you first become interested in science?

A: Middle school and high school science fairs had a big impact on me. I would develop my ideas, and with the help of my dad, build the experimental setup I needed to answer the scientific question. One of my experiments studied whether ants preferred to eat salt or sugar, so I poured small piles of both all over the backyard and took daily measurements of the height of the piles to figure out which type was shrinking faster. (Spoiler alert for those of you who might try this at home: They liked both but preferred the sugar to the salt.)

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