2021 ChemAIMS Seminar: Professor Marie Heffern, UC Davis
2021 ChemAIMS Seminar: Professor Marie Heffern, UC Davis
About the Seminar
"Challenging Paradigms in Metals and Health"
Metals play fundamental roles in biology that are often overshadowed by their regarded toxicity. This talk will share my research group's efforts and explorations on the vital roles that metal play in overall health with specific focus on the molecular drivers that link metals to nutritional and endocrinological health. In particular, I will highlight our approaches to bridging missing links between molecular-level understanding to whole-organism physiology and health by focusing on untangling the extracellular milieu. Achieving our research goals requires an integration of multiple perspectives, expertise, and disciplines. My lab seeks to transcend the traditional compartments of science, both in terms of disciplinary boundaries and in the contributors. In discussing what happens inside the lab doors, I will also share my journey and struggles with science identity, and ways in which both research opportunities and the community have influenced and encouraged me to pursue academia with a program focused on non-traditional research question in bioinorganic chemistry. Alongside my own experience, I will share current efforts both within a traditional chemistry course as well as in the design of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) platform to challenge paradigms of science identity and widen access to STEM-based research.