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[ Silence ]
>> In our environment, we are exposed constantly
to a whole series of agents that can damage the basis in the DNA
that provide the genetic information.
[Music]
The one that most people are probably familiar
with is ultraviolet light which is part of the spectrum
of sun we get and which is the -- when people burn,
basically that's tissue damage but the more important issue,
you can recover from the tissue damage
but the more important issue do you fix the changes in the DNA
that the ultraviolet light introduced.
[Music]
And we are also subject to DNA damage
because we're oxygen utilizing organisms.
And because we use oxygen we generate free radicals
and free radicals will break the DNA and that kind of damage,
if it's not fixed, will lead to mutational changes
and eventually if you accumulate enough mutations
in a particular tissue, you're going to end up with some type
of uncontrolled growth and the development of a cancer.
When I first came to the University of Georgia,
I was interested in the process of DNA repair
and how cells fixed damage that happened to their DNA molecules.
[Music]
I guess in 1998 I published my last paper on DNA repair
and from that time forth, my entire lab has worked
on what happens to RNA molecules inside living cells.
[Music]
I don't have any formal training in genetics.
My background's in biochemistry.
So most of the genetics I've learned on my own which,
you know, has been fun.
It's really been a very exciting time
because basically my career has spanned the development
and [inaudible] DNA technology and all of the other things
that have come from that.
When I advise undergraduates,
I tell them if you want a career that's going
to be intellectually challenging and demanding in terms
of you're always learning, science is where you want to be
because things are constantly changing.
>> [Inaudible].
>> Well that's a higher percentage
than the women shot the basketball game on Sunday.
Well I view my students as my extended family.
And I take -- I get a great deal
of satisfaction when they do well.
I think one of the interesting things with working
with people is they all have different personalities.
I had a young woman and she wanted
to do independent research.
And she did very, very well.
She went to graduate school.
I remember -- oh that would be cool.
I was invited to her wedding and at the reception,
her mother came over to me and she said, you know,
Julie called me every day after she had an experiment.
And she was so excited.
I didn't understand a word that she said
but I told her it sounded wonderful
and now she's an assistant professor at Duke.
So, you know, it's those little things
that provide a significant level of satisfaction in the job.
[ Silence ]