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Dr. Michelle Starz-Gaiano is Professor and Chair of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and her PhD in Developmental Genetics from New York University. Afterwards, Michelle completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She joined UMBC in 2008 and has received the Donald Creighton Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the UMBC Graduate Student Association for her excellent mentorship. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:13)
Michelle often spends her free time cooking and baking. Her kitchen looks a little like a lab, and she enjoys experimenting with making different foods. Michelle and her family also like to spend time together, travel, and listen to music.
The Scientific Side (3:05)
Michelle’s research uses fruit flies to examine how cells in the body go to the right place at the right time. Understanding why and how cells use their genetic information to move through the body is critical because if this movement doesn’t happen correctly, it could, for example, impact embryo development or affect how immune cells mobilize after an injury. Conversely, preventing cancer cells from moving could keep cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.
A Dose of Motivation (5:29)
“Chance favors the mind which is prepared.” – Louis Pasteur
“As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.” – Ted Lasso
What Got You Hooked on Science? (7:28)
Visits to the library and time spent reading were abundant in Michelle’s childhood, as her mom was a former librarian. Chemistry and math were Michelle’s favorite subjects in school, and she planned to be a math major when she enrolled in college. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that majoring in math wasn’t a good fit. As Michelle considered her options, she took a genetics course that changed everything. Michelle’s interest in science grew throughout college as she worked on her first research projects cloning a human disease gene and mapping the human genome. When she graduated, Michelle wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next, so she spent some time working in a new lab at MIT. While there, Michelle saw what getting a lab started was like, and she worked on a project examining how a transcription factor controlled when different types of cancer cells divide. Michelle’s experiences in the lab helped her realize she wanted to pursue graduate school and a career in academic research.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (18:44)
Michelle has been studying a set of cells in the ovary of the fruit fly where eggs are produced. Certain cells need to migrate across the developing egg chamber to be next to the egg cell in order for the fly to make an egg that can be fertilized. She wants to know how these cells know which way to go and how they move through the tissue to get to their destination. They collaborated with mathematicians to model the chemical cues that the cells may follow as they move. This allowed them to make predictions about what the cells encounter or touch during their migration to better understand how they use the information they receive. However, the first time she submitted the grant for this project, it wasn’t funded. When you put so much work into writing a grant, and you think the proposal is fantastic, it’s really tough when it gets rejected. It’s hard not to take it personally, but Michelle’s strategy is to give herself some time to be upset, listen to some angry music, step away from the project, and then go back to the reviewers’ comments later to understand what you can improve upon or explain better.
A Shining Success! (23:14)
Recently, Michelle had a proposal accepted to work at the Advanced Imaging Center at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus. This provided an amazing opportunity to use some of the highest end microscopes in the world to look at their samples in order to see the chemical cues that cells may be using to move to specific target areas in the body. Michelle and her colleagues worked for a few weeks straight, and they were rewarded with exceptionally detailed images of their cells moving through tissues. It was a lot of work, but it was also so much fun.
Book Recommendations (24:54)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Most Treasured Travel (26:15)
A few summers ago, Michelle was invited to be a speaker at a conference at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University. The conference brought together scientists from a variety of different fields to talk about collective movements: from herds of animals moving through the desert to cells moving through the body to the biophysics of molecules moving. Thinking about how to apply ideas and findings from these different systems to her own work was fascinating. Being at Cambridge was amazing as well because there is so much history at the university. Michelle had the opportunity to see Isaac Newton’s dorm room during a tour, and it was remarkable to see the room, including the little cat door that he had installed. While she was in the UK, Michelle also got to visit one of the Premier League soccer stadiums and see some of the sights in London with her family.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (28:39)
There is a great group of scientists in Michelle’s department, and they have a holiday party every year. Each lab is tasked with building a holiday ornament using only lab supplies, and they have to write a story or a poem about the ornament or its origins. It’s always entertaining to see the creative ideas people come up with in designing things like pipette tip wreaths or angels made out of glass microscope slides. The contest is highly competitive, and people get really into it. Everyone’s stories are fantastic as well and involve things like lab elves messing up experiments or holiday miracles when experiments work. This contest gives the group a chance to showcase their creativity, and the winning lab has a celebratory pizza party.
Advice For Us All (31:52)
Don’t try to do everything all by yourself — working with others can be helpful and fun, and you can learn a lot. If possible, try to work on something that you are really interested in and think is worth doing because that will help you get through the challenges. Also, remember to slow down sometimes, be curious, and keep an open mind.
Guest Bio
Michelle’s research aims to understand the molecular information that cells use to migrate through their environments. She is especially interested in how animal cells move to the right place at the right time without getting lost or running late (like she does when she goes almost anywhere). Her research group uses different methods to identify the genes and structures that guide moving cells, with a focus on using molecular genetics and microscopic imaging strategies to uncover the incredible beauty of biological systems. She and her lab members conduct their experiments on fruit flies, which have small and easy-to-image organs. They also employ a variety of genetic tools available in flies that have been developed through decades of effort by a creative community of scientists. Since the genes in fruit flies are similar to those in other animals, discoveries from fly genetics can help researchers answer important questions about all kinds of cells, for example, how cells respond to infection or damage, how cells form an embryo, and why some cancers become metastatic. Michelle also collaborates with mathematicians to develop computational models of cells and signals, which is very helpful for characterizing things they cannot yet image. Outside of the lab, she is interested in ways to improve scientific teaching and student success. Her research is supported by the National Science Foundation, and she is an active member of the Society for Developmental Biology. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, baking, exercising, and traveling.
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