Thank you Mom for my Mitochondrial DNA (PSA to not forget Mother's Day)

Don't forget Mother's day is this Sunday! (Do people celebrate Mother's day outside of the U.S.? Is it on the same day as the U.S.? Okay, I just Googled it - 40+ countries recognize it and most celebrate this weekend but some celebrate on different days. Read more on Wiki.)

Since I don't live by my mother to celebrate with the typical brunch, I like to send her a card - the nerdier the better. I can't share the card I sent this year because I don't want to ruin it but I promise it is funny. Anyway, here is one of my favorites that I sent two years ago. Why is it my favorite? Because it mentions the mitochondria, specifically mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Go figure!

Side note: If you're looking for nerdy or niche cards I highly recommend checking out Etsy. 

Photo courtesy of my mom's FB, Card courtesy of Nerdy Words Inc

As this card implies, mtDNA is inherited maternally aka you get your mtDNA from your mom (Thanks Mom!). I also mentioned that mtDNA is maternally inherited in this past post. So let's talk about maternal inheritance of mtDNA. 

For most organisms (living things), including plants, animals, and fungi, mtDNA is inherited from a single parent (uniparental inheritance). In animals that reproduce sexually (make offspring/babies by... well I think you get it) the mtDNA is normally* inherited from the mother (maternal inheritance). 

*Like in most science, there are almost always exceptions. And in this case, there are examples of certain species having paternally inherited mitochondria such as Plymouth Rock chickens [1] or organisms that get "leakage" and have mtDNA from both mom and dad such as fruit flies [2], honeybees [3] cicadas [4], mice [5], sheep [6] and even humans [7, 8]. 

Back to human mtDNA, why does Mom's mtDNA beat out Dad's? There are two main ideas on how this happens; the dilution model and the active elimination model [9]. In the case of dilution, a human egg has ~200,000 mtDNA molecules whereas sperm has maybe 5 and I'm sure you can do that math (this model also allows for "paternal leakage" or some mtDNA from the dad to get through as seen in the above *exceptions). Also most mitochondria in the sperm are in the tail (mitochondria like to hang out where they are needed to make energy and the tail needs a lot since it is the motor for the sperm to swim) and the tail is often lost during fertilization. And lastly, there is evidence that mitochondria in mammalian sperm are destroyed by the egg after fertilization, active elimination [10].

[9] Carelli V. (2015).

Why does mtDNA usually only come from one parent? To be honest, we don't really know but there are plenty of theories out there and scientists are working on it (Possible future post? I don't know. Maybe. Tell me in the comments if you want me to write about this).

Why care where mtDNA comes from? Well, for genealogy (study of the family tree), it let's us trace back maternal lineage. We can do that for the paternal lineage using Y chromosome DNA. Also mtDNA is highly conserved with relatively slow mutation rates (doesn't change much generation to generation) so that also let's us study our evolutionary relationships to other species.

While on the topic of maternal inheritance of mtDNA, I should mention mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT). MRT is an in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique where the mitochondria from a donor egg is moved to the mother's egg and results in a baby with mtDNA from a donor female and nuclear DNA from the mother's egg and father/donor's sperm - this procedure is used when a woman with genetically defective mitochondria wants to have a baby with healthy mitochondria but have the baby be genetically similar to her (she could also use a donor egg). Wait, so is this the three parent baby I hear about in the news? Yes. And you can read more about it here. Some people think it's controversial but I personally find it no more controversial than egg or sperm donation. mtDNA contributes such minimal DNA (37 genes, when there is an estimated 20,000 genes in the nucleus) to have a major impact on the child's identity (this is what most of the controversy centers on) other than allowing them to be healthy.

Honestly, I could easily write a whole blog post on the ethics and the different methods behind MRT - let me know if you're interested below in the comments. 

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Sources

[1] Alexander M et al. (2015). Mitogenomic analysis of a 50-generation chicken pedigree reveals a rapid rate of mitochondrial evolution and evidence for paternal mtDNA inheritance. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0561

[2] Wolff JN et al. (2012). Paternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA as an integral part of mitochondrial inheritance in metapopulations of Drosophila simulans. https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2012.60

[3] Meusel MS, Moritz RFA. (1993). Transfer of paternal mitochondrial DNA during fertilization of honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) eggs. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00351719 

[4] Fontaine KM et al. (2007). Evidence for Paternal Leakage in Hybrid Periodical Cicadas (Hemiptera: Magicicada spp.). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000892

[5] Gyllensten U et al. (1991). Paternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA in mice. https://doi.org/10.1038/352255a0

[6] Zhao et al. (2004). Further evidence for paternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA in the sheep (Ovis aries) https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.hdy.6800516

[7] Schwartz M, Vissing J. (2002). Paternal Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA. https://doi.org/0.1056/NEJMoa020350

[8]  Luo S et al. (2018). Biparental Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA in Humans. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810946115 

[9] Carelli V. (2015). Keeping in Shape the Dogma of Mitochondrial DNA Maternal Inheritance. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005179

[10] Sutovsky P et al. (1999). Ubiquitin tag for sperm mitochondria. https://doi.org/10.1038/46466

Wait, what do you do? I Study RNA Processing in Mitochondria

Hello all! It's been awhile and this is my first blog post that isn't an assignment for JRN 504. I have really wanted to blog more about my research but it can be really hard to make the time to really sit down and write for fun (is there even such a thing?) when you have all this mandated writing to do. But I thought hey, I have this poster that I spent a lot of time writing, why not turn that into a quick and dirty blog post. Plus, I wanted to have this poster in a text format so that it could be more accessible.

I recently presented this poster at the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWiSE) Women in STEM Research Showcase (you can check out my post on the event on the GWiSE blog). The audience for this poster was a general audience so I focused on background and my approaches and less so on what my results have been. Also my data is unpublished and I am paranoid about getting scooped so at this time I am not sharing it widely.

My poster as a whole: click to zoom in or scroll to have it broken down in paragraph form

Current Questions

What are RNA granules?

We know that RNA granules (RGs) are punctate, membraneless mitochondrial structures in the matrix that contains nascent (newly transcribed) RNA [ref 3]. We know that RGs are enriched with components of RNase P and other RNA processing enzymes [ref 4-8]. We do not fully understand the composition of RGs or how this composition changes. We also do not understand how RGs form or stay together. I am interested in determining and defining different subsets of RGs. I am also interested in how phase separation may contribute to RG formation.

Does mitochondrial RNA need to be completely processed at the RNA granule?

It is thought that RGs are dynamic platforms and through spatiotemporal regulation control RNA processing as well as mitoribosome assembly. I’m interested in studying which RNA processing events must occur at the RG and which, if any, are allowed to occur at locations outside of the RG.

Understanding RNA processing in mitochondria and how aberrant processing can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction may help us better understand complex diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and/or cancer. 

Abstract

Mitochondria are double-membrane organelles found in humans, plants, animals and essentially all eukaryotic organisms. Mitochondria contain their own DNA (mtDNA) that works in coordination with nuclear DNA (the DNA you usually think of) to build the respiratory complexes, which are responsible for the energy production of the cell necessary for life. Processing of RNA within the mitochondria is different from the processing of RNA in the rest of the cell. Mutations in nuclear genes leading to incorrect processing and maturation of mitochondrial RNAs are cause of most human mitochondrial diseases. Furthermore, mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in many common diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and cancer. I am interested in studying nuclear-encoded RNA-binding and cleaving proteins in human mitochondria, how they are involved in RNA processing and how they are organized.

Background

Mitochondria are energy producing, double-membraned organelles containing five compartments: outer membrane (OM), inner membrane (IM), intermembrane space (IMS), cristae and matrix (Fig. 1). Mitochondria take advantage of their structure to produce over 90% of the cell’s energy, in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), through oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). The process of OxPhos is carried out on the IM through an electron transport chain (ETC); which consists of five respiratory complexes: Complexes I-V. The ETC causes protons to build up in the IMS and generate an electrochemical gradient across the IM. The energy in this potential is then used by Complex V to produce ATP.

Figure 1. Mitochondrial Structure Helps with Energy Production Efficiency

Mitochondria contain their own DNA (mtDNA). mtDNA is circular DNA, consisting of a heavy and light strand, and is tightly packed in structures called nucleoids that reside in the matrix.

mtDNA either undergoes replication, which is making copies of itself, or it gets transcribed into RNA (transcription), which are instructions and tools to make proteins (Fig. 2). The messenger RNA (mRNAs) are then translated by processing machinery called ribosomes into proteins. Mitochondria have their own ribosomes, called mitoribosomes, that differ from the ribosomes in the cytoplasm. Like ribosomes, these mitoribosomes use the transfer RNAs (tRNAs) as tools to build the proteins. And lastly, there are the ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) which are part of the mitoribosome itself, with the proteins for the mitoribosome being imported from the cytoplasm.

Figure 2. Central Dogma of Molecular Biology Applies to Mitochondria

In humans, mtDNA encodes for 13mRNAs, 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. All of these help build up only part of the respiratory complexes in coordination with many proteins produced by the nucleus. The transcription of mtDNA results in two long polycistronic RNA strands, one for the heavy strand and one for the light strand. These two polycistronic RNA strands undergo unique endonucleolytic processing as described by the tRNA punctuation model (Fig. 3) [ref 1,2]. The tRNAs punctuate, or flank the mRNAs and rRNAs. These tRNAs are then recognized by the endonucleolytic (cleaving) enzymes, RNase P and RNase Z which cut them out on the 5’ and 3’, respectively. The cleavage and release of the tRNAs allow the mRNAs and rRNAs they flank to then also be freed. The release of the individual RNAs does not mark the end of their maturation process but rather just the beginning.

Figure 3. tRNA Punctuation Model

Adapted from Ferreira et al. 2017 

Results

Figure 4. SIM Imaging of Nucleoids and RNA Granules

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) imaging of HeLa cells, an immortalized human cell line, showing the punctate and diffuse nature of nucleoids and RGs in the mitochondrial matrix. Tom20 (green) is a marker for the OM of mitochondria. A. DNA (red) is a marker for nucleoids. B. FastKD2 is a marker for RGs7.

Figure 5. Labeling Nascent RNA with BU

SIM imaging of HeLa cells with DNA (green) as a marker for nucleoids, Tom20 (white) a marker for the OM and 5-Bromouridine (BU) (red) as a marker for nascent (newly transcribed) RNA. A. and B. are the same image showing that only a subset of nucleoids have adjacent RGs containing nascent RNA. B. OM layer is removed for clarity of visualizing organization of nucleoids with nascent RNA.

Figure 6. Nucleoid & RG Organization in Knockdown of MRPP3

Figure 7. Bloated Mitochondria Phenotype

Mitochondrial RNase P protein 3 (MRPP3) is the protein in RNase P responsible for the 5’ end tRNA cleavage. The above is SIM imaging of HeLa cells with DNA (red) as a marker for nucleoids and FastKD2 (green) for RGs. The objective was to determine if there were changes in the organization of the nucleoids and RGs such as bloating (Fig. 7). Bloating is a phenotype observed when other RG-associated proteins are knocked down (unpublished data). In the case of MRPP3 knockdown (KD), no changes in phenotype were observed. A. Scrambled siRNA as a negative control. B. KD of MRPP3 with 80% efficiency of siRNA.

Continuing Efforts

• Continue imaging organization of nucleoids and RGs with RNA-binding and cleaving proteins at normal levels, reduced levels (knockdown) and complete knock outs (CRISPR/Cas9).
• Continue BU studies to follow how nascent RNA traverses the mitochondria as it matures.
• Utilize CRISPR/Cas9 (gene editing) to knock in epitope tags on various mitochondrial RNA-binding and cleaving proteins. Epitope tags allow us to do various experiments without the need and limitations of antibodies. One such experiment is co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP); using the epitope tag to pull down the protein of interest and what it binds to – allowing us to identify binding partners.
• Perform RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) on both mitochondrial RNA and whole cell RNA after knocking down various RNA-binding and cleaving proteins. This allows us to understand how the various RNA -binding and cleaving proteins affect the RNA maturation process by measuring abundance of different RNA transcripts at different stages in their maturation. 

Acknowledgments

The Bogenhagen Lab, especially Anne Ostermeyer-Fay
NIH Training Grant in Pharmacological Sciences T32GM007518

References

1. Ojala D, Montoya J, Attardi G. tRNA punctuation model of RNA processing in human mitochondria. Nature. 1981;290:470–474.
2. Ferreira N, Rackham O, Filipovska A. Regulation of a minimal transcriptome by repeat domain proteins. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2017;76:132–141
3. Iborra, FJ, Kimura H, Cook PR. The functional organization of mitochondrial genomes in human cells. BMC Biol. 2004;2:9. 
4. Lee K-W, Okot-Kotber C, Lacomb JF, Bogenhagen DF. Mitochondrial Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) Methyltransferase Family Members Are Positioned to Modify Nascent rRNA in Foci near the Mitochondrial DNA Nucleoid. J Biol Chem. 2013;288:31386–31399.
5. Jourdain AA, Koppen M, Wydro M … Martinou J-C. GRSF1 Regulates RNA Processing in Mitochondrial RNA Granules. Cell Metab. 2013;17:399–410.
6. Bogenhagen DF, Martin DW, Koller A. Initial Steps in RNA Processing and Ribosome Assembly Occur at Mitochondrial DNA Nucleoids. Cell Metab. 2014;19:618–629.
7. Jourdain AA, Koppen M, Rodley CD … Martinou J-C. A Mitochondria-Specific Isoform of FASTK Is Present In Mitochondrial RNA Granules and Regulates Gene Expression and Function. Cell. 2015;10:1110–1121.
8. Antonicka H, Shoubridge EA. Mitochondrial RNA Granules Are Centers for Posttranscriptional RNA Processing and Ribosome Biogenesis. Cell Rep. 2015;10:920–932.

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If you liked this post, you might also like:

Mitochondria: The Powerhouse of the Cell

Supporting Women (and other minorities) in STEM

Last week, I touched a bit on the isolation you feel when in grad school (re: this post) which brings me to this week's topic: Women in STEM

Believe it or not I'm a woman in science everyday 👩🏻‍🔬 Happy #WomenInScience Day! #WomenInSTEM pic.twitter.com/MAjauQqMKi

— Caitlyn Cardetti (@CaitlynCardetti) February 11, 2019

Being a woman in STEM can come with it's own set of feelings of isolation and feelings that you don't belong (i.e. sexism, microaggressions, harassment, discrimination, etc). While we could talk for days upon days on these issues, I want to only talk about one aspect of being a woman in STEM today - and that's finding your support network.

I am very fortunate because I am in a department where my peers are fairly equal in number for being males and females which is extremely important. Why is this important? Well, studies have shown that women in Ph.D. programs that have more women are more likely to graduate (read more about that here). I am also fortunate because my peers are very supportive of each other; males and females.

I honestly couldn't do grad school without my pharm fam. This is my cohort taking some much needed respite. We orally defended our qualifying proposals this past week after spending the last few months writing them. Love you all! #phdchat pic.twitter.com/AgfpBIwr32

— Caitlyn Cardetti (@CaitlynCardetti) January 27, 2019

But I know many grad students out there are not so lucky, in which case I want to point them to resources outside of their department.

Here at Stony Brook University, we have an amazing organization and community, the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWiSE).

The GWiSE mission is to enhance the scientific, professional, and personal development of graduate women pursuing STEM degrees at Stony Brook University and provide a space for dialogue on issues unique to women in science. To sum it up, it is about amazing women doing amazing things. We're all about supporting each other, socializing and science. But this group is so much more than just women supporting other women, we support everyone. We have male allies in our club, we have non-STEM majors in our club. We want STEM and quite frankly, our world to be a space where everyone is welcome so that is what we strive for and hope to reflect in everyone of our events.

We're loving the turn out tonight at our Women In STEM Research Showcase. Thank you for supporting #WomenInSTEM here at @GradSBU pic.twitter.com/lU4nJrrM5Z

— SBU GWISE (@SBU_GWISE) April 4, 2019

Many campuses, have their own form of GWiSE in some form or another. But if you don't have this group on your campus, start one! It will be a lot of work but I promise you, if you build it they will come.

If you need assistance forming a club, many national organizations (see list of resources below) will assist you with form a chapter. SBU GWiSE is not-associated with any national chapters as this allows us to not need to collect dues, we are funded through the graduate student fees through the Graduate School Organization (GSO). SBU GWiSE is also a pretty new organization, we've only been here about four years but every year we are growing and gaining traction. If you're at SBU, join us (check out our upcoming events on Facebook or join our mailing list).

Additional Reading/Resources:

Most Successful Women Surround Themselves with Other Women

500 Women Scientists

American Association of University Women (AAUW)

American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

Association for Advocacy of Women in Science and Medicine (AAWSM)

Association for Women in Science (AWIS)

Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) National Organization

#MeTooSTEM

National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCCHE)

Society for Women Engineers (SWE)

Do you have a similar organization on your campus? Do have any other resources or interesting articles relating to this topic? Please share them below in the comments.

Moving, Grad School & Isolation

I took a poll on Twitter to see what topic people would like for my podcast assignment for JRN 504 and it was overwhelmingly in favor of me discussing PhD/Grad school life. So I thought I'd write a little bit about that today.

I went to Philly this weekend to run the Philly Love Half marathon with my good friend, D. We grew up together in Minnesota, lost touch during college but later reconnected when we both found ourselves on the East Coast (~5 years ago). She lives in Boston and me in New York. I can't say how great it is to have someone from back home out here. She gets it - we can really talk and understand about how different life can be from the two places (it's mostly the people). Also it's fun to discuss our childhoods and where everyone else ended up. When we hang out, it feels like a little slice of home, minus the cold winters. She did break the news to me on this trip that she plans on moving back. I'm happy for her and I understand because I'm also ready for the New York chapter of my life to close soon but I'm also a bit sad in a bittersweet sort of way.

Our fourth race in Philly

In 2014, I moved 1200 miles away for a job in NYC. It was really hard. I cried a lot. I questioned if I made the right choice. I did. But it was still hard. That summer, D and I reconnected and it helped. A lot.

Moving puts you in a new space and in a new way of life and while any change is hard, that isn't the hardest. The hardest part about moving is personal connections - your friends and family. As humans we need to feel connected to others. Like I said, change is hard. But changes in relationships are REALLY [insert profanity here] hard. But you should realize, friendships come and go; regardless of whether you move or not. And relationships/connections with friends and family also evolve throughout your lifetime even if you stay in the town you grew up in. But if you do move, these relationships are essentially forced to change all at once. And that's indescribably difficult.

And that's what happens in grad school too. [I realize that many people move far for grad school as well, thus facing the double whammy at once which I don't even want to imagine. But I feel for you, I really do.]

Moving and grad school can both be very isolating but they don't have to be. I promise! Although, like all good things, it will take work and it will take time.

In grad school, your friends and family are often not nearby and even if they are, you probably still feel like they just don't understand what you're going through. You know what this sounds like? Teenage angst. Do you remember that? I do and I don't know about you, but it was mostly just me being over dramatic. "Mom, you just don't understand!!" She did, you were just being ridiculous. It's silly to think people don't understand you, they do, especially if you take the time to communicate with them. While your friends and family likely can't 100% understand what you're going through or feeling, I promise you they want to be there and try to understand. So let them. Talk to them, try and explain what you can, and be vulnerable - the worst thing you can do is put up a facade about how amazing everything is going. Because it's not. And maybe your parents will never understand your science but they will understand and feel for your heartache, they will understand the feeling of tying your self-worth to something you shouldn't (this isn't something isolated to academia). And talk to your classmates, be vulnerable with them too - you'll be amazed how good it feels to just open up, and they will likely follow suit. They might never understand what back home is like for you (although I have found other Minnesotan grad students here, so maybe you can find someone from back home too) but they will understand how frustrating working with that one professor is or how the university raising fees is just too much.

Going full circle: look at this vintage thermocycler/PCR machine at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia I saw this past weekend [I highly recommend visiting it when in Philly, I totally nerded out there].  Look how it has evolved! This evolution took a lot of work, and I wouldn't be surprised if it took tears too, to get it to where it is today. And I bet it will be different 10 years from now as well. Which machine would you prefer to use? The one better suited for today or a nostalgic blast from the past? That's how you should think of your relationships, they might not be what they were, but if you put the work in you can have them evolve to what you need today.

Thermocycler/PCR

Speaking of PCR, I better get back to work and fail at it again ;)

Mitochondria: The Powerhouse of the cell

This is an assignment for JRN 504 (re: this post) where I am supposed to post a photo and video.

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell! We've all likely heard this and/or have seen the many memes. I'm in training as a mitochondrial biologist so I obviously care about them. But why should you care? Well, check out this quick (less than 2 minutes) chalk talk by the National Science Foundation to find out why and get a general overview of mitochondria.

Here are the main points of the video:

• Mitochondria produce energy for most complex living things including people, plants and animals. This energy is produced in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). TL;DR mitochondria = energy, no energy = death!
• Mitochondria contain their own DNA. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from only your mother (there are exceptions, there are always exceptions but it is rare), which also let's us trace back human origins.

Ready to move on?

Okay, let's dive a little deeper. Since we are talking about DNA, let's take a minute to refresh ourselves on the central dogma of molecular biology. And if you didn't know it before, you will now and you'll learn the secret - molecular biology really isn't all that hard. ;)

Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

DNA either undergoes replication, which is making copies of itself, or it gets transcribed into RNA (transcription), which are instructions and tools to make proteins. The messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are then translated by processing machinery called ribosomes into proteins. These ribosomes also use the transfer RNAs (tRNAs) as tools to build the proteins. And lastly there are ribosomal RNAs or rRNAs which are parts of the ribosome itself. This basic overview of the central dogma applies to both the cell and the mitochondria. See?! I told you molecular biology is not that hard!

But let's focus on just the mitochondria. The DNA in the mitochondria (mtDNA), encodes for 13 mRNAs, 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. All of these help build only part of the respiratory complexes, or factories that produce ATP (energy). The mitochondria and the respiratory complexes obviously need a lot more than 13 proteins for it's complex structure/job, so all the other proteins (thousands!) are supplied or transported into the mitochondria by the rest of the cell. The mitochondria have their own ribosomes, called mitoribosomes. My PI (principal investigator aka boss) studies the assembly of mitoribosomes. I, however, am interested in studying mitochondrial RNA its processing. I'll go more into detail on what I study in future posts but for now, I want to introduce one of my favorite tools to study mitochondria.

The SIM!

The SIM is a really high powered microscope (SIM = super illumination microscopy) that let's me not only see the mitochondria but look at the organization within them. Mitochondria are really freaking tiny so that is one heck of a zoom. To put that in perspective, a human hair is about 75 microns (micrometers, um) wide and I'm looking at a 5um level. Here is what this bad boy looks like:

SIM Microscope at Stony Brook University Core Facility

And here is an image of two human cells with nuclei out of frame (that's how zoomed in we are, a whole cell doesn't even fit in the frame). The green outlines the mitochondria by staining for TOM20, a protein that is all over the outer membrane of the mitochondria (mitochondria have two membranes - inner and outer). The red is DNA (remember mitochondria have their own DNA).

Mitochondria with SIM

Please comment below with any questions or  suggestions on what you'd like to learn about mitochondria.

Should you delete your social media?

This is an assignment for JRN 504 (re: this post). Here is my response to Jaron Lanier on "Why You Should Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now." Listen to it here (transcript also available).

Who is Jaron Lanier? He is a computer scientist/philosopher and author of the book "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now." The 10 reasons being:

1. You're losing free will
2. Quitting social media is the most targeted way to resist the insanity of our times
3. Social media is turning you into an asshole
4. Social media is undermining truth
5. Social media is making what you say meaningless
6. Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy
7. Social media is making you unhappy
8. Social media doesn't want you to have economic dignity
9. Social media is making politics impossible
10. Social media hates your soul

Honestly, I don't quite disagree with him but I also can't help but to roll my eyes. At the end of the day, social media is what you make of it. 

I don't disagree that if we as a society were to do away with social media as we now know it (manipulative business model) that we would be better for it. But I don't see that revolution happening anytime soon. I think people will always use it so we need to learn to work with it.

Plus, I personally am a big fan of social media. Here's my personal take on the big three: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Facebook is a great way for me to keep in touch with friends and family that aren't near me. I moved 1200 miles away 5 years ago now, so I miss out on lots of friends/family's birthdays, weddings, having kids, holidays, etc. With Facebook I can see these updates in a hassle-free way for both them and me. We're all busy and it takes a lot of time to reach out to everyone to tell them news one on one. I am not saying we shouldn't do that for those you're really close to (I loved that one of my good friends called to tell me they were having a baby before they put in on FB), but a FB update is an easy way to keep people updated on plenty of things that don't need a personal call. I can't keep up with everyone individually via texts and calls (I don't have the time) so FB let's me keep my ties. And when I go home we gather and we discuss the really important stuff and it feels like no time has past.

Twitter is easily my favorite social media, even more so now that I'm in grad school. I don't really use it for friends; I connect with people here that I never would in person. I "meet" other scientists and learn about their fields and opinions on how to deal with stresses in academia. It's great! I find it inspiring, motivating and sometimes a place for me to just yell into the void (hey, sometimes you just need to vent).

And lastly, Instagram. I hate IG. I deleted my account a few years ago and have never looked back. I had it for a few years and felt pressured to post photos of how great my life was (and it was/is) but the pressure of having to post annoyed me. It felt so fake. Also I'd fall down rabbit holes of scrolling through memes when I had better stuff to do (now I procrastibake and procrasticlean instead which are both better IMO). So I made the decision to just get rid of it. And this is what I meant by before when I said social media is what you make of it. IG didn't work for me, and that's okay. I deleted it because it mostly only added stress and guilt to my life and why would I want that? But if it works for you, you do you.

TL;DR You gotta use the right tool for the job, so decide what that job is for you and if social media fits that roll and you enjoy it, use it. 

P.S. I feel I should mention I do call and/or send snail mail sporadically to my good friends. I don't think social media could ever replace real connections but I think it keeps the doors open for them so that you can be thoughtful when you have time instead of it being a stressor. 

Hello world!

Hello world! I'm starting this blog as a requirement for the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication course I am taking this semester, Spring 2019, called JRN 504 Communicating Science Using Digital Media. It will run for 5 weeks; March 4th-April 8th (you're right, you can count and that's 6 weeks, because there is spring break in the middle there). 

I will be posting blog posts and assignments as required by the course. But I will also likely post additional blog posts of my own accord. I will specify which category they fall into. This post is one of my own accord because I felt like I should have an intro. So, here we go:

Hi! I'm Caitlyn. I graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2013 with a B.S. in Human Biology and Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. Post-graduation, I worked in Quality Control at Coloplast (a medical manufacturing company) and as a Research Assistant for the Behavioral Medicine division of Psychiatry at Columbia University. I am now a Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. Daniel Bogenhagen at Stony Brook University; where I study RNA processing in the mitochondria. Outside of lab, I enjoy running, yoga and watching hockey. At least I used to enjoy watching hockey, I haven't exactly had as much time to do so since I've started grad school. I am not even sure I know how my team is doing. Jk, I know they aren't doing so hot. But either way go Minnesota Wild!

This is me running!

P.S. If you're interested in other blogs being maintained for this course, here are the links to my classmates' blogs:

Hydrophilic Hearts

Science Meme Graveyard

Dr. Dropset

Fun with Science (blog since deleted)

Pipper the Scientist Cat

Beyond Safaris

The Mysterious Neutrino (blog since deleted)

Language Creatures

Chemistry with a pinch of the outdoors

Brainy Mood (invitation needed)