Overview
Introduction
Our goals with the Biologist Biography assignment are to investigate the contributions of biologists and learn about the biological topics they are studying. A complete Biologist Biography will include information about the biologist's academic career, summarize their current research, a reflection of what you learned, and include links to information about their lab and examples of their work. As you know, science is collaborative, and you will see when you investigate the contributions of biologists that their labs are full of researchers at different points in their careers working together. You will also review your chosen biologist's lab information or a published paper so you can summarize their scientific conclusions for your classmates. Our goal is to create a collection of Biologist Biographies that shows a diversity of biological researchers and topics.
How to Get Started
Follow these steps to get started:
1 Use these Biologist Biographies Resources (https://canvas.butte.edu/courses/42487/pages/biolo... find a biologist working on a topic of interest to you.
2 Explore the resources provided at the site where you first found your biologist. Collect information about where they are from, where they went to school, what they studied in graduate school, where they are working now, and what they are working on. If you can't find much information, look for another biologist to investigate.
3 Look for their lab site at their home institution. Can you find a page that shows all of the researchers in their lab?
4 Explore their published work. Find an article of interest to you and review it.
5 See if you can find any videos they have made, or appear in, on YouTube.
6 Use the resources you have found to write three short paragraphs that answer the following questions:
◦ Where is your biologist from and what was their academic journey?
◦ What questions does your biologist investigate?
◦ What did you learn about your your biologist's topic while exploring their work?
7 Include meaningful hyperlinks to your biologist's lab and to examples of their work. To make a meaningful hyperlink, type out the name of the lab, or the name of the article or video, and then highlight the text. Click on the link icon in the rich content editor and then paste the URL in the box that pops up.
8 Include full citations for each source you used. You can use any format, and a full citation includes the title of the article or website, author (if provided), publisher of article or website, date (either date published, or if not provided, then the date you accessed the source), and a meaningful hyperlink to the source. You can put this information in any order that makes sense to you and provides your reader with enough information to find the resource if they want to dig deeper. To make a meaningful hyperlink, highlight the text of the title of the source, then click on the link icon and paste the URL in the box that pops up. Please stop by Office Hours if you would like help with constructing your citations.
9 Copy and paste your completed Biologist Biography in a post on one of our Biologist Biography discussions.
10 Review the Biologist Biographies posted by your co-learners in our course.
Example Biologist Biography
Dr. Mariel Vazquez was born and raised in Mexico City. After receiving her undergraduate degree in mathematics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she enrolled in a PhD program at Florida State University where she started using mathematical models to understand DNA topology. Dr. Vazquez is currently Professor of Mathematics, Microbiology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Davis.
DNA topology is the study of how DNA is packaged into chromosomes in cells and viral capsids. Dr. Vazquez studies how the shape of DNA, and how DNA interacts with other molecules, changes in healthy and diseased cells. This includes understanding how replicated chromosomes in dividing bacterial cells separate, how DNA changes in cancer cells, and using mathematical models to predict the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19. Predicting how the virus could evolve will help those researching vaccines and anti-viral drugs.
While reading about Dr. Vazquez's work I learned that there is over 6 feet of DNA packaged in every one of our cells! That is a lot of DNA! It must be packaged tightly and very well organized to be able to fit in our cells and still be accessible to the enzymes that replicate it every time our cells divide and use the information stored in it to build our proteins. I also realized how quickly biological researchers can apply their field of expertise to current issues. Dr. Vazquez and her collaborators were awarded $200,000 from the National Science Foundation in May of 2020. I think that is incredible how quickly research on the basic biology of DNA structure can be applied to an issue affecting human health around the world.
Here is a link to Dr. Vazquez's lab website (https://arsuaga-vazquez-lab.faculty.ucdavis.edu/) with a photo with her and the students and scientists that work in her lab at UC Davis. Describing the diverse graduate students in her lab with backgrounds in mathematics, genetics, physics, and biostatistics from around the world, Dr. Vazquez said "We try to bring together people who traditionally speak different languages, scientific or otherwise,” said Vazquez. “The moment you have diversity in a group, there are better ideas.” In this YouTube video (), Dr. Vazquez explains the structure of DNA and how she uses math to understand how DNA is packaged into chromosomes. The article "Discovering Curiosity: The Tangled Fate of Math and Biology with Professor Mariel Vazquez (https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/discovering-curiosity-tangled-fate-math-and-biology-professor-mariel-vazquez)" further explains her academic journey and current research at UC Davis.
Sources
"Discovering Curiosity: The Tangled Fate of Math and Biology with Professor Mariel Vazquez (https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/discovering-curiosity-tangled-fate-math-and-biology-professor-mariel-vazquez)" by Greg Watry, October 28, 2019. UC Davis College of Biological Sciences.
"Mariel Vazquez (https://biology.ucdavis.edu/people/mariel-vazquez)", UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, accessed Jan 9, 2023.
"National Science Foundation Grant to Help UC Davis Researchers Track Evolution of Novel Coronavirus (https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/coronavirus-evolution)" by Greg Watry, May 13, 2020. UC Davis College of Biological Sciences.
"Topological Molecular Biology lab at UC Davis (https://arsuaga-vazquez-lab.faculty.ucdavis.edu/)", ARSUAGA VAZQUEZ LAB, accessed Jan 9, 2023.
Assignment Submission
1 Copy and paste your completed Biologist Biography in a post on this discussion board. Include full citations for each source you used (https://canvas.butte.edu/courses/30389/pages/citations). A full citation includes the title of the article or website, author (if provided), publisher of article or website, date (either date published, or if not provided, then the date you accessed the source), and a meaningful hyperlink to the source. To make a meaningful hyperlink, highlight the text of the title of the source, then click on the link icon and paste the URL in the box that pops up. Please stop by office hours MW (9:30 to noon) if you would like help with completing this assignment. See the example above for help as well.
2 Review and comment on 2 peer posts
1 Your post is worth 15 points
2 Two peer reviews worth 5 points (10 points each)
Here's a checklist ✔️ to ensure you've completed all required components for full credit on this assignment:
1 a paragraph about my biologist's academic journey
2 a paragraph about the biological topic my biologist studies
3 a paragraph about what I learned while exploring my biologist's work
4 meaningful hyperlinks to my biologist's lab website and examples of their work
5 citations to all sources used that include meaningful hyperlinks to each source.