We’re ready for our monthly dose of edutainment! See you at Fargo Billiards & Gastropub on Wed Jun 17 at 7:30pm!
“Finally, Designer Genes That Won’t Make You Look Fat and May Save Your Life” by Glenn Dorsam
Imagine washing down a prescription pill with some orange juice at breakfast. By lunchtime, a fleet of designer genes is released into the blood stream, targets diseased cells and infiltrates them. By the afternoon, the genes have completed their interrogation of the billions of DNA sequences in diseased cells to bind and fix, with 100 percent accuracy, the mutated gene causing a disease. By the time you drift off to Jay Leno, your genetic disease is cured! The vision may be closer to reality than some think.
Bio: Dr. Glenn Dorsam is an associate professor of neuroimmunology at NDSU. In addition to being a dynamic teacher (many of us fondly recall learning about protein synthesis via a wonderfully psychedelic Alice-in-Wonderland-esque music video from the 70s), he has a wide variety of research interests which include understanding neurosignaling pathways and the immune system.
“COMICS DESTROYER (a Case Study)” by Shanna Rix Bach
Have you ever walked into a comic book store and wondered, “Where did all these girl-creatures come from?” Or, do you look at comics and say, “Boy, I’d like to take my nerd to the next level and get in on that!” This girl-creature will enlighten you on both topics. SIMULTANEOUSLY! Maybe. Hopefully. Most definitely with a lot of fan-girl gushing about Ms. Marvel, Deadpool, the Rat Queens, and many more!
Bio: Shanna is a stay at home mom with degrees in Biology and Chemistry. Which means, she only uses pyrex glassware to make her two mini-geeks’ mac-n-cheese. She lives in the country and spends an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what flavor of poop her beagle has recently rolled in and has begun an exciting arch-nemisis relationship with bull thistles. Her most recent nerdy accomplishment is beating a thirteen year old Brazilian boy at Ellie Goulding’s ‘Burn’ on Just Dance 2015. She also really likes to read all the things.
“An Ode to Spock and Leonard Nimoy” by Penelope Gibbs
How Leonard Nimoy and Mr. Spock saved the life of a nerd living in the American southeast in the 60’s.
Bio: Dr. Penelope Gibbs hails from sunny Georgia, where she was initiated as a Trekkie in her youth and received her PhD in Medical Microbiology & Parasitology she now spends her days in the hinterlands of Fargo, ND as an associate professor at NDSU trying to understand virulence and resistance in bacterial pathogens.