834: Dr. Elaine Guevara: Examining the Genetics and Molecular Biology of Brain Aging in Humans and Non-Human Primates

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Dr. Elaine Guevara is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University. She received her BA in biological anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her MA in biological anthropology from Hunter College. During her master’s program, Elaine also worked at the American Museum of Natural History as an Archives Assistant and subsequently a Database Assistant. She then received her PhD from Yale University. Afterwards, Elaine conducted postdoctoral research at The George Washington University. She joined the faculty at Duke in 2021, and she also served briefly as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. In our interview, Elaine shares more about her life and science.

People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes

Life Outside of Science (2:57)
When it’s time to relax, Elaine loves to read. She is particularly fond of Golden Age mysteries from authors like Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Patricia Wentworth, as well as similar modern mystery authors like Anthony Horowitz. Investigative journalism, history, and social science content is also of interest to her. In addition to reading, Elaine enjoys biking, being outdoors, exploring the mountains, observing wildlife, playing games, sipping wine, and hanging out with friends.

The Scientific Side (4:37)
Elaine teaches biology and conducts research on the evolution of primates using molecular approaches. One area of her research examines the evolution of brain aging and how brain aging differs between humans and our primate relatives, including certain species of lemurs.

A Dose of Motivation (7:59)
“Perfect is the enemy of done.”
“The more I know, the more I realize how little I know.”
“Nothing worth doing is easy.”
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

What Got You Hooked on Science? (13:42)
Fascinated by the really deep past as a kid, Elaine became interested in the fossil record, dinosaurs, and the idea that the Earth used to be a really different place than it is now. In college, she pursued biological anthropology, which is a mix of primatology, human biology, human paleontology, and the fossil record. Her major involved a lot of skeletal anatomy, and Elaine was frustrated to discover that she struggled with identifying features of bone specimens and categorizing bones based on their features. This, combined with the descriptive nature of the work in the field, the feeling that success in paleontology seemed to rely a lot on luck, and Elaine’s desire to do experimental science, made it clear to her that her chosen field wasn’t going to be a good fit. After finishing her undergraduate training, Elaine spent the next four and a half years working in a variety of jobs outside of science. The time away from research gave her a valuable perspective, and Elaine made her way back to science through volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History. This turned into a part-time job in entomology there, and while working during the day, Elaine enrolled in a master’s degree program at Hunter College that held classes in the evenings. This experience was transformative. She had the opportunity to work with a geneticist who helped her learn how to conduct research in molecular biology. As she progressed to her PhD program, Elaine focused her research more on lemurs and the evolution of aging. Her postdoctoral research in evolutionary neuroscience helped shape her current research focused on the evolution and molecular biology of brain aging.

The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (29:35)
Elaine is working on a cool project that she began thinking about when she was a postdoc, and the data collection recently concluded. The study is looking at gene expression and epigenetic changes that occur with age in two key regions of the brain, the cortex and the cerebellum, in humans and two other primates. Over the course of this project, Elaine transitioned between institutions, which created a lot of administrative delays. The COVID-19 pandemic also interrupted research on the project, and they ran into a variety of challenges with the methods used in the experiments. In particular, they used flow cytometry to sort out different kinds of cells in their samples. Elaine thought this would be a straightforward step in the protocol, but using small-volume frozen samples of brain tissues that are high in sticky lipids and fluorescent molecules made it really difficult to do the cell sorting. They kept getting very mysterious results. Troubleshooting the cell sorting took more than a year, and at one point, Elaine began to feel like she didn’t have what it would take to complete the project. Ultimately, they weren’t able to collect all of the data they had planned, but Elaine and her team still learned a lot from the project and got really exciting results.

A Shining Success! (37:04)
When they were working through the issues with cell sorting using flow cytometry, Elaine and her team celebrated every time that they made progress on the project or solved one of the problems they faced. This was really important because the project involved a lot of failures mixed in with these moments of success. The celebrations have involved sharing a bottle of Prosecco, going out to dinner, and getting cupcakes.

Book Recommendations (4:07) 
Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan, The Memory Thief: And the Secrets Behind How We Remember–A Medical Mystery by Lauren Aguirre, and The Sloth Lemur’s Song: Madagascar from the Deep Past to the Uncertain Present by Alison Richard

Most Treasured Travel (39:01)
In graduate school, Elaine went to Madagascar to do field work. It was amazing to see lemurs in their natural habitat, and there were so many memorable cultural moments as well. Working in the field in a different country is a really valuable and humbling experience. It was remarkable to learn from the local people who were incredibly knowledgeable about lemurs and were tremendously skilled at detecting and identifying them in the wild. There were also a lot of moments that weren’t fun or funny at the moment, but Elaine can now laugh at them in hindsight, and they are something she can bond with colleagues over now.

Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (44:43)
Maintaining a sense of humor is important for scientists, and this lends itself well to Elaine’s work because lemurs are goofy animals. It’s been fun to make parody videos with lemurs in iMovie, create funny custom slack emojis of lemurs in their Slack channel, and she used to write comedic sketches about awkward and funny situations in science for entertainment. Elaine also enjoys humorous academic comics and parodies from others. There are a lot of funny things in science that can be parodied. In addition, Elaine made a board game called the Human Evolution Game that she uses for teaching. It is an engaging and silly way to teach students about human evolution, but the content in the game is based on what we know so far about human evolution.

Advice For Us All (50:58)
Maintain at least one interest outside of your career, whether it is music, another skill, or even just staying in touch with family and friends. Remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Results don’t happen quickly, and it’s important to not have your full identity tied to your science. You can be invested in your science while also finding comfort in the things you do outside of science when your research isn’t going well. Diversifying your research projects can also help. Finally, don’t be discouraged. It’s never too late to try to pursue something you’re really interested in, so get out there and do it.