•One Cell to Rule Them All – Chlamydomonas – Outreach video
Scroll below for a full sample of the script.
•Why Study Glowing Animals? – YouTube Short/TikTok-style Explainer - Script
•Leapin’ Lizards! A New Model to Study Reptile Development – Educational video
Script (English & Spanish) – Summary
•Sterrin's Reptile Journey – Children's book chapter
In this chapter, I write about my journey as a scientist and describe my research on lizards.
Click here to read the excerpt.
•Instagram Takeover for PinoyScientists page
Posts that engage the general public about biological research and inspire Filipinos to pursue careers in STEM.
Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7
•Science Communication Workshop Leader
I organized a workshop that trained grad students in written, oral, and digital research communications. Click here for slides that I designed on the 3 secrets of effective scientific presentations.
Scroll below for a full sample of the script.
•Why Study Glowing Animals? – YouTube Short/TikTok-style Explainer - Script
•Leapin’ Lizards! A New Model to Study Reptile Development – Educational video
Script (English & Spanish) – Summary
•Sterrin's Reptile Journey – Children's book chapter
In this chapter, I write about my journey as a scientist and describe my research on lizards.
Click here to read the excerpt.
•Instagram Takeover for PinoyScientists page
Posts that engage the general public about biological research and inspire Filipinos to pursue careers in STEM.
Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7
•Science Communication Workshop Leader
I organized a workshop that trained grad students in written, oral, and digital research communications. Click here for slides that I designed on the 3 secrets of effective scientific presentations.
•Biology Laboratory Course Instructor (Georgia State University)
I designed an inquiry-based curriculum for an Honors lab. I wrote the syllabus, lesson plans, lab experiments, handouts, assessments, lectures, and slides. Click here to see my teaching materials.
•Writer of published manuscripts and successfully funded research grants
For my Ph.D., I wrote a 172-page dissertation that reviews the literature and reports my findings. Furthermore, I wrote four successful grant proposals to fund my research projects.
I designed an inquiry-based curriculum for an Honors lab. I wrote the syllabus, lesson plans, lab experiments, handouts, assessments, lectures, and slides. Click here to see my teaching materials.
•Writer of published manuscripts and successfully funded research grants
For my Ph.D., I wrote a 172-page dissertation that reviews the literature and reports my findings. Furthermore, I wrote four successful grant proposals to fund my research projects.
One Cell to Rule Them All – Chlamydomonas
Winning Video of Arcadia Science's First SciComm Hackathon - written and produced by Aaron Alcala
How do diseases affect our cells? To answer this question, we could look at samples from patients. Or we could observe cell behavior in animal models. But what if I told you some of the biggest discoveries in cell biology are being found by studying pond scum.
While this isn’t a creature from the black lagoon, it is a mysterious microbe that’s naked to the human eye. I’m referring to a type of green algae called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
“But, of course, the things that I've always really found fascinating about these organisms are not just the ways that it's similar to humans, but the ways in which it's different that can help us understand the fundamentals.”
But before we talk about Chlamydomonas, let's talk about the fundamentals.
Flipping through our intro biology textbook, we see a familiar diagram of organelles, these specialized structures that perform various jobs inside the cell.
While textbooks may make it seem like we know everything there is to know about the cell, there’s one organelle that’s oftentimes left out of these diagrams. I’m talking about cilia.
You’re probably more familiar with cilia or flagella as the structures that help sperm cells swim.
But almost every other cell in the human body also possesses a single primary cilium. Discovered in 1898, it was ignored for nearly a century and thought to be a remnant structure without any function.
But almost every other cell in the human body also possesses a single primary cilium. Discovered in 1898, it was ignored for nearly a century and thought to be a remnant structure without any function.
We now know the cilium has critical roles in cell signaling and growth. Abnormal cilia leads to ciliopathies, a range of diseases that can affect organs like the eyes, kidneys, heart, and even the brain.
This is where Chlamydomonas, or Chlamy, enters the scene.
This charismatic single-celled organism has not one, but two, cilia which share the same structure as those of mammals. Studying Chlamydomonas has led to landmark discoveries of how cilia are organized.
One example is intraflagellar transport, which was first found in Chlamy. You can think of this process as the movement of cargo along a molecular highway. The transport of proteins along the cilium is essential to build and maintain this structure.
But what exactly makes Chlamy great for studying cell biology? It turns out that this cell is a jack of all trades. First off it’s tiny and doubles in 6-8 hours. It can grow very quickly and easily on liquid or solid media. Chlamy can reproduce asexually or sexually, making it a powerful genetic model. Furthermore, gene function can be studied by introducing foreign DNA into the cell.
But what exactly makes Chlamy great for studying cell biology? It turns out that this cell is a jack of all trades. First off it’s tiny and doubles in 6-8 hours. It can grow very quickly and easily on liquid or solid media. Chlamy can reproduce asexually or sexually, making it a powerful genetic model. Furthermore, gene function can be studied by introducing foreign DNA into the cell.
One of Chlamy’s biggest strengths is its weirdness as an organism. It’s sometimes called a planimal, because it has many characteristics of both plants and animals. It can also survive in a wide range of habitats. One species of chlamy was isolated in acid mine drainage, while another was found on ice in Antarctica. This has led scientists to use Chlamydomonas to observe how cells adapt to high stress environments.
Exploring Chlamy can also inform us of how multicellular life evolved. It turns out that in certain conditions, individual chlamy cells can stick together and show multicellular behaviors. Comparing these clumps of cells with their closely related cousins is now revealing the genes and functions needed for complex life to evolve.
“Life, uh, finds a way.”
Chlamy has shown us that big things come in small packages. What else will we learn from this captivating single cell?
There are over one trillion species on this planet. Each of these presents an opportunity to ask how evolution has solved problems, leveraging the greatest technology we have — biology itself.
Arcadia Science aims to explore areas of biology that have previously fallen through the cracks. Learn more by visiting our website.