One year update
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
- I can’t believe it’s (almost) been a full academic year as a visiting professor at St. Mary’s College of California! Today’s the last day of classes and then it’s just finals (and finalizing assignments) for the students, and then grading (lots and lots of grading…) for me. I have had an amazing time these last 10-ish months, thanks to amazing students, fantastic and supportive colleagues, and the awesomeness that is biochemistry. There were definitely ups and downs, and some rocky points as I worked to find my stride, but I really feel like I’ve matured a lot as a person and a teacher. It’s weird - I can notice a real change in my sort of internal voice, finding myself being a lot more deliberate and teacher-ish in how I approach explaining things (including trying to talk slower!) bit.ly/oneyearteaching
Although I love almost all of biochemistry, I somewhat surprisingly found myself most enjoying teaching metabolism. I say “somewhat surprisingly” because metabolism was always one of those topics that scared me because it just seemed so complex (& I never took an in-depth metabolic biochemistry course, learning mostly on my own instead). Approaching metabolic biochemistry after years of scientific training really helped me appreciate it in a whole new light. I realized that, similar to o-chem, there are lots of reactions & mechanisms - but, if you focus on the core themes & principles & are able to follow diagrams, you can really intuit & induce a lot!
Speaking of metabolism… although in class we focus mostly on human metabolism, my research interests have actually pulled my lab & I towards microbial metabolism. You might remember I had planned originally to study translation and develop cheap ways to do so. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of my independent research students Haley and Bobby, that project wasn’t really working out. So, just like metabolism does, we adapted!
Through various channels in the undergraduate biochemistry education community (including at the ASBMB’s national DiscoverBMB conference I had the privilege of attending), I learned about the Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs community. More on the CUREs aspect in a minute, but let’s start with the malate dehydrogenase part. Malate dehydrogenase or, as its friends call it, MDH, is a central metabolic enzyme throughout all life forms. If the name rings a bell, you might be recalling its role in the citric acid cycle (TCA/Krebs), or maybe even its job shuttle electrons into the mitochondria in the malate aspartate shuttle, or perhaps its role in getting carbons from the TCA into gluconeogenesis. MDH also helps w/redox balance (think oxidative stress protection) & helps coordinate a lot of things.
Different organisms have MDH’s w/conserved functions but different cool adaptations and thus there are lots of undergraduate teachers who study it with their students - both as their own research lab focus & as part of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), which are authentic research experiences that take place as part of the lab portion of a class. This CUREs format lowers the barrier to access to research and helps all students get a flavor of how cool it can be - perhaps even helps them see themselves as scientists!
This is all my long-winded way of saying that, wanting to get involved, I started thinking about unique MDH angles. And wanting to find a little niche. Ideally, it would also mesh w/my (modest) ambition to help the world. I proposed several angles to my students & Haley was the one who really jumped on the “bioremediation” aspect. Bioremediation refers to using living organisms (such as bacteria or plants) to clean up the environment. I found some potential links between MDH & the bioremediation of heavy metals. And, then we were off. First step, finding some bacteria that could perform an environmental “detox.”
Following some literature leads (and after several dead ends), we came across the bacterium Bacillus safensis, which is known to often inhabit extreme environments - in fact, the “first” strain of it was originally discovered in a NASA facility! We obtained some uncharacterized strains from a public collection, & started screening them for their ability to reduce levels of the highly-toxic heavy metal chromium VI (Cr(VI)) to its much less-toxic form, Cr(III). And, Haley & Bobby found some! Using a cool colorimetric (color-based) assay (test) in which you mix a chemical called DPC with a solution and any Cr(VI) present will react with the DPC and make a purple product. One of the most exciting moments in the lab was when Haley added the DPC to the Cr(VI)-spiked media (broth) the bacteria had been growing in & saw no color change! Indicating the bacteria had removed all the Cr(VI)!!!!
Unfortunately, these findings came right at the end of the semester. Thankfully in time for Haley& Bobby to present at SMC's student research symposium*, but not in time for much follow up. Finished in comments 
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Fortunately, the summer research program (SRP) starts in a couple weeks and I will have 2 full-time students on the case! One student will work on further characterizing the strains we found, screening more, and optimizing their bioremediation potential (for Cr and other things). The other student will start looking deep under the hood at what’s going on metabolically in these microbes, especially with regards to MDH. We will study the role of MDH in the metabolic adaptations that the bacteria go through as they adjust to the presence of stressors like heavy metals. And, in vitro, we’ll work with the purified MDH protein to further inspect any structural adaptations it has.
This will help lay the groundwork for starting MDH-based CUREs in my biochemistry classes in the fall! I’m incredibly grateful that I received a training fellowship from the MDH CUREs community (MCC) to get training, resources, and support from a highly-experienced group of MDH researchers/undergraduate teachers to help me as I do so.
*Going back to the research symposium, it was one of my proudest moments as a scientist to see my students present their research so beautifully and passionately! They truly made me proud!
Back to the core teaching stuff, though, I definitely learned a lot my first year about what is and isn’t effective when it comes to assignments, activities, etc. I know I wasn’t perfect, but I tried my best to learn as I go, learning lots from my students and adapting to best help them learn. I am so grateful that I will have a “round 2” opportunity next year to further improve, based on what I’ve learned this year. Unfortunately, that does mean more work adapting things, but it shouldn’t be as overwhelming as starting all over again! (At least I hope). I have no disillusions that it will be easy, of course, but I do know it will be worth it.
Humongous thanks to everyone at SMC, especially my students and the school of science, for their support, encouragement, patience, and awesomeness this year! To my students - I will truly miss you, but know you’re off to bigger and brighter things! And thank you to my postdoc advisor Dr. Danica Fujimori for supporting my transition and even coming to talk to my students about grad school, etc!
And a ginormous thanks to my family who has always supported me and loved me unconditionally. I never could have done it without you.
And I likely couldn’t have done it without the IUBMB as well! If it weren’t for that chance encounter with President Newton in a hotel lobby at an ASBMB meeting, I don’t know if I’d have had the confidence and/or resources to get to where I am today. The IUBMB helped me find my voice and spread my love of biochemistry around the world. I am truly and forever grateful! And sincerely apologize I’ve been slacking on these Bri-fings - let’s just say it’s been quite the busy year!
just found your channel!! pcr videos are super helpful!
You are surely an excellent teacher
Thank you!
Do you have a vid on bacteria fermentation? (Specifically lactobacillus species)
No, sorry!