Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza was born and raised in Peru, where she learned about the use of plants in traditional medicine from her grandmother. She moved to the US when she turned 18 to pursue a double degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and then a PhD in Chemical Biology in which she focused on natural products that come from nature, specifically from microbes. She just finished 4 years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza collaborated with scientists from six research teams representing 23 institutions in seven countries to map the extreme microbes that live in the Boiling River of the Peruvian Amazon and investigate how the microbes’ DNA evolved to be able to thrive in the extremely hot water and soil, and whether any of the molecules produced by these extremophiles could be useful to humans. They are completing the first large-scale biodiversity assessment of the Boiling River and have found microbes previously undescribed in science. She is also collaborating on a project studying the medicinal use of honey from stingless bees in the Amazon.
While exploring the work of Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza I saw how understanding the biology of extremophiles – microbes that live in extreme conditions – can help human society. Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza’s work is communicating the importance of incorporating microbial studies in conservation efforts, so we can protect these diverse ecosystems that are home to microbes that could play important roles in medicine and bioremediation.
You can follow Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @rosavespinoza
Curated by Melody Schmid, Introduction to Biology instructor.
Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza shares what she learned about traditional medicine from her grandmother, her work along the Boiling River in Peru, the importance of working with local communities, and science communication and education.
National Geographic Explorer Rosa Vásquez Espinoza's latest work involves taking a closer look at stingless bees near Iquitos in Peru’s northern Amazon, and how their consumption of medicinal flora produces medicinal honey.
Dr. Fatima Rivas is Salvadorian and grew up in a family of immigrants in Los Angeles. She got her bachelor's degree at CSU Dominguez Hills and then her PhD at UC San Diego. Dr. Rivas says she was born as a chemist. Dr. Rivas did cancer research at Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital and is now an Organic Chemistry Professor at Louisiana State University (LSU).
Dr. Rivas has studied acute lymphoblastic leukemia for over seven years after one of her cousins passed away because of it. She now studies an aggressive form of breast cancer called triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Dr. Rivas is a natural products chemist that uses technology to build on our ancestors' use of nature as a remedy to treat diseases. She collaborated with a colleague in Puerto Rico to study extracts from the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum and identified a mushroom compound that is a promising new TNBC treatment.
I found Dr. Rivas study very important since my mom had breast cancer before and has to be taking a pill daily for almost the rest of her life. I also learned that Dr. Rivas was raised in Los Angeles and I also was raised in Los Angeles and lived there for 10 years. This biologist's work can make a great difference in the world.
Curated by Butte College Introduction to Biology student and future preschool teacher.
In this video with the LSU President, Rivas discusses her path to cancer researcher, natural products chemistry, how each person and cancer subtype are different and will require specialized treatments, and her commitment to advocating for women and underrepresented minorities in STEM.
As an undergrad at Reed College Morgan Vague studied 300 strains of bacteria and found that 20 out of the 300 different kinds of bacteria contained the enzyme lipase. Lipase is a fat digesting enzyme that can digest plastic. Vague discovered that 3 of the 20 bacteria strains had a high level of lipase and that they could digest PET plastic.
While reading Vague’s research article "Environmental Consortium Containing Pseudomonas and Bacillus Species Synergistically Degrades Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastic" I learned that bacteria can have a direct effect on the health of our planet. I also learned that her research has huge implications for what we can do to combat pollution. Vague discovered that we can have bacteria digest plastic, so this might be one of the solutions we have been looking for to break down plastics in our oceans and landfills! As a supporter of going green, this is some of the most amazing and beneficial research I have ever seen. Who knew bacteria were so amazing?
Curated by Introduction to Biology student Tori Deluca
Morgan Vague describes her research with microbiologist Jay Mellies on bacteria that have evolved the unexpected ability to eat plastic -- and how they could help us solve our growing pollution problem.
Jeanette Davis was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. Jeanette Davis was first exposed to marine biology as an intern student at Hampton University where she lived on a sailboat for 1 month while they explored the Chesapeake Bay. She earned her B.S degree in Marine and Environmental Science from Hampton University. She then went on to earn her PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Recently Davis was helped discover a bacterium associated with a Hawaiian sea slug that produces an anticancer compound. Jeanette Davis has contributed to many different aspects of Marine biology and has significantly contributed nationally and internationally.
During Davis’s PhD she studied a Hawaiian sea slug that was associated with a bacterium containing anticancer compounds. In an interview for the NOAA 50th Oral History Project Jeanette Davis explained how the anticancer properties worked. Apoptosis is a natural body process that kills the bad cells within your body. At times your body can't kill those bad cells therefore they clump together creating tumors that can become cancerous. When your body isn't able to perform apoptosis the bacterium the sea slug has reverses that. Then it will allow for the cells to die naturally instead of them forming together and creating a mass. That is the easiest way of putting this process but I can assume there are more complex details that go into it. Another question the interviewer asked is why isn't this on the news and being used in the medical field. Davis's first issue is she doesn't want to take advantage of that natural resource and affect the natural resource and its biodiversity. There is a supply issue, while the compound is promising you need enough of it to go through clinical trials which is an issue. She is trying to take it from its environment and clone it and create it in a lab so that it can be mass produced. Finding a way to ethically create this anti cancer compound is in the works for her but is something that can take many years.
Something that I learned through my biologist biography is that there are anti cancer compounds out there. I never would have imagined that marine biology scientists would be the ones to find anticancer compounds. When you think of marine biology you imagine them preserving nature and maintaining biodiversity not discovering possible cures for cancer. I found her insight and knowledge on it very fascinating. I thought a cure for cancer was impossible and to know that there is a sea slug in Hawaii that contains those properties is very empowering. We are technologically advancing and with each year we are becoming more advanced and knowledgeable which gives me hope for cancer research in the future.
Curated by Introduction to BIology student Ava Haman
Charlotte Roughton is a third-year Microbiology PhD student at Newcastle University. Newcastle University is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. Charlotte Roughton is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Paula Salgado where she is researching the molecular mechanisms of Clostridiodes difficile sporulation. Charlotte received her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Master of Science in Biosciences at Durham University. Charlotte explains on her website that during her masters research, she researched the Helicobacter pylori nickel-responsive regulator as a candidate carbon dioxide senor using in vitro biochemical techniques. H. pylori is a common type of bacteria that infects your stomach that can cause open sores, or peptic ulcers, in your upper digestive tract. For her thesis, "Identification of a candidate CO2 sensor from Helicobacter pylori" Charlotte had been working specifically on proteins of the pathogen that regulates the transcription of genes.
C. diff is a bacterial pathogen, a microorganism that causes a disease due to the absence of other healthy gut microbes. When taking a prescribed antibiotic for common bacterial infections, you run into the risk of disrupting the healthy bacteria needed for daily functioning. When this happens, the bacterial microorganism known as C. diff is able to potentially cause an infection. C. diff is known to be an extremely hard bacteria to kill, as it has become resistant to many common antibiotics today. The reason Charlotte is specifically interested in researching spores is because spores are what C. diff uses to spread to others. These spores are transferred and spread, like most diarrheal diseases, through surface contact.
By researching spores, Charlotte is specifically interested in finding alternative treatments to C. diff that do not require antibiotics. Charlotte shares that there are only three antibiotics in use to treat C. diff. This is a problem, as access and antibiotic resistance can both play an eventual factor in the availability of these treatments. Not only that, but antibiotics disrupting the natural flora only feeds into the vicious cycle of C. diff. By treating the infection, you are concurrently killing off the needed, healthy bacteria in the gut. Charlotte explains, in this doodled under 3 minute video, that by studying spores, there is a chance of developing treatment without the use of antibiotics. By eliminating the transmission route, not allowing it to form spores, it cannot spread to others.
While researching Charlotte, I had found out that she has a passion for combining the two worlds of art and science together. She often likes to cross-stitch with her mom (adorable!) and started making her own science-themed cross stitch patterns. I found her Etsy shop, Stitching Science, and I’m actually obsessed with her work. It’s so creative!
Something that really stood out to me on researching her was that she is autistic. Its always amazing to see neurodivergents like me and always makes me feel like I'm able to do things just like them. Charlotte shares her struggles and successes being a Neurodivergent Woman in STEM. Charlotte was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2, and while she faced challenges socially throughout her early academic years, she now speaks about the self-acceptance she so well deserves. Life wasn't easy for her being autistic, she said she was lucky to be diagnosed so early as it gave her an explanation on why she was different. People bullied her down and made her struggle, even into her adulthood and in college. She would grow to love herself when she got to her masters and started to treat herself how she deserved to be treated. In her Neurodivergent in STEM article, Charlotte is quoted as saying, “I think being autistic is an asset – it has shaped who I am as a person, and makes me a better scientist.”
Curated by two Introduction to Biology students: Leeah Barrett and a second student planning to transfer to UC Davis to study Psychology and Cognitive Science.
Charles Henry Turner was born in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He would be selected as the valedictorian of his high school class and earn his B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Cincinnati, becoming the first African-American to be granted a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Becoming a high school teacher, he would research various animals from ants to crustaceans in his free time.
Turner's best example of his work would be his studies of color and pattern vision in the honey bee. In these experiments, he would design different colored disks and colored boxes. In this, he tried to find if bees can distinguish colors and patterns. He showed that bees learned to equate different colors with a reward. He also provided analyses of the behaviors of other bees, ants, wasps, and caterpillars.
While researching his work, I found that although most of his work was seen as big and important things today, he wasn't given credit for a lot of it. This includes the honey bee navigation and close-up orientation and a bunch of other studies on other insect species.
Curated by a Butte College computer science major.
Sean Vidal Edgerton, a science illustrator, scientist, and educator, is driven by his passion to combine the two worlds of art and science. Edgerton identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and has dedicated his studies to natural history, biodiversity, conservation and visual communication. Edgerton creates his illustrations with the purpose to create art within the field of science, to create awareness, inclusivity and education. Edgerton studied both Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Plant Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. Then went on to complete his graduate program in Science Illustration at CSU Monterey Bay. Since his educational career Edgerton has worked as a Wildlife Illustrator in Madagascar, an entomological Illustrator at the Smithsonian, art instructor at Filoli Historic Gardens as well as with the National Park Service. Edgerton has worked as a Scientific Illustrator, Evolutionary Virologist, and Marine Mammal Necropsy Assistant at the California Academy of Sciences. Finally Edgerton has gone back to school at the University of British Columbia as a Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Studies. Edgerton has truly combined the aspects of science and art to promote awareness and education.
Edgerton performed his first whale necropsy on a Bryde’s Whale alongside other scientists and volunteers in 2017. A deceased tropical whale had washed up on the beach in San Francisco and no one knew why. That is where Edgerton and the rest of the team of scientists and volunteers come into play. Edgerton is an evolutionary virologist and while performing a necropsy on a deceased whale is a grim task it is his job to look at evolution in real time and discover why things die. To determine the cause of death the team looks for a variety of different indicators. First they look at the fecal samples and parasites, if there are any inside the body. Then they inspect the auditory bulla, a tiny structure in the back of the whale's skull. They also look for the whale's ear wax plugs, which may or may not be present. But if they do find earwax the team is able to identify important information like the gender of the whale which is based on buildups of certain hormones. Edgerton is even able to determine the age of the whale. Edgerton describes predicting the whale's age to counting rings within a tree trunk.
Since his first whale necropsy Edgerton has taken part in about 20 whale necropsies. Recently 10-14 gray whales have washed up in the Bay Area. When an event where a high number of whales wash up ashore in a short period of time in the same geographic area the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program refers to the phenomenon as an unusual mortality event (UME). Edgerton and his team still do not know the cause of the UME but information from previous UMEs are major aids in their research. During the 1999 UME, Edgerton was a child and got to see the event first hand. His mother called him out of school to go see the whale that washed up in Long Beach. 10 year old Edgerton saw the effects of the first UME, who would've thought he would be working on them 20 years later. His interest in whale necropsy and UME all blossomed from this event and became a turning point in Edgerton's life and career.
On top of his career in whale necropsies Edgerton also is a talented artist drawing illustrations of endangered and newly discovered plants. Something that I learned while researching my biologist biography was Edgerton's great knowledge in incorporating his passion for science and art. Edgerton's incredible abilities in art help create awareness and education for endangered and newly discovered plants and animals. His sketches bring a visual element to the research of different plant and animal species and provide a new outlet to learn about these new and endangered species. Another thing I learned through my research was his work with whale necropsies. You can tell different things like the whales age, gender and stress levels all from their ear wax plugs. Who would've known you could determine all of those characteristics just from the whales ear wax plug? Overall Edgerton's work is extremely unique and is not the typical career path you imagine when you go into the science field. Regardless he is incredibly accomplished and has established himself as a prominent individual within the science community.
Curated by Introduction to Biology student Ava Haman