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 |  | Each of the thirteen videos in Rediscovering Biology was based around interviews with at least three expert scientists in the field. Because of the limitations of a 30-minute video, only selected excerpts from each interview appear in the video. Here each interview is transcribed (and edited for clarity) in its entirety to make use of this valuable resource. The interviews were conducted by the video producers between April 2002 and February 2003 in locations around the U.S.
Wolfhard Almers, PhD Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute Wolfhard Almers, PhD, is a senior scientist at the Vollum Institute in Portland, Oregon. Neurons release neurotransmitter packed in vesicles in a process called exocytosis. Almers uses evanescent field microscopy to visualize and examine the events and molecules surrounding exocytosis, including vesicle docking, membrane fusion and recycling. Unit: Neurobiology
David Altshuler, MD, PhD Affiliate Member, Whitehead Institute Altshuler is a member of the Whitehead Institute, as well as a practicing endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research led to the discovery of a single nucleotide polymorphism in a gene that is implicated in type 2 diabetes. He is now involved with creating a haplotype map of the human genome. Unit: Genomics
Edward A. Berger, PhD Chief, Molecular Structure Section, NIAID, NIH Berger is chief of the Molecular Structure Section in the laboratory of viral diseases in NIAID and NIH. Berger's lab identified the first HIV co-receptor, a molecule that Dr. Berger and his colleagues dubbed "fusin." They showed that fusin must be present on the surface of CD4+ T cells in order for HIV to enter and infect these cells. Soon thereafter, Berger's group and others showed that other HIV strains use different co-receptors to gain entry into target cells. Many of these molecules ordinarily function as receptors for chemokines, proteins that help orchestrate immune responses. Unit: HIV and AIDS
Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics Blackburn is a professor of microbiology and biochemistry at the University of California at San Francisco and an expert on telomeres. She is credited for discovering the substance called telomerase and has published extensively on the subject of these protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. Unit: Cell Biology and Cancer
Anne K. Camper, PhD Associate Professor of Civil Engineering; Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Camper is an associate professor of Civil Engineering and the associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Engineering at Montana State University in Bozeman. Her research interests include bacterial attachment to surfaces, and biological treatment of drinking water and microbial regrowth in drinking water distribution systems. Unit: Microbial Diversity
James Carrington, PhD Director, Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology Director of the Oregon State University's Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology. Carrington's lab conducts research on how viruses and host plants interact, using the model organism Arabidopsis. He uses genetic, genomic, and proteomic strategies to understand RNA silencing pathways, virus recognition events, and cellular targets for various RNA silencing suppressors. Carrington's research in RNA silencing has been included in the 2002 scientific "Breakthrough of the Year" in the journal Science. The magazine cited a body of work being done by several research groups across the nation on small RNA molecules, calling them "electrifying discoveries, which are prompting biologists to overhaul their vision of the cell and its evolution." Unit: Genomics Capt. Daniel Carucci, MD, PhD Director, NMRC Malaria Program Dr. Carucci is the Director of the Malaria Program at the Naval Medical Research Center where he oversees Navy research efforts on malaria, focusing on vaccine development and novel approaches to protecting individuals from the disease. He is also the Department of Defense coordinator for the Malaria Genome Project, where he oversees all DoD sponsored research in malaria genomics and proteomics. Unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases Rita Colwell, PhD Marine Microbiologist Dr. Colwell is a Marine Microbiologist and serves at the President of the National Science Foundation. She is an advocate of an integrated approach to studying disease called biocomplexity, giving a holistic, system-wide view of the causation and effects of disease. She was pioneer in the research done on the Cholera epidemics in Bangladesh. She was able to help define causation and drastically reduce disease in the communities through public health education. Unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases Leon Corzine Farmer; Director, National corn Growers Association Corzine and his wife grow corn and soybeans on their family farm near Assumption, Ill. Corzine is past president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association. He currently serves on the National Corn Growers Association's Relations Committee and as chairman of the Biotechnology Working Group. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Bill Costerton, PhD Director, Biofilm Center Costerton is the director of the Center for Interfacial Microbial Process Engineering at Montana State University in Bozeman. His work delving into the differences between floating and attached cells has revealed both the presence of extracellular matrix material surrounding attached cells and the ubiquity of slime-producing attached bacteria in natural systems. Unit: Microbial Diversity
Ned David, PhD Founder, Syrrx, Inc. Founder of Syrrx, Inc., a proteomics company in San Diego that specializes in X-ray crystallography and determining protein structure for use in drug discovery. Unit: Proteins and Proteomics David L. Dornbos, Jr, PhD Global Head, Production Research Dornbos is the Global Head of Production Research at Syngenta Seeds. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Brian Druker, MD Director, OHSU Cancer Institute Leukemia Center Druker is the director of the OHSU Cancer Institute's Leukemia Center. In collaboration with Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis Pharmaceuticals) Druker developed the drug called Gleevec, which has seen an enormous success in treating a rare form of leukemia. His groundbreaking work has garnered much media attention, because of the drug's success. Unit: Cell Biology and Cancer
Jonathan Eisen, PhD Assistant Investigator, The Institute for Genomic Research Investigator at the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). His research interests include DNA repair, extremophiles, and phyogenomics. Unit: Genomics
Judith Eisen, PhD Professor of Biology Eisen is a professor at the Department of Biology at the University of Oregon. She studies how neuronal diversity is generated during development, including how the correct number of cells are specified for specific neuronal fates at particular times and in particular locations. She specifically works on the patterning of neurons and neural crest cells in embryonic zebra fish. Unit: Genetics of Development
Stanley Fields, PhD Professor of Genetics and Medicine Fields is a professor of genome sciences and medicine, and adjunct professor of microbiology at the University of Washington. He analyzes the function of proteins from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on a genome-wide basis, and uses this yeast to develop assays that can be applied to proteins from any organism. In 1989 Fields and his colleagues developed a methodology for finding protein interactions, called the two-hybrid system. Since that time, other methods have been developed and used with success, but Fields' system has become the dominant tool among researchers throughout the world. Unit: Proteins and Proteomics
Hunter Fraser Molecular and Cellular Biologist Fraser is a UC Berkeley doctoral candidate. His research on the evolution of protein interactions, in collaboration with Aaron Hirsch, was published in the journals Science and Nature. Unit: Proteins and Proteomics
Fred Gage, PhD Professor of Genetics Fred Gage, PhD, is a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute in San Diego. His research is focused on the generation of new neurons during adulthood, an idea that runs counter to neuroscience dogma. Gage hopes that the work will one day lead to therapeutic uses for people with stroke, paralysis, or Alzheimer's disease. Unit: Neurobiology Laurie Garret Journalist, Newsday Garret is the author of the books The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. She is also a medical and science writer for Newsday, in New York City. For her work, she has been awarded The Peabody, The Polk, and The Pulitzer Prize. Unit: HIV and AIDS Philip D. Gingerich, PhD Professor of Geological Sciences Gingerich is a professor of geological sciences and director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan. He has studied the evolution of archaic whales for over twenty-five years, collecting specimens in Pakistan and Egypt. In 2000, he found fossils that confirmed the assertion by molecular biologists that whales evolved not from mesonychids, extinct wolf-like animals, but from artiodactyls, the ancestors of hippos and camels. Unit: Evolution and Phylogenetics Rebecca J. Goldburg, PhD Scientist, Environmental Defense Rebecca Goldburg is a Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense's New York City headquarters. Trained as an ecologist, Goldburg is active in public policy issues concerning food production, primarily ecological and food safety issues concerning aquaculture, antibiotic use in agriculture, and agricultural biotechnology. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Markus Grompe, MD Professor of Genetics Grompe is a professor of medical and molecular genetics at Oregon Health and Science University and also in the Department of Pediatrics. He studies metabolic liver diseases and the molecular genetics of Fanconi anemia. His research into hepatic gene therapy represents a potential cure for many hereditary and acquired liver diseases. Grompe is also working on methods to enrich for genetically transduced liver cells by in vivo selection and the use of liver stem cells. Unit: Genetics of Development
Leland Hartwell, PhD Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Dr. Hartwell is presently the president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2001 for his work on control of the cell cycle. Using the yeast as a model organism, he has identified many genes responsible for controlling cell division. Unit: Cell Biology and Cancer
Aaron Hirsh Computational Geneticist Hirsh is a graduate student in Marcus Fieldman's lab at Stanford University. His paper on the evolution of protein interactions, in collaboration with Hunter Fraser, was published in the journals of Science and Nature. Unit: Proteins and Proteomics
Leroy Hood, PhD President, Institute for Systems Biology Hood played a key factor in the Human Genome Project and was credited with developing the automated sequencer. He is recognized as one of the world's leading scientists in molecular biotechnology and genomics. Hood created the cross-disciplinary Department of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington, bringing together chemists, engineers, computer scientists, applied physicists, and biologists. He has recently created the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington, and serves as its president. Recently, Hood's lifelong contributions to biotechnology have earned him the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation. Unit: Proteins and Proteomics
Richard Huganir, PhD Professor of Neuroscience; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Richard Huganir, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His laboratory is working to understand the interaction of molecules during long-term potentiation, a neuronal hyperactivity that is thought to underlie learning and memory. Unit: Neurobiology
John Incardona, PhD Senior Fellow Incardona is a senior fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. He studies the Sonic Hedgehog gene and its role in development. He also studies how the compound cyclopamine affects the hedgehog signaling pathway. Unit: Genetics of Development
Holly A. Ingraham, PhD Professor of Physiology Ingraham is UCSF associate professor of physiology and obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at UC-San Francisco. She studies the development of endocrine and neuroendocrine organs using molecular biology and mouse genetics. Unit: Biology of Sex and Gender
Mary-Claire King, PhD Professor of Medicine and Genetics King is an American Cancer Society professor of medicine and genetics at the University of Washington in Seattle. She was the first to prove that breast cancer is inherited in some families. She is now investigating the genes that predispose some women to breast cancer to learn what these genes may reveal about breast cancer generally. Unit: Cell Biology and Cancer
Dan Kotansky Hydrologist, BLM Kotansky is an environmental protection specialist at the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho. Unit: Microbial Diversity
Eric S. Lander, PhD Director, Whitehead Center for Genomic Research and Professor of Biology, MIT. Lander has been one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project. As the director of the Whitehead Center for Genomics, Lander has helped to build a series of maps that show the basic layout of the human and mouse genomes. He has published more than 240 original research articles in mathematics, economics, and biology in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, Nature, Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The American Journal of Human Genetics. He has also written a book entitled Calculating the Secrets of Life. Unit: Genomics
Jay Levy, MD Professor of Medicine; Research Associate, Cancer Research Institute Levy is a professor in the Department of Medicine and research associate at the Cancer Research Institute at UCSF. His research focuses on biologic, immunologic, and molecular studies of the AIDS virus, emphasizing viral and immunologic features of HIV pathogenesis and long-term survival. Dr. Levy's group was one of the first to identify HIV, originally calling it the AIDS-associated retrovirus. Unit: HIV and AIDS Stuart B. Levy, MD Scientist, Environmental Defense Levy is a professor of Molecular and Microbiology and a professor of Medicine at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts where he researches the Tetracycline Efflux Protein. He is also the President of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, which is an organization that aims to promote responsible and appropriate use of antibiotics around the world. Unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases Judith M. Martin, MD Pediatric Infectious Disease Unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases James Miller, PhD Curator and Head, Applied Research Department at the missuri Botanical Garden; Adjunct Professor Curator and head of the Applied Research Department at the Missouri Botanical Garden, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Miller studies the genetics of tropical plants and the natural products they generate. Unit: Biodiversity Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH Professor, NYU Marion Nestle is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. Her research focuses on analysis of the scientific, social, cultural, and economic factors that influence dietary recommendations and practices. She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Thomas E. Newberry VP, Corp. Communications Mr. Newberry is the Vice President of Corporate Communications at GTC Biotherapeutics in Framingham, MA. He is responsible for GTC's corporate communication programs - including investor and public relations, media relations, presentations and publications. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Rick Ostfeld, PhD Animal Ecologist Animal ecologist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. His research focuses on the interactions among organisms that influence the risk of human exposure to vector-borne diseases and the dynamics of terrestrial communities. His recent research has focused on the causes of the spread of Lyme disease in New England. Unit: Biodiversity
David Page, MD Member, Whitehead Institute Page is an investigator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is also the associate director of Science at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1992 his laboratory mapped and cloned the entire Y chromosome. Today, he uses the map and other tools to trace the genetic causes of male infertility, the history of the Y chromosome and human populations, and the origins of common genetic diseases. Unit: Biology of Sex and Gender
Nipam Patel, PhD Professor of Biology and Anatomy; Investigator, HHMI Patel is a professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, and an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Using data from Drosophila development, Patel is studying how developmental pathways have been conserved or altered between various arthropods, and between arthropods and other phyla. Insights into the nature of developmental and molecular alterations will help researchers to understand the evolutionary changes in the mechanisms of pattern formation, and provide a molecular basis for analyzing the diversification of body morphologies and developmental mechanisms. Unit: Genetics of Development
John Postlethwait, PhD Professor of Biology Postlethwait is a professor of biology at the University of Oregon, Institute of Neuroscience. He studies the genetic regulation of animal development including development of the nervous system, the mechanisms of sex determination, the origin of novel morphologies in evolution and the evolution of the vertebrate genome. Unit: Genetics of Development
Peter H. Raven, PhD Director, Missori Botanical Garden Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and one of the world's leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity. He is a past president and chairman of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of the esteemed National Medal of Science. Raven, called by Time magazine a "hero for the planet," is a leader in the field of environmental sustainability. Unit: Biodiversity
Tim Read, PhD Assistant Researcher Read, is an assistant researcher with the Microbial Genetics Group at The Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland. In addition to examining the genome and evolutionary history of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, Read also explores microbial genes as potential drug targets. Unit: Evolution and Phylogenetics
Anna-Louise Reysenbach, PhD Microbial Ecologist Reysenbach is a microbial ecologist with special interests in the ecology of terrestrial and deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and in the evolution of biogeochemical cycles. She teaches the core microbiology course at Portland State University, as well as courses in Microbial Ecology and Microbial Diversity. Unit: Microbial Diversity
Kari Stefansson, MD CEO and Chairmand of the Board, DeCode Genetics CEO and the Chairman of the Board of DeCode Genetics in Iceland. The company takes advantage of 1,000 years of genealogical records kept by the Icelandic people, and of the willingness of Icelanders to make their DNA available to the company for study of genetic patterns in disease. Unit: Human Evolution
Eleanor Sterling, PhD Director, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Sterling has over fifteen years of field experience studying biodiversity from Madagascar to Vietnam. She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she now serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. Unit: Biodiversity
Phil Stewart, PhD Professor of Chemical Engineering Stewart is the Deputy Director and Research Coordinator a professor of Chemical Engineering at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. He studies biofilm control with antimicrobial agents, transport phenomena in biofilms, biofilm modeling, and biofilm detachment. Unit: Microbial Diversity
Lukas K. Tamm, PhD Professor of Biophysics, University of Virginia Tamm is a professor of Biophysics at the University of Virginia where he is studying the structures and interactions of viral fusion proteins in lipid bilayers, mainly using the influenza surface protein, hemagglutinin (HA). This research opens possibilities to develop new classes of viral entry inhibitors, which would serve to prevent influenza infection. Unit: Emerging Infectious Diseases Ian Tattersall, PhD Curator, Department of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History Curator in the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He is recognized as a leading scientist in the field of Human Evolution, with a career than spans several decades and countries around the world. Tattersall has authored many books, including Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness, and is credited with a number of major exhibits at the AMNH, in particular the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution. Unit: Human Evolution
G. David Tilman, PhD Professor of Ecology; Director, Cedar Creek Natural History Area Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Minnesota, and Director of the Cedar Creek Natural History Area. Tilman studies patterns in the biological diversity, structure and dynamics of plant (and sometimes insect) communities, as well as the effects of biodiversity on the stability and productivity of ecosystems. Unit: Biodiversity Gary H. Toenniessen, PhD Director, Agriculture Programs Gary Toenniessen was one of the original architects of The Rockefeller Foundation Rice Biotechnology Research Program initiated in 1984. He is currently the director of Food Security at the foundation. Since 1985, he has had responsibility for the development and implementation of the Foundation's International Program on Rice Biotechnology, designed to bring the benefits of biotechnology to poor rice producers and consumers in developing countries. Unit: Genetically Modified Organisms Ajit Varki, MD Director, Glycobiology Research and Training center Varki is professor of Medicine and Cellular Molecular Medicine and Director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at the University of California at San Diego. He studies the medical and evolutionary applications of glycobiology (the study of glycans, sugar chains that regulate many cellular functions). Unit: Human Evolution
Eric Vilain, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Genetics Vilain is an assistant professor of Human Genetics at UCLA. His laboratory is exploring the genetics of development, of the reproductive axis using the analysis of patients with disorders of sexual development and the study of animal and cellular models. He is also testing the hypothesis that there may be genetic influences on behavioral differences between males and females, in addition to the direct influence of sex steroids. Unit: Biology of Sex and Gender
Erik von Muller Von Muller was infected with the HIV virus in the early 1980s and is what is known as a long-term non-progressor: he has not developed AIDS. He is a participant in a study conducted by Dr. Jay Levy on long-term non-progressors. Unit: HIV and AIDS
Robert Weinberg, PhD Member, Whitehead Institute Weinberg is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Weinberg and his colleagues discovered the first human cancer-causing gene, Ras. Weinberg has written and edited five books and more than 290 articles. Unit: Cell Biology and Cancer
David Weiner, PhD Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Weiner is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is also a member of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Pennsylvania. His research can be divided into the exploration of novel methods for the generation of antiviral immune responses, and dissecting the molecular virology of HIV-1. Weiner's lab was the first to identify an HIV gene that is associated with viral latency and silent infection. This should provide important clues about how silent infections are established in HIV-infected people, and how these silent infections later give way to AIDS. Unit: HIV and AIDS
John Williams, PhD Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute John Williams, PhD, is a senior scientist at the Vollum Institute in Portland, Oregon. Williams investigates the actions of different endogenous neurotransmitters and exogenous drugs on the neurons that act in the "reward pathway," which comprise the cellular circuit that is responsible for drug addiction. Unit: Neurobiology
Christopher Wills, PhD Professor of Biology Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California at San Diego. He studies intriguing questions about evolution, such as, What is the evolutionary history of sex? Perhaps it originated as the incorporation by cells of exogenous genetic material. He is the author of several books, including Children of Prometheus: The Accelerating Pace of Human Evolution. Unit: Human Evolution
Carl R. Woese, PhD Professor of Microbiology Professor Woese of the University of Illinois, is a self-described molecular biologist turned evolutionist. Woese used ribosomal RNA as an evolutionary record to identify archaea as a huge and diverse group, separate from the prokaryotes (bacteria) and the eukaryotes. As a result, the entire “Tree of Life” as we know it was re-drawn into these three domains. Unit: Evolution and Phylogenetics
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