People Behind the Science Podcast Stories from Scientists about Science, Life, Research, and Science Careers

Dr. Joseph Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience at the University of Florida. Joe studies DNA from squishy marine invertebrates like ctenophores (e.g. comb jellies), cnidarians (e.g. jellyfish), tunicates (e.g. sea squirts), and sea cucumbers. His goal is to understand how different types of animals are related, how animals adapt to extreme environments, and how animals have evolved the extraordinary diversity we see today. When he’s not at work, Joe loves spending time with his family. He and his two kids enjoy dancing to “Tiny Bubbles” by Don Ho and songs by the band The Clash. Joe is also a fan of singer-songwriter Slim Whitman, and he plays guitar, drums, and keyboard. Joe received his PhD in bioinformatics from Boston University. Afterwards, he was awarded a research fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology in Bergern, Norway. In our interview Joe shares more about his life and science.

Dr. Robert S. Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Being one of the eight Institute Professors is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member at MIT. Much of Bob’s research is at the interface between materials and medicine. His lab has created nanoparticles and drug delivery systems, engineered tissues and organs for things like artificial skin for burn victims, and made organ-on-a-chip technology to help develop and test new drugs that may someday help patients. When he’s not working, Bob enjoys spending time with his family, taking his kids to sporting events, lifting weights, and going on walks with his wife. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and his Sc.D. in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Afterwards, Bob worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Children’s Hospital Boston and at Harvard Medical School. He joined the faculty at MIT in 1978. Since then, Bob has accepted more than 220 major awards and honors, including the U.S. National Medal of Science, the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation (he is one of 3 living individuals to have received both these honors), the Charles Stark Draper Prize (often called the Engineering Nobel Prize), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, Albany Medical Center Prize, Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Kyoto Prize, Wolf Prize for Chemistry, Millennium Technology Prize, Priestley Medal (highest award of the American Chemical Society), Gairdner Prize, Hoover Medal, Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences, BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine, Balzan Prize, and the Dr. Paul Janssen Award. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine,” and he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. He is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and National Academy of Inventors, and the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has been awarded over 1,000 patents and has received 42 honorary doctorate degrees, including degrees from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Northwestern. In our conversation, he shares more about his life and science.

Dr. Mark McDaniel is a Professor of Psychology and the founding Co-Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education at Washington University in St. Louis. He Is a past President of the third division of the American Psychological Association. Mark received a Masters Degree and PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before coming to Washington University, Mark served as a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, and the University of New Mexico. Mark is here with us today to tell us about his journey through life and science.

Dr. Laura Kiessling is the Novartis Professor of Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Member of the Broad Institute. Laura’s research focuses on carbohydrates, particularly all of the different carbohydrates found on the surfaces of cells. We still know relatively little about the functions of these carbohydrates, and Laura is eager to learn more. When she’s not doing science, Laura likes being active through rowing, kayaking, cycling, lifting weights, or doing yoga. She also likes to spend her free time cooking, hiking, camping, and enjoying art. She received her BS degree in chemistry from MIT and her Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Yale University. After two years at the California Institute of Technology as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, she joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1991. She returned to MIT in 2017. Laura has received numerous awards over the course of her career, including the Ronald Breslow Award in Biomimetic Chemistry, the Centenary Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Tetrahedron Prize for creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, the Gibbs Medal, from the Chicago Chapter of the American Chemical Society, the Vilas Distinguished Faculty Award from UW-Madison, and others. Laura is an elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and American Philosophical Society, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Cancer Society Fellowship, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship. She is also the founding Editor-In-Chief of the journal ACS Chemical Biology. In this interview, Laura shares more about her life and science.

Dr. Ayse Turak is Associate Professor and Associate Undergraduate Chair of the Department of Engineering Physics at McMaster University. Ayse develops and studies plastic-based electronic materials, such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes. Her goal is to create affordable, sustainable, and ubiquitous plastic materials to provide power and light for people around the world. In her free time, Ayse loves to travel, visit new places, see new things, explore new cultures, and seek adventure. She also enjoys theatre, writing, and volunteering with various social justice organizations. Ayse received her B.Sc. in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Queens's University and her PhD from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto, where she was a Canada Graduate Scholar. Afterwards, Ayse conducted research as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research and subsequently worked as a visiting professor at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey before joining the faculty at McMaster University. Ayse has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, including the Early Researcher Award, the Petro-Canada Young Innovators Award, and a Leadership in Teaching and Learning Fellowship from McMaster University. In addition, she was recently nominated as a Full member at Sigma Xi, and she is the co-chair of the Canadian Chapter of the Society of Information Display. In our interview, Ayse shares more about her life and research.