SQ Insider Fall 2013

SQ insider University of California, San Diego

Fall 2013

The Odd Ones Out

Unconventional Careers For Biology Majors

What do doctors, scientists, lawyers, lobbyists, writers and administrators have in common? A degree in biology! Biology majors mistakenly believe that they are forced to pursue one of two pathways after graduation: medical school or graduate school. However, it is imperative to know that these are not the only options available. (Continue on the next page...) Illustration by Justine Liang and Bianca Chong

Saltman Quarterly Insider | Fall 2013

The Odd Ones Out

By Vaishali Talwar | SQ Staff Writer Illustration by Bianca Chong

B

eing a biology major opens a plethora of career paths. Apart from the usual career paths in the areas of healthcare, education and biomedical research, students can shift to the fields of health administration, industry, law, government and even mass communication. Students can combine their love for the subject with other areas of interest to pursue the career that they desire.

For Aanya Mehra, a former UCSD student with a degree in General Biology, pursuing the path of medical law seemed like an ideal way to combine her love for debating and biology. “After joining a lab during my second year here, I realised that pursuing research was not what I wanted to do,” says Mehra. “But I still loved biology, I didn’t want to drop it.”

After spending most of her second year pondering over her future, Mehra decided to join a mock trial team.

“Watching law shows on TV inspired me. I wanted to try something new.

And I loved it. The debates were the best. Going over laws, examining them for loopholes - I could do that for hours,” After attending a seminar on unconventional career paths, it all fell into place. Mehra knew that medical law was the path she wanted to take.

However medical law is not the only kind of law a biology major can practice.

Environmental law and patent law are also two extremely common fields of interest. Environmental law includes the study of laws and treaties which regulate the interaction between man

and the natural environment, whereas patent law deals with the exclusive right to make, use or sell a product; for example, a medical drug. Medical law is concerned with the responsibilities of medical professionals and the rights of their patients.

Entrepreneurship is a unique way to combine a passion for biology and business. Managers or executives of pharmacological/biological research companies often only need a biology degree coupled with a Masters in Business Administration.

such as the National Geographic, the Discovery Channel etc. Johns Hopkins University and the University of Illinois both offer programs on scientific illustration. Graduates with these degrees can be employed as illustrators in scientific journals.

UCSD has a strong undergraduate biology program with several resources that help students discover the ideal career pathway they want to take. “But you’re a biology major, why pursue law? How will you manage to take the LSAT? When will you take it? Don’t law schools have certain prerequisites? These questions kept raining down on me, so I decided to go to my academic advisor,” says Mehra. “She directed AANYA MEHRA me to Career Services, UCSD. They helped me a lot. My career path A job in the government could didn’t seem like a burden anymore.” be a good fit for those who love The Career Services Center offers biology and administration. The a number of workshops, career panels government employs analysts, and internships in different fields. The policy researchers and managers to Center for Discovering Opportunities look into waste management, water in Biological Sciences has talks and management, wildlife parks and sessions about different career paths. other science related fields under Furthermore, BSSA has career panels the domain of the government. as well as internship opportunities.

For those interested in mass Apart from being aware about all communication such as journalism, that, a good tip is trying out for other, illustration or scientific writing, a non-biology related extracurriculars. number of schools offer graduate UCSD has an astounding number programs specifically tailored for of clubs and organizations, catering biology majors. For example, UC Santa to every interest under the sun.

Cruz offers a graduate program which All these resources not only help specializes in scientific writing. A students find what they’re looking graduate with such a degree could get a for, but also present students job as a science writer or a producer of with a new perspective — which science related programs on channels is what university is all about.

“

But I still loved biology, I didn’t want to drop it.

Saltman Quarterly Insider | Fall 2013

Eliminating the Need for Foreign Liver Transplants

By Alisha Jain | UTS Staff Writer

W

hat if there was no need for liver organ donors? Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to synthesize liver cells from fat cells extracted from the human body. In the future, doctors may make a liver out of each patient’s own fat cells, eliminating both the need for a donor and the complication of rejection by the body.

In many cases, the waiting time for an organ transplant may mean the difference between life and death. The median wait time for a liver donor organ, according to the US Department of Health & Human Resources, is 141 days.

A recent study conducted at the

Stanford University School of Medicine in the Gary Peltz Lab has succeeded in turning adipose (fat) stem cells into liver cells, generating huge potential for regenerative medicine and possibly eliminating the need for liver transplants.

Stanford’s new study has found a different method that takes less time and generates more liver cells in the process. The process takes nine days, a speedier turnaround than traditional methods for liver-poisoning victims seeking transplantation.

To begin this procedure, adipose cells are acquired from liposuction treatment, or the extraction of fat (yellow) cells from the patient’s

body. Peltz and his team use what he calls “spherical culture” to convert the fat to liver cells by bathing the adipose cells in a liquid suspension in which they generate spheroids.

The new fat-to-liver cell method could serve as a substitute for human liver transplant, reducing both risks of rejection by a foreign donor organ and organ waiting time. Therapies can use a patient’s own adipose cells, convert them, and inject these samples back as liver cells. The new process could be ready for Phase 3 clinical trials in just a few years, and the lab has already filed a patent for hepatocyte induction through “spherical culture.”

For the full-length article, go to www.saltmanquarterly.wordpress.com

The Curious Case of DNA Methylation

By Rahul Lodhavia | SQ Staff Writer

R

esearchers at the Salk Institute studied DNA methylation changes in postmortem mice and human brain tissue and found correlational data suggesting DNA methylation may play a significant role in the development of humans.

DNA methylation is the addition of a methyl group to the backbone of DNA in specific areas, particularly to a cytosine base followed by a guanine base. This type of methylation is commonly known as CG methylation.

Despite our knowledge of DNA methylation in other types of cells in the body, we know relatively little about this chemical tag in the brain.

Through their experiments, the researchers successfully mapped the locations of the millions of cytosine DNA methylation tags in neuronal and glial genomes using mice and human brain tissue.

One of the breakthroughs in their research came when Dr. Mukamel and

his colleagues discovered that there was also non-CG methylation in addition to CG methylation. Upon discovering this non-CG methylation, Dr. Mukamel and his colleagues analyzed its pattern in the development of the cortex and found that the rate of nonCG methylation was increasing rapidly during the first 20 years of human life.

“Our analysis of the data showed that there very well may be a correlation between brain development and nonCG methylation,” Dr. Mukamel said.

Such a correlation suggests that both CG and non-CG DNA methylation plays a critical role in

regulating the formation and destruction of synaptic connections that occur during early development.

In the future, Dr. Mukamel and his colleagues hope to explain this correlation through a causal link and prove even further that DNA methylation plays a critical role in early human development.

Understanding the process of DNA methylation in the brain could also provide insight into how diseases and events such as schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury arise in humans.

For the full-length article, go to www.saltmanquarterly.wordpress.com

Abroad-en

your view

“

By Humphrey Lin | SQ Staff Writer

Photos by Mary Jade Farrugia (1,2) and Stephanie Tsoi (3,4)

Two biology students share how their study abroad experiences helped them discover their career paths and learn valuable life skills that extended beyond the classroom.

Standing knee-deep in mangrove muck learning about mangroves, or observing monkey behavior by chasing them through the jungle and seeing what they do is a much more memorable lesson than hearing someone speak about these things on a few powerpoint slides.

3

MARY JADE FARRUGGIA

Monteverde, Costa Rica

2

1

“

I was expecting Power Points and 3D models, but instead I found myself gowned and standing next to a cadaver.

The most incredible thing was holding the human heart.”

4

Submit Your Research Manuscript

Do you want to publish your biological research soon?

Deadline: January 20, 2014 For information, visit http://sq.ucsd.edu/submit/research Email us at sq@biomail.ucsd.edu.

GET INVOLVED Photo Contest

Do you take great pictures and have a passion for biology? We are looking for stunning images relating to biology.

The winning selection will be featured on the cover and the runners-up will be featured throughout the journal’s interior pages.

Deadline: January 20, 2014 Email us at sq@biomail.ucsd.edu.

Join the Review Board

Email us at sq@biomail.ucsd.edu if you are interested in joining one of the following review boards: Cell/Developmental Biology Ecology, Behavior, Evolution Neuroscience Molecular Biology

STEPHANIE TSOI

Copenhagen, Denmark For the full-length article, go to www.saltmanquarterly.wordpress.com

Box Top Project

SQ has decided to begin a new service project and we need your help! We are collecting Box Tops to help a special day class for kindergarteners with autism at Turtleback Elementary School in the Poway Unified School District. Come by the SQ office in HSS 1145 and drop them off.