Hello New Friends!
Welcome, and thanks for joining me for my inaugural post.
To get things going, I'd like to lay out my vision for what you can expect to find here. But first, to provide some context, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Eric, and I am a biological chemist. I was the kid in school who thought it was cool to look at stuff under the microscope in biology lab. I wasn't grossed out by dissections. I was genuinely excited that day in chem lab when we got to "play" with molecular modeling kits. If you're reading this, I'm guessing there's a good chance you were also "that kid". But this blog will be a place where those of us microscope-gazing, molecular-modeling junkies can coexist with our friends who may not have found those things so inspiring. So for those readers who consider themselves less scientifically inclined, I will aim to provide content that you will find accessible, interesting, and pertinent to your life and your world. To the practicing scientists, before you leave and never come back, please understand that I'll be sure to draw on material from the most recent scientific publications and leading research sources.
In college (early 2000s), I realized that I wanted to approach the study of biology using the tools of the chemist. Like many burgeoning undergraduate researchers experiencing these strange new feelings and urges, I found that the most natural outlet was synthetic chemistry. I obtained my B.S. with a solid set of skills in the chemical sciences, but I wanted to branch out and start addressing more biological questions. So, I made the somewhat drastic life decision to obtain my Ph.D., which I completed in 2010. My work focused on growing bacteria, extracting their cells and the stuff they grew in, and discovering new and interesting chemical compounds - natural products - that they produced while they were growing. To cap off my thesis, I chemically synthesized one of the molecules I discovered. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher and I've continued to focus on the discovery of interesting compounds made by bacteria, but this time around with a much healthier dose of biology. You could say that as a graduate student, I did biological-chemistry and that I now do biological-chemistry. Either way, I've become enamored with the very cool things bacteria can do and the amazing chemicals they produce. One of the main points of this blog will be to bring a smattering of these very cool things to your attention.
In addition to waxing scientific, I also plan to report on and discuss matters of policy and politics as they pertain to the scientific enterprise. I am fully aware that many science blogs exist that focus very intently on scientific research funding and the flaming hoops and hurdles that scientists must negotiate in order to obtain said funding. Sure, I will probably write about these things every once in a while. But I have no intention of limiting the conversation to this narrow topic. Regardless, scientific research in the US is inextricably linked to the actions government takes regarding its funding and execution, and if the economic, legislative, and electoral history of recent times has taught us anything, it's that scientists and the public alike need to stay on top of what the rules are, what our elected officials are doing and saying, and how taxpayer dollars are being spent. This blog will attempt to address issues like these and will always welcome a robust discussion.
"Spent Media"
For those readers versed in the trades of microbiology and natural product chemistry, you probably already get the joke imbedded in the name of this blog. For everyone else, I will, for this one time only, be lame and explain my attempt at science blog humor. (Note: Unlikely that this is the only time I will be lame.) When bacteria are cultured in the lab, they have to be grown in or on something, and this "something" must contain the nutrients and other various chemical substances the bacteria need to live and grow. Whether on a solid surface in a petri dish or in big flasks of sloshing liquid, the "something" that the bacteria are on/in is called media. For chemists like myself, the "goods" - the molecules the bacteria make during growth - are usually dispersed into the media. By the time we get to extracting these fascinating compounds, the bacteria have used up much of the nutrients that were present originally. The media is said to be "spent". It might be used up bacterial juice to some, but folks like myself make a living off of it. One bug's trash is another man's treasure, as the saying goes. Sound gross? What if I told you, for example, that many life saving antibiotics are extracted out of spent media? (And yes, I am telling you that.) Not so bad now, right? I'll spend a lot of time on this blog talking about interesting things that were probably pulled out of spent media. To play the title from another angle, I'll spend a decent amount of time talking about science as it is portrayed in the media, by the media, and by politicians and policy leaders. BOOM. Mind blown.
Communicating Science
If there is one thing that scientists and non-scientists alike always (or I hope - very often - at least) agree on, it's that modern science can have huge societal impacts and should therefore be communicated to society-at-large as frequently, thoroughly, and clearly as is possible. As an academic scientist, I've sat through many a seminar where an august speaker vociferously declares that "we must do a better job communicating what we do to the public", generally to a room full of heads nodding in affirmation. Then, we all get up and leave the room feeling pumped, ready to go and shout our latest experimental results to the masses that have gathered, anxiously waiting to hear how we saved the world from our lab bench this week. You all know what I'm talking about, right? Anybody??? Perhaps in an ideal, yet somewhat creepy world, this is true. But we all really know how it works. Dr. Famous Scientist from Big University publishes a paper that suggests that, using their new drug, patients with Life Threatening Disease are likely to live 15% longer than some control group. Then, on the local news that evening, the headline reads, "Dr. Famous Scientist finds cure for Life Threatening Disease!". [For the scientists who continue to watch the broadcast, we know that the news anchor will eventually mispronounce the name of the new drug, causing us to cringe and slap our foreheads.]
So, what's my point? There are several.
1. Communicating science to the public is hard.
2. Many, perhaps most, scientists aren't very good at it doing point #1 (Folks, you know this is true...)
3. There aren't always good avenues for doing the communicating.
4. The avenues that do exist are not on the radar for most people. In fact, even if they were, and even if we suppose that most people would genuinely be interested in attending, say, a seminar that is open to the public, this likely does not fall to the top of the list of "things to do this saturday". (Oh, look honey! Dr. Famous Scientist will be speaking at Big University about his new drug that cures Life Threatening Disease. I am definitely going to drive 45 minutes and then pay to park to hear this dude!)
Does this sound cynical? Maybe a little bit. Are folks on both sides of the equation a little cynical with regard to these issues? Probably just a tad. Heck, if you are a politician, then possibly you are very cynical, or at least appear to be if the political winds are blowing in a certain direction. Is my ego so huge that I think that starting a science/policy-and-everyone-is-welcome blog will fix the problem? Most certainly not. But if I accomplish what I hope to in this space, then perhaps I can at least chip away a teeny tiny bit of the perceived barrier between scientists and the rest of humanity. All I ask is that you, my new friends, check back with me every once in a while, ask questions, make suggestions for new posts, and join the conversation.
Lastly, this is a long post. I appreciate brevity just as much as the next guy. I'll keep it neat, clean, and to the point for now on.
Thanks for joining me.
- @EJDimise
- @EJDimise
(Now go add this to your bookmarks!)
