WEBVTT - Celebrating Pride in STEM – Lab 066 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.920 Happy Pride month. Everybody. June feels like it's the month 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:08.639 for all the celebration Fride. June teenth is this month. Yes, 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.160 it's black music month. It just feels like June is 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.320 just full of joy, and it feels like it's really summer. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.680 That's when summer officially starts. Yes, June's that girl. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.759 It really is the perfect time for celebration, and we're 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.720 continuing the celebration right here on Dope Labs, celebrating all 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:54.920 of our LGBTQ plus friends and family in stem. Welcome 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.440 to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore science, 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.640 pop culture, and a healthy do friendship. 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.320 In the United States and many places around the world, 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.720 June is when we celebrate Pride Month. In the lgbtqia 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:07.959 plus community. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.720 So lgbtqia plus encompasses a lot of different identities in 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:20.480 the queer community. It stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.760 or ally depending on who you ask. Identity is complicated 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.160 and these words don't mean the same thing to every person. 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.440 The meaning of some of these words have changed over time. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.199 Queer in the beginning was used to be a slur 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.600 but has been reclaimed today as a way for many 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.840 people to celebrate their sexuality, and we are so excited 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.000 to celebrate Pride Month on the show. Yes, and for 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.319 this lab, we wanted to hear perspectives from queer voices 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:48.360 in science, so. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.520 We've reached out and y'all gave us some awesome clips 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:52.280 on what you're doing. 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.360 And if you've been following Dope Blast for a while, 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.840 you might recognize this type of lab. We took a 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.000 similar approach and we did the Black Scientist since them 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.640 Black History Month back in twenty twenty. 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.560 Yes, visibility in any field, including stem is crucial, and 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.679 this is also a time for us to celebrate, you 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.000 know how far queer rights have come, especially in the 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.080 face of efforts to roll those rights back, and for 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:15.960 us to take a critical look at what we still 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.160 have left to do. This episode, we're going to hear 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.080 from some queer scientists about their research, passion projects, and 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:22.120 why they love science. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.079 We only have thirty minutes and so we couldn't get 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.720 to everybody, but we were so happy to hear from 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.400 so many of you about your work. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.040 But before we hear from all these brilliant scientists, let's 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.200 rewind a little bit to get some context around Pride 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.799 and why career representation in STEM is so important. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.880 While there have always been efforts for gay rights, Pride 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.320 Month was sparked by the Stonewall Riots also known as 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.560 the Stonewall Uprisings, and this was in June of nineteen 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.200 sixty nine when police raided the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.000 Inn was a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village in 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.240 New York and at the time, cops will routinely arrest 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:03.360 queer people for just being outside in public living their lives. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.880 Very similar to what we saw with Black Lives Matter. 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.720 We saw a space that was considered safe for gay 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.480 and queer people in New York, right, this was their bar, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.360 and what would have been a minor infraction a liquor 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.000 license charge, becomes people getting abused, beat up, harassed. So 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.240 we see increased police violence to something that is a 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.560 nonviolent offense, which is not a new tactic for the police, right, 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.040 and this isn't the first time that the queer community 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.320 stood up against that type of police violence, but it 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.840 was kind of considered the hairpin drop herd around the world, 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.640 and that everybody kind of getting involved, and the huge 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.320 response to this one event is what led to the 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.040 creation of Pride Month, which we continue to celebrate now. 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.160 All right, So now that we have a little bit 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:59.360 of history, let's get into the recitation. All right, So 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.000 what do we know? Well, we know that there's been 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.200 a lot of progress in the year since Stonewall, but 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.920 don't get it twisted. There's a long way to go, 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.720 and there's particularly a long way to go in STEM too, 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:14.360 And we know that STEM as a whole is advanced 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.080 by having diversity of thought, diversity of experience, all of 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.240 these unique characteristics of each person help advance science. The 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.640 things we've seen pop up in our labs with doctors 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.640 Barbara Hofer and Gail Sinatra, our HIV episode with doctor 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.440 Christine Daniels, and our episode about racism and Science with 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.880 doctor Angelo sani is that science is not done in 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.120 a vacuum, right, and people bring their whole selves to science, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.880 and so the variety of experience also informs what gets 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.279 pursued in the sciences, what's deemed as worthy of research, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.120 in which communities we prioritize. To make our technology and 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:53.279 scientific advances work on behalf. 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:56.080 Of right and to create these environments where you can 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.680 have that type of robust science. You have to have 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.760 people from all different types of backgrounds and representation matters. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:05.640 If you can see it, you can be it. So 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.480 that's what we hope to do today, highlighting queer folks 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.360 in STEM. So what do we want to know? 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.760 Well, we want to hear from our LGBTQ plus community 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.480 in STEM, right, we want to know what they're working on. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:21.000 Yes, and I would love to hear their experiences, their 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:25.359 personal experiences about what it's like being in STEM. You 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.600 and I have a unique perspective as black women in 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.719 STEM and our experiences, but it's always good to know 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.000 where other people feel like there are pitfalls that we 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:37.120 might not be aware of. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:48.280 Absolutely, let's jump into the dissections. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.479 We put a call out to hear from our queer 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.360 friends that are in STEM to find out more about 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.599 the things that you all are loving, the work that 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.440 you're doing, where you are in your career, and the 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.240 things that are important to you. And we got so 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.000 many responses and made it so happy. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:10.520 Our first caller is. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:14.680 An astronomer who studies tides on stars. We love talking 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.480 about space because there's so much that's always being learned 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.560 every single day. Space in the ocean. I mean, give 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.360 me a break, there's no limit. 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:30.640 Ktt and zakiya. I'm currently standing in the sand in 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.320 ancestral wee Be Territory on the central California coast under 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.320 the moonlight. My name is Rewa, I use she her pronouns, 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.640 and this fall I will be starting graduate school for astronomy. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.040 Anyone who's been to the ocean knows about tides, right. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.880 The water level rises and falls because the Moon's gravity 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.039 pulls on the Earth's ocean, and turns out, tides can 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:56.320 happen on stars too, especially if that star veers super 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.640 close to a very very dense object like a super 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.800 massive black hole. So that's what I study. I use 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.800 the lux supercomputer at UC Santa Cruz to run simulations 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.360 of tightly disrupted stars, trying to find any telltale fingerprints 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:12.920 so that we know how to go look for them 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.320 in the wild. I love the feeling of wonder as 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:22.600 I explore phenomena so much vaster than my imagination can hold. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.240 And I love the people I work with, people who 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.760 are invested in making stem spaces that are decolonial, feminist, 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.560 anti racist, that we can all participate in as our 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:34.440 full selves. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:40.960 Ooh, you know, when I start thinking about space, it 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.360 makes me feel like we're so small ificant. Yes, and 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.160 Raya is talking about tidal disruptions in space. 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:48.760 Yeah. 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.600 So, just like how the Moon interacts with the Earth 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.480 and how it pulls its hides in the ocean, that's 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.480 exactly what Raywa is saying is happening with stars. As 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.640 stars get close to a dense object like a black hole, 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.920 they also feel that tidle pull. And you know, that's 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.640 kind of like what happens in the beginning part. But 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.360 if stars get too close to that dense object, too 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:11.920 close to that black hole, then you have a catastrophic event. 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.240 Yes, that is so cool. I didn't even think about 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:19.040 tides happening on things other than planets, honestly, but it 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:19.600 makes sense. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:21.760 It does make sense that all of these things should 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.120 have tides. It's a lot going on in space. 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.240 Yes, And you know, anytime I can tie something back 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.840 to some biology, I'm game for it. Did you hear 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:31.240 her say star fingerprinting? 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:32.720 I did. I did. 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.400 And so just like our fingerprints are supposed to be, 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.520 you know, unique to us and help you identify individuals, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.079 Star fingerprinting is a term for identifying and distinguishing between 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.920 the millions of stars in the sky. So astronomers like 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.720 ray Well identify stars color to find out the gas 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.920 is made of and it's temperature, so its own sort 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:56.560 of finger printing. That's really cool, kind of cool. Yeah, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.800 you know, we love space, and we can call back 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.040 to the Starchlla episode where we talked about space and 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.480 just how small we all are when we consider the 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.960 grand scale of you know, just the Earth to the Moon, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.480 but that's just our little planet and what's orbiting around it. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:17.160 Then we start thinking about orbiting around the Sun, and 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.719 that's just our little solar system, and solar system is 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.240 in the galaxy. Girl, it's too much. But we still 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.880 celebrate astronomers because they're able to take all that in. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.040 And you know another type of scientists I really celebrate. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.080 But I know it's not for me. What an entomologist. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:37.760 Oh that's my friend's worst nightmare. Entomologists study insects. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:38.640 It's no for me. 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:39.680 Dog Listen. 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.320 I have had to rescue my friend a number of 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.080 times from a variety of insects, and I'll be there 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.719 every time. But this is a real fear. Do you 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.719 think you ever could have been an entomologist or what if, 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.359 like your research like veered that direction a little. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.840 Bit couldn't have. I don't even like when people call 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.560 bacteria bugs. Oh just the worst, Yeah, because they're not 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.400 a but b I don't want to think about them 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.640 having little legs. You know, cilia and flagella. That's fine, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:16.160 but little insect legs. No, no, no, So clearly entomology 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.560 is not for you. But our next caller, doctor Perry 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.240 Beasley Hall, is someone who loves bugs. 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.120 Hi. Everyone, my name's doctor Perry Beasley Hall, and I'm 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.720 a researcher at the South Australian Museum and the University 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.520 of Adelaide. Here in Australia, I use she, her or 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.720 they then pronouns. I'm a lesbian biologist and I'm passionate 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.280 about increasing the visibility of LGBTQ people in stem fields. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.360 At the moment, I'm working on cataloging the biodiversity in 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.480 mini oases of the South Australian Desert also called mound springs. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.360 But my background is in entomology, the study of insects 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.880 and evolutionary biology. Much of my work focuses on untangling 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:53.240 the insect tree of Life using DNA. I have a 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.880 particular interest in subterranean or underground insects because of the 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.600 weird adaptations they often have to face the challenges of 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.679 a complete dark environment, cut off from the world. I'm 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.800 passionate about the work I do because I love solving 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.040 evolutionary puzzles and figuring out which species go where when 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.640 it comes to an evolutionary trait. My job allows me 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.240 to turn people into defenders of insects and show them 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:15.280 some fascinating animals they've never seen before. 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.880 I Ritzekiah, has doctor Beasley Hall turned you into a 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.560 defender of insects. I understand the importance of insects, and 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.640 I defend them away from me, right like that is 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:29.440 where I am the strongest defender. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:35.679 Then go buggy over there, over there, and you know, 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.840 but I do think the work that doctor Beasley Hall 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.720 is doing right now, you know, documenting biodiversity in the 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.680 South Australian desert, that type of work is incredibly important because, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.760 whether I like it or not, insects are vital to 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.720 our world and many insect populations are going extinct at 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:53.800 alarming rates. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.400 Right and we just had a lab all about that 0:11:56.520 --> 0:12:00.680 conversation on biodiversity with doctor raywind Grant, we talked about 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.520 how important data collection is for conservation. 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.400 Yeah, and insects are a part of that. But you know, 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.040 what we realize is that there's a huge lack of 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.600 data on insects, and so we're losing them, but we 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.000 don't even know that we're losing them. What did Shannon 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:21.040 Sharp say, we're losing recipes and so. And I recently 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.240 saw in somebody's yard where they had a sign that 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.760 said don't do those mosquito treatments because they affect other 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.800 flying bugs and other pollinators that are really important. And 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.160 a recent study from the UK show that they had 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.040 a sixty percent drop in flying bugs from two thousand 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.200 and four to twenty twenty two. 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:39.640 Wow, that's crazy. 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.679 I'm like, that sounds good for me as a person outside, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:51.920 but I know that's not good for our environment. We 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.640 were already under the biology umbrella, so let's stay under 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.360 there a little bit, but shift to neuroscience, studying the brain. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.040 Our next caller is Kayla Singleton, a neuroscientist who researches 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:03.960 Minky's disease. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.840 Hello, my name is doctor Kayla as Singleton. My pronouncer 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:12.280 she Her. I'm a black, Samoan and queer developmental neuroscientist 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.360 and I'm a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.719 I'm from grace And Georgia, and my current research focuses 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.360 on understanding how the brain develops in normal and pathological 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.880 conditions by studying rare genetic diseases, specifically Minky's disease. My 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.800 current project is funded by the National Institute of Neurological 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.600 Disorder and Stroke and what it really tries to understand 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.400 is how copper affects brain development, but also how copper 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.760 effects mitochondrial function and metabolic function. Most of the research 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.480 that I do relies on convocal microscopy. It relies on 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:53.200 using Drosophla or fruitfly, as well as cell lines as 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.400 a model. And one of the reasons that I love 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.880 my research so much is because it has direct implications 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:03.040 to help the Minky's disease population. Another reason that I 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.560 love my work is because I get to mentor and 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.000 teach and train the next upcoming generation of scientists, and 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:11.320 I think that that's really wonderful. 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.120 Doctor Singleton's work has implications for people who have mincus 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.400 disease and that leads to the deterioration of the nervous system, 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.000 and that's directly related to copper in the body. 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.800 And the result of that is you'd have sparse or 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:31.560 kinky hair textures, difficulty gaining weight, weak muscle tone, sagging 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:37.640 facial features, seizures, developmental delay, and an intellectual disability. 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.800 And all of this is related to copper levels in 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:41.880 the body. You know, I think we've kind of touched 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.080 on some of these things in LA labs. So when 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.320 we talked about nutrition earlier back in January that lab 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.800 with doctor Lickenstein, and then more recently our episode with 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.800 doctor Buttner where we talked about metals and their importance 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:57.080 in different developmental stages. Here we're seeing that exact same thing. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.960 This is such important work that will help a lot 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.360 lot of people that are struggling with this disease. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.760 Absolutely T T. Let's take a break and when we 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:23.400 get back we'll hear some more from queer scientists. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.960 We're back and we're celebrating Pride Month in STEM and 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:34.720 listening to queer scientists share their research stories and experiences. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.440 Not only is June Pride month, but it's also Black 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.440 Music Month, and next week we're talking all about it 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.480 with Mark, Anthony Neil and Ninth Wonder. This lab is 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.120 going to be great and I can't wait for you 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.640 guys to listen. Let's get back to today's lab. 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.760 So far we've heard from an astronomer studying tides on stars, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.880 and entomologists exploring biodiversity in the Australian desert, and a 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.840 neurobiologist who's working to address Minky's disease. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.000 Our next caller is a biochemist who is studying an 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:03.600 unstoppable force. 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:09.200 Aging dope lapse podcast What's Good? So, I am doctor 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:15.680 Melanie mcrennolds, she her hers. I am originally from Louisville, Mississippi. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:21.040 I'm a biochemist. I study the biochemistry of aging, right, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.160 so the intersection of metabolic decline and really asking those 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.960 questions of how can we age healthier? How can we 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:35.800 protect the resiliency of my metabolism In particular, I'm an 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.840 NAD scientist. So nicotinamie editing NIE nucleotide. It's a key 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.440 reados regulator. It drives energy production, but it also controls 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.720 a lot of signaling processes. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.840 So doctor McReynolds might not be working to create the 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.680 Fountain of Youth, but her work is central to finding 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.960 ways for people to have a better quality of life 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.680 as they age. Her work is on NAD, which is 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.840 nicotinamide at need di nucleotide. It's a molecule that supports 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:08.679 cellular function across a couple of different categories. So think metabolism, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:13.040 DNA damage repair, gene expression, stress responses. These are some 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.120 things we've talked about in earlier episodes, and this signaling 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.240 molecule she studies is involved in all of them. When 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.119 we age, our body produces less in AD and it 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.600 also uses more of it, so now we're getting into 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.320 supply and demand. Those declines can lead to a lot 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.560 of diseases associated with getting older, like cancer and cognitive decline. 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:34.399 There's been a lot of hype over the years about 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.880 anti aging supplements, but it's scientists like doctor McReynolds who 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.960 are doing the work to tease apart these really complex 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:47.639 systems to understand how to help people as they age. 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.480 In the same vein of ensuring the quality of life 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.280 for folks, there are scientists that look at specific diseases 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.720 and do a ton of research on what factors may 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.320 be causing certain groups to have a lower quality of. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.560 Life, and this is disparities. We've talked about disparities across 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:06.520 a couple of topics including sleep, housing, healthcare, you name it. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.879 Our next caller is a med student who hopes to 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.199 help patients with HIV who are also experiencing another serious condition. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:13.840 Hi. 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.480 There, my name is Derek Trim. I'm going to be 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.320 a first year medical student of coming out this summer 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.600 and I'm currently doing a research project on patients with 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.040 HIV and a depression commobidity and how different type of 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.359 interventions can hopefully have the house in the future. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.760 The work that Derek is doing is so important, and 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.760 when you consider what we know, which is that nothing 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.320 happens really in isolation. So a comorbidity is the presence 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.760 of one or more conditions in addition to the primary 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.359 condition you're being treated for. So, in the case is 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.400 that Derek is studying or hoping to help out with, 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.800 the primary condition is HIV and the comorbidity they're interested 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.159 in is depression. 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.159 Yeah, if you're sick or dealing with an illness that 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:03.280 can create or exacerbate other things. And of course mental 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.480 health is just as important. As physical health. The work 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.040 that Derek is doing and will probably continue to do 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.800 after they achieve their medical degree is so important. If 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:16.040 we think back to what doctor Christine Daniels was telling 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.520 us from our HIV episodes, it is very important to 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.919 have resources available to folks that are living with HIV 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.200 in order to ensure that they are having a high 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.280 quality of life. 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.919 One of the things that we've talked about TT is 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.959 the experience that individuals have going through the STEM pipeline 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:45.120 of training and postdoc training and then being in their fields. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:51.520 And we heard from scientists who both have felt confined 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.600 or like they can't be them full selves in their 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:58.440 field and folks who are studying people having those experiences. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.280 So we gotta voice memo. I'm a civil engineer named 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.159 Albert who reflected on what it means to be queer 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:05.440 and working in engineering. 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.560 Hi, this is Albert, and I live in Austin. I 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.920 work in civil engineering slash construction management, so it kind 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.719 of science last math here in Austin. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:20.520 And you know, I grew. 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.960 Up being a want to be a tear, but the 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:28.080 engineering world is as it is. It's very very anti 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:34.000 feminine energy, if that makes sense. I don't know that's 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.480 going to be like in other types of field, but 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.600 for me, that's how I feel. You have to have 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:46.720 this masculine approach and how you dress, how you talk, 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.840 how you pretty much carry yourself. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.000 It's a side of me that I have to. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.320 Show up at work looking very. 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.760 Masculine, because I do have a side of me that 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:05.120 I tend to show differently with my friends that are 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.879 in the LGBTQ plus community, but not that I'm. 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:15.679 Comfortable to show in my workplace for my colleagues and 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:20.080 the civil and construction work here in Austin. I've always 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:24.320 wondered how much of a mental toll that takes for me. 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.800 I know some friends that have come out in their workplace, 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.960 but to me, that's something that I have to work 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.720 on and I had to kind of guard my heart 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:34.159 on that. 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.520 That's such an important point that Albert made about the 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.880 mental toll of hiding a part of yourself and having 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.520 to think about what you feel comfortable or safe telling 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.040 people about, and then you have to kind of consider 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:47.560 what does it take to kind of box yourself in 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:49.440 for one part of a day then try to retrieve 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:51.840 that part of you for the rest of it. Exactly. 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.040 And there are people who never have to think about 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.280 these things. They move through their jobs, through life and 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.960 just are themselves. And there are folks that have to 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:06.840 constantly be policing themselves, like self policing and correcting and saying, oh, 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:08.639 let me not say this this way, let me not 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:10.760 dress this way, let me not talk in this certain way, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.760 let me not talk about my experiences. Or if somebody says, 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.040 how is your weekend, Oh, I can't tell them what 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.120 I was doing because it is unique to my culture, 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.600 as unique to who I am as a person. And 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.359 you feel like, oh, they may treat me differently. All 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.000 of that psychology, all of those mental gymnastics that you 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.439 have to go through in order to just feel like 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.080 you are fitting in quote unquote and so that people 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:36.640 won't mistreat you is exhausting. 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.119 Yeah, the stem fill has a lot of room to 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.800 grow so that everyone can show up as their full selves. 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.399 One of the people that we heard from works on 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.200 this very issue. Let's turn it over to doctor Barthelmy. 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.439 I'm doctor Raman Barthelmi, and I'm an assistant professor of 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.359 physics and Astronomy at the University of Utah. I am 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:59.160 a physics education researcher conducting studies on the lives, experiences, 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:03.600 and careertories of LGBT plus physicists with a strong intersectional 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.520 focus on physicists who also might be people of color 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:10.280 or women. Currently, I am working on a social network 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:14.080