It’s a real-life, microscopic power struggle between the Targaryens and the Lannisters. Competing tribes of bacteria battle for dominance, territory and survival. Some have developed a new defense: an armor plating that protects them from attacks. In the wars with competing bacteria, this gives these microscopic soldiers an edge. And, in our human struggle with dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, scientists can learn to create our own kinds of armor, using tools taken from nature itself.
That’s how Nisha Vishwanathan, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics, described her thesis work in the 3-Minute Thesis Competition. Vishwanathan won the College of Biological Sciences round and went on to take second in the University-wide competition in November.
Vishwanathan is working with principal investigator Michael Freeman, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, to study a new biosynthetic route to backbone α-N-methylated peptides, which could be used in a wide range of industries, from adhesives to pharmacology. But that explanation didn’t mean much to her family and friends who don’t work in the sciences. “It felt like, ‘I don’t understand 50 percent of what you just said. I can only understand that you grow bacteria in a lab,’” she said. But now her mother proudly tells her elementary- and high school-aged students in her hometown of Coimbatore, India, about her daughter’s work — and they understand it well enough to explain it to others, too.
Vishwanathan has long understood the power of a good metaphor. Her first academic love was languages, including French, German and English, and she was fascinated by the nuances of how people communicate across cultures. She thought she would go into journalism or teach literature. But a high school zoology unit on recombinant DNA technology grabbed her and wouldn’t let go.
“I’m not entirely sure if it was the teacher who inspired me or the subject,” she remembered. “Or maybe it was the way she explained it. It was about recombinant insulin produced by bacteria, and how it changed the world.” That unit sparked a passion for science that led to a bachelor’s degree in industrial biotechnology, then a master’s in microbial engineering at the University of Minnesota, before she began her Ph.D. work. “I realized I wanted to go much more in-depth on the biochemistry part of things.”
This was Vishwanathan’s second go-round in the 3-Minute Thesis competition. When she first entered two years ago, her goal was to overcome stage fright and become a better public speaker. But as she worked on boiling her work down for a non-technical audience, new possibilities opened up.
“I realized very quickly that it's not about proving how much you know your stuff,” she said, “but rather about making it make sense to someone else. I really want people to understand what I'm doing and showcase my passion for science.”
She enlisted her friends both within and outside the College of Biological Sciences, drafting and redrafting her presentation until it made sense to the widest possible audience while still accurately representing the science.
“The challenge was the complexity of the work,” she explained. “My initial drafts had a lot of DNA figures, and I talked about how 60 percent of drugs use this modification. But what they knew about was the nightmare bacteria. They knew about antibiotic resistance, and they knew the issues going on in the world.”
That, she decided, was the right jumping off point for a lay audience. “I tried using comedy,” she laughed, “But that didn’t work. So I went with fear.”
Now, Vishwanathan says she feels like this intensive dive into science communication has opened up a whole new understanding of the world of possibilities after her Ph.D.
“I love talking to people about science,” she said. “It’s going to be very useful even after my Ph.D. It was very linear in my mind before. I thought the next step would be scientist one, then scientist two, in pharma or biotech or something like that. But the more I learn, the more I realize that there are multiple paths. So, this year I’m really concentrating on trying to identify where my passion is and where I can use my potential. It's an exploring phase.”
In high school, Vishwanathan considered pursuing journalism. The thought that she'd one day be explaining peptides never entered her mind. But now she sees her love of languages and her passion for the sciences naturally coming together. As for how she’d sum up the importance of her scientific work for the average person, that’s easy: “The solutions are already there in nature,” she said. “We have just yet to discover them.” –Tricia Cornell