Duke University | Howard Hughes Undergraduate Program

Yesterday i got the chance to sit down with Bill Westel, my PI, and get to know him a bit better.

The first thing i noticed was his computer wallpaper. It's a picture of a cute little chinese girl holding a couple of books. That's Dr. Wetsel's 7 year old daughter, who he and his wife adopted when she was a little over a year old. Even though he always has many projects going on, Dr. Wetsel always has time for his daughter whether it is helping her with her homework, doing tae kwon doe with her, or hanging out with her on Saturdays. She's a lucky girl. =)

Let's rewind to when Dr. Wetsel was a kid.  As a boy scout, he always went to see films about space and geology (the two coolest things in science at that time). The coolness of it all is what got him interested in the sciences along with the fact that he grew up on a farm and always loved animals. After all, Dr. Wetsel's current work is all about mice.

Dr. Wetsel's path to where he is now was full of twists and turns. As an undergrad at UVA, Dr. Wetsel was extremely enthusiastic about the brain. He took an intro to psychology class and was so intrigued that he continued on to take every single class that involved the brain. Starting research his junior year, he worked on various projects and spent 20-30 hours a week working in the psychology lab in addition to taking classes. One project on eating and drinking preferences opened up the opportunity for him to travel all over the world with work on food aid. He liked the traveling, especially the Asian countries, and hopes to be able to take his daughter around the world when she gets older. He also mentioned that the work he did with the food aid was amazing because it produced immediate results, but it also made him realize that he was more fit for research. In grad school at Kent State, Dr. Wetsel got to combine his love for the brian and animal behavior and studied monkeys, rats, and pigeons.

After getting his masters in psychology though, Dr. Wetsel was a bit BOREDBOREDBORED and decided that he wanted to learn the biological mechanisms behind the psychology he had been studying. So, Dr. Wetsel went to graduate school at this place called MIT...in biology. It was here that he took the classes he didn't get to take as an undergrad: biochemsitry....cell bio....molecular bio...etc. He then spent his postdoctorate years working with neuropeptides and at the NIEHS for 10 years working with neuroendocrine reproduction and cells in culture. However, his time spent with cells was cut short when he decided to move back to animal models....specificially the mouse and even more specifically KNOCKOUT MICE. Now he's been at DUKE for around 10 years.

Dr. Wetsel's job is all about the children. There's his daughter, of course, and then all the various projects he's been a part of. And like with one's children, Dr. Wetsel will not call one of his projects his favorite. He does offer up a turning point in his career as when he discovered genetic models of mice that involved new technology and a new expertise for him. Then there's the children in the form of postdocs and their experiments. Dr. Wetsel's favorite thing about his job is watching his postdocs grow and nurturing them. He also relishes the learning experiences that he receives with his job. He is always interested to read about new developments...i would call that other people's children.

Speaking of learning and knowlege, Dr. Wetsel has done EVERYTHING. Talking to him, i really got the feeling that he just finds something he enjoys and goes for it. He even tried medical school, but decided he didn't want to be a doctor because he couldn't manipulate humans like he could animals and realized it would be difficult to be a good researcher and a good clinician at the same time. His approach to his studies was very creative as well. He took the subjects he was less interested in such as organic chemsitry and physics and looked at them through a biological perspective. Dr. Wetsel says that his wide range of knowlege about everything brain related which spans from the more general psychology to the more specific biology behind the psychology to animal behavior studies makes him the perfect person to converse with about anything remotely related to the mouse and/ or the brain.

Finally, some advice from Dr. Wetsel for future science researchers: READ about everything and learn to WRITE well and SPEAK well and SOCIALIZE well.

all in all, Dr. Wetsel's a really cool guy. too bad i forgot to take a picture with him.

Hey! I'm Nancy, a rising senior at East Chapel Hill who is currently reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult and finishing watching season 7 of Gimore Girls, not to mention embarking on the sure to be wonderful journey that is Howard Hughes! If you do decide keep up with my blog you'll realize that I like random pictures, elipses (...), CAPS LOCK, and incomplete sentences. So...let's begin.

5 insights into Week 1:

1. I am doing really cool stuff this summer in the Wetsel lab... basically using pharmacological mouse models for schizophrenia-related testing. Schizophrenia...think John Nash. mathematician. A Beautiful Mind. It's really exciting for me because the work i get to do in the lab is unlike anything i would ever get to do in my highschool. I'm thinking that these 7 weeks will satisfy my fascination with the complexities of the brain and give me an ample dose of cute mice.

2. The machinery is crazy. Seriously, what would we do without computers? To perform a Pre-pulse Inhibition test you open a program, name the file, type in labels for each test subject, insert mice, click start, and then go move some boxes (my lab is finishing up moving to a brand new facility). I should probably try to explain PPI...iIt's a test that consists of measuring the response to a startle stimulus...which is a very loud (120 dB)...and extremely startling when you hear it the first time...sound. The idea is that normally, if you receive a quieter pre-pulse stimulus before the actual startle stimulus, you don't get startled as much. Schizophrenic indiciduals do not exhibit this phenomenon, thus PPI is a good test for studies on schizophrenia.

3. From the many research papers i have read this week (so many PDF files!) i've come to realize that science uses a lot of abbreviations: PPI, LI, AMP, DA, D2, VEH, GCR, PCP, NMDA, MFSTP...the list goes on. Speaking of reading scientific papers...thankyou Dr. Bob (my AP Biology teacher). It feels good to know what G-protein receptors are and how neurotransmitters work.

4. The people in my lab are so nice and intelligent. I swear, knowlege just flows out of Ramona Rodriguez, my mentor, when she talks about anything and everything. Caroline, who just graduated from Duke undergrad, is so sweet and really good company. And then there's the other busy individuals who just sort of pop up in the lab from time to time...it's a really great atmosphere to work in. Today, i heard singing coming from the autoclave. Picture time:

Ramona and Caroline having an intense discussion about PPI data.

5. Miscelaneous: I'm really getting to know Duke's Campus, which is a good thing...although, I suppose that would happen if you end up taking a different route everyday to the same place. I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everyone in the program. You guys are all so interesting and different and fun. I'm looking forward to what's in store next week. Every day is a new ADVENTURE.

there's always help available.