Biophysical Society Newsletter - July 2015

2

2015

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

JULY

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY

Biophysicist in Profile CANDICE ETSON

Officers President Edward Egelman President-Elect Suzanne Scarlata Past-President Dorothy Beckett Secretary Frances Seporovic Treasurer Paul Axelsen Council Olga Boudker Ruth Heidelberger Kalina Hristova Juliette Lecomte Amy Lee Robert Nakamoto Gabriela Popescu Joseph D. Puglisi Michael Pusch Erin Sheets Antoine van Oijen Bonnie Wallace Biophysical Journal Leslie Loew Editor-in-Chief

“When I was little I would say that I wanted to be a doctor during the day and perform in ballets at night. It turned out a little differently,” says Candice Etson , Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Wesleyan Uni- versity. Etson began training as a ballet dancer from the age of seven, and started her career as a dancer after graduating high school. “I performed and choreographed professionally, both in ballet and in other dance genres, and I got my bachelor’s degree in fine arts from New York University with a major in dance,” she says. After a few years, she decided that she was ready to stop performing, and returned to school. She had always been interested in science, and in high school her parents en- couraged her to take the most difficult science and math courses, even as she was training to be a professional ballet dancer. “I wanted to go to a perform- ing arts high school,” Etson explains, “but they wouldn’t let me because they wanted me to get a solid academic education, not just learn about the arts.” That strong science foundation helped Etson as she started at Hunter College of the City University of New York, pursuing a second bachelor’s degree with intentions of becoming a medical doctor. Etson’s mother had been a middle school math and science teacher, and her father an electrical engineer who was involved in the development of the first Automatic Teller Machines (ATM). “Science was definitely something we talked about at home, but I didn’t really have a good sense of how a person Access to Research Careers (MARC) scholarship.” She took his advice and was selected as a MARC scholar, which supported her to continue toward earning her bachelor’s degree in physics. As part of the MARC program, Etson was able to do research in an optics lab at Hunter College and spent a summer working in Steven Siegelbaum’s neuroscience laboratory at Columbia University. While she was at Columbia, Etson attended a talk about research using simulations based on molecular forces to try to link together various crystal structures of ion channels to cre- ate an animation of how they might move during gating. “I thought that was incredibly fascinating, and I started asking people lots of questions about it,” she says. “One friendly postdoc told me that I should think about studying biophysics, and he even pointed me to the Biophysical Society website. I was hooked, and I decided that I wanted to study biophysics in graduate school.” Etson went on to a PhD program in biophysics at Harvard University, study- ing in the lab of Antoine van Oijen . During her PhD studies, Etson became interested in single molecule techniques, which she uses in her work today. “I was always dissatisfied with the very deterministic descriptions of biological processes that I had heard in less advanced coursework. My physics training made me feel that these descriptions could not be realistic,” she explains. “I really got excited about the idea that when you study these processes at the would become an academic scientist,” she says. In her introductory physics class, she realized that she loved the subject, but was unsure about what careers would be open to her should she pursue a physics degree. “I asked the professor about careers in physics,” Etson explains. “He was very encour- aging, and suggested that I apply for the Minority

Society Office Ro Kampman Executive Officer Newsletter Ray Wolfe Production Laura Phelan Profile Ellen Weiss Public Affairs Beth Staehle Publisher's Forum

“ I never want to forget how important five minutes can be for someone who is trying to find his or her path. ” – Candice Etson

The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published twelve times per year, January- December, by the Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2015 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.