(Describer) Title: "Career Callouts." A young white man in a white lab coat and earbuds appears.

[upbeat music]

Hi, I'm Jack Koster. I am a biochemistry student at the University of Texas at Dallas, and I also work as a researcher in the Winkler Lab at the University of Texas, Dallas. The first question here, this is from Grace from Harding Middle School in Lakewood asks, "Why did you want to be a biochemist "and was there anybody that inspired you to be a biochemist?" And I think from a young age, I was very curious about the natural world. Somebody that inspired me to be a biochemist, I think, would be my mother. She's a doctor, and she's great at what she does. She would always be there to answer those questions I would have when I was younger. Maddox from Roxboro Elementary School in Cleveland Heights asked, "Do you ever get hurt from all the chemicals you use?" There are definitely some chemicals in the lab that we use that are a little dangerous, aren't safe. We try to be very careful. Most of the things we use in the lab are totally safe. We use things in very, very small amounts. We use very small amounts of everything for experiments. And so, we're very careful. We wear lab coats. We wear gloves on our hands when we're gonna pipet samples into tubes or anything like that. And we just pay attention and make sure, you know, we're being, you know, paying attention to details, making sure we don't drop anything. Izzy from Suffield Elementary wants to know, "What kind of stuff do you like to study?" I like to study things that are kind of on the border of making sense and not really making sense. Now, with that being said, I like it to be applicable to life and to maybe medicine, those sorts of things. So the research I do is disease related research into a disease called ALS. And in doing this research, we work on very small cellular structures that can tell us some big things about curing diseases. Amira from Richardson Elementary School in Cuyahoga Falls wants to know, "What is your favorite thing about being a biochemist?" When we're working with a sample, it's often, the sample itself can be small or smaller than a drop of water. And any of these things in the air can affect an experiment. So, we try to be... We do everything we can, there's many methods we use, to make everything clean and to give the best results in experiments. And so, I think what I really love about biochemistry is getting better at that process and figuring out how to make something that doesn't want to work, work at the end of the day. Addie from Lincolnview Elementary in Van Wert asks, "What would your dream project be?" And this is something I think about a lot, and I think I want to work on curing diseases in a more personalized way, using these really complex models of how the body works to help personalize medicine for each and every person, so there's less side effects and better outcomes for individuals. And I think that kind of work is really cool. Thanks everyone for sending in your questions. If you're interested in a career in biochemistry, my advice for you is that you stay curious about the world around you and about nature and about asking questions and about learning new things. And at the end of the day, it's important to not compare yourself to other people because this field can be hard, to be honest, and lots of smart people decide to do it. And so, if you compare yourself to who you were and who you can be and what you want to learn today, you'll have a bright future learning biology and chemistry and learning new concepts all the time. So just be confident in your own ability and in your own natural curiosity, and I think you'll all do great. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

(Describer) Jack smiles. Logo: N D, Earth bounces away.

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(Describer) Funding for Career Callouts comes from: Ohio Broadcast Educational Media Commission in consultation with Ohio Department of Education. Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.