新澳门六合彩内幕信息

新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Professor Walks Path From Zoo Muralist To Science

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Calisi pigeon
Assistant Professor Rebecca Calisi Rodriguez with a pigeon she is studying. (Photo/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

This story was reprinted from from the College of Biological Sciences, written by Gregory Watry. More photos and other information

Before delving into the world of endocrinology, Assistant Professor Rebecca Calisi Rodr铆guez, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, wasn鈥檛 following the path of a traditional scientist. She鈥檇 studied studio art and psychology at both Skidmore College and Boston College and thought she wanted to pursue the artist鈥檚 life.   

鈥淲hen I graduated, it was really difficult to make it in the art world, but I would get odd jobs here and there,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ne of them happened to be at the Dallas Zoo, where they commissioned me to paint this very large mural.鈥

It was there, among the zoo鈥檚 fauna, that Calisi Rodr铆guez discovered her love for scientific research. And it all started with a mysterious animal behavior.

The zoo commissioned Calisi Rodr铆guez to paint a mural on the inner wall of the Wilds of Africa Education Center. It took her a couple of months to paint a vast African savannah scene, featuring lions, elephants, cheetahs, zebras and more, and Calisi Rodr铆guez spent a lot of time at the zoo. During breaks in her work, she鈥檇 explore her surroundings, a cup of tea in hand and the sounds of the wild as her personal soundtrack.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I came across the okapi, an animal that changed my career path forever,鈥 she said.

Related to the giraffe, the okapi is visually striking. Its white and black striped legs give way to a chocolate-colored body; its long and articulate tongue, like a giraffe, probes about; and its ears are upright, as if always at attention. An endangered species, okapi are native to the tropical rain forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though current population size estimates aren鈥檛 reliable, the total population is believed to range between 10,000 and 50,000.   

At that time, the Dallas Zoo was known as having one of the best conservation breeding programs for okapi, according to Calisi Rodr铆guez.  

A mystery at the zoo

But there was a problem. That year, the zoo鈥檚 okapi stopped breeding. Baffled scientists enrolled volunteers to help decipher the mystery. Intrigued, Calisi Rodr铆guez jumped at the opportunity. She wanted to touch the okapi鈥檚 velvety fur and bask in its exotic majesty. The reality was different.

鈥淭hey handed me a stick attached to a cup and said, 鈥楨very time it relieves itself, we need you to collect the urine,鈥欌 said Calisi Rodr铆guez. 鈥淭hat was my glamorous job. So I would collect okapi pee, record which animal it came from and rush it over to the lab.鈥

In the okapi urine, the scientists found increased levels of the hormone cortisol, which usually signals an animal is under stress.

鈥淭his is important because cortisol helps the body utilize energy resources needed to deal with that stressor and survive,鈥 said Calisi Rodr铆guez. 鈥淎nd if you have too much cortisol for a chronic period of time, it can start to wear out different systems in your body.鈥

This includes the reproductive system, which could鈥檝e explained the lack of breeding in the zoo鈥檚 okapi population. So the question became, why were the Dallas Zoo鈥檚 okapis stressed?

鈥淓ureka!鈥 A life-changing moment

As Calisi Rodr铆guez remembers it, around the time the okapi stopped breeding, the Dallas Zoo had installed a new manure handling system at the opposite end of the park. Designed like a conveyor belt, the new system carted manure away from the holding pens.

鈥淭he scientists thought that the okapi鈥攂eing very sensitive animals鈥攎ight be detecting the vibrations from the machine and those vibrations might be stressing them out,鈥 said Calisi Rodr铆guez.

The zoo shut off the system. Eventually, the okapi cortisol levels decreased, and the animals started breeding again. For Calisi Rodr铆guez, watching the scientists resolve the mystery became an 鈥淎ha!鈥 moment. 

鈥淚 felt like I was Dr. Dolittle because the okapi were talking to us and telling us they were stressed out,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut they were doing this through their hormones. I had to learn more.鈥

Inspired by the experience, Calisi Rodr铆guez鈥檚 career ambitions shifted. She wanted to take on the role of a detective, uncovering mysteries of the natural world around her. She returned to school, earning an M.S. in biology at University of Texas, Arlington and a Ph.D. in integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Despite the career shift, Calisi Rodr铆guez never left her passion and training as an artist behind.

鈥淭hese experiences strengthened my ability to see the unseen and attack projects creatively,鈥 she said. 鈥淎ll scientists are in many ways artists, and all artists, scientists.鈥

A career through the ranks of science thus began. She worked as a National Science Foundation postdoc in neurobiology, physiology and behavior at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 San Diego and as a 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 President鈥檚 postdoc in psychology and environmental science and policy management at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Berkeley. In 2014, her career took her to the East Coast, where she became an assistant professor of biology at Columbia University鈥檚 Barnard College. But an assistant professorship offer at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis soon lured her back to West Coast.  

Today, Calisi Rodr铆guez can look back at her experience at the Dallas Zoo and directly relate it to her work. Part of her continuing research is understanding how stress and other environmental factors affect animal reproduction. She uses pigeons as a model organism, which help represent similar biological processes in all vertebrates, including humans.

Her own unorthodox path to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis has convinced her that there is never a set roadmap to any career.

鈥淭here is no specific path, only the path you make,鈥 she said.

 

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