Beyond the Seminar: Conversations in Science

This week on the UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Department's Beyond the Seminar podcast, Prof. Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos breaks down his lab's work contributing to an exciting new modality: magnetic particle imaging (MPI). He also shares how representation in research labs illuminated his path to success from his time in Puerto Rico to his current position as chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Florida.  

This week on the UC Davis BME Beyond the Seminar podcast Prof. Sara St. James (University of Utah) breaks down how proton therapy is transforming cancer treatment, particularly for pediatric patients. She also dives in to how her engineering background improves her medical work and her mitten-knitting skills.

Prof. Sheri Sheppard is a research scientist and renowned educator at Stanford University. This week on the podcast, she shares how her weaving path through music education, the auto industry, and Burning Man informs her approach to innovating methods to train future engineers.

Prof. Chris Hernandez shares how he broke out of his comfort zone to envision a totally new area of scientific exploration - how does the gut microbiome dictate bone health? - and what he is looking for when recruiting a trainee to his lab.

Prof. Keyue Shen breaks down his lab's work to improve cancer therapeutics by focusing not on the cancer cell, but it's environment, and shares his love of history and how his experience growing up in post-Cultural Revolution China shaped his natural inclination towards science experimentation. 

Dr. Liana Lareau shares her passion for studying RNA, what is was like to work in Pat Brown's group as a trainee, and explains how it felt in 2020 to be working in a field with direct relevance to the emerging global pandemic.   Here is a link to the iBiology video Liana mentions during the podcast:   https://www.ibiology.org/genetics-and-gene-regulation/experiment-meselson-and-stahl/  

Dr. Beth Pruitt describes why she is interested in mechanobiology - how cells change their decision making when under load - and how joining the Navy paved a circuitous path to academia.

Prof. Tara Deans, an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah, discusses her innovative ideas at the forefront of synthetic biology and opens up about the challenges of having a baby during graduate school. 

Bioengineer Dr. Shivang Dave talks about the challenges of developing his start-up company, PlenOptika, and how his childhood trips to India informed his passion to contribute to solving issues in global health.