It’s that time again! Nerd Nite A2 has another brilliant lineup for you! Katherine Hunt will tell us about the origins and future of printmaking, which is deeper than you might ink, er, think. Kayla Peck will talk about virus evolution and how to make effective vaccines that take virus mutation rate into account. Also, the flu sucks. Brandon Patterson turned his knowledge of the physics of bubbles into a children’s book, but it meant learning a lot about little lit. Friends, it’s gonna be another good one, so grab a friend, grab a drink, and grab a seat at the 53rd edition of NNA2!
When: Thursday, March 15 – doors 6:30 pm/talks 7:00 pm
Where: LIVE (102 S 1st St)
No cover charge – AADL is sponsoring!
Katherine Hunt – Printmaking Past, Present, and Future
An exploration of printmaking; its role in history, what it means to us today, and all that it can be used to do in the future.
About Katherine:
Katherine is a student at the University of Michigan, studying English and music. In her free time, she writes for PRINT@STAMPS and participates in a few other student organizations. Check out printstamps.tumblr.com and @stampsprintmakers on Instagram.
Kayla Peck – Virus evolution: just how many mistakes should you make?Viruses evolve extremely rapidly. This explains, for example, why we need a new flu shot every year. In just one year, influenza virus evolves to be slightly different from the previous year so the vaccine no longer protects against the new version. One of the many primary factors that impact how quickly viruses, like influenza, evolve is their mutation rate, or the rate at which mistakes are made when the virus makes more copies of itself. My research looks at how this rate impacts the virus population. What happens when the mutation rate is higher than normal? Have viruses, in fact, evolved to have mutation rates that are “just right?” Answering these questions can help us to better understand how viruses might evolve in the future and to design better vaccines against currently circulating viruses.
About Kayla:
Kayla earned her PhD in Biology in 2016, working on a virus that could kill you. Currently, she is a postdoc at the University of Michigan, working on a virus that has a vaccine (so won’t kill you). Struggling with feelings of relief (at the increased safety) and disappointment (at sounding less like a bamf), she is primarily interested in virus evolution and how viruses emerge into humans. When not in lab, she can be found exploring breweries, becoming a D. Va main, discussing zombie apocalypse 5-man team compositions, or acquiring more Eevee merch.
Brandon Patterson – “Brooke Bubble Breaks Things”: The making of a sciencey children’s bookChildren’s books are wonderful but surprisingly difficult to write, especially when you have no idea what you’re doing. In this talk, Brandon will tell the story of how he and some friends created a children’s book about bubbles to share their scientific research with a younger audience. We’ll also talk about some of the little-known rules of children’s book writing and the challenges that go with them.
About Brandon:
Brandon is a cheerful and curious nerd wandering through life, trying figure out how the world works. Currently, he is working as a scientist at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he studies the physics of ultrasound in the human body. Outside of work Brandon enjoys walking, reading, tinkering, arguing, and participating in STEM Outreach.