As a new professor with a newborn, Parisa suffered a stroke that left her unable to walk or talk. She leaned on love and stubbornness to recover her voice, raise her child, lead her lab, and even run a 5k foot trace. This episode traces her remarkable journey from growing up in Iran to starting a lab at the University of Oregon, and from sudden setbacks to lasting resilience. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

When is it time to walk away from a research project? For Linna, it happened after a year of frustrating experiments — when her PhD advisor helped her reframe what it means to do science well. In this episode, Linna traces her path from chemistry student to computational biologist. Now ready to mentor others, she will soon lead a research lab of her own as a new professor. We explore how machine learning is transforming what enzymes can do and get into the emotional side of science, the future of therapeutic enzymes, and what it really takes to build a supportive lab environment. You can check out her new lab here: https://lanalchemist.github.io // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

What happens when a kid who sketches dinosaurs grows up to reimagine biology? In this episode, postdoctoral scholar Arvind Pillai traces his unexpected path from paleoart to designing proteins that change shape on command. Along the way, he reflects on the sting of academic rejection, the joy of discovery, and how online debates with creationists sharpened his view of evolution. Arvind’s story explores how complexity emerges — not just in molecules, but in the making of a scientist. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.