Image credit: Lisa Goers, PhD, Division of Infectious Diseases
Lisa Goers, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working in the lab of Cammie Lesser, MD, PhD, within the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Mass General Research Institute.
Dr. Goers has been a researcher at Mass General for several years, but we came to know her better through her entries in the MGRI Image Contest since 2018. Every year, we have enjoyed her creative takes on her science and how she illustrates the dual demands of working as a scientist and balancing her personal life.
To gain more insight into the life of a scientist, especially during the past year, we reached out to Dr. Goers for her perspective.
30 minutes. That is how long I give the bacteria to invade the human cells.
After that, I will add several more chemicals to my experiment and swiftly move the samples to the microscope, where I can follow the progress of the bacteria as they move through the human gut cells.
I check the clock on the wall of the lab.
Lesser Lab
Division of Infectious Diseases
Mass General Research Institute[/ultimate_heading]
10 more minutes until the next step. High time to mix a few more reagents and get all the equipment ready. My experimental plan in front of me lists exactly what I need to do. I pick up a pipette and add the first reagent to the solution. After each step, I make a mark on my sheet to make sure I don’t forget anything.
It’s a repetitive task. My mind starts to wander.
10 more minutes until the next step in my experiment and also 10 more minutes until my son’s hospital appointment. Normally I would have been there, but in times of COVID, only one caretaker is allowed to accompany a child to the hospital. My wife is with him, he will be fine. But what if the tests show something bad, maybe an urgent need for surgery…
As my pen moves to the paper, I hesitate. Did I really add that last reagent? I have to double-check to be sure. If I forget any step, my experiment will fail, and I will have lost several days’ worth of work. I try to put the appointment out of my mind and focus on the experiment.
What am I working on?
Our research group studies Shigella, the bacterial pathogen that causes dysentery, a major disease and cause of death in the third world. Shigella bacteria can infect the cells in our gut and cause symptoms of diarrhea.
What makes these bacteria interesting is that they have a syringe-like needle, called a type 3 secretion system, that they can use to inject proteins directly into our cells. They can use this tool to enter our cells in the attempt to hide from our immune system. But our cells also have many detectors inside them to find such bacteria and mount a defensive response, thus preventing sickness. The Shigella bacteria, in turn, can secrete more proteins that can prevent our cells from building their response and eliminating the bacteria.
I study the interactions between Shigella bacteria and the defense mechanisms in our cells. In my experiments I infect human cells with Shigella bacteria that are equipped with a green fluorescent protein. This allows me to see the bacteria using a microscope and follow their fate inside the cells.
This way, I can pick apart the complex layers of defense and counter-defense and learn more about how bacterial pathogens can overcome our molecular defenses. I use different versions of both the bacteria and human cells to see under what conditions the bacteria will prevail and mount an infection, and under what conditions our cells are able to fend off the bacteria and prevent a full-blown case of dysentery.
2020 has been a difficult and different year for everyone, including research scientists.
Our lab was shut down between March and June. We worked from home, focusing on data analysis, literature reviews and writing papers. My boss found me a socially distanced place to work outside my home, which was essential, as our one-bedroom apartment does not allow for a quiet workspace away from our toddler. Since the lab re-opened, we have continued to follow strict policies about wearing masks and keeping a physical distance at all times.
With my entry to the MGRI image contest I wanted to show the often-invisible mental load challenges of 2020. How hard it can be to focus on science and scientific research, however exciting it might be, when there are so many other things to worry about.
To make the image, and to visualize the invisible, I used the same green fluorescent protein-containing bacteria that I also use in my experiments.
"Invisible Load"
"Invisible Load"
"Work-Life Balance"
"Work-Life Balance"
But in reality, scientists are partners and parents, we have families and friends, hobbies, interests, passions, and worries outside of science. And in the times of the COVID pandemic we, too, juggle childcare and working from home, experience conflicts with families over social distancing standards, medical appointments cancelled or attended alone, isolation from friends, declining mental health, and uncertainty for the future.
Obviously 2020 is not the only time when people struggle to balance life and work. But the particular circumstances of this year, between COVID and the political and social situation in the US, have increased existing inequalities and introduced new challenges. Examples in the scientific community include working mothers shouldering yet more of the childcare, widening the gender gap in academia, and travel bans and visa changes affecting the large population of international scientists.
At this time, when the world needs scientists more than ever, scientists themselves can struggle to focus on the science beside the many issues brought forth by a world in a state of emergency.
I step up to the microscope and carefully place my experimental samples. I adjust the settings and wait for the preview of the human cells to appear on the screen. Then I hit the button to start the imaging process. It will take a while to collect the data, time that I can use to prepare other experiments.
Later, when I look through the microscope images, I’m relieved.
I didn’t forget any reagents, the experiment worked. Several of my modified bacterial strains show interesting behaviors, growing more or less well in the human cells than the unmodified strain. These are exciting news!
I will have to do follow-up experiments to clarify these new findings. I quickly start planning an experiment to start this evening. I make a list of the necessary bacterial strains, cells, reagents… then I glance at my phone and see an update message from the hospital “… grade 3, severe …”.
My focus shifts far away from Shigella, science and experiments, and I pick up the phone.
About the Mass General Research Institute
Massachusetts General Hospital is home to the largest hospital-based research program in the United States. Our researchers work side-by-side with physicians to develop innovative new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent disease.
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