By Mikayla Feldbauer
This interview was conducted in Fall 2022. On the date of publication, Odessa Goudy had just earned her Ph.D. after six years of work and study in the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department at UNC. She is very passionate about science outreach, diversity in science, and her research in computational protein engineering. Originally from Newport in Oregon, Odessa likes to bake, paint, and cycle for fun.
What do you study now at UNC and what degree are you pursuing?
I am pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics in Brian Kuhlman’s lab. We are computational structural biologists and protein engineers. My project is to apply computational protein engineering to create safer cancer therapeutics, which is within the broader field of structural biology. [Author’s note: structural biology is a field of science that studies the 3D shapes and interactions of biological molecules like proteins, RNA, and DNA.]
What was your college major? Did you know that you wanted to do science at that point?
When I came into college I actually wanted to be an anthropologist and I wanted to be a filmmaker. I just loved learning about people’s history and also telling stories visually. Which I think is one of the surprising reasons structural biology is so cool, because there’s a lot of visualization and creativity in it. I’m not entirely sure what motivated the switch from humanities to science, but I ended up with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology.
When did you know you wanted to pursue science and what steps did you take to get to UNC?
I participated in two summer research programs as an undergraduate student that showed me that I could pursue a career in science while living a balanced life. Those two summers – where I got paid to be a scientist working in a lab but still also had time for my friends and hobbies – were the experiences that motivated me to apply to graduate school and become a scientist. One moment that stands out in particular that led me to the field of structural biology was using PyMOL for the first time. [Author’s note: PyMOL is a computer program that lets you view the structures of biological molecules like proteins in 3D.] I went to Goucher College, and we had a visiting professor who was showing us PyMOL. He had this protein on his computer screen, and he pointed at a certain part and he was like “obviously this is a tyrosine.” At that point, I could recognize a 2D drawing of tyrosine on a test, but I couldn’t recognize it in 3D like he could. I remember thinking that I wanted to know a protein as well as this person knows their protein. I had been looking at the textbook line drawings of amino acids, and in PyMOL I was seeing them in 3D for the first time.
What do you enjoy about research?
There are a lot of things that I really like about research! I am a detail-oriented person, which matters as a scientist. In my previous jobs I never felt like being detail-oriented was important so I’m glad to be working in research where that is an advantage. Another thing I like about being a researcher is that every day is different. I’m constantly learning. While it can also be a struggle to constantly learn a new technique, it’s really nice that I decide what my day looks like and there’s a progression through the project that requires me to learn new skills. What I was doing last year is not the same as what I’m doing this year. It can be overwhelming, but I appreciate that I’m in charge of my project and that the job changes over time.
What other things are you involved in at UNC besides research?
I co-founded Shadow A Scientist (SAS) which is an outreach program here at UNC that started around 5 years ago. We’ve since grown to have over 100 ambassadors. I’m also involved with the Pipettepen, which is a science writing and communication club for graduate students here at UNC. I really like science writing and science communication. What I liked about the Pipettepen is that I could write and make scientific figures for younger audiences.
Could you talk a little bit about what Shadow a Scientist is/what it does and how the students who are reading this might get involved?
Yes! SAS brings high school students onto UNC’s campus so they can have an immersive experience. My friends Hannah Wiedner and Ennessa Curry and I co-founded this [organization] with the hopes that it could generate more excitement and appreciation of science as well as show high school students that being a scientist is a career path that they could pursue. I personally hadn’t entered a research lab until I was in my sophomore year of college so if we could get high school students to experience what a research lab is like even earlier on, I think that it could impact their overall perception of science and maybe even inspire them to pursue a career in science. On the day of the SAS visit, students come to UNC from their high schools. They’re paired into groups of two or three and then they visit two different labs throughout the day and we also have some other things planned like lunches and introductory/wrap-up sessions. If someone who’s reading this would like to participate, the best thing would be to email the SAS Team (sas_team@unc.edu) and introduce your teacher to the program as SAS works with teachers to organize classroom visits.
What are your plans after graduation?
I’m hoping to graduate early in 2023. I accepted a position as a scientist at AI Proteins, located in Boston, Massachusetts. They specialize in the design of mini-proteins. Once I’m there I hope to continue pursuing my love of protein design while also honing my skills in science illustration and participating in outreach. I think diversity and inclusion in science are really important so I might be able to continue some outreach in that area.
What advice would you give high schoolers interested in pursuing science?
I have so many pieces of advice! The first is just knowing that you can get paid to do science for a summer. The second is a piece of advice that I’m stealing from my friend Hannah, which is “you can just email people.” I would say that email is how most scientists communicate and you can always just send an email to a scientist who you’re interested in working with or if you want to learn more about their project. When I was younger I didn’t know that, nor was I brave enough to take advantage of that. Third, I also want students to know that you don’t have to be good at high school science classes if you want to become a scientist. That’s true outside of science, too: what you pursue as a career can be different from what you were good at when you were in high school. The best scientists that I know, the ones I look up to the most, are ones who just keep asking questions and are driven by their curiosity.
