STEM Tea | Building mentoring networks with Christina Termini

[Tristan] Hello, BioTechniques senior editor Tristan Free here, welcoming you to this, our first episode of a new BioTechniques podcast, STEM Tea. Today I want to introduce you to one of our BioTechniques LEARN mentors and host of the podcast and bring you the first episode of the series. So firstly, Antentor “AJ” Hinton, author of countless papers on the importance and intricacies of mentoring, career advice and mitochondria, and assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics at the Vanderbilt University, it is so wonderful to have you on the podcast.

[AJ] Hi, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the awesome opportunity and wanted to share my advice with others about mentoring, diversity, equity, inclusion, and most of all, how mitochondria mostly almost affect everything.

[Tristan] Fantastic. So you and I have been discussing the idea of STEM Tea for a while and the kind of podcast that you would like to host. So why don’t you tell us a bit about your core aims for the podcast and what you would like it to cover?

[AJ] Great, I really appreciate this. So first, STEM Tea is a playoff of, you know, trying to figure out what’s the latest in science. A lot of times and the minority community will use the word “tea”, you know, what’s the talk? And so I want to kind of introduce it this way as a way to be relatable, not only to my community, but a lot of different communities for them to also say, what’s the STEM Tea, you know, what’s the latest in, you know, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and then also medicine as well, because we can add an extra M to that. One other thing is that I think not only just encompassing what’s interesting as far as the research is concerned, we also should expand how we use culture and humility and cultural competency in our mentoring practices to create a very healthy research environment so that we can continue to thrive and publish even more mitochondrial papers. I also believe that it’s important to talk about the latest diversity, equity, inclusion issues that are out there and also bring some exchanges with discussions about difficult topics to actually talk about in science and actually maybe mediate some conversations where there’s different opinions and different sides and maybe actually get them eye to eye somewhere in the middle. And then lastly, I want to kind of focus on
amplifying voices that are not heard. There are some unique voices that are out there in science that have been able to overcome a lot of barriers, but their story hasn’t been told. They’ve been able to write books, but they haven’t been able to share on a national and international platform. So I thought this would be a great way to actually include them so we could hear the diversity of thought and the innovation that happens in science at all levels. So these are some of the things that I wanted to cover in the podcast.

[Tristan] Fantastic. Well, I’m so excited to get into our first episode. So with that in mind, would you like to introduce our first guest?

[AJ] Yes, I definitely would. So Dr. Christina Termini, and we call her Tina, is a colleague of mine and a dear friend. She finished her postdoc at UCLA and she’s going to be transitioning as an assistant professor at Fred Hutch. And it’s absolutely amazing. And she studies so many intricate things. And I want to hand it over to her first talk about her research before we get into the details of what we’re going to talk about
today on the STEM Tea podcast related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Termini, can I call you Tina for the podcast? Is that okay?

[Tina] Yes, Dr. Hinton.

[AJ] Okay, thank you. So please call me AJ and please tell us about your research and tell us about your journey in science.

[Tina] Well, thank you, AJ, so much for the invitation. It’s really a pleasure to be able to chat with you at any time, especially on this platform here. So my research really focuses on adult blood stem cells or hematopoietic stem cells. And I’m focused on trying to understand how these stem cells maintain their stemness. How do they maintain their stemness under homeostasis, but also how do they regenerate after injuries? So I really focus on chemotherapy and radiation therapy and how those stem cells come back. So chemo and radiation is used to treat millions of patients with various cancers. So it’s a very relevant problem. And we kind of expect those stem cells to be able to come back and maintain the blood system after a patient receives these insults. So we really want to understand how we can best rejuvenate those stem cells and maintain them for overall patient outcomes to kind of make sure that that blood system can come back as strong as it needs to be.

[AJ] That is really awesome. Can I have one follow-up question?

[Tina] Of course.

[AJ] I think I noticed on Twitter that you published a couple of your outstanding first authors from your postdoc. Could you tell us about those really quickly about where you’ve published them and the highlights of those particular articles?

[Tina] Yes, absolutely. So yeah, I had two main postdoc projects. The first was recently published in Nature Communications. And in that work, in the shoot lab, we really focused on a particular molecule, NeuroPillin-1. And we found that actually inhibiting this molecule using antibody treatment can actually accelerate the recovery of the vascular system after radiation and chemotherapy. And this actually leads to improved regeneration of the hematopoietic system.

And then I had a separate paper on a different type of project where we actually identified the molecule Cyndacan-2 as being a marker of hematopoietic stem cells. And what’s really interesting is that it doesn’t just mark the hematopoietic stem cells, but this molecule also functionally regulates… And this is interesting because a lot of the molecules that we use to identify stem cells, if you knock them out, if you overexpress them, you really don’t
get a change in stem cell function. So this is one of the first molecules that we found can actually not just purify the stem cells, but actually purify stem cells with improved functionality. So we think that this duality makes this molecule a really attractive target for different molecular therapies. So very exciting work and a lot of follow-up in my on that.

[AJ] And then could you tell us about the other publication? I think you had one also accepted to blood too.

[Tina] Oh, yeah. So the blood paper was the Cyndacan-2 paper. So very excited about that. And again, now we’re really starting to try to understand how the cellular source of this molecule, Cyndacan-2, actually can potentially regulate the functionality of the hematopoietic system. So in my lab, we’ll be doing a lot of follow-up studies focusing on the potential implications of vascular system, as well as the stromal bone marrow microenvironment, and whether the hematopoietic stem cells themselves, their production of this molecule, how these all kind of interrelate to each other.

[AJ] That’s really awesome. And I noticed that you care a lot about cancer. I more recently noticed that you had published a paper about mentorship and trends in cancer. Could you talk about your mentorship practice in that particular paper and also talk about, I think there was a paper on Twitter about American Society of Biology as well with one of your mentees. Could you talk about your mentorship of her as well?

[Tina] Yeah, mentoring is definitely a passion of mine. I think that it’s a key component to the scientific environment. And if we want people to advance, we need solid mentors,
not just one. So the first paper that you reference was published in Trends in Cancer in 2021, and it was about building mentoring networks. So my philosophy as a mentee and a mentor is that you cannot do it all with one mentor. You really need a network of individuals that are invested in your wellbeing and in your career advancement. And those individuals may come from various different sectors. They might be education mentors, they might be scientific mentors, they might have expertise in specific techniques. But really, we need multiple mentors. And I think that that’s a philosophy that took me a while to identify in my own postdoctoral situation.
When I was in training, I assumed that you get matched with a mentor and that’s it. But really, it was up to me to build out my mentoring network to receive input and feedback from individuals that really could fill out my needs. And then the other publication that you mentioned was published by myself and Amara Peng in Molecular Biology of the Cell as the inaugural Voices essay. And that piece really focused on microaggressions and some of the microaggressions that we’ve witnessed and experienced in our journeys. And Amara has been an amazing mentee of mine. She’s currently an MD PhD student at OHSU and she’s thriving. But her and I really connected over our experiences, both being Latinx in science. And I think that that connectedness really allowed us to trust each other in our mentoring relationship, but also to just gain the ability to discuss some of these issues with each other as they arose. And that’s actually really important because if you’re the only one in your lab, in your institution of a certain type, then you might not feel like you have a community. So her and I really bonded over that. And I think that that helped us both advance ourselves to the next stage.

[AJ] That is really amazing. And it’s very interesting that you say that because I’ve noticed that you’re actually creating your own pipeline. And you’ve established that very much so. And I noticed that you are filling a lot of the patches in the pipeline along the way. You’re saying that you’re being the only one sometimes in science. And I’m wondering how does that feel? And does that weigh on you sometimes? Because I feel like, you know, maybe a lot of people don’t know that there may be other Latinx scientists out there. Could you talk about that a little bit?

[Tina] That’s a great point, AJ. And I think it does weigh on me being a woman, also being first generation. Sometimes I occupy these hyper academic spaces and I feel so out of place. And it’s difficult for me to almost assimilate. And I don’t want to assimilate. I want to be my full authentic self in any space that I occupy. So it is difficult and it does weigh on me. And I think that power of community can really allow us to build each other up and to fully be our true authentic selves in these spaces. And it doesn’t have to be community where you’re physically interacting with individuals. It can be virtual communities as well. And I think you and I are a great example of that where I haven’t seen you in two years, three years or so, but yet you’re such a major part of my community. And we’re still able to collaborate, receive peer mentorship from each other and kind of build each other up and discuss some of these issues that we do experience kind of in our academic journeys as well.

And, you know, speaking of how we talked about things online, you know, when we were creating the Nature Biotech paper about virtual mentoring, it actually blossomed into a myriad of different ideas. And a couple of those ideas while we were creating it in May, we’re talking about the 1,000 Black scientists list. At that time, you know, we had made 100 lists and then 100 more scientists list. And then I felt like, you know, there was a lot of spotlight on me, but I really wanted to focus on the community that we had built called the community of scholars. And matter of fact, you coined the name, the community of scholars and Melanie, who will be on a podcast later, talked about that too, and talking about how we still fortify that community today. And we continue to bring other people into right in our guild. But one thing that’s, you know, not often mentioned is how the 1,000 scientists was not just about Black scientists coming together, but also about Latina scientists, Latino scientists pitching and helping people that were gay, straight and all of non-binary all participated together. And even a couple of Asian scientists really worked to push for this 1,000 Black scientists list. And one thing that I was really proud of was that we built community. And I was just wondering how you were impacted while you assisted in
the 1,000 Black scientists list. You know, it really was a strong showing of the power of community and our group really, there’s no ego. There’s nothing like that. We’re all kind of trying to contribute to a common goal. And realistically, it’s not, it’s not just Black scientists responsibility to highlight Black scientists. It’s everybody’s responsibility. And the same goes with Latinx scientists. So it was a really enriching experience. And I think that this type of piece really highlighted the power of community within, you know, the community of scholars, but also externally, the response from everyone with regards to this list was just outstanding. I mean, the appreciation,
just having role models, having a list that can really combat some of these microaggressions. You know, there are no Black scientists within X field that we could invite. Well, here’s the list. Here’s the data. So I think that it
was a really outstanding experience and it shows that we really need more of this. This is just the start, right? That’s right. That list is going to keep blossoming. It will. I think it’s going to be a 10,000 Black scientists list
pretty soon. I think interns are working on it right now and we’re managing it. And hopefully one day we’ll be able to showcase that. And maybe biotechniques will be the platform for that. And speaking of the platform, you know, could you tell me a little bit about how although we were focused on Black scientists, you had this amazing idea to generate the 100 Latinx list and also expand it. Could you just talk about your thoughts behind why you chose to make this list and how it represents not only Latinx people, but Latina and Latino people as well? Yeah, I mean, I think that we need a list for more than just Black and Latinx. And Latinx was really near and
dear to me. Being a Hispanic scientist, you know, I’m really proud of my community and I’m really proud of the members of my community that have really laid the groundwork for me to succeed. So I really wanted to highlight those individuals, highlight their science, and just kind of create a list that showcased not just those that are established, but also rising stars. So this is the future of the community. The rising star list really highlights those that are launching their careers and are going to be the ones that are leading the way. So I think it was really important to create a list, but this is not the end, right? There’s more than 100 amazing, outstanding Latinx
scientists in terms of their research, education, DEI, and all of the things that they do with the community. So I think that this is a start, but it’s not the end in the sense that we need to continue to highlight individuals with
lists like this. And I think there’s a lot that can be done with other communities as well, whether it’s LGBTQ, gender diversity, disabled individuals as well, they really need to be highlighted, but also allies. So I think that there’s a lot that can be done to showcase individuals who have really made insurmountable efforts to diversify academia.

[AJ] That is really amazing. So it’s time for a little tea. So are you going to do another Latinx list? And if so, when will that come out? Has it been composed? Who’s on there?

[Tina] So yes, this is something that we have been working on and it should be out soon. We’re hoping to release this list very soon, hopefully with BioTechniques. There was such an amazing response from the first list that we received so many nominations of outstanding scientists and we do want to highlight them. And I think that this needs to really be something that comes out continually because the number of amazing and outstanding Latinx scientists that are on the rise, it’s a lot. So we want to make sure that there’s enough space and consistency that we can actually continue to highlight folks on these lists.

[AJ] That’s amazing. Hats off to you all. And I was just wondering, will you expand it to the 1,000 Latinx list? When will that happen? Will that happen later in the same year? Will it happen next year? You know, what’s, you know, up with that? Do you need other individuals to kind of help you along the way to make this list?

[Tina] We would love some help. So, you know, we have a great list of 100. There’s more than 100, more than a thousand scientists to highlight. So I would be happy to expand it. So I think we just need to start getting into
that mindset and start getting organized to get that out there.

[AJ] So if they wanted to help, you know, anybody, especially if individuals start listening to this podcast and they’re so excited about seeing a Latina science thriving, I’m just wondering how could they reach you
or, you know, kind of like, you know, a generic email maybe to submit, you know, names for the up-and-coming 100 Latinx list or the 1,000Latinx list?

[Tina] Yeah. So I think at this point they can just DM me on Twitter and we can start from there and kind of figure out what type of involvement they would want to have or if they have nominations. We do have a Google form that we can share to just input the information as well.

[AJ] So I really need to get a couple more drinks in here today. So tell me what you’re drinking on today.

[Tina] I am drinking on, are you talking about literally what I’m drinking?

[AJ] Uh-huh. I want to know. I see you in the background drinking and I’m like, hmm, what is she drinking on? It looks good.

[Tina] You know, it’s early here in California still, so I am sipping on my coffee, my little Nespresso machine that makes the post-doc world go round. So I gotta have my coffee. What do you have over there? Is that actually tea?

[AJ] So it is. So it’s in a Talibera cup. Edgar gave me the cup and I also have an espresso cup, but this one’s a coffee cup. So I’m enjoying just regular coffee right now. I like it black, so that’s really, really good. The reason I
bring up drinking is, you know, a lot of people sometimes, you know, deal with a lot of mental health issues by drinking and sometimes they don’t have someone to talk to. And you remember earlier you talked about mentorship and I know that mentorship can sometimes be a little formal, related to research, but are there other types of mentors that, you know, may play a role in someone’s life, like peer mentors, or
are there, you know, coaches, mental health coaches, or, you know, life coaches that could be seen as mentors? Could you give a little bit more perspective maybe about that and mental health and maybe how mentors
could really help advocate for that more?

[Tina] Yeah, this is a great point, AJ. I think that we don’t actually receive enough education about what mentorship is until we’ve already been mentored and then you can kind of look back on it and say, oh, that
was peer mentoring. Oh, that was a casual mentor, that was a coach, whatever it might be. And I think that actually educating individuals about different styles of mentorship earlier would be very valuable. I remember when I took the ARACTA course at UNM on like the education course and there was a whole section about mentoring and I was kind of like, oh my goodness, I’ve been mentored in all these different ways that I never really recognized that and recognized that this actually comes in different flavors. So I think it’s really important to consider different types of mentors. So you and I are peer mentors and that’s one of the most valuable types of mentoring, I think, because we can talk about our shared experiences. You having just gone through your faculty transition have already been a huge, you know, sense of support and knowledge for me. But also just being able to talk about the things that aren’t going so well and really, you know, vent because it’s really valuable, right? It’s not always rainbows and butterflies over here. So I think that having people in your corner that are willing to listen to that is actually really valuable as well and especially for your own mental well-being. But I think also seeking a therapist, everybody should have the option to see a therapist if they’d like to as a grad student and as a postdoc and I really do support you making time and carving out time for that if you need that, if you want that. And your mentors, your advisors should really be supportive of that as well. And thank you for normalizing mental health. I think it’s a very important not only concept that we should just kind of throw the word around, but actually be able as mentors to be able to expose individuals to all the type of resources that may be across the campus that they could have access to. So you heard it here first from the Latina scientist that is doing so well, not only in her postdoc, but as she’s starting her faculty position, that it’s not only okay to work for her to have great research, but she’ll take care of you as well personally and she’ll help build you up.

[AJ] So with that type of community that you’re building and not only in your laboratory, but with the community of scholars is such an encouraging environment to see how more mentors should be exposed to that type of ideology. So I was just curious about has the American Society of Cell Biology play a pivotal role in your development as a mentor? And if so, could you tell us about some of the programs that have been pivotal in creating, you know, your mentor plan and your roadmap for others?

[Tina] Yes, absolutely. The American Society of Cell Biology or ASCB has been a huge influence on my journey through science and my mentoring philosophy, how I think about scientific questions, all of the above. So I joined as a graduate student, my PhD mentor, Jen Gillette, encouraged me to join, encouraged me to come to the meeting. I went every year as a grad student
and it was mind blowing. The science, the activities, everything. And my first year I participated in the Minority Affairs Committee or MAC as a travel awardee. And I was really fortunate to be initiated into that community so early on. There’s so much connectedness between the travel awardees and it really provided me a micro environment or a niche to kind of connect with people on a smaller level because it is such a large society. And I’ve been involved with the MAC for many years now. I participated in their grant review program as well, the FRED program. And that was really helpful as well. The ASCB, there’s so much community between cell biologists. It’s really incredible. And people are so willing to help. You can send an email to a random person expecting no response, a really famous random person, but they will respond and they’re so willing to help, whether it’s with reagents, whether it’s with, you know, helping like review a proposal or providing a letter if you need something, like they’re there. It’s so amazing. So I do highly recommend. Maybe your community is not cell biology. Maybe it’s a different society, but tapping into whatever society it is and kind of finding that supportive environment, it can be really helpful.

[AJ] That is really amazing. And thank you for that excellent teafor realizing that American Society of Cell Biology is a place that you can actually really learn how to be a mentor in a safe space throughout the society. So I think you’ve heard it here again from the Latina scientists, Tina, that she’s telling you where her community is at and where you can find the same type of amazing people. But I also want to segue not only to talk about your community, but talk a little bit more about you. You are an advocate, not only for the Latina community, but all science community, especially women as well. I’ve noticed that you’ve been advocating a lot. And more recently, you guys have published, excuse me, women have published this amazing article that was in cell that was highlighting non-traditional faculty interviews. Could you explain that? Could you tell them about how to get the access to the article and why this was an important,  I guess, topic to write about?

[Tina] Yeah, I think it’s a key topic and a very timely topic of this moment that we’re in right now. So this piece was really focusing on using virtual interviewing and actually a hybrid form of virtual interviewing to make faculty interviews more accessible. And I think myself and my colleagues, Melanie, Flora, Chantal, Caroline, and Chelsea, who wrote this,I think that we are the perfect folks to have written this article because we just went through the faculty interview and it was entirely virtual. Now, I think there are a lot of key takeaways from this experience that was maybe not what we had expected, but there are actually a lot of points that we think institutions can take away to actually make their interviews more accessible moving forward. Just because everything has been in person before, we don’t have to continue doing things that way. So, for example, providing candidates with a virtual option, especially parents might make it more or parents and caretakers actually can make it easier for them to participate in the entire interview process because there’s no need for overnight care, for example. Providing a stipend for child care, that would be another recommendation that we made. And also, if candidates don’t have a great place to take the interviews, the institutions we recommend could provide them with a hotel room to actually take the interview. So I think there’s a lot of different ways that virtual interviewing can be adapted moving forward to actually enable institutions and candidates to have a more equitable interviewing experience.

[AJ] Awesome. So with that, do you think that could patch the leaks in the pipeline if there’s more opportunities to have virtual mentorship through the interview process? And then also, do you think that when an individual is interviewing virtually, that they may have more time to actually see a lot of different schools because it may take a lot of time to be able to fly a place back and forth?

[Tina] Yeah, that’s a great point. I think that being able to seek out more opportunities definitely makes us more equitable. I mean, even thinking about students who are applying to medical school and they’re paying out of pocket for all of those interviews, that adds up, especially for students who are from low-income families. I mean, that would be a really enormous financial burden and potentially limit opportunities
for those students. So I think that using virtual interviewing in many different sectors can actually level the playing field and allow for individuals to actually seek out more opportunities and kind of level the playing field, I think. As far as virtual mentorship, I think it’s the same. A lot of my mentors are all over the US and some international. So I think that using these virtual platforms has enabled me to expand my network beyond what I would have traditionally thought was possible. I probably would have just stayed within my institution, but the truth is that some of the most valuable mentorship that I’ve received has been from individuals outside of my institution
who we either email regularly or we host virtual or e-meetings, online meetings to just chat and kind of catch up and whatever is needed. So I think that there’s a lot there that we should be taking forward and integrating into our mentorship as well. So this is really good. I mean, we’ve talked about the 100 Latinx lists. You heard it here first about the next period of 100 Latinx scientists is about to come out here, I think. And you may have heard it here first. There may be a 100 expansion into a 1,000 Latinx list, pending if you send in names.

[AJ] So you have to DM Tina. And so as we start to close and wrap up things, this theme about mentorship really needs to be heard all over the world. And I want people to realize that when Tina created the 100 Latinx list, there were certain particular things that she was looking for that were unique. And one of those was mentorship, their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in addition to their awesome research portfolio. But I would love for you to talk a little bit more about why we talked about mentorship and how mentorship is so important and critical to make the 100 Latinx list. Could you talk about your criteria, why you think mentorship’s important in that particular component?

[Tina] I think mentorship is a key component to define somebody as inspiring as far as them being scientifically inspiring. It’s not just the research. And I think that that is because it demonstrates that you are committed to more than just your own productivity. You’re committed to changing the landscape. Mentorship is what is going to keep our communities growing and moving in the right direction. Without that, yes, we will have outstanding research, but will we be building the next generation? And I don’t think that’s possible without adequate mentorship. So, I mean, you and I, AJ, we are invested in our mentees. And I really think that that is, I can see their futures. I can, you know, I see someone like Amara and I’m like, she’s going to do better than I did. Like she is going to crush it. I know it. And that is what I want. I want us to continue to fuel this next generation to keep moving and keep making even bigger discoveries than what we’re doing. So I think that mentorship and commitment to advancing and supporting people excluded because of ethnicity and race or peers, I think that’s a really key component that we’re looking for in these inspiring scientists. So I do, you know, I think that’s a really necessary aspect that we’re evaluating when looking for folks to highlight on these lists.

[AJ] That’s amazing. So you heard it here again first to make the 100 Latinx list. You have to be a great mentor, inspiring in that traditional sense. And you also have to have really strong research, but also a great commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. And if you notice, as we were talking to Tina today, she focused on her research first, which is the highest qualification for any great scientist. But then she went into talking about her mentorship and then how her mentorship helped develop diversity, equity, inclusion and how she became a champion for others who may not have had a voice. And with her voice, she’s highlighting great things that are on Twitter. Tina, if people want to follow you, how can they follow you?

[Tina] Yeah, please find me on Twitter, cterminiphd. Feel free to follow if you want to collaborate. My DMs are open.

[AJ] Awesome. And I know you have a website. So if they wanted to learn more about your research in more detail, where would they go to get that website?

[Tina] Yes, my lab website is hosted on fredhutch.org. So feel free to look up the Termini Lab to learn more about our research projects, the programs that we’re trying to build and a little bit about my mentoring philosophy. And yeah, we are hiring as well. So feel free to shoot me an email if you’re interested.

[AJ] I mean, tell us the tea on that. I mean, how would they get in touch with you about hiring? You know, I would want to work for you if I wasn’t an assistant professor. So, you know, I mean,
I can always do a sabbatical.

[Tina] And I might have to poach you, AJ. Let’s see what offer I can make. Yeah, so we are hiring a postdoc. So if you’re interested in hematopoiesis, you’re interested in regeneration, we do have an ad open. So happy to share that. It’s easily accessible through the Fred Hutch Hiring Platform. But yes, we’re hiring a postdoc. And then, of course, if you’re a UW student, we will be taking rotation students in the fall and would love to host some undergrads as well.

[AJ] Awesome. So thank you so very much for your time today. It has been absolutely amazing and I appreciate all the tea, including telling us about what you drink because it’s very important to know what you drink
because that’s the type of scientist you are. You know, you’re early morning, you got up, you know, you’re in California and we really appreciate your time to help make this podcast amazing. And I mean, I really appreciate you coming because you’re such a superstar. I mean, Twitter tells all the time that you’re leading the diversity, equity, inclusion space and mentor space. And I just want to encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing because we’re all watching, we’re all listening and we can’t wait for the next article to be out. And so we also can’t wait
for the 100 Latinx list to come out too. So thanks.

[Tina] Thank you so much, AJ. Thank you for the invitation. It’s always a pleasure to connect with you and I can’t wait to see what you do next as well.

[AJ] Thanks. Excellent. And I’d just like to round off by saying, Tina, thank you so much for coming on. What a fantastic first episode of STEM Tea. It was great to hear you talking about ASCB as well because that was one of the first conferences that I ever went to as a young editor. And that was definitely an incredibly welcoming experience with great aspects. So, yeah, absolutely fantastic.

[Tina] I cannot wait for the next episode of STEM Tea. I can’t wait to see who you’ve got lined up for us to speak to.

[AJ] Well, I can tell you a little bit about it. If he’s not too busy, there’s an option. There’s a professor. I’m not going to say his name when I keep it at bay, but he just wrote a book and he went to prison and then he did his postdoc. Became an instructor at John Hopkins. And then also is now an assistant professor and also still shares his assistant professor rank that John Hopkins was now is at Howard University. And I would love to have him on. I’m hoping to contact him. He’s kind of busy promoting his book, but he also has an organization as well. And he helps other individuals not only get out of prison, but transform them into getting a PhD or the undergraduate degree. And I’ve seen great products of this because I’ve actually worked with somebody at the University of California, San Diego. That’s a part of his particular program. So I think it’s not only successful, but it’s thriving, you know, endocrinology. I recently did an article about it. He was in nature endocrinology, nature reviews endocrinology, talking about it as well. So he’s been really all over the place. Ned from Cell Press as well. So I’m really hoping that he’ll be the second one. And if not, you know, I think we might have another replacement just for the time being until that comes out. Maybe Melanie McReynolds. I’ve been trying to get her busy schedule as well. She’s an HHMI head, a great fellow who now has transitioned into an endowed chair as an assistant professor at Penn State. And she’s doing absolutely amazing metabolomics research that translates into absolutely finding the best discovery. She’s had multiple nature papers. I think these two might be the next two people that we want to check out and learn a little bit about the inside tea on how they’re making their careers, what’s the difference they’re making in DEI and how they have excellent mentorship.

[Tristan] So excellent. Oh, it sounds like we have some great experts lined up for the next few episodes of STEM Tea. Definitely want to look out for. If you’d like to keep up to date with the next episode of STEM Tea, you can register for BioTechniques and receive email updates or follow myself on Twitter at @SciTristan. And Antentor, where can they find you?

[AJ] You can find me on Twitter at @phdgprotein86. And then you also can find me on Twitter with my lab. So it’s just @AtHinton. And then you can look at my lab as well. So thanks everybody. And I hope you follow me on Twitter. Always looking to have a chat with anybody. I take my time to talk to everybody. So if you DM me, I will respond to you and I’m always happy to talk to you. There’s never someone too busy. So just remember you make time for what you want.

[Tristan] Well, thank you everyone for listening. And goodbye.