Scholars

Nanoparticles that can deliver messenger RNA are a fascinating topic of interest currently due to the development of COVID vaccines. My lab is working on developing better drug delivery systems.
 
Transcript: "I think the most fascinating topic that people are interested in now are nanoparticles that can deliver things like messenger RNA. And I mean, a great example of that are the COVID vaccines, that if it wasn't for the drug delivery systems, we wouldn't have those vaccines. And I think people are interested in making better and better ones over time. We're doing a lot of work on that in our lab ourselves."

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created a motherboard early on in the mid-70s, but it was when they went out to raise money to do this at a larger scale that Mike Markkula, Mike Scott, and Arthur Rock joined the team. This team then created the business plan that was able to attract capital from investors, and this is the original Apple business plan which can be found online.
 
Transcript: "Well, everyone can get access to the original Apple business plan because it's if you just search for it, you know people I think have some mistaken impressions of how Apple got started. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs did indeed create a product a motherboard early on in the mid-70s. They decided the sell it that was all. Great, but they went out to raise money to do this at a larger scale and no one was prepared to give them money. And one venture capitalist said you ought to talk to this guy Mike markkula. He's a seasoned executive. Mike came in and started to work with them might became the CEO recruited, another guy, Mike Scott, and it was the team of those for that created. The business plan that was able to attract capital from Arthur Rock. A convened rock and other investors. So again, it wasn't just Steve Jobs. It wasn't just Steve Wozniak. It was a team which is the fundamental underpinning of every successful venture."

We are trying to understand the three dimensional structures of memories in the brain, and one way we're doing this is by genetically engineering neurons to grow little protein fibers inside of each cell that record its activity.
 
Transcript: "OK, what is the most difficult problem that you're trying to solve right now? Well, I'm working, and my students are working on several different problems which none of us knows how to solve. And so we don't know which of these is going to be most difficult, which might be easy to solve, and which might be completely unsolvable. So I'll tell you about one problem that we're interested in. We're interested in trying to understand the three dimensional structures of memories in the brain. So if you think about what you had for breakfast this morning, there's some three dimensional representation of that memory in your brain and some set of biochemical changes in the neurons in your brain. But we have no idea what these maps are, or what are the rules that govern how memories are encoded or represented in the brain. My lab is working on trying to develop tools which we can use to map these changes. One approach that we're working on is to genetically engineer neurons to grow little protein fibers inside of each cell. And as these fibers grow, they incorporate marks of neuronal activity, a little bit like tree rings in a tree, which incorporate information about seasonal climate changes. And by incorporating within each neuron, a little tape recorder of its activity, we hope to be able to then look in the brains of animals, mice, which have learned different things, and to map the patterns of neural activity associated with different memories during the formation of the memory, during the recall of the memory, and during eventually maybe the forgetting of the memory, or changes in the memory."

I don't get nervous spending the night in the Congo because it's a beautiful experience. The animal noises, insects chirping, and other sounds make sleeping not so deep, so you remember your dreams more often at first. Over time, though, you get used to the environment and sleep deeper, so you don't remember them as much.
 
Transcript: "Yeah, I wouldn't say I got nervous spending the night in the Congo. I would not say. These nights are very beautiful. They have a lot of animal noises, insects chirping, and they can be very loud, but also very beautiful. They make you sleep not so deep. And so what happens in the beginning that you often really remember your dreams, something I never did. And I guess that changed over time because you just get more used to it. And therefore, you probably sleep deeper and you don't remember your dreams."

I've learned that success in entrepreneurship is often driven by overconfidence and being able to form a relationship with investors so that if tests are promising, they will give more money even if the plan wasn't achieved. Apple's success story demonstrates this, as VisiCalc created an unexpected market for business computers despite their initial plans. The importance of not running out of cash or trust when forming these relationships cannot be understated.
 
Transcript: "I've read, maybe, 10,000 business plans. I don't really know at this point. But I've only seen three companies actually meet their plan. And I think that's a pattern. I don't know about other people but-- so you're almost always overconfident. And without overconfidence, there's no parenting, there's no entrepreneurship. So I think what I've learned is you have to be able to form a relationship with your investors such that, if your tests are promising the things you've learned about customer product-market fit, then they will give you more money, even though you didn't accomplish what you said you were going to accomplish in your first slide deck or business plan. Apple missed by 60%-70% in the first year. Apple didn't think there was going to be a market for business computers and then somebody invents VisiCalc. The market for business personal computers explodes. So again, they could have said, you didn't do what you were promising. We hate you. We're going to take away the money. No, I've got faith that you're going to be able to figure this out. Don't run out of cash. Don't run out of trust."

Grieving is incredibly stressful, both mentally and physically. It can cause an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone, and increases in IL-6, an inflammatory marker of the immune system. Grieving also often results in a lack of support from the person we would usually turn to for comfort and love, making it even harder. However, human beings are remarkably resilient, and reaching out and taking care of our physical selves during this time can help us to cope.
 
Transcript: "Grieving is incredibly stressful. It's stressful for the body, and it's stressful for the mind. In fact, I sometimes say grieving is a little like trying to learn calculus while also training for a marathon. In research from my own lab and from others, we know that bereavement usually causes an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone, and causes increases in IL-6, one of the inflammatory markers of the immune system. And it's stressful both because of all the emotions, and intrusive thoughts, and difficulty sleeping that we have when we lose a loved one. But it's also stressful because we suddenly have to restore a life without this person. So if you lost a spouse, you may also have lost a co-parent, or you may have lost a breadwinner. Or as an older couple, you may have lost the person who drives, and so all of the stresses of all of the new things that you have to learn to do now in their absence. And as though all of that wasn't hard enough, one of the things that usually reduces stress for many of us is spending time with our loved ones. So in this moment, where you are so incredibly overwhelmed, often the very person that you would have turned to to feel comfort, to have that dopamine, and oxytocin, and opioid increase by spending time with them and being cared for and loved by them, often, this is exactly the person who is gone, which makes the bereavement stress feel even harder, given that we don't have a way or the same way to overcome that. Human beings are remarkably resilient though, and it turns out that most of us are able to find support from another person. And so reaching out during this time of stress, taking care of your physical body are both incredibly important during grief."
 science of grief