Navya and Marcus are at Navya’s bench, with Navya sitting in a tall chair and Marcus standing over her. Chris is sitting at his desk in the same bay.
Navya is currently peering into a microscope and using a small paint brush to manipulate some brain tissue slices in a 24-well plate.
“Ok, I think this one is in the right plane,” Navya says to Marcus. “Here, take a look.”
Navya rolls her chair to the side and lets Marcus look through the microscope.
“You see that arrow-looking thing in the tissue. That’s the dentate gyrus, an important part of the hippocampus. We want it just like that, where the arrow is starting to get really wide. That’s around Bregma 3.4 in a horizontal section, and you get both the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus in that plane.”
Marcus stares into the microscope, adjusting the knob on the side slightly.
“Yes, I see it.” Marcus says. “That’s cool. And we need the entorhinal cortex because that’s where the tau first forms in Alzheimer’s disease, right?”
“Exactly,” replies Navya. “These mice develop mild tau pathology in the entorhinal cortex, and we’re testing to see if inhibiting the catalase activity will induce more severe tau pathology there. Which would mimic what happens in the brain during Alzheimer’s disease.”
“And what’s catalase again? Sorry, I forgot.”
“No need to apologize,” Navya responds patiently. “It’s an important question.”
“Catalase is the enzyme in peroxisomes that breaks down hydrogen peroxide. Peroxisomes produce a lot of hydrogen peroxide, which is toxic to the cell, so the catalase is needed to break that down.”
Marcus moves away from the microscope, and Navya rolls her chair back towards it.
“We’ve shown that peroxisomes are increased in the entorhinal cortex of human brains in the lead-up to AD.” Navya continues. “My hypothesis is that excess hydrogen peroxide produced by peroxisomes is causing tau pathology in this brain region. So by inhibiting the enzymatic activity that reduces hydrogen peroxide levels from peroxisomes, I’m essentially increasing hydrogen peroxisome toxicity in the entorhinal cortex. Which I think will induce tau pathology. Does that make sense?”
“I think so,” Marcus says slowly, really taking his time to think it through. “And what happens if inhibiting the catalase activity doesn’t induce tau pathology?”
“Then Navya’s academic career is over!” Chris suddenly chimes in, still typing away at his computer.
Navya swivels in her chair to face Chris.
“You’re such an asshole, Chris.” Navya shouts at him.
“Am I wrong?” Chris asks.
“I didn’t say you were wrong,” Navya replies. “I said you’re an asshole.”
“Fair,” Chris replies.
“Wait, what?” Marcus asks. “If this experiment doesn’t work, your academic career is over?”
Navya swivels her chair back and looks into the microscope again.
“Probably. I mean, I don’t know. But my postdoc is time-limited. And if I don’t make a big discovery, the chances of getting a faculty position is pretty much non-existant. So if my hypothesis is wrong here, then yes, there’s a very real chance that it’s the end of the line for me in academia. Especially in this current research environment.”
“Jesus,” responds Marcus. “That’s messed up.”
“Yeah, it is,” replies Navya. “But I knew what I was getting into when I decided to do a postdoc. Academia isn’t for the faint of heart.”
Marcus stands in silence for a moment, while Navya continues preparing the tissues.
“So why even get a PhD?” he asks outloud, but almost to himself.
“For the glory!” shouts Chris. “Nah, fuck if I know. I just didn’t know what else to do with my life. But I’m not a crazy person like Navya. As soon as I get my PhD, I’m getting the fuck out of academia and going to industry. I want money, not stress.”
Marcus looks at Navya, confused.
“And why did you get your PhD?”
“It’s not about the PhD for me,” replies Navya. “I want to make a difference in the world. And this is how I think I can accomplish that.”
“But what if this experiment doesn’t work?” asks Marcus anxiously.
“Then I try to figure out some other way to try and make a difference.”