Dance your doctorate. winners deliver Finnish rap and coronavirus pirouettes

Scientists around the world continue their race to understand the mechanisms of viral infection, transmission and control in the face of Coronavirus pandemic. One of these specialists shares her discoveries through interpretive dance.

Oregon State University graduate student Heather Masson-Forsythe is researching new drugs that could stop the viral replication of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. She just won the COVID-19 research category in the annual Dance Your Ph.D. competition, which has challenged scientists to explain their research through movement over the past 14 years.

In his winning video, Masson-Forsythe jumps and twirls through the results of his thesis on “biochemical and biophysical studies of the COVID-19 core protein with RNA”. For her research, she used nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to better study and understand the structure of the core protein. This protein is encoded in the viral genome and plays an essential role in the infection cycle, protecting and encapsulating viral RNA during virus assembly. He also looks good in pirouette.

Masson-Forsythe dances gracefully on a beach, waving a flowing red scarf to symbolize the genetic material of the virus. To illustrate the importance of the core protein in SARS-COV-2 viral replication, she suddenly finds herself in a dimly lit room, her gestures jerky and chaotic. Then she is in a forest, she becomes awesome.

The scientist has been dancing since the age of 10. “I had to think about the movement of these viral proteins that I work with every day but I can’t really see,” says Masson-Forsythe.

The dance Your doctorate. The competition is led by John Bohannon, former correspondent for Science magazine and now director of science at Primer, an artificial intelligence company that sponsors the tournament.

This year’s best video is from a trio of atmospheric science graduate students from the University of Helsinki researching how atoms stick together to form puffy clouds. The three incorporated original rap lyrics and choreography, computer animation, and drone footage for their video, which beat out 39 other contestants to take top honors in the competition and also win the physical category.

“Our main goal was to show unscientific muggles that science can be fun, silly, and exciting,” says Jakub Kubečka, who won a $ 2,000 prize and fame in geek circles (and possibly geek circles). dance).