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Dr. Tajie Harris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia. She received her B.S. degree in biology from Bemidji State University in Minnesota and her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Afterwards, Tajie conducted Postdoctoral Research in immunoparasitology at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia where she is today. In this interview, Tajie shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:40)
When she’s not working, Tajie enjoys going for walks and spending time with her two rescue dogs. She is also a fan of traveling, cooking, and putting together jigsaw puzzles.
The Scientific Side (4:14)
Tajie’s research is at the intersection of immunology, microbiology, and neuroscience. She’s interested in understanding how the immune system functions in the brain, particularly when someone is infected with a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii.
A Dose of Motivation (6:57)
“Just row the boat.”
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George E. P. Box
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:39, 10:20)
Tajie was a kid who wanted to know how the world worked. In high school, she discovered her love of biology through an advanced biology class with a great teacher. However, she also loved language and math classes. During college, she continued taking biology, math, and physics courses, and one of her professors encouraged her to apply for summer research programs to get hands-on experience working in a lab. After getting her first taste of lab life at the University of Wisconsin-Madison through an NSF summer research program, Tajie was hooked. She enjoyed her experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison so much that she decided to pursue a PhD there. This set Tajie on the path to a career as an academic researcher. After a fantastic postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, she ended up getting a faculty job at the University of Virginia that she almost didn’t apply for.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (20:49)
As part of her postdoctoral fellowship research, Tajie had to do experiments that involved injecting an infectious microbe. It was scary, and she was really nervous the first few times. It made her wonder if she was cut out for a career in research. Taking deep breaths and convincing herself that she was in control and could do this helped Tajie overcome her jitters. This was a growth phase for Tajie where she faced something difficult, but she just kept going. It got easier over time, and she was able to complete the study.
A Shining Success! (16:37, 24:09)
Tajie and her lab members have been working on a cool project investigating whether cells in the brain may die in order to limit an infection, particularly with parasites that can only survive inside cells. They examined a particular molecular cascade that controls cell death, and this cascade is mediated by a molecule called caspase-8. Tajie and her team used genetic techniques to remove caspase-8 from different cell types to see what happened. Tajie was on an airplane when she received an email from a graduate student in the lab reporting that there were interesting results. She had to know more. Tajie splurged on in-flight wi-fi and was fascinated to review the students findings that a certain type of T cells had encountered the parasite. At first, Tajie didn’t believe what she was seeing, and she wondered if something went wrong. If their results were correct, the story had just gotten really interesting. Ultimately, they discovered that the T cells were becoming infected and undergoing controlled cell death to eliminate the parasite.
Book Recommendations (27:40)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, City of Thieves by David Benioff
Most Treasured Travel (28:56)
One of Tajie’s favorite scientific travel destinations is Tuscany in Italy. She has been there a few times now for Gordon Research Conferences. These are outstanding conferences that are relatively small, so it’s easy to meet new people and make friends. Attendees sit in sessions together, eat dinner together, and make meaningful connections with others in the field. The meeting site is near Cinque Terra, a series of charming villages right on the coast. Whenever she travels to Italy, Tajie makes sure to plan for some time in Cinque Terra to swim, visit the beach, sample the excellent seafood and gelato, sip limoncello in the evenings, go hiking, and enjoy the beautiful views.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (32:05)
When researchers transition from their training as graduate students and postdocs to faculty positions, they suddenly find themselves doing something they don’t necessarily have formal training to do. Managing people. For Tajie, an important part of managing her lab is understanding the people she works with, how they work, and what motivates them. Having a sense of what motivates people makes it easier for Tajie to keep them focused, identify who they might work well with, and to overcome any frustrating interactions. Tajie’s lab is planning a retreat that will include an art exercise where each lab member will create a zine (small hand-made art book) that conveys why they are a scientist. She is looking forward to seeing what everyone creates. Facilitating collaborations and thinking about how to get people to interact differently to strengthen their connections to each other is becoming a bigger part of her career lately.
Advice For Us All (38:27)
For new investigators starting their own research programs, being in your lab as much as possible in the beginning can be helpful. After all, you are going to be the best-trained person in the lab for your specific area of research. Another important point is that in science, you are going to have to work with other people, and there will be conflicts. These can be difficult to navigate and can weigh heavily on you. When Tajie is frustrated with her work, she stops to reflect on whether she’s upset because of the science or an interpersonal challenge. It’s usually the latter, and reminding herself how much she loves doing science can help her persevere and work through tough times.
Guest Bio
Tajie Harris has spent more than 20 years studying how the brain protects itself from infectious microbes. Her research focuses on understanding how cells within the brain communicate with the peripheral immune system and how immune cells are guided into the brain to combat infection. Much of her work has explored these processes in the context of infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, providing key insights into neuroimmune communication and host defense in the central nervous system. In addition to leading an active research program, Tajie directs an NIH-funded T32 training program in neuroimmunology and teaches graduate courses on neuroimmunology, helping to train the next generation of scientists in this rapidly growing field. Outside the lab, Tajie enjoys spending time with her dogs, Hank and Jaxy; traveling with her partner, Steve; playing racquet sports; tackling puzzles; and cooking—especially perfecting pies in her new pizza oven.
Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by Innovative Research, Inc.
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