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Dr. Donald L. Smith is the Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Plant Science at McGill University. He is also CEO of BioFuelNet Canada, Head of Biomass Canada, and Head of the McGill Network for Innovation on Biofuels and Bioproduct. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Acadia University and his PhD from the University of Guelph. Afterwards, he worked as an Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellow at Agriculture Canada before joining the faculty at McGill University in 1985. Over the course of his career, Don has received many awards and honors, including, the Clean50 award for contributions to sustainable development and clean capitalism in Canada and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, in this case for significant contributions to intelligent agriculture . He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Agronomy, and he served as a Member of the Canada-US think tank on climate change and agriculture in North Eastern North America. In our interview, Don shares more about his life and science.

[Read more…] about 853: Dr. Donald Smith: Getting to the Root of How Microbes Help Plants Thrive Under Stress

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Dr. Andrew Friedman is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is also a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Andy received his bachelor’s degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and his master’s and PhD degrees in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard University. Afterwards, Andy worked as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, a National Science Foundation funded Research Associate at MIT, and a Visiting Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He joined the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at UCSD in 2017. In our interview, Andy tells us more about his life and science.

[Read more…] about 852: Dr. Andrew Friedman: Using Astrophysics to Unravel the Enigma of Quantum Entanglement

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Dr. Kristen Lani Rasmussen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Kristen received her bachelor’s degree in meteorology and mathematics as well as music from the University of Miami. She then attended the University of Washington where she was awarded her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Sciences. Afterwards, Kristen conducted postdoctoral research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research before joining the faculty at Colorado State University. She has received a number of awards and honors in her career, including the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Science from the Desert Research Institute, the College of the Environment Outstanding Community Impact Award from the University of Washington, and the Very Early Career Award from the American Meteorological Society’s Mesoscale Processes Conference. In addition, she was recently awarded the Graduate Mentoring and Advising Award from Colorado State University as well as the George T. Abell Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award from the College of Engineering at Colorado State University. In our interview, Kristen tells us more about her life and science.

[Read more…] about 851: Dr. Kristen Rasmussen: Examining Extreme Weather Events and Earth’s Most Intense Storms

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Dr. Dave Jackson is Professor of Plant Genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Leeds and was awarded his PhD from the John Innes Institute. Afterwards, Dave conducted research as a NATO and USDA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Plant Gene Expression Center in Berkeley, CA, before joining the faculty at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1997. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2018. In our interview, Dave shares more about his life and science.

[Read more…] about 850: Dr. Dave Jackson: Investigating the Biology and Genetics of Plant Growth, Form, and Cellular Communication

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Dr. Joyce Ohm is an Associate Professor of Oncology in the Department of Cancer Genetics and Genomics at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She was awarded her PhD in Cancer Biology from Vanderbilt University. Afterwards, Joyce conducted postdoctoral research in oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty at Roswell Park, she served on the faculty at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In our interview Joyce tells us more about her life and science.

[Read more…] about 849: Dr. Joyce Ohm: Examining the Role of Epigenomics in Development and Disease

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Dr. Bryan Cassone is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Biology at Brandon University in Canada. Bryan received his B.Sc. in biology, specializing in environmental science, from the University of Western Ontario, his M.Sc. in integrative biology from the University of Guelph, and his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame. After completing his PhD, Bryan conducted postdoctoral research at the Corn, Soybean, & Soft Wheat Unit at the United States Department of Agriculture. Next, he was a CAPS Herta Camera Gross Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Plant Pathology at Ohio State University. He joined the faculty at Brandon University in 2015. In this interview, Bryan shares more about his life and science.

[Read more…] about 848: Dr. Bryan Cassone: Exploring Molecular Entomology from Pervasive Pests to Plastic-Eating Caterpillars

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Dr. Natalia Vergara is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Natalia received her B.S. in biochemistry from the National University of the Litoral in Argentina. She worked as an instructor and research intern at the National University of Entre Ríos for about three years before beginning graduate school. Natalia was awarded her PhD in retinal regenerative biology from Miami University in Ohio. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She served as a Research Associate Faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for about two years before joining the faculty at the University of Colorado. Natalia has received awards for research and for mentoring, including the Ruben Adler Research Award from the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2012, and she was selected as an Emerging Vision Scientist to participate in the Third Annual EVS day on Capitol Hill by the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research in 2017. In our interview, Natalia tells us more about her life and science.

[Read more…] about 847: Dr. Natalia Vergara: Scientist with Her Sights Set on Using Stem Cells to Study and Treat Retinal Degeneration

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Dr. Randy Blakely is a Professor of Biomedical Science at Florida Atlantic University and Executive Director of the Florida Atlantic University Brain Institute. Randy received his B.A. in Philosophy from Emory University and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He next conducted postdoctoral research at the Yale/Howard Hughes Medical Institute Center for Molecular Neuroscience. Randy was an investigator and faculty member at Emory University and Vanderbilt University before accepting his current position at Florida Atlantic University. Randy is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his research and mentorship. He was awarded the Daniel Efron Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, two Distinguished Investigator Awards from the Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation, a MERIT Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, a Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Delores C. Shockley Partnership Award in recognition of minority trainee mentorship, as well as the Astellas Award in Translational Pharmacology and the Julius Axelrod Award both from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. Randy joins us in this episode to talk more about his life and science.

[Read more…] about 846: Dr. Randy Blakely: Studying the Genetics and Mechanisms of Specialized Proteins in the Brain that Regulate Neurotransmission

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Dr. Nirosha J. Murugan is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics as well as Distinguished Research Chair and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University. She was awarded her B.S. in behavioral neuroscience, her M.S. in biophysics, and her PhD in biomolecular sciences from Laurentian University. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. During that time, she also served as a teaching fellow at Harvard University in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. She served on the faculty at Algoma University before joining the faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2024.

Over the course of her early career, Nirosha has received numerous awards and honors including the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Development and Innovation. She was also the recipient of Rising Awards of Excellence from the Government of Ontario, the Young Professional Visionary Award from the Sault Ste Marie Chamber of Commerce, and an Optica Foundation Award to develop new optical tools to solve global health challenges. In this interview, Nirosha shares more about her life and science.

[Read more…] about 845: Dr. Nirosha Murugan: Decoding the Role of Biophysical Signals in Health and Disease

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Dr. Sonia Contera is an Associate Professor of Biological Physics at the University of Oxford Physics Department, and a Research Fellow of Green Templeton College. She is also the author of the recently released book Nano comes to Life. Sonia received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid. She attended graduate school at Beijing Languages and Culture University and subsequently worked as a researcher at the Czech Academy of Sciences. Sonia was then awarded a Japanese Government Monbushō scholarship to attend Osaka University where she received her PhD in Applied Physics. Next, Sonia was awarded an E.U. Fellowship to Japan at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research SANKEN at Osaka University. Prior to coming to Oxford in 2003, she served as a Research Assistant Professor at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Centre at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. In 2008, Sonia founded the Oxford Martin Institute of Nanoscience for Medicine at the Oxford Martin School. In our interview, Sonia shares more about her life and science.

[Read more…] about 844: Dr. Sonia Contera: Applying Physics and Nanotechnology to Understand Mechanics and Shape in Biological Systems