As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, ACS Island has a small but thriving community of Resident Chemists. The Residents’ are all real-life ACS members and are keenly interested in using this environment towards educational and/or research purposes. Each Resident is given building privileges and their own sky-lab. They’re welcome to use the island for meetings, classes, presentations, etc. In fact, a large portion of our real-estate has been devoted to this venture.
It’s been a pleasure getting to know such a diverse group of people. I thought I would give you, dear reader, the opportunity to know them better as well by periodically spotlighting one of them on this blog.
My first interview is with Resident Chemist Andra Renard.
By the way, we do have a few spaces left in our village. If you are interested in becoming an ACS Island Resident Chemist (or just have questions) please feel free to contact me at k_sellar@acs.org or Finola Graves in-world.
1) Please state your name and profession.
I teach microbiology and molecular biology. I have research grants from NSF and NIH to study stress responses in E. coli and Bacillus subtilis. For this research I developed a proteomics method, and a GFP fluorescence method for measuring bacterial internal pH. I also direct an HHMI Undergraduate Science Education award to Kenyon College. I develop various on-line resources for education, such as Biomolecules at Kenyon, molecular tutorials created by Kenyon undergraduates and the student-authored reference MicrobeWiki.
I have a second career writing science fiction, including the novels, A Door into Ocean and Brain Plague. I used these novels in teaching the course “Biology in Science Fiction.”
2) When did you first hear about Second Life and what originally motivated you to check it out?
I think I first read about Second Life in the New York Times and Newsweek. It sounded very similar to technologies that I imagined in my science fiction novels, particularly Brain Plague. I was immediately intrigued by the possibilities for enhancing student understanding of the molecular world.
3) Were you immediately hooked, or was it a gradual process?
When I first started working in SL, it took a while to figure out how things worked. I received help from several people, including (SL names) Clowey Greenwood at Biome Island; Graham Mills; and Hiro Sheridan. Graham and Hiro were especially helpful in providing scripts to generate molecules. I then was able to assign our HHMI-funded programming assistant (Daniel Patterson) to work on scripting the SL models.
4) What inspired the name of your avatar?
“Andra” comes from the andradite stone. Characters with this name appear in Brain Plague and in my on-line short story “Microbe”.
5) Why did you modify your avatar to look the way she does?
The avatar is developing to be a “Sharer,” one of a population of ocean-adapted humans from my book, A Door into Ocean. The Sharers have no hair, and they usually wear no clothing; when they visit other worlds, they wear seaweed (Spirogyra is shown). Sharer skin is colored purple by symbiotic microbes
(breathmicrobes) that store oxygen for swimming underwater. They have webbed fingers and toes but I haven’t yet figured out how to do those in SL.
6) Can you briefly describe your scientific and educational activities thus far in Second Life?
Given the limited number of building blocks, I am developing exhibits that focus on the most elementary levels of understanding biological molecules. My aim right now is to figure out dramatic ways to present a molecule to a student, so as to inspire interest and enhance understanding. Our first model (which Daniel has been editing) is a tripeptide with clickable parts, such as backbone, C and N termini, and R-groups. When each R-group is clicked, the title flashes, and a copy of the R-group pops out at the viewer’s feet.
7) What do you like the most about Second Life?
I like the potential for experiencing molecular forms in an architectural sense. I also like the potential for interaction at a distance. I have already met several great colleagues in SL. Next week I am doing a presentation on science fiction for Hiro’s class.
What do you like the least about Second Life (wish you could change)?
More prims are needed, before we can do anything with the kinds of molecules my advanced students are exploring, such as the HIV reverse transcriptase complex. Also the engine is finicky; it works on some machines, not others. It works on my ancient laptop at home, but not on our state-of-the-art machines at work.
Amidst all the dancing and imbibing (I used to find “eating” or “drinking” in Second Life quite silly but in this context it made strange sense), I also heard some pretty relevant scientific conversations going on, and I can only hope those who attended were able to make some valuable contacts.
