Our guests this week are Chelsie Boodoo and Daniel Puentes. They are both PhD students at Michigan State University and hosts of the radio show and podcast “The Sci-Files on Impact 89FM” where they talk to other MSU students about their research. Chelsie and Daniel also started MSU SciComm, a student-led organization, to promote science communication at Michigan State University.

Chelsie is a biomedical engineer graduate student who studies the bladders of people with spinal bifida as it becomes overstretched. Persons with spina bifida a neural tube defect in the lower area of their spine, which affects their bladder: their bladder doesn’t work properly after birth so many people use a catheter to void their bladder for the rest of their lives.

This is not the only problem people face. The ration of collagen and elastin is imbalanced, so when the bladder over-stretches, it does not come back the way it was originally. Chelsie looks at both the molecular and mechanical processes behind what happens by building 3D printed devices that stretch these cells, or how nutrients affect a cell’s ability to stretch.

This has further health implications. An improperly functioning bladder affects the kidneys and many spina bifida patients pass away because of kidney failure.

Daniel is an experimental nuclear physicist who works at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University where he looks at high precision mass measurements of various isotopes that don’t exist anywhere else on the earth, except when created in the university’s accelerator. Creating these isotopes on Earth helps us better understand how they are produced in interstellar explosions knows as Type I X-Ray Bursts, which allows scientists to simulate these reactions on computers.

A Science Communication Radio Show

The idea for a science based radio show came about while Chelsie and Daniel were attending the science communication conference, ComSciCon-Michigan. There was not much graduate student representation on the local student radio station and both Chelsie and Daniel thought a radio show could help the surrounding Michiganders connect with the science taking place at Michigan State University.

Not only does the radio show connect the community with what is taking place at Michigan State, Chelsie explains it is also an opportunity for graduate students to practice science communication. Both Daniel and Chelsie also started the student run organization MSU Sci-Comm.

Check out Chelsie and Daniel on social media:

• Follow Chelsie on Twitter: @SciWithChelsie
• Follow Daniel on Twitter: @NuclearPuentes
• Follow the Sci-Files on Twitter: @SciFiles89FM
• Follow MSU Scicomm on Twitter: @msu_scicomm
• Visit Sci-Files: scifiles.org
• Visit MSU Sci-Comm: msuscicomm.org

Here are the links to some of the things discussed in the episode:

• MSU SciComm 2019 Virtual Sci-Art Exhibition
• MSU SciComm 2020 Sci-Art Application
• Daniel and Chelsie’s on expiration of the New START
• Daniel’s article on nuclear waste storage and the Great Lakes
• 2020 Michigan Student Broadcast Awards