Blue Genes and Boots

In this episode of BGAB, Andie and Hussain chat with a group of young professionals who spent 10 weeks with different research groups at TAMU as part of the NSF SURGe program. All of the SURGe students are undergraduates interested in a future career related to biosciences. We pick their brains about their experiences with the program, their feelings about College Station and TAMU, and how they se...

In this episode, Andrew interviews four guests: Garbrielle Poole, Alison Wuerful, Zach Adelman, and Clint Magill. Each of these scientists is at a different stage of their career: Gabrielle is undergraduate REU student, Alison is a graduate student pursuing a PhD, Zach is Principal Investigator and Program Chair in the midst of his career, and Clint is nearing retirement more than 50 years after e...

In this episode, Andrew and Lance talk with Dr. Antonia De Maio, who is a scientific editor at Cell Press and Cell Reports. Originally from Italy, she earned her PhD at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where she studied RNA biology in the context of neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. She later conducted research at Harvard Medical School, focusing on small RNAs using C. elegans as a mod...

In this episode, Veronika and Andrew talk with Erin Winick Anthony , a maker, writer, science fashionista, and science communicator. Erin is the founder of the science communication company STEAM Power Media, which works to highlight the creativity in science and engineering while helping others tell their science stories. Her clients include Astrolab, Hearst Media Production Company, Zero G, Spac...

In this episode, Esme and Tyler interviews Dr. Ethan Bier. Dr. Bier is a Distinguished Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, San Diego, and a pioneering researcher in developmental patterning, disease mechanisms, and super-Mendelian inheritance. His laboratory’s work spans a wide range of biological systems, from uncovering how bacterial toxins disrupt human...

In this episode, Veronika and Sam talked to Dr. Tom Clemente. Dr. Clemente is a leading figure in plant biotechnology, well known for his contributions to agricultural genetic engineering. He received his B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, followed by an M.S. in Plant Pathology at Oklahoma State University and a Ph. D. in Plant Pathology from Nor...

In this episode, Veronika and Sam talked to Dr. Masako Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Texas A&M University. She received her DVM at Iwate University in 1998 and her PhD at Gifu University in 2002. Her lab’s research focuses on how the prenatal environment, such as vitamin A deficiency, affects the offspring’s cells later in life. If you want to k...

In this episode, Veronika talked to Dr. Matthew Moulton. Dr. Moulton is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M. He received his Bachelor's at Brigham Young University and his PhD at the University of Utah. His lab focuses on delineating the molecular mechanisms of genes associated with neurological disease, especially Alzheimer’s disease by utilizing the genetic...

In this episode, Veronika and Sam spoke with Dr. Dmitry Kurouski . Dr. Kurouski is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Texas A&M University. He received his Bachelor's and Master of Science at the Belarussian State University and his PhD at the State University of New York at Albany. His lab focuses on many different topics, from lipids in neurodegen...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode Anthony talked to Sarah Ingram, a 4th-year PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Genetics program at Texas A&M, a US Navy veteran, and a 2024 Tillman Scholar. She returned to academia after 9 years of military service and received her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University- Texarkana. Currently, she studies under Dr. Shaun...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Charles spoke with Dr. Matt Sachs. Dr. Sachs is a professor in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University who received his Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Cornell University and PhD in Biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the mechanisms controlling protein synthesis, such as in Neuro...

Howdy, and welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone!  In this episode Sam and Veronika spoke with third year GENE students, and newly minted PhD candidates, Emmarie Alexander and Tyler Chan. Emmarie came to our program from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and she currently studies under Dr. William Murphy. Tyler previously attended The University of Alabama - Huntsville, and he now...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Veronika talks to Dr. R. Graham Reynolds. Dr. Reynolds is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina Asheville and an associate at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He received his B.A. in Biology from Duke University and his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of T...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Sarah talked to two speakers from the 2024 Genome Editing Symposium at Texas A&M: Dr. Paul Christou and Dr. Makoto Saito. Dr. Christou is an ICREA research professor at Universitat de Lleida (UdL) Life and Medical Sciences. Dr. Saito is a senior scientific fellow conducting post-doctoral research in Dr. Feng Zhang’s lab at the Massach...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Anthony talks to Dr. George Church. Dr. Church is a Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Univ...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Samantha and Sarah talk to Dr. Qing Sun, one of our Genetics and Genomics Faculty members. Dr. Sun is an assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and did her postdoctoral training at the Syntheti...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Sarah and Veronika talk to Dr. Seth Murray. Dr. Murray is a professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Eugene Butler Endowed Chair in Agricultural Biotechnology at Texas A&M University. He received his B.S. in Crop and Soil Science at Michigan State University and Ph. D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell Univers...

Howdy, and welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Sarah spoke with four undergraduates from universities across the county who participated in our Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics and Genomics (SURGe) program. The National Science Foundation SURGe Program is a 10-week intensive research experience under the mentorship of one of our Faculty of Genetics and Genomics memb...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Anthony Matarazzo speaks with Veronika Mojik and Charles Mitchell, two current PhD students in the TAMUGENE program. Veronika obtained her undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina - Asheville and studies under Dr. Hubert Amrein. Charles' undergraduate studies were completed at The University of Texas - Dallas, and he...

In this episode Veronika Mojik talks with third year PhD candidate Mayra Mendoza about what it's like to traverse graduate school while being a mom to two boys! They also discuss Mayra's research on the alpaca genome and the in's and out's of running a cytogenetic service lab within an academic setting. 

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Emmarie and Sarah talk to Dr. Jessica Light, a professor and curator of mammals in the Ecology and Conservation Biology department at Texas A&M University. She received her B.S. in Biology and Resource Ecology and Management at the University of Michigan and her Ph. D. in Zoology at Louisiana State University. Her lab uses molecular a...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Emmarie and Veronika talk to Dr. Harmit Malik, a professor and associate director of the Basic Science Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. He received his BTech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his Ph. D. in Biology at the University of Rochester. His lab studies the evoluti...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Emmarie and Serina talk to Dr. Bruce Walsh. Dr. Walsh is an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor at the University of Arizona. He earned his Ph. D. in genetics at the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Davis. His research uses mathematical models to b...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Emmarie and Serina talk to Dr. Adam Phillippy. Dr. Phillippy is the director of the Center for Genomics and Data Science Research and the head of the Genome Informatics Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). His research focuses on developing computational tools for genomic analysis, such as genome assembly. His...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone! In this episode, Khushboo and Sarah talk to Lilia Sanchez. Lily is a postdoctoral researcher who successfully defended her dissertation in Fall 2023! She is in Dr. Weston Porter’s lab where she has studied mitochondria and mammary gland development.  If you want to know more about the Genetics program at Texas A&M or the research discussed in this epi...