Discovering The Mysteries of the Microbes, with Rebecca Satterwhite!!

Hello All!! Today, I would like to introduce you to Rebecca Satterwhite. She and I share a love of understanding how species interact and grow together. She studies the microbes that live in the roots of plants!! Let's learn more about her work below:

JACQUE: What is your name?
REBECCA: Rebecca Sue Satterwhite

JACQUE: Where do you currently live?
REBECCA: Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, IL

JACQUE: What is the official title of what you do?
REBECCA: PhD candidate in Bergelson lab; full-time research assistant and part-time teaching assistant

JACQUE: What is the layperson description of what you do?
REBECCA: I study the natural history of microbes that live in and around plants.
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JACQUE: Where are you working now?
REBECCA: Joy Bergelson’s lab in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago

​JACQUE: What are you currently working on?
REBECCA: My Phd projects explore the tumultuous evolutionary relationship between plants and their microbial residents. Plant-associated microbes have dynamic, flexible genomes in which genes are gained and lost at a rapid pace. I am testing the adaptive value of the complement of accessory genes present in one species of endemic bacterial phytopathogen: Pseudomonas syringae.

JACQUE: ​Can you give us a basic rundown of how a project is conducted? (From the idea to the end)
REBECCA; We use the Scientific Method all the way, man.
Question/observation: many plants are populated by similar microbes, is microbial community composition driven by host genetics?
Methods: sow seeds, harvest tissue samples, sequence marker genes to ID microbes in tissue samples, apply network analysis to determine which microbes are positively/negatively correlated, calculate how much variation in genotype x environment interaction is explained by presence of specific microbes, genome-wide association study of several hundred plants to identify genes involved in interaction with microbes
Results: we find that a few specific members of the plant microbiome are heritable, we identify specific plant genes involved in the interaction with microbes, and we describe ecological interactions in microbial communities more generally with the network analysis

JACQUE: A question from 11-year-old Sarah- Do you get paid for being a scientist? In other words, how do you get paid for what you do? (If you are a student and working, tell us about that)

REBECCA: Yes, I am paid by the University $30k/year. I was paid similarly for working in the lab while earning my Master’s. This is typical of most decent science grad programs, you would not want to accept an unfunded position. Note that this is not the case for the humanities and other disciplines.

JACQUE: What are the parts about being a scientist that you didn’t expect?
REBECCA: A lot of coding is expected (get some computer science experience in R!). you really have to prioritize your progress at the bench, because there is always going to be a ton of other stuff that needs your attention!

​JACQUE: Can you give us a broad picture of how your time is spent at work?
REBECCA: I have my own bench in 1 of 3 main spaces that make up Bergelson Lab. I spend ~1/3 of my time working at the bench, ~1/3 sitting at my desk (next to my bench in the lab) working at my computer, and ~1/3 working in growth chambers or at home on computing.

JACQUE: ​Is there a single reason that you are passionate about your job? Or is it several things?
REBECCA: It’s several things. I love the puzzle-solving aspect of my every-day work. I like the balance of tasks, i.e. bench vs. coding vs. writing vs. presenting work. I love being around interesting, smart people that come and go in the university setting. I love all the amazing talks given by visiting professors. I love the feeling of confidence that builds every time I learn a new system of method. I love the openness and generosity of the scientific community. I love my advisor because she is kind and because she teaches by asking questions, and because she is so smart (always right!)!

JACQUE: What kind of gear do you use to do your job?
REBECCA: Pipettes, test tubes, petri dishes, purple latex gloves, sharpies, autoclave tape, seeds and soil, fertilizer, colored labeling tape, classic pyrex glassware, antibiotics that sometimes glow highlighter yellow!

JACQUE: Do you have a favorite tool that works as a lucky charm? (favorite book, shovel, piece of clothing, etc.)
REBECCA: My favorite tool is my snazzy (cheap!) red apron that protects my clothing and has POCKETS. I much prefer it to the ancient lab coats we have; they get in my way and who knows if they have ever been washed.
We use a stuffed Euglena as our good luck totem on the thermocyclers (rain dances are inversely correlated with PCR success). We also have a soft plastic toucan that sits near the Tecan (get it) for good luck.

JACQUE: ​What was the most unusual location you have found yourself in?
REBECCA: Probably in the middle of a commercial green bean field in a tiny town in Michigan, where I was shoveling dirt into sterilized containers.

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JACQUE: ​Tell us about your educational path so far.
REBECCA: I earned a BA in English Lit from the University of Houston. During this time I took several years off to work full-time, because I knew I didn’t want to become an English teacher but didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was running one day and listening to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, and became super-fascinated by their description of the Lenski Long-Term Evolution experiment. This inspired me to add a biology minor to my degree program. By coincidence, my Genetics teacher at the University of Houston was Dr. Tim Cooper, who did a postdoc working on the LTEE. I started volunteering in my university’s new E&E department in a lab that worked with Drosophila, and switched to Tim’s lab when I decided I wanted to learn molecular genetic techniques. I ended up turning my fascination with experimental evolution into an undergraduate senior research thesis, and then into a Master of Science degree. I am now approximately half-way to earning my PhD from the University of Chicago’s Ecology and Evolution Department. I am very happy as a member of Joy Bergelson’s research group.

JACQUE: How important is getting grant money?
REBECCA: I have always been fortunate to have PIs with NSF funding for me. I know it will be very important to my possible future success running an autonomous lab.

JACQUE: ​Are communications a big part of your job?
REBECCA: Yes - it’s a huge part of everyday life, even in just keeping a clear lab notebook with good records and methods. Not to mention the importance of presenting my own work and syntheses on the work of others for courses and lab meetings (and eventually conferences).

JACQUE: What is your favorite part of your job?
REBECCA: My PI makes it happen. she’s the best.

JACQUE: What is your motivation?
REBECCA: Always the question I am working on at the time. I want to get that paper done, so that desire jump-starts the day-to-day. I also LOVE to bike to work listening to a power jam like Escapade or Miss You Much by Janet Jackson, I arrive sweaty but super happy. Also, coffee, in a pinch.

JACQUE: Who is someone you admire in your field? Why?
REBECCA: Anna-Liisa Laine because she developed an incredible natural plant/microbe model system in a beautiful island chain!

JACQUE: Did you have a mentor? If you did, how did you and that mentor come to work together?
REBECCA: Dr. Tim Cooper was an incredible mentor to me through my undergrad and MS. He was my Genetics teacher. All of the faculty at University of Houston were amazing - the department definitely had a family feel, and I met regularly with several of the faculty just to get advice/talk science. I highly recommend cold-emailing the people you want to work with. The worst they can say is no, and most people are happy to find an interested person.

 JACQUE: ​What is your social life like?
REBECCA: I have a circle of 3-5 close friends who are also students in my program. I have a larger group of 10-20 less close but still wonderful friends in my cohort throughout biological disciplines (thanks to a new student bootcamp UChicago put together). I also have 3-10 pretty close friends who live in Chicago but are not associated with my work at all. 

JACQUE: What is your home life like?
REBECCA: I live with my wonderful boyfriend and our two cats in a 2 bedroom/2 bath with a den. it’s fantastic now, but our last place had bedbugs and the landlord was unresponsive. Hyde Park is not a huge neighborhood and the property owners definitely take advantage of the student market.

JACQUE: Do you have any pets?
REBECCA: yep! 2 wonderful fat cats

JACQUE: Where did you grow up?
REBECCA: Magnolia, TX (~40 miles NW of Houston)

JACQUE: Who were your biggest supporters?
REBECCA: My advisors and classmates

JACQUE: What is your cultural background?
REBECCA: white

JACQUE: Which socioeconomic group did you grow up in? 
REBECCA: middle class in a small town

JACQUE: Are you the first in your family to become a scientist?
REBECCA: yup

JACQUE: Did you see real life scientists when you were a kid?
REBECCA: nope

JACQUE: Were many people in your family educated with college degrees?
REBECCA: about half and half

JACQUE: Did you have other friends or peers to talk to about science?
REBECCA: nope

JACQUE: Did you have a teacher in middle or high school that saw something extra in you?
REBECCA: Yes, I had a high school English teacher that encouraged my writing. Thank you, Mrs. Bialis.

JACQUE: Who were the least supportive people in your life? How did they act?
REBECCA: My family are religious conservatives that don’t ‘believe' in evolution. It’s a constant struggle and source of pain.

JACQUE: ​How did you handle situations when people underestimated you?
REBECCA: Rely on my work to speak for itself.
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JACQUE: What do you find MOST frustrating about your work?
REBECCA: Our lab manager drives me crazy, but he is not a thing I can change

JACQUE: Can you tell us about a situation, whether in school or at work, that you could have handled better after thinking about it? What would you have done differently?
REBECCA: I got frustrated with a project that ended up needing to be repeated. I threw out everything connected to the first version, only to find out that I could have used it to get information that would have helped me plan the next version. D’ope. 

JACQUE: Were there times you wanted to give up? How did you push through?
REBECCA: Absolutely! took a break, had a snack, cup of tea, took a nap, took a day off, or 2 days off. Most crises have been solved with a bit of self-care.

JACQUE: What coping mechanisms do you have that help you handle the stress of your job?
REBECCA: At work, I take a little walk or get a coffee with a friend to vent. It’s important to have people you can talk to at work, even if they don’t do the same type of science as you do. I have also been known to zone out in a growth chamber filled with plants, taking very up-close care of each individual plant.
At home, I read fiction/novel to escape. I also love classic tv murder mysteries, American and British! I bike or take walks in green spaces every day. One perk of living in Hyde Park is lying in the sun reading on the rocky beaches of Lake Michigan.

JACQUE: Can you give us an example of handling a bad situation well?
REBECCA: I once worked with someone who left passive-aggressive signs around the lab. Once she left one on my bench saying I’d left the gas on, but I hadn’t, the handle just looked a bit funny on that outlet. I was embarrassed at first and didn’t say anything, and I’m glad I didn't because the sign was removed, and she apologized the next day. I think people need space to go overboard once or twice without a big reaction, we’re all human.

JACQUE: Can you give advice on what NOT to do when handling the stress of college and the job?
REBECCA: You don’t have to speak if you don’t know what to say. consult a mentor/friendly postdoc for advice handling uncomfortable professional situations.

JACQUE: What is your least favorite part of your job?
REBECCA: Dealing with sexist people who don’t listen. A lot of males in university staff positions they have held for years.

​JACQUE: Can you give us an example of a time that you were treated in a sexist way in your job?
REBECCA: I was treated horribly by the first graduate student I worked with on a major project when I was doing volunteer undergrad research. He piled all the grunt work on me but wouldn’t listen to me regarding experimental design/general protocols, once castigating me in front of the lab in an unnecessary and awkward way. He eventually killed all our flies because he chose not to listen to me about which type of water to give them. I was so upset but was afraid to complain and be branded as ‘difficult’. I didn’t know what to do, so I asked a female postdoc in the lab if we could talk and told her all about it. She was kind and immediately said we should talk to the PI. Our PI handled it perfectly and I was relieved, it got better quickly, and I got assigned my own project. 

JACQUE: Can you give us an example of a time that you were pleasantly surprised that sexism did not come into play?
REBECCA: Not ever for one second with my wonderful master’s advisor, Dr. Tim F. Cooper

JACQUE: Were you influenced by the character Dana Scully from X-Files or another woman scientist character? If so, can you tell us how important that representation was to you?
REBECCA: No, but I was for SURE a Lisa Simpson-type

JACQUE: Is there a part of your identity, whether LGBT, a person of color, a religious or cultural minority, or differently abled, that influenced a facet of your experience as you became a scientist?
REBECCA: Folks are classist, sexist, & racist - not specific to science

JACQUE: ​What was your lowest point?
REBECCA: It took me two years to get into grad school. I did get in the first year, but I hadn’t applied widely enough, and I didn't really want to move to the small town that was on offer, so I asked to defer my decision for a year. The second round I really made a go of contacting labs and setting up Skype interviews, and ended up working on my application statement with my future PI for a few months before eventually submitting it. I got into several great programs (including 1 Ivy League), so I had my pick of offers. I had to move in with a friend and work part-time while writing applications in order to make the extra year work, as my grant-funded lab position had ended. in the end, it was so worth it!

JACQUE: ​What is your highest point so far?
REBECCA: Flying through my proposal defense like a fox.

JACQUE: Please tell us about the thing you are most proud of accomplishing so far.
REBECCA: My dissertation proposal defense went really well. It felt eventful because the room was packed with supporters from many different departments (I highly recommend inviting your friends, both work and non-work related!). It took months to develop the right scientific questions, hypotheses, & methods. Then I worked really hard on my slides and polishing my talk, and it totally paid off. I got many compliments from the crowd and my committee had few criticisms. It was over before I knew it, and we were celebrating with champagne and a feast of snacks provided by my lab mates.

JACQUE: Do you have a large, overall goal for your lifetime of work?
REBECCA: I wish I had a coherent, overarching question that all of my papers would naturally coalesce to solve, but I don’t!

​JACQUE: If money were no issue, what project would u do?
REBECCA: An experimental evolution project with plants, which would take a really long time relative to a microbial evolution experiment (so no one does them!)

JACQUE: What worries you? Keeps you up at night?
REBECCA: I have lots of anxiety about my future as a scientist in the US stemming from the generally horrific state of the Union.

JACQUE: What advice would you give to a girl coming into a STEM field?
REBECCA: Be strong & unflappable, grow a thick skin, focus on the quality of your work, know you’re amazing

JACQUE: What advice would you give to parents like me to help prepare their child to go into the STEM field?
REBECCA: Math! Math! Math & statistics, programming is infinitely useful & requires no formal training, chemistry (stoichiometry)

​JACQUE: Do you have a website we can check out?
REBECCA: http://bergelson.uchicago.edu/?page_id=976

JACQUE: If a future scientist wanted to contact you, how could they do that?
REBECCA: satterwhite@uchicago.edu or @rssatterwhite on twitter

I would like to thank Rebecca for being on FANTASTIC WOMEN IN SCIENCE, and for her fantastic advice on finding a path and sticking to it, even when it is hard.