Human Behavior

Commentary: Help! I have been replaced by AI. – Salt Lake Tribune

Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake TribuneReligion News Service columnist Thomas Reese speaks in Salt Lake City in 2015.

By Thomas Reese | Religion News Service

| March 27, 2023, 10:25 p.m.

After I sent a Jesuit lawyer an analysis from the Brookings Institution on how rapid advances in artificial intelligence could revolutionize the legal profession, he got even by asking ChatGPT to write a column on AI, written in the style of Thomas Reese, SJ.

Ive appended it below, with mixed feelings: It is a good first draft, but thankfully my editor tells me I will not be replaced by an AI. Even if it does, theres an upside: The AI could continue cranking out my columns long after I am dead. I may lose my job, but I would be immortal.

Since Ive been writing weekly columns for more than 20 years, the AI program, which draws from relevant writing already available on the internet, had lots of data to mine. Its analysis, too, is nuanced and raises important ethical issues.

Notably missing from Chat GPTs analysis, however, is any commentary from the Vatican and Pope Francis about AI, which I would have included.

At a meeting in the Vatican in January, according to Catholic News Service, Francis told tech leaders to ensure that the discriminatory use of these instruments does not take root at the expense of the most fragile and excluded. It is not acceptable that the decision about someones life and future be entrusted to an algorithm.

The pope hoped that the technology would be used at the service of the common good of all and the care of the common home.

At the end of the conference, according to CNS, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim representatives signed a declaration calling on AI researchers to engage with ethicists and religious leaders to develop a framework for the ethical use of AI.

They called for the development of an artificial intelligence that serves every person and humanity as a whole; that respects the dignity of the human person, so that every individual can benefit from the advances of technology; and that does not have as its sole goal greater profit or the gradual replacement of people in the workplace.

Below is the column by ChatGPT in the style of Thomas Reese, SJ., unedited:

As a Jesuit priest, I have always believed that our human capacity for reason and thought is one of the greatest gifts that we have been given. In the last few decades, however, we have witnessed a new and powerful tool emerge: artificial intelligence (AI). While AI has undoubtedly brought about a host of benefits, it has also given rise to concerns about its impact on human dignity and autonomy.

On one hand, AI has enabled us to make tremendous strides in fields such as medicine, transportation, and communication. From self-driving cars to virtual assistants, the technology has made our lives easier and more efficient. AI has also helped us to better understand complex systems and to make more accurate predictions about everything from the weather to financial markets.

However, as we embrace the benefits of AI, we must also be cautious about its potential negative consequences. One of the most pressing concerns is the impact of AI on human work and employment. As machines become increasingly capable of performing complex tasks, many jobs that were once done by humans are being automated. This could result in significant job losses and economic upheaval, particularly for those in low-skilled jobs.

Another concern is the potential loss of human autonomy and decision-making power. As AI becomes more advanced, it may become increasingly difficult for humans to understand and control its actions. This could result in a loss of accountability and responsibility, which could have serious ethical implications.

Moreover, we must also consider the potential impact of AI on human relationships and social structures. As machines become more adept at understanding human behavior and emotions, they may be able to replace human interactions in areas such as education and healthcare. This could lead to a loss of empathy and human connection, which are essential to our sense of well-being and fulfillment.

Given these concerns, it is clear that we must approach the development and deployment of AI with caution and prudence. We must ensure that we are using this technology to enhance, rather than replace, human abilities and capacities. We must also be vigilant in our efforts to ensure that AI is used in ways that are consistent with our values and principles.

In conclusion, while AI has the potential to bring about many benefits, we must approach it with care and caution. As we continue to develop this technology, we must be mindful of its impact on human dignity, autonomy, and relationships. By doing so, we can ensure that AI is used to serve humanity, rather than the other way around.

(The views expressed in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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Commentary: Help! I have been replaced by AI. - Salt Lake Tribune

Human Behavior

The Science Behind Zombie Viruses and Infections – Health Essentials

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Zombie fiction has grown increasingly popular over the last several decades, but the origin of zombie outbreaks varies based on its source material.

In George A. Romeros cult classic Night of the Living Dead, anyone who dies turns into reanimated flesh-eating ghouls. In The Walking Dead, the zombie infestation is linked to an airborne virus that infects everyone, slows down decomposition and reactivates a persons brain stem after theyve died. A bloodborne virus is so potent in 28 Days Later that just one drop of blood or other bodily fluid is enough to send its victims into a frenzy with uncontrollable rage within mere seconds of being infected. And depending on which of the Resident Evil installments youve played, the zombie apocalypse is linked to either a centuries-old fungus or a lab-made virus capable of causing genetic mutations in anyone that comes into contact with it.

After COVID-19, the thought of a widespread pandemic that turns people into zombies is certainly plucked from the deepest corners of our most terrifying nightmares. Scientifically, theres no such thing as a zombie virus. But zombie narratives are often rooted in scientific truth about how infections spread.

Clinical microbiologist Anisha Misra, PhD, explores the science behind zombie lore and explains why everyone is up in arms right now about the potential dangers of fungal infections.

Theres a long list of zombie myths across multiple mediums. Nearly every one of them is rooted in some scientific truth:

The Last of Us is a video game-turned-HBO show in which a widespread zombie apocalypse is started by cordyceps. In the story, cordyceps is a parasitic fungus that takes over your body and causes you to infect others through fungal spores or mycelia (tendrils).

In reality, cordyceps cant infect humans but it is a parasitic fungus that infects specific types of insects in specific geographic areas. In fact, there are more than 750 species of cordyceps and each one targets a specific kind of insect. At least two of those species have potential health benefits for humans. But should we be concerned about a potential human fungal infection from cordyceps?

Its not likely that cordyceps could jump species and infect a human being in the same way the show entertains us with, says Dr. Misra. But it does bring up a valid point: Fungi can develop thermotolerance (resistance to high temperatures) and infect individuals with a higher body temperature.

In fact, this is already happening. Some fungi like Candida auris are causing new and widespread infections, presumably because global warming, higher temperatures and larger populations of people with compromised immune systems are making that more possible.

Because these fungal organisms have been able to adapt and cause infections within humans, theyve become organisms of interest, adds Dr. Misra.

Resident Evil stands out from other zombie lore because it focuses on the idea that a zombie virus can alter or change your genetic code. These alterations then lead to enormous physical mutations that forever change the person infected.

This concept is based in truth, says Dr. Misra. Viruses have a simple structure, so they cant reproduce on their own. They rely on the hosts cell machinery in order to reproduce and make more viruses. Some viruses do this by inserting their own DNA or RNA into our human cells.

But genetic mutations that occur as a result of viruses are far more subtle than zombie fiction will have you believe.

One way to think about it is to imagine each individual cell in your body like a tiny city and the nucleus of each of your cells like its own library that stores books of genetic information (DNA) and functional copies of that information (RNA) that explain how to carry out a number of biological processes.

The goal of any virus is to mass produce copies of itself, but it cant do that on its own so it needs to use libraries (your nuclei) to do the work. Viruses do this in a lot of ways, but a specific kind of virus called a retrovirus makes copies of itself by shoving its own genetic code into healthy, bound volumes of DNA. When your cells grow and multiply, this DNA is then copied over into new cells along with fragments of the retrovirus so that it can continue to be copied beyond its original infection.

And sometimes, a retrovirus will infect a germ cell (a cell that develops into a reproductive cell). When that happens, parts of the retroviral DNA can be passed down into the DNA of your offspring. Over time, what started off as a simple virus becomes a part of your actual genetic code. In fact, about 8% of our human genome is made up of inactive virus fragments.

This has happened over time for millions of years, and there are viruses that infect and integrate into our human genome, says Dr. Misra.

Some retroviruses that have the capability of altering your genetic code include:

Its important to note that while these retroviruses have lasting effects, theyre preventable and there are different treatment options for each, including vaccines, antibiotics, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and over-the-counter medication that can help with symptoms.

One common thread in all zombie fiction is how infections have an effect on your brain but are there any real-world infections that impact your ability to think clearly?

Some viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi have the ability to cause inflammation in and around the brain, especially if theyre left untreated.

When you develop meningitis, the area known as the meninges surrounding your brain and spinal cord becomes inflamed. This can lead to confusion, lack of energy, lack of appetite, hallucinations and difficulty with focus and attention.

You can also develop encephalitis, which is similar but causes inflammation in your brain itself. Encephalitis causes changes in behavior, confusion, difficulty speaking or moving, issues with memory, and seizures. The most common cause of encephalitis are viruses that include:

With encephalitis, symptoms tend to start out pretty mild but they can result in confusion, agitation or hallucinations, states Dr. Misra. It can also result in a loss of consciousness, including comas because it affects a specific region in your brain.

The rabies virus (RABV) is another thats perhaps the most well-known virus to cause behavioral changes and lead to a fatal infection. This virus spreads through a break in your skin that comes into contact with the spit (saliva) of an infected animal, most often from a bite. Once bitten, you can get a vaccine that stops the infection. But if youre not treated right away, you could experience symptoms that include:

Once the rabies virus reaches the brain, your symptoms progress through cerebral dysfunction, explains Dr. Misra. Once these clinical signs appear, the disease is nearly always fatal.

An infection caused by a zombie virus usually leads to increased decay and cell death, much like necrotizing fasciitis. In reality, necrotizing fasciitis is a flesh-eating disease that affects your muscle fascia (thin, connective tissue) under the surface of your skin and causes those tissues to die. Most often, this condition is caused by bacteria that get into your body through a break in your skin like a cut, scrape, burn or other wound.

These organisms spread very quickly, warns Dr. Misra. If youre not treated quickly with antibiotics, or the infected tissue isnt removed, you can go into a toxic shock-like syndrome that can result in sepsis and organ failure.

When you first develop this condition, the affected area may feel hot to the touch or have a burning sensation. You then develop pustules that start necrotizing or dying off, causing your skin to turn black.

Necrotizing fasciitis doesnt spread from human-to-human skin contact, but through inoculation of your skin, says Dr. Misra. That means that if you touch the infected area, you likely wont contract the infection. For the infection to spread from one person to another, the bacteria have to enter your body through an open wound.

Zombie fans familiar with 28 Days Later will remember an iconic scene in which one person gets infected by a single drop of blood that falls into their eye and thats all it takes to infect them within seconds.

Is it possible a single drop of blood could cause infection? Yes, but a lot of things would have to align in order for that to happen, says Dr. Misra. That drop of blood would have to have enough infectious particles in it in order to infect another person and the infection wouldnt spread that quickly. But if that person was immunocompromised, their chances of getting infected would be even higher.

That said, anytime healthcare providers are working with blood or other body fluid, they take necessary precautions by wearing gloves, glasses, gowns and other protective equipment to protect from possible infection. If someone were to get exposed, theyre given immediate treatment in the form of antibiotics or vaccines and tested for several potential infections like hepatitis B and HIV.

It depends on how quickly you act and on the pathogen itself, Dr. Misra continues, but a drop of blood is normally not enough to cause an infection.

You cant have zombies if you cant bring back the dead. While thats scientifically impossible (at least for now) one study is pushing the boundaries between life and death.

Yale researchers were able to restore function to cells across multiple organs in pigs that were dead for more than one hour in an effort to revive those organs after death. The results are promising, particularly in the area of organ transplants.

Currently, we transplant organs after brain death because were still able to circulate blood to keep those organs healthy, Dr. Misra explains. But in cases of sudden cardiac arrest (your heart stops beating), blood stops flowing which causes our organs to start deteriorating. If someone dies of a cardiorespiratory death, were not able to use all their organs because by the time were able to collect them, theyve gone through some sort of cell death.

Far more research is needed before this could ever be used in a clinical human trial. But the mere thought of reanimating the dead is compelling, even when you consider its uses outside of zombie fiction.

There was even some cell regeneration that took place, which means we could be collecting organs from these cardiorespiratory deaths and increase our pool up to 20% for transferrable hearts just by using this method, adds Dr. Misra.

But until more research is done, and perhaps policies in place to protect human life, this study only hints at whats possible when we leave behind fiction and begin embracing scientific exploration.

Like anything crossing these thresholds of life and death, it brings up a lot of ethical questions into play as to when we would be able to declare someone dead in order to then be able to transplant their organs, notes Dr. Misra. But its an extremely interesting study because of the magnitude of its potential for humans.

Regardless of the origin of infection and how these scientific truths inspire a multitude of zombie stories, its important to remember that a lot of infections caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi are preventable and treatable if caught early enough. If you ever do experience symptoms or are concerned, talk to a healthcare provider instead of waiting it out. Its always better to be safe than sorry.

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The Science Behind Zombie Viruses and Infections - Health Essentials

Human Behavior

Elisabeth Smolarz’s The Encyclopedia of Things The Brooklyn Rail – Brooklyn Rail

What objects best represent you? Its a question one inevitably asks oneself after perusing The Encyclopedia of Things, an exercise in identity distillation. This is a book of portraits absent of the people they represent, states Michelle Levy, who edited the tome, regarding the still life ensembles that fill the pages. Dreamed up by Polish-born New York-based artist Elisabeth Smolarz, the project began in 2014 and focuses on opening the channels of communication to the inanimate and the subconscious in conjunction with people she encounters. The project came about after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when Smolarz became fascinated by how people held onto items ruined by the catastrophe. The groupings, selected by each individual from their own belongings, are both familiar and inscrutable, peppered with a bedraggled once-plush Babar or a single Emperor tarot card or a silver chain or a Hard Rock cafe leather jacket or a New Jersey drivers license or cat art or a vintage camera (Yashica, Rolleiflex) or a cartoon-imprinted mug or old spectacles or a VHS tape or a tattered Aldous Huxley paperback or publications in French, Hebrew, German, Spanish. From some two hundred photo sessions, about half are represented in the book, and Smolarz worked with fellow artists as well as a wider range of subjects, from nurses to priests, from actors to detectives, across a global scope of locations. While these images are undeniably portraits, their subjects remain hidden until the books final pages, which feature micro biographies of the participants alongside the page number of their ensembles.

The objects selected by each participant are set against white walls, placed on tabletops or arranged on the floor. Gazed at head-on, this spotlight on the objects privileges them as totemic, a shrine to memories and endearments and souvenirs. Many are accompanied by text musings, which strive to be abstractly poetic, often muddling the objects narratives when the enigma of the juxtapositions feels like enough on its own. After all, this is not an empty-your-purse exercisethe emotional weight is evident in the sheer randomness of the objects that obviously transcend what meets the eye. (Samples include a black-and-white Peanuts storyboard starring Lucy, a balloon, pliers, a hospital armband, and a Chilean identity card; a small embroidered handbag, a beaded necklace with an oversized shell, and tiny porcelain receptacles; a black roller skate with pink wheels, a white fossil, and a wooden turtle footrest with a plush pillow shell.) These portraits function as a reexamination of a life, sifting through which causes meaningful experiences to surface and meaningful connections to be concretized via tangible tokens.

Michelle Levy recounts going to the Egyptian Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and feeling mesmerized by the sarcophagi, the lasting legacy of people from eons ago through the items that were buried with them. These people were here, now, she marveledand Smolarzs project perpetuates this gesture as a contemporary analog to an ancient practice, if in life rather than death. It is a visceral thing and primal experience to be in the presence of objects, Levy emphasized, adding that this exercise is one that captured care and identity in a way wholly specific to the individual. At its core, the project is not classically encyclopedic, and one would be remiss to apply any organizing principles on uncategorizable symbolic items that supersede function, pragmatism, need. Each object is treated individually for focus and color correction in post-production, yielding hyper-real resultsas if the objects are even more substantial and tactile thanks to the nostalgia or affection they evoke.

Levy describes Smolarzs endeavor as a personal approach to sociological inquiry. The social consequences of human behavior are not academic sociology but rather sublimated by the spiritual. Smolarz trained as a shaman and is a proponent of three schools of thought: panpsychism (the view that all things have a mind or a mind-like quality), animism (the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence, including plants, rivers, and weather systems), and object-oriented ontology (a Heidegger-influenced view that rejects the privileging of human existence over the existence of nonhuman objects). There is something quite exciting in approaching objects as meaningful encounters instead of static clutter. (I think its wonderful to have stuff and live with memories and things you enjoy, the greatand stylishly extravagantIris Apfel once said, who knows a thing or two about interesting objects.) Seeing how others have treated the task of analyzing their own objects spurs a self-reflexive impulse. In a time of both unchecked consumerism and minimalist-aspiring exorcisms, what objects truly matter to us? Its a meaningful question to reflect on and, with a heightened keen eye, you won't look at what surrounds you quite the same way afterwards.

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Elisabeth Smolarz's The Encyclopedia of Things The Brooklyn Rail - Brooklyn Rail

Human Behavior

So you want to integrate OpenAI’s bot. Here’s how that worked for software security scanner Socket – The Register

Exclusive Machine learning models are unreliable but that doesn't prevent them from also being useful at times.

Several months ago, Socket, which makes a freemium security scanner for JavaScript and Python projects, connected OpenAI's ChatGPT model (and more recently its GPT-4 model) to its internal threat feed.

The results, according to CEO Feross Aboukhadijeh, were surprisingly good. "It worked way better than expected," he told The Register in an email. "Now I'm sitting on a couple hundred vulnerabilities and malware packages and we're rushing to report them as quick as we can."

Socket's scanner was designed to detect supply chain attacks. Available as a GitHub app or a command line tool, it scans JavaScript and Python projects in an effort to determine whether any of the many packages that may have been imported from the npm or PyPI registries contain malicious code.

Aboukhadijeh said Socket has confirmed 227 vulnerabilities, all using ChatGPT. The vulnerabilities fall into different categories and don't share common characteristics.

The Register was provided with numerous examples of published packages that exhibited malicious behavior or unsafe practices, including: information exfiltration, SQL injection, hardcoded credentials, potential privilege escalation, and backdoors.

We were asked not to share several examples as they have yet to be removed, but here's one that has already been dealt with.

"There are some interesting effects as well, such as things that a human might be persuaded of but the AI is marking as a risk," Aboukhadijeh added.

"These decisions are somewhat subjective, but the AI is not dissuaded by comments claiming that a dangerous piece of code is not malicious in nature. The AI even includes a humorous comment indicating that it doesnt trust the inline comment."

Aboukhadijeh explained that the software packages at these registries are vast and it's difficult to craft rules that thoroughly plumb the nuances of every file, script, and bit of configuration data. Rules tend to be fragile and often produce too much detail or miss things a savvy human reviewer would catch.

Applying human analysis to the entire corpus of a package registry (~1.3 million for npm and ~450,000 for PyPI) just isn't feasible, but machine learning models can pick up some of the slack by helping human reviewers focus on the more dubious code modules.

"Socket is analyzing every npm and PyPI package with AI-based source code analysis using ChatGPT," said Aboukhadijeh.

"When it finds something problematic in a package, we flag it for review and ask ChatGPT to briefly explain its findings. Like all AI-based tooling, this may produce some false positives, and we are not enabling this as a blocking issue until we gather more feedback on the feature."

Aboukhadijeh provided The Register with a sample report from its ChatGPT helper that identifies risky, though not conclusively malicious behavior. In this instance, the machine learning model offered this assessment, "This script collects sensitive information about the user's system, including username, hostname, DNS servers, and package information, and sends it to an external server."

Screenshot of ChatGPT report for Socket security scanner - Click to enlarge

What a ChatGPT-based Socket advisory looks like ... Click to enlarge

According to Aboukhadijeh, Socket was designed to help developers make informed decisions about risk in a way that doesn't interfere with their work. So raising the alarm about every install script a common attack vector can create too much noise. Analysis of these scripts using a large language model dials the alarm bell down and helps developers recognize real problems. And these models are becoming more capable.

"GPT-4 is a game-changer, capable of replacing static analysis tools as long as all relevant code is within its scope," Aboukhadijeh said.

"In theory, there are no vulnerabilities or security issues it cannot detect, provided the appropriate data is presented to the AI. The main challenge in using AI in this manner is getting the right data to the AI in the right format without accidentally donating millions of dollars to the OpenAI team. :)" as noted below, using these models can be costly.

"Socket is feeding some extra data and processes to help guide GPT-4 in order to make the correct analysis due to GPTs own limitations around character counts, cross file references, capabilities it may have access to, prioritizing analysis, etc," he said.

"Our traditional tools are actually helping to refine the AI just like they may assist a human. In turn, humans can get the benefits of another tool that has increasingly human-like capability but can be run automatically."

This is not to say that large language models cannot be harmful and shouldn't be scrutinized far more than they have been they can and they should. Rather, Socket's experience affirms that ChatGPT and similar models, for all their rough edges, can be genuinely useful, particularly in contexts when the potential harm would be an errant security advisory rather than, say, a discrimination hiring decision or a toxic recipe recommendation.

As open source developer Simon Willison recently noted in a blog post, these large language models enable him to be more ambitious with his projects.

"As an experienced developer, ChatGPT (and GitHub Copilot) save me an enormous amount of 'figuring things out' time," Willison noted. "This doesnt just make me more productive: it lowers my bar for when a project is worth investing time in at all."

Aboukhadijeh acknowledges that ChatGPT is not perfect or even close. It doesn't handle large files well due to the limited context window, he said, and like a human reviewer, it struggles to understand highly obfuscated code. But in both of those situations, more focused scrutiny would be called for, so the model's limitations are not all that meaningful.

Further work, Aboukhadijeh said, needs to be done to make these models more resistant to prompt injection attacks and to better handle cross-file analysis where the pieces of malicious activity may be spread across more than one file.

"If the malicious behavior is sufficiently diffuse then it is harder to pull all the context into the AI at once," he explained. "This is fundamental to all transformer models which have a finite token limit. Our tools try to work within these limits by pulling in different pieces of data into the AIs context."

Integrating ChatGPT and its successor documented here and here into the Socket scanner also turned out to be a financial challenge. According to Aboukhadijeh, one of the biggest obstacles to LLMs is that they're expensive to deploy.

"For us, these costs proved to be the most difficult part of implementing ChatGPT into Socket," he said. "Our initial projections estimated that a full scan of the npm registry would have cost us millions of dollars in API usage. However, with careful work, optimization, and various techniques, we have managed to bring this down to a more sustainable value."

These costs proved to be the most difficult part of implementing ChatGPT into Socket

Asked whether client-side execution might be a way to reduce the cost of running these models, Aboukhadijeh said that doesn't look likely at the moment, but added the AI landscape is changing rapidly.

"The primary challenge with an on-premises system lies not in the need for frequent model updates, but in the costs associated with running these models at scale," he said. "To fully reap the benefits of AI security, it is ideal to use the largest possible model."

"While smaller models like GPT-3 or LLaMA offer some advantages, they are not sufficiently intelligent to consistently detect the most sophisticated malware. Our use of large models inevitably incurs significant costs, but we have invested considerable effort in enhancing efficiency and reducing these expenses. Though we cannot divulge all the specifics, we currently have a patent pending on some of the technologies we have developed for this purpose, and we continue to work on further improvements and cost reductions."

Due to the costs involved, Socket has prioritized making its AI advisories available to paid customers, but the company is also making a basic version available via its website.

"We believe that by centralizing this analysis at Socket, we can amortize the cost of running AI analysis on all our shared open-source dependencies and provide the maximum benefit to the community and protection to our customers, with minimal cost," said Aboukhadijeh.

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So you want to integrate OpenAI's bot. Here's how that worked for software security scanner Socket - The Register

Biochemistry

Taking a first bite of biochemistry – ASBMB Today

Amid the thousands of grad students, postdocs, early-career investigators and tenured professors streaming into the Seattle Convention Center for Discover BMB last month was 17-year-old Kimy Hernandez, a high school student.

Hernandez is a senior at Longmont High School in Colorado and like most of the more than 100 teenagers who attended the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2023 meeting a member of a Students Modeling a Research Topic, aka SMART, Team. Their mission: to present group research projects developed with their high school science teachers and, in many cases, with working scientists.

KELLY LUBKEMAN

Kimy Hernandez, 17, a senior at Longmont High School in Colorado and member of the SMART Teams program, shows off a 3D model of p53, a mammalian protein that suppresses tumors.

Inspired by SMART Teams meld of 3D modeling, analysis and research, Hernandez, who uses the pronoun they, is poised to become a first-generation college student. They plan to study molecular biology; their parents, both Mexican immigrants, were unable to study beyond high school.

SMART Team really served as a catalyst for my love of science and for pursuing it as a career, Hernandez said.

This years SMART participants hail from 21 schools in nine U.S. states and one Canadian province. As recently as 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, SMART Team and a sister program, Modeling a Protein Story, known as MAPS, sponsored 63 teams across the continent.

The only regret I have about SMART Team is not starting earlier, Hernandez said. SMART really provides you with a diverse group of people who teach you a lot about yourself.

Veteran attendees might experience ASBMB conferences as a collegial yearly break from their professional routine, but for high schoolers, the camaraderie can come as a revelation.

Tim Herman started the SMART Team program in 2001 and began bringing participants to the conference in 2004. The most powerful thing that happens is in the opening session, he said of the annual meeting. There will be SMART Teams in the audience, and they see people greeting each other. High school students can imagine themselves as future members of this community of science.

When they make their SMART Team presentations, students experience the realities of research life, said Luke De, a long-time teacher with SMART Teams at private schools in New Jersey and California. This includes giving talks about their studies and fielding sharp questions.

Kids have to get in front of M.D.s and Ph.D.s, De said. We harp on the idea that science is a conversation, but rarely do kids get to experience that conversation.

At the ASBMB meeting, that passionate exchange comes alive.

TIM HERMAN

SMART Team program founder Tim Herman, second from right, talks protein molecules with students from Governor's Academy of Byfield, Massachusetts in April 2016.

Weve always been focused on introducing students to the real world of science, including publishing and presentation, Herman said of SMART Teams. The conference gives these high school students the chance to stand alongside undergraduates and present their work.

A strength of any profession lies in its ability to recruit the next generation of practitioners, Herman pointed out. We have former SMART Team students who are now running research labs and interested in working with local SMART Teams, he said.

At Longmont High, Chris Chou, co-coordinator of the schools Medical and BioScience Academy, has been offering the SMART Team program for 11 years. She tells a story that illustrates the conferences impact.

During a SMART Team visit to the University of Colorado Boulder about six years ago, high schooler Maya Lippard Blau became smitten with X-ray crystallography for the study of proteins, Chou said. At the 2017 ASBMB annual meeting, Blau met Stephen White, a scientist doing this work at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The two swapped contact information, and the teenager went on to a 2018 summer research internship with her new mentor.

Instead of just reading about x-ray crystallography, she was doing it, Chou said, and that launched her interest in science.

Blau followed her passion through college and into an M.D./Ph.D. program in infectious diseases at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Because I was close to both the medical and the research side, I realized I couldnt picture my future career without both, she said.

In the short term, SMART Team means students having the opportunity to dive deeper into topics only touched on in courses, Chou said. They get to interact with professors, visit research laboratories.

Longmont students have taken a field trip to a Pfizer laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, to witness cancer drug research and visited the Biomolecular X-ray Crystallography Facility at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Kelly Lubkeman, co-coordinator with Chou of the academy at Longmont, echoes her colleagues enthusiasm. Her students normally would get the skills and basics in their classes but dont getthe exposure to what a research scientist really does on a daily basis, she said. SMART Team helps fill that gap.

Longmont students in the program now are studying and modeling the tumor suppressor protein p53. Mutations at several points in this macromolecule have been linked to human cancers and at least one is a potential drug target.

They call it the holy grail, Lubkeman said. If we could successfully target a drug for that mutation it will open the door for a lot of other cancer drug treatments.

Across the country at Mahtomedi High School in Minnesota, biology teacher Jim Lane has witnessed social and cognitive growth in his SMART Team students.

I see kids coming out of their shell but also developing discourse skills and collaboration, Lane said, adding that his students begin to forge the intellectual skills needed for research. They are constantly rethinking, iterating and reflecting on their learning. The collaborative atmosphere is what really pulls the team together.

SMART Team veteran Luke De believes the program can lead students to the heart of science as they gain confidence in their own curiosity.

Kids think the crazy ideas they have are frivolous, De said, but what they learn is that those crazy ideas are the things that make scientific research.

SEAN RYAN

Mark Arnholt, a high school teacher turned SMART Team coordinator, center, looks on as students at Cedarburg High School use 3D Molecular Designs Flow of Genetic Information Kit.

Abi Ferguson, 17, another Longmont senior, has been exploring the fine points of beta adrenergic receptors, which affect the function of smooth muscle and digestion. She has noticed the many medications, such as beta blockers, that interact with the protein she is studying.

While exploring her macromolecules, Ferguson got hooked on biology. She learned to find and decode crucial insights in research studies, gleaning more details about her proteins.

SMART Teams really pivoted me to science, Ferguson said. This is what I want to do.

Greta Wedel, also 17 and a senior at Longmont, said shes learned to read scientific journal articles and help her teammates write research abstracts. With these science-based skills, Wedel envisions a different career path but one that also demands high-level analysis and writing: the law.

No matter who you are, how you learn or what youre interested in, theres something valuable to find in SMART Teams for everyone, Wedel said.

Their classmate Hernandez has found it challenging to forge constructive relationships among SMART Team members. Yet, in their classmates differences, they have learned, lie the group's collective strength, as members take on specific tasks from model making to reading peer-reviewed research studies.

Theres a lot of people with lots of learning styles, Hernandez said. Everyones able to specialize.

SMART Teams are largely female, including young women of color a striking contrast to the historic underrepresentation of women and marginalized groups in the biological sciences.

KELLY LUBKEMAN

From left, Greta Wedel, Kimy Hernandez and Abi Ferguson, seniors at Longmont High School in Colorado, discuss their SMART Team project in late January, as they gear up to present at Discover BMB in Seattle.

What were doing is exposing more students to science research, because science is stereotypically done by white males, Chou said. Were trying to recruit a more diverse group of students who are traditionally underrepresented in science to pursue future careers in science.

The team aspect of the program plays to adolescent strengths and interests, as peer relationships gain importance in their social and academic development, noted SMART Team coordinator Mark Arnholt. You end up with students from very different social backgrounds working together and creating long-lasting friendships, he said.

Blau looks back on SMART Team as a foundation for the science she studies now. I ended up learning to read scientific papers, she said. It felt like I had a huge advantage in college and beyond.

For Abbey Kastner, 25, a doctoral student in neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina, the path to a science career started with SMART Team. She traces her first steps on that path to a talk on the program during freshman orientation at Hartford Union High School in her Wisconsin hometown. That introduction, Kastner said, made me realize theres jobs out there that involve research, and I can do them.

With the guidance of Arnholt, then a teacher at Hartford Union, Kastners SMART Team built a model of CYP17A1, a gene on chromosome 10 involved in drug metabolism and lipid synthesis.

We worked with researchers at Marquette University, Kastner said, which is something most high schoolers dont have the option to do.

MICHAEL OKAS

Abbey Kastner, a doctoral student in neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina, credits the SMART Team program getting her started on her journey toward a biological research career.

In 2016, Kastners senior year, her team project won a first-place award in a statewide spring competition at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. But the crucial takeaway from SMART Team was bigger than one prize.

The first thing was confidence, Kastner said.

Her burgeoning ambitions led to a summer internship at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Kastner went on to study biochemistry and neuroscience at the University of WisconsinEau Claire. There she spent four years as a student researcher and two years as a lab manager.

Im grateful for all the mentorship Ive had because that is not extended to all students and certainly not to all female scientists, Kastner said.

Looking back, she said her first exposure to SMART Team was a catalyst for her science career: Its crazy that one conversation can change everything.

Blau and Kastner are case studies in the way SMART Team can help steer young people toward a research career.

SMART Teams, by offering high school students the chance to engage with basic scientific research, is inspiring the next generation of scientists, said Blau.

In addition to becoming a scientist, Kastner wants a role in the public conversation about scientific research. I feel like there is a gap between what the public knows and what scientists do in the lab, Kastner said. I want to be part of communicating between these audiences.

When 3D printing was a new invention, Tim Herman saw its potential as a tool for modeling macromolecules with crucial roles in living things and for strengthening secondary science education.

"I envisioned this 3D printing technology as the key to introducing high school students to the invisible molecular world, Herman said. Models give meaning to words.

Multiple research studies support the idea that 3D physical models help engage students and that students prefer them to other forms of learning.

While on the faculty of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Herman learned that the Milwaukee School of Engineering had a rapid prototyping center. He founded the Center for BioMolecular Modeling, or CBM, at the engineering school in 1998 and went on to launch 3D Molecular Designs, a family-owned company, the following year.

In the early 2000s at CBM, Herman led teachers in a new course, Genes, Schemes and Molecular Machines. They 3D-printed a ribosome, the cell structure that synthesizes polypeptides. The ribosome recently had been described for the first time by Thomas Steitz, a Yale University professor who would go on to win the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry with two colleagues.

The teachers were the ones who told us they wanted their students to have the same experience, Herman said.

And so Students Modeling a Research Topic, or SMART, Team was born in 2001 at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. In December 2021, the program moved as CBM merged into 3D Molecular Designs.

SMART Team garnered long-term support through the Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health. It also has received grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Each high school pays an annual $250 participation fee that helps fund technical support in the form of an experienced science educator and 3D model printing.

For high school students, the program begins with a training phase thats followed by a research phase. At the heart of the experience is the macromolecular model.

Mark Arnholt is a veteran science teacher and now coordinator for SMART Team. The second theyre holding that physical model is one of those aha moments, Arnholt said. They can finally understand why this protein is interacting the way it does.

Students start with the known story of a protein, model making, drafting an abstract, and reading both primary and secondary sources. Then they have the chance to devise their own research project.

Science is all about asking questions, and once youve identified those questions, you can start to chase them down, Arnholt said. A lot of the questions dont have answers, and those are the ones you want to pursue.

Luke De was a director of independent researchprojects at the Pingry School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, in the early years of the program. SMART Teams did something genius: It paired kids with a researcher and forced them to tell a story, De said. All the stories were tangible; you were literally building a model.

And, in addition to being a learning tool, protein modeling helps high schoolers shine a light on the roots of human illnesses, Arnholt said. Slowly and steadily, students realize that every disease can be traced back to a protein that is misbehaving.

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Taking a first bite of biochemistry - ASBMB Today

Biochemistry

Postdoctoral Fellow in Plant Protein Biochemistry job with … – Times Higher Education

Job description

The University of Stavanger invites applicants fora two-year position as PostdoctoralFellow in Plant Protein Biochemistryat the Faculty of Science and Technology,Department of Chemistry, Bioscience and Environmental Engineering. The position is vacant for appointment as soon as possible.

The objective of the position is to strengthen research, and to give researchers/scholars holding a doctoral degree the opportunity for further qualification toward top academic positions.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be affiliated with the project The machinery positioning chlorophyll in Cytochrome b6f .

The focus of the work is on the isolation of membrane protein complexes, the regulation of protein subunit translation in-vivo and in-vitro, and the assembly of the protein subunits into an enzymatically active complex.

The position is funded by The Reseach Council of Norway.

The qualifyingproject will be carried out at the University of Stavanger.It is assumed that the appointee will work full time on the project and that she/he will participate in the academic community.

Yourapplication must contain a competence assessment. Please outline your current contributions in the experimental sciences, and how working on the project will add to your competence.

In the project, proteins binding to ribosomes, nascent polypeptide chains, and chlorophyll are investigated during the assembly of Cytochrome b6f. The project description and a detailed experimental plan are drawn up in consultation with the project leader during the first three months of the employment period. It is a prerequisite that you complete the project during the employment period.

You must have a Ph.D. with a specialisation relevant for the project. The Ph.D.thesis must have beensubmitted for evaluation within the application deadline for the position and approved before accession.

In addition you should have:

You must have a good command of both oral and written English.

In the assessment the following criteria will be emphasized:

University of Stavanger values independence, involvementand innovation. Diversity is respected and considered a resource in our work and learning environment. Universal design characterises physical and digital learning environments, and we strive to provide reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities.

You are encouraged to apply regardless of gender, disability or cultural background.

More information on the position can be obtained from Professor Lutz Eichacker, tel: +47 51 83 18 96, e-mail:lutz.eichacker@uis.noor Head of Department Ingunn W. Jolma, e-mail:ingunn.w.jolma@uis.no.

Information about the appointment procedure can be obtained from HR-advisor Rosa Andrade, tel: +47 51 83 11 91,e-mail:rekruttering@uis.no.

To apply for this position please follow the link "Apply for this job". Yourapplication letter, relevant education and work experience as well as language skills must be registered here. In the application letter, you must state your research interestsand motivation for the position.

The following documents must be uploaded as attachments to your application:

Applications are evaluated based on the information available in Jobbnorge on the application deadline. You should ensure that your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the criteria which are set out above.

The documentation must be available in either a Scandinavian language or in English. If the total size of the attachments exceeds 30 MB, they must be compressed before upload.

Please note that information on applicants may be published even if the applicant has requested not to be included in the official list of applicants - seeSection 25 of the Freedom of Information Act.If your request is not granted, you will be notified.

UiS only considers applications and attachments registered in Jobbnorge.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. If your application is considered to be in conflict with the criteria in the latter legislation, it willbe rejected without further assessment.

Employment as Postdoctoral Fellowis regulated in"Regulations concerning terms and conditions of employment for the posts of post-doctoral research fellow and research fellow, research assistant and resident".

Your qualificationsfor the position, based on documentation registered in Jobbnorge, will be assessed by an internalexpert committee.Based on the committee's statement, relevant applicants will be invited to an interview before any recommendations are made. References will also be obtained for relevant candidates.More about the hiring process onour website.

UiS has an Acquisition of Rights Agreement for the purpose of securing rights to intellectual property created by its employees, includingresearch results.

It is a prerequisite that you havea residence which enables you to be present at/available to the academic community during ordinary working hours.

The position has been announced in both Norwegian and English. In the case of differences of meaning between the texts, the English text takes precedence.

The University of Stavanger (UiS) has about 12,000 students and 2,200 employees.The university has high ambitions.We strive to have an innovative and international profile, and be a driving force in knowledge development and in the process of societal change.Our common direction is driven by considerationfor green and sustainable change and equitable social development, through new ways of managing natural resources and facilitating better cities and local communities. Energy, health and welfare, learning for life are our focus areas.

In constant collaboration and dialogue with our surroundings, regionally, nationally and internationally, we enjoy an open andcreative climate for education, research, innovation, dissemination and museum activities. Academic life at the University of Stavanger is organised into six facultiescomprising various departments/schools and National Research Centres, as well as the Museum of Archaeology.We are a member of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities. The university is located in the most attractive region in the country with more than 300,000 inhabitants. The Stavanger region has a dynamic labour market and exciting cultural and leisure activities.

Together with our staff and studentswe will challenge the well-known and explore the unknown.

The Faculty of Science and Technologyoffers study programs at bachelor, master and doctoral level. The faculty has established close cooperation on research withNORCE (Norwegian Research Centre AS)and the regional industry. A number of master's and doctoral theses are made in collaboration with the industry. The faculty has established research collaborations with universities in the US and Europe, and has developed several academic environments that are at the forefront internationally.The faculty has about 2,800 students and approximately 500 employees at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Structural Engineering and Materials Science, Department of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering,Department of Energy Resourcesand the Department ofSafety, Economicsand Planning.

The Department of Chemistry, Bioscience and Environmental Technologyoffers study programs at all levels within the areas Biological Chemistry, Chemistry and Environment. Thedepartment is responsible for basic tuition in chemistry at the faculty. There are currently about 60employees including doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, and 230students at the department.

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Postdoctoral Fellow in Plant Protein Biochemistry job with ... - Times Higher Education

Biochemistry

Global Hemp Group Announces Appointment of Dr. Herbert Fritsche, Former Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Section…

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 22, 2023) - GLOBAL HEMP GROUP INC.(CSE: GHG) (OTC Pink: GBHPF)(FSE: GHG) ("GHG" or the "Company")is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Herbert Fritsche to the Company's Advisory Board as its Chief Scientific Advisor. Dr. Fritsche is a world-renowned Clinical Chemist and former Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Section at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for 41 years.

Dr. Fritsche served as an invited consultant/advisor to the Food and Drug Administration, the National Cancer Institute, the Laboratory Practice Guidelines Committee for the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry, the Editorial Board of six international scientific journals, and as a consultant to many major international diagnostic companies. Previously, he served on the Expert Panel for developing Tumor Marker Practice Guidelines for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from its inception until his retirement from MD Anderson Cancer Center.

His awards include the Johnson and Johnson Award for Outstanding Research and Contributions to Clinical Biochemistry from the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry, the Abbott-ISOBM Award for Outstanding Research in Oncology, the Morton K. Schwartz Award for Outstanding Achievements in the field of Cancer Diagnostics from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry ("AACC"), the Carl Jolliff Award for Lifetime Achievements in Immunology and Immunodiagnostics from the Immunology Division of the AACC, the Morton K. Schwartz Award for significant contributions to the development of cancer diagnostics from the New York Metro Division of the AACC, the Outstanding Clinical Chemist Award by the Texas Section of the AACC, the National Award for Contributions in Education by the AACC, the Dean's Excellence Award from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science, and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Clinical Ligand Assay Society ("CLAS").

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Dr. Fritsche has served as President of the CLAS and various national committees for both the CLAS and AACC. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry.

He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, invited articles and book chapters, and participated in the validation and FDA clearance process for many commercial serum cancer markers currently in use in the United States. Dr. Fritsche holds three patents and two patents pending.

Dr. Fritsche has lectured extensively for many years at international and national meetings of medical and professional societies, and he is recognized internationally as an expert in the field of clinical chemistry, cancer diagnostics and laboratory medicine.

Dr Fritsche stated, "I am pleased to continue working with Stephen Barnhill, Jr. and I look forward to now working with him to expand GHG's efforts to sublicense the exclusively licensed unique intellectual property from Apollon Formularies, plc on the natural biologic pharmaceutical formulations for cancer, inflammatory diseases and chronic pain, thereby, increasing accessibility of these products to help patients around the world where they are legal."

"Dr. Fritsche is a highly respected international authority in clinical chemistry and one of the world's leading experts on cancer biomarkers, whom I have had the honor of working with for more than 10 years. We are extremely pleased that he has agreed to join GHG's Advisory Board as our Chief Scientific Advisor ("CSA")," stated Stephen D. Barnhill, Jr. CEO of Global Hemp Group, "As GHG's CSA, Dr. Fritsche will be leading all scientific aspects of GHG's global licensing program for the intellectual property portfolio GHG recently licensed from Apollon."

About Global Hemp Group Inc.

Global Hemp Group Inc. (CSE: GHG) (OTC Pink: GBHPF) (FSE: GHG) is focused on executing a multi-phased strategy to become a leader in the industrial hemp industry. To further support and innovate, GHG has established a R&D Division to actively pursue the development of Intellectual Property that can be patented for implementation at its projects and beyond. The Division is led by Prof. Vctor M. Castao, Ph.D., whose career has focused in the areas of applied science and technology. The R&D team will initially focus on development of Environmentally Friendly Construction Materials, Nano Fertilizers and Enhanced Extraction from Hemp.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Global Hemp Group Inc., including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, dependence upon regulatory approvals, the availability of future financing and exploration risk, and the legality of cannabis and hemp. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of Page 2 of 2 preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Global Hemp Group Inc. disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For Further Information Contact Global Hemp Group

Investor Relations

Tel: 778-726-2900 info@globalhempgroup.com

http://www.globalhempgroup.com

Subscribe to the GHG YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtjFn9dOyHMxJee-_37MTrw

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/globalhempgrp

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hemp_global/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hemp_Global

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18596421

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/159400

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Global Hemp Group Announces Appointment of Dr. Herbert Fritsche, Former Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of the Clinical Chemistry Section...

Biochemistry

Experiential learning, access to opportunities highlighted at Board of … – Virginia Tech Daily

More than two-thirds of Virginia Tech students complete internships during their college careers, significantly increasing the likelihood that theyll land successfully in a job after college or pursue graduate education. With the implementation of the Bridge Experience Program as the universitys Quality Enhancement Plan in 2020, Virginia Tech has continued to make work-based experiential learning, which include internships and similar co-op experiences, central to its hands-on, minds-on approach to undergraduate education.

We want to make sure internships and other experiential learning opportunities are happening for all our students and that it helps them to be successful after graduation, Kim Filer, associate vice provost for teaching and learning, told the Academic, Research and Student Affairs Committee at a panel discussion Monday highlighting issues of access to experiential learning.

During the panel discussion and board meetings, where the Board of Visitors examined access and affordability across the university, Filer indicated that barriers to experiential learning typically results from one of the four Cs cost, communication, curricula, and capacity.

Panelist Donna Westfall-Rudd, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, agreed that cost is a barrier for many of her students from rural communities, adding, Theyre often limited in options they have for paid experiences. Alumni from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences reported that financial assistance would have helped them pursue more experiential learning opportunities while at Virginia Tech.

According to research from Virginia Techs Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), in-state students from rural areas are the least likely to participate in a paid internship, deterred by housing and relocation costs or the summer tuition required to get curricular credit for an internship.

To overcome barriers related to communication and curricula and deliver on the universitys commitment to engage students in active learning outside the classroom, the Bridge Experience Program works to integrate experiential learning into departmental curricula so that students can identify desirable opportunities early on through guided exploration in class. Research indicates that students thrive when they can apply classroom learning in professional contexts.

Ann Brown, assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a participant in the Bridge Experience Program, shared with board members how her department looked really deeply at where majors from biochemistry are going from Virginia Tech and around the country, then created ways for them to explore internship and research opportunities, initially in the First-Year Experience (FYE) course and continuing in a second-semester biochemistry FYE course, which includes a course-embedded undergraduate research experience.

To help students effectively craft their bridge experience plan, an optional sophomore-year career prep course brings in guest speakers from a wide variety of biochemistry career paths. Some students need more guidance about what you can do with a degree in biochemistry, said Brown. The experience is also important in helping students see that a certain path sometimes may not be best for them or fit their career interests. This is an important part of the experiential learning process as well.

Though her years at Virginia Tech have been peppered with bridge experiences like internships, study abroad, and undergraduate research, panel member Madeline Eberhardt, a senior in English, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, with a pre-education option, said students in smaller majors like hers need additional support to find internships that might guide a career path.

Currently, Eberhardt interns with CETL, one of several internships and undergraduate research assistantships she's completed. Yet shes mindful of peers and alumni who lacked access to such work-based experiential learning. We need to provide all students with a path forward, she said.

Of the four Cs that inhibit experiential learning, capacity may be the most pervasive and is a support area of emphasis for Virginia Tech. We need to develop more opportunities, and the university is committed to providing those for students, Filer said. Regardless of your discipline or major, we are working to create the capacity to give students these important and engaged learning experiences.

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Experiential learning, access to opportunities highlighted at Board of ... - Virginia Tech Daily

Biochemistry

Protein Capture Innovation from WL Gore & Associates – BioProcess Insider

This interview features: William Barrett, PhD, Product Specialist, WL Gore & Associates.

William Barrett, PhD is a product specialist with WL Gore & Associates. He has over 20 years combined experience in biotechnology, chromatography, and the medical device industries. Most recently at WL Gore, Bills focused on affinity purification chromatography. Previously, Bill worked at Agilent on affinity depletion devices used in biomarker discovery and proteomics. He received a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Illinois and completed his fellowship in the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Heath, Lung, and Blood Institute at the NIH.

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Protein Capture Innovation from WL Gore & Associates - BioProcess Insider

Biochemistry

Exploring marine science at the cellular level – ASBMB Today

How do you end up studying how stingray venom affects cancer cells?

For Karlie Tischendorf, it all began when a high school English teacher assigned each student to learn about and present on any topic of their choice. Tischendorf saw this as a blank check to satisfy her curiosity about coral bleaching. After a deep dive into this process, she knew she had to get involved in marine biology.

Brooke Leuking

Now a senior at Purdue University, Tischendorf started her undergraduate career as an aquatic science major, but after a few classes, she was unsatisfied she wanted to understand marine life on the microscopic level. She shared her discontent with her mentor, and after reviewing the possible options and receiving additional guidance from her adviser, Tischendorf changed her major to biochemistry with a minor in aquatic science. She also has a second minor in Spanish.

Atlantic stingrayin an aquarium.

In 2022, Tischendorf spent 10 weeks as an intern at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. Designed in partnership with the National Science Foundation, the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program gives undergraduates a concise and hands-on experience in real-world marine research. She worked with long-time Mote Labs researchers Cathy Walsh and Carl Luer on extracting venom from stingrays. Its a challenging process; in other organisms, venom is stored in a gland, but stingray venom is stored in tissue cells in the spine.

To learn about the therapeutic potential of compounds in the venom, Tischendorf used a variety of assays to determine how it would affect cells isolated from a mouse with fibrosarcoma, a malignant cancer. While this project still has a ways to go, Walsh said, The initial results are exciting and gave us the interest to want to continue going further.

This is one of five research projects Tischendorf has worked on as an undergraduate. Her advice to students interested in science is to find habits that work for them individually, be patient with themselves and beware of making unhealthy comparisons. She also advises, Say yes to opportunities as they come up because you really dont know where its going to lead you.

When her adviser encouraged Tischendorf to apply to be outreach co-chair in the biochemistry club even though shed never attended a meeting she followed her own advice. As a result, she met more peers and built meaningful relationships. To this day, she says it was one of the best things that could have ever happened.

Similarly, she said changing her major to biochemistry was a shot in the dark. But that shot led her to a plethora of experiences, each preparing her for her next opportunity. After her graduation in May, Tischendorf said shell take a gap year before applying to Ph.D. programs that allow her to delve deeper into marine ecotoxicology. Shes also been working toward her scuba certification so she can spend time diving around St. Kitts and Nevis as well as Turks and Caicos.

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Exploring marine science at the cellular level - ASBMB Today