Episode 1: Introduction

The host of the Six Stories Podcast, Serena, shares her background and interests. She discusses the importance of scientific discoveries and medical advancements in improving our quality of life and increasing life expectancy. Serena talks about her experience in the pharmaceutical research industry and her current pursuit of a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology. She explains her research on inflammation and neutrophils and how she is investigating the role of integrins in the recruitment of these immune cells. Serena also mentions her interest in public speaking and hopes that the podcast will help her improve her skills. She shares her hobbies, such as hiking, running, yoga, and her love for movies and music. The episode ends with an interesting fact about the development of penicillin by Alexander Fleming and a preview of the next episode on insulin. Hey guys, welcome to the Six Stories Podcast, focusing on scientific discoveries throughout history, from the lab to the world. I'm your host, Serena. Hello everyone, welcome to the Six Stories Podcast. I'm your host, Serena. So for the first episode, I will be giving you an introduction of my job history, my research background, my current position, why these topics interest me, some of my hobbies, and most importantly, why am I doing this podcast? So I'll begin with the reason why I'm doing this podcast. Well, I've always had an interest in both science and history. I tell myself if I wasn't a scientist, I would be a historian. There is so much that we owe to scientific discoveries. And a fun fact is, according to the National Academic Press, in 2023, the average life expectancy for humans is 76.4 years. When we compare that to 1950, for men, the average life expectancy was 66.5 years, and for women, it was 71.8 years. When we go even further back in 1900, the average life expectancy was 47 years. So as you can see, we owe a lot to scientific discoveries and medical advancements. Not only have they prolonged our lifespan, but we also have an improved quality of life. So now I would like to share a little bit of my background. I graduated from university with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, and I decided to work in the pharmaceutical research industry. I worked at a local contract research organization in the flow cytometry lab for about three and a half years. There, I worked on clinical trial studies, which focused on CAR T-cell therapy for patients with lymphoma, leukemia, and other B-cell malignancies. Afterwards, after the three and a half years, I decided to branch out, and I worked in the bioanalysis department, where I performed ELISA analysis, as well as toxico and pharmacokinetic assays. While I was working in the company, I also decided to pursue my master's degree. So in two years, I graduated with my Master of Science in drug discovery and development. Afterwards, I had two paths that I could go to. I could either stay within the company and move up that way, or I could go back to university and pursue my Ph.D. After discussion with my friends and family, I decided to apply for a Ph.D. program. Ultimately, I was accepted, and currently, I am a second-year Ph.D. student, and the title of my program is Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, which is shortened to CMPP. Throughout the lectures that I've had, I've learned so many cool and fun scientific facts that I have taken with me for the rest of my academic career. Some of my current research focuses on inflammation, and I will go ahead and give you guys a little short synopsis of what I'm researching in the lab. Well, first, let me explain that in the first year of my doctoral program, students are able to rotate in two labs. So in the fall, when I did my first lab, my research focused on hippocampal neurons and long-term potentiation and how this leads to cognitive effects in patients with Parkinson's disease. It was such a cool experience, and I decided to do another lab rotation, which focused on inflammation and neutrophils. Ultimately, in May, I decided to choose my advisor or my principal investigator or PI, and now my research for my dissertation ultimately focuses on inflammation. So basically, everyone has an immune system which oversees and protects our bodies from bacteria and viruses. The immune system has the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. When the immune system is improperly working, infection develops, and inflammation occurs as a response to damages or injury to our tissues. So one type of cells that we mainly focus on are neutrophils, which are the first line of defense in inflammation, and they are a type of leukocyte that is recruited towards the site of inflammation. They engulf and kill bacteria through phagocytosis and degranulation. These neutrophils need to transmigrate from the peripheral blood to the endothelial layer towards the site of inflammation, and this process is mainly dependent on integrins, which are the adhesion molecules that are attached to these immune cells. So overall, my research focuses on these integrins and how they are activated and the cascade that occurs when inflammation is triggered. Basically, we have these neutrophils that are recruited through our blood vessels to the site of inflammation, our cytotoxic species, or tissue damage. So I am looking at two specific proteins. There's TALEN1 and KINLIN3, and I'm basically investigating how these two proteins work together to recruit these neutrophils. So another reason why I am choosing to do this podcast is I'm hoping that it will help me with my public speaking skills. As a PhD student, we do a lot of public speaking and we do a lot of presentations, and just like everyone else, I get really nervous. Some of my flaws include talking too fast or stuttering, so I'm hoping that this podcast will help me better my public speaking skills. I've always been inspired by my other friends who have podcasts, and it's always been something that I've been interested in. So I can describe some of my activities, some of my hobbies that I like to do outside of school. So I really like to hike. I really like to run. I've done two half marathons so far. My ultimate goal before I turn 30 is to run a full marathon. What else about me? I really enjoy yoga. Yoga is such a calming activity for me, and I love doing it when I'm stressed. I'm also a huge fan of Pilates and CrossFit. I enjoy running and hiking with my six-year-old golden retriever named Benji. He's my life. I've my life. I've had him since he was eight weeks old. I'm also a huge cinephile. I love movies. My favorite movie of all time is Taxi Driver, and I'm a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino movies. Some of my other favorite directors include Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan. Other than that, I'm also very, very into music. I love all genres of music, so I could go on and on about that. But that's about it for me, and I will leave you with an interesting fact. So in September of 1928, Alexander Fleming developed penicillin, which ended up being such a lifesaver, a lifesaving antibiotic, which combated infectious diseases and saved millions of lives. Okay, that's about it for this first episode. I hope you tune in to the next episode where I will discuss insulin. The title is Man's Best Medicine, How Dogs Helped Unlock the Secrets of Insulin. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you will tune in for next week. Bye-bye. you