Name: Molly Matty
Hometown: Port Saint Joe, Florida
Lab: Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory of Shrek Chalasani
Lab website: https://chalasani.salk.edu
Hobbies: Running, yoga, eating ice cream, traveling
What do you study? My current research focuses on how the microbes in the gut can influence behavior. I do this using a small worm called C. elegans. I am interested in how signals from the gut, specifically signals from bacteria, can make it to neurons and then how those changes in neuronal signaling become changes in behavior.
Why is it important? First of all, it is just really cool. But we know that diseases of the microbiome / gut (called dysbiosis) can cause all sorts of other diseases like diabetes and inflammatory bowel syndromes. Scientists have also come to know that dysbiosis is also linked to behavioral disorders like depression, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorders. Using this tiny worm, we can actually look inside the intestine, look inside the neurons, and perform hundreds of behavioral experiments easily and cheaply.
What piqued your interest in science? When I was a kid, my parents would take me on nature walks and teach me the scientific names of the living things around me. Then when I was in high school, I read a really good book about genetics and it got me hooked.
What do you like about being a scientist? To me, being a scientist is about exploring and then thinking deeply about things both before, during, and after the exploration. I like how I drive a lot of my own questions, but that I get to work with others – people senior to me, peers, and mentees—to answer those questions. My favorite part about being a scientist is attending conferences – you go to someplace new and meet new people and talk about science and set up new collaborations and you come back so tired and so full of ideas … it is awesome!
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know going into your field of science?
gene, model organism, microbiome, neuron, assay
What are 5 specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Gut-brain axis, hermaphrodite, GCaMP, transgenic animal, neuronal circuitry