Town Hall Seattle's video: Caitlin Cruz Saumya Jani and Miranda Mudge

Caitlin Cruz, Saumya Jani, and Miranda Mudge: Biofuels policy, Skin Cancer and the Immune System, and Algal Blooms UW Engage Science trains today’s graduate students in cutting-edge communication skills in order to reconnect the public with science and bring about a more informed tomorrow. Join us for a look at the forefront of research in our region and meet the students who are leading the latest wave of scientific discovery. Caitlin Cruz: The policy conditions around biofuels Bio: Caitlin Cruz (she/her) is a Masters student in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. She works in the field of biofuels— transportation fuels made from renewable resources. Her research examines what sorts of policies create the most beneficial conditions for biofuel facilities across the US, hoping to make the implementation of these fuels more widespread. Description: In the United States, the transportation sector accounts for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions, but in Washington state, that number leaps to a whopping 45%! So what can we do to curb emissions and slow climate change? Well, we have technologies that can create transportation fuels out of renewable resources like trees and plants— called biofuels. However, the implementation of these biofuels are currently limited by weak political and economic incentives in most parts of the country. By studying policies that have made it easier and more economically feasible to implement biofuels where they have previously been successful, we can create a framework of policy conditions that should ideally be in place nationwide if these fuels are to be successful on a national scale. Saumya Jani: A way of determining how well our immune system is fighting a deadly skin cancer Bio: Saumya Jani (she/her) is a graduate student researcher in the University of Washington’s Department on Lab Medicine and Pathology. She is studying the immune response to an aggressive and often lethal skin cancer, Merkel cell carcinoma, in order to improve immune-based cancer treatments. Description: Our bodies are filled with and surrounded by approximately 380 trillion viruses – 12 times the number of cells that make up a person. Merkel cell polyomavirus, a virus living in most people’s skin cells right now, sometimes causes a deadly cancer in older individuals. Saumya is developing a method to identify the immune cells that recognize this cancer. If we can recognize and study these cells, we may be able to predict which immune-based treatment would give a patient the best chance at a cure. Comparing the quality of the immune cells in patients who do well and those who do not will also give us important information needed to design better treatments. Miranda Mudge: Predicting harmful algal blooms Bio: Miranda Mudge (she/her) is a graduate student and researcher in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department at the University of Washington. She is studying proteins to better understand how bacteria influence and respond to their environment. Her research involves using proteins in bacteria as a tool for predicting harmful algal blooms. Description: Harmful algal blooms occur when algae grow out of control and release of dangerous toxins into local water sources. While there are currently no methods for predicting when these blooms will happen, there could be clues about future algae behavior hidden in the everyday interactions that occur between algae and their neighbors, bacteria. Algae blooms start in response to a change in the environment, and bacteria living with the algae also respond to that change by altering their behavior. We can measure this change in bacteria behavior by measuring the change in their proteins. By looking for patterns in proteins that change right before a bloom happens, we can turn proteins into a tool for predicting blooms. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and UW Engage Science.