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A Conversation with Dr. Hoffman: The Science Behind Alzheimer’s (Part 1)

Dr. Hoffman at the MMI Summer Camp at TMSA
Dr. Hoffman at the MMI Summer Camp at TMSA

Narrator (Vijaya): Jennet and I, Vijaya, had the privilege of engaging in a fascinating discussion with Dr. Jessica Hoffman, a remarkable researcher from UNC Chapel Hill. Her groundbreaking work focuses on understanding the impact of alcohol on the development of Alzheimer’s disease.


Below is a snippet from our insightful interview with Dr. Hoffman.


Jennet Ylyasowa: So could you please share your journey to where you are today from academic interests in college to graduate school and now as a research associate?


Dr. Hoffman: Yeah. So I think more often than you'd expect, the scientist's journey isn't necessarily a linear one. And that was definitely the case for me. I always loved math and science. It was a, you know, academic interest growing up, and it was really fun to study. But I didn't think I wanted to be a scientist because I had a lot of misconceptions about what a scientist does day to day. And it's easy to have these misconceptions or stereotypes and proceed with that and think that you should do something else. So I thought I would be sitting at a bench pipetting all day by myself if I was a scientist, and I'm a pretty social person and thought it wasn’t going to work for me. I had to pursue other options, and I went through a few different career options before I had to take a step back and really consider what I think was interesting and then how do I get there. So after taking a little time off between my undergrad and graduate school and some soul searching about what was compelling and what I might wanna show up for for a career for, you know, 20, 30, 40 years as a career, It really kept coming back to neuroscience as something that was really exciting and interesting and thought I could continue to show up for. But I didn't know how to get into grad school. I had no idea.


I thought you applied for grad school like you applied for undergrad where you just send in your applications, then you hear back. That's not quite the process. You need to reach out to labs and see if they're accepting new students and really make sure you're on board with the specific program you're attending. So I was applying to psychology graduate school programs, which are called direct admit. So you work in, like, a lab under an apprentice style model. Other graduate programs are rotation style models, and you need to have multiple labs that you're interested in working with that university. There's a lot of factors that I just didn't know to look for or to ask about because I remember thinking I didn't wanna be a scientist. So I didn't bother understanding any of these processes while I was in undergrad, so I missed my opportunity there. So I would say that's a cautionary tale to be open minded and consider your options when they're available to you. Even if you don't think that's for you, you can still go and ask questions about it and just make sure. But I learned a lot while I was stepping away from school between my undergrad and graduate career, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.


I got to work with some really great kids at the Missouri Math and Science Academy as well as the Arkansas Math and Science School, and that was really fantastic. And I also worked a real retail job in cell phones, which was a whole lot of fun. That was when cell phones really turned from, like, tiny little devices that you had just for cell just for phones, just for phone calls into smartphones. And so that was really fun to be on the cutting edge of any technology. And just because it's not my career path doesn't mean that time wasn't valuable, and I didn't have, you know, a good time and learned a lot. And it's a good thing to know that you have those skills even if they aren't the exact same facts that you might need later. Knowing you can be dynamic is really important, especially if you wanna go into science because science is constantly changing. We're always adding new techniques. I haven't even gotten to grad school yet in this little story, in this saga. So I finally decided I'd go to grad school for neuroscience. I decided since my background as an undergrad was in psychology, that would be the easiest route, and I looked for programs. So I applied to masters and PhD programs. And, ultimately, because of my lack of experience, again, cautionary tale, maybe try some things if you don't think it's exactly what you want.


I went ahead and went through a master's program to get more experience in research so that when I went to a PhD program, they knew what they were getting. It's pretty common these days. You don't get in grad school without having some sort of experience in research. So that could be as an undergrad. That can be as a research technician between the undergrad and grad school. It can be really anything that you want it to be. You can start going to a master's program like I did. Lots of ways to get research experience. And so when I started my masters, I was in a neuroendocrinology lab, which is hormones in the brain. And if you don't know, hormones affect everything. So they definitely affect behavior. They affect your brain. This is probably something y'all are especially familiar with right now because you're going through a big developmental period in your lives, adolescence. So definitely very important for a lot of behaviors, including risk taking behaviors like what I study now, which is related to alcohol use. Right? So, when I finished my master's program, I decided I would like to do a PhD program. I wanna stay in the field. I really loved it, and I loved getting to explore and ask questions and answer those questions, which always brought up more questions.


So when I started graduate school, I started in a lab that was looking at adolescent alcohol intake and how that was changing their brain. Perhaps you're aware of the fact that adolescents, when they do drink alcohol, tend to experience more positive effects than negative effects of alcohol. The social facilitation effects are really big. And it's social disinhibition, so you feel more comfortable and less nervous. And those two things together can really encourage people to use alcohol. But, unfortunately, it also encourages binge alcohol use, and that is the worst style of alcohol drinking for your brain's development. It's the most negative impact So, looking at that's really critical. Understanding it so that we can value, you know, our brain health appropriately and really understand the potential negative down you know, the side effects or downsides to consuming alcohol rather than just thinking, oh, everybody's doing it. It's okay. Because a lot of times when teenagers and anybody are given good information about what's actually going on, they make good choices. Always. We all make mistakes here and there or make choices that we know are not so great. But often, my experience has been that when you empower people with knowledge, they make better choices than if you just tell them, this is bad. Don't do it. So in that context, I was trying to understand things from a biological perspective. I was looking at how alcohol changes the brain using rodent models.


Narrator (Vijaya): And so, it all began! Dr. Hoffman embarked on her journey into alcohol research, paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries. Stay tuned for our upcoming blogs, where we’ll explore how her research unravels the connection between alcohol and its effects on Alzheimer’s disease.

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