It was during my first week in the Bilbo lab, eating lunch in the shared post-doc office, that I recognized Dr. Vaidyanathan’s unique passion for bringing her scientific expertise beyond the lab. She was attending a zoom meeting, strategizing about how to go about communicating the negative environmental impacts of the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project with environmental lawyers. This, I would later learn by interviewing Dr. Vaidyanathan, is just one of many examples of her dedication to scientific communication and community engagement. Dr. Trisha Vaidyanathan is a post-doctoral fellow at Dr. Staci Bilbo’s lab, and my bench mentor for my summer BSURF project. I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Vaidyanathan for this blog, and was able to learn more about her motivations, philosophies, and path in science.
Dr. Vaidyanathan grew up in California and started her journey into science at the University of California, Berkeley. She noted how she didn’t know much about research at the time, and was initially interested in environmental science or art history. As her undergraduate career progressed, she began to volunteer in labs, where she was initially introduced to research. She worked mainly in human labs, focusing on topics such as sleep. Her beginnings in neuroscience was a course in psychology. Because of this course, along with a mental health advocacy group she worked with, she found herself drawn towards the psychology path.
By the end of her undergraduate years, she had decided on a major in cognitive science–a unique mix of psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and computer science. Finding herself enduringly interested in the questions neuroscience sought to answer, and having been introduced to the idea of a PhD by a mentor from her senior year, she graduated from UC Berkeley on the path towards graduate school.
Hoping to gain more lab experience beyond the behavioral and computational work of her undergraduate labs, Dr. Vaidyanathan applied for and accepted a position at the National Institutes of health for a post-baccalaureate program. After a year, having strengthened her in-lab experience, Dr. Vaidyanathan entered the graduate school application process and was accepted to the University of California, San Francisco, where she began her rotation.
Knowing she could become passionate about many topics, and having cultivated an arsenal of well-rounded lab experiences, she approached her rotation with a focus on finding a supportive lab environment and a principal investigator who would serve as an inspiring mentor.
She found this community in the then-new lab of Dr. Kira Poskanzer. As one of the first full-time members of the Poskanzer lab, she had the unique experience of establishing the lab alongside Dr. Poskanzer. She noted that this opportunity to work directly with her principal investigator allowed her to connect with Dr. Poskanzer, who became a significant and inspiring mentor to her. An expert in the new and exciting technique of in vivo 2-photon imaging of astrocyte Ca2+ activity, Dr. Poskanzer passed on her expertise to Dr. Vaidyanathan. Becoming fascinated with the role of astrocytes in synchronous neuronal activity, and quick to draw from her own background working in sleep labs, Dr. Vaidyanathan proposed and subsequently pursued a project focused on understanding how astrocytes are involved in modulating the sleep-wake cycle.
Talking to Dr. Vaidyanathan during our interview, it was clear that this project was both challenging and rewarding, and played a large role in her approach to her science today. She recalled the novelty of both the Poskanzer lab itself as well as the field of astrocyte research. Staring completely from scratch, she found herself troubleshooting often as she built techniques and procedures from the ground up. She remembered the frustration of lack of data, and not feeling like a successful scientist as a result. She offered a piece of advice from this anecdote: it’s okay to not get data right away.
When I asked her about what she would change about the world of research, she emphasized the need for increasing accessibility to research, especially for underrepresented communities. Particularly, she’s passionate about ways that scientists can contribute directly and tangibly to the broader community.
Through volunteering to assist lesson planning at local schools to helping environmental lawyers fighting against the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Dr. Vaidyanathan’s motivated to contribute her empathy and expertise beyond the lab. She’s particularly interested in how scientists can help inform policy. She recalled witnessing the need for a scientifically-informed policy during her work with a group of scientists advocating for how the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity act can be better enforced.
Learning about her path, it’s no wonder how Dr. Vaidyanathan developed her creative, innovative, and enduringly patient approach to science, both inside and outside the lab. After the interview, I decided to enroll in a public policy course for my sophomore year, and felt inspired to explore ways in which I can contribute to increased communication and accessibility in research. Her story has much to offer, and I’m excited to have had the opportunity to relay it.