Dance Shows How A Coronavirus Protein Interacts With Its Genetic Material
FORBES
But research wasn’t all Masson–Forsythe has been working on this past year. Since 2019, she has been giving people a peek of her life in the lab through TikTok, and when she started working on the coronavirus she also started posting more frequent videos from the lab.
Deep dive into key COVID-19 protein is a step toward new drugs, vaccines
OSU News Room
Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Science have taken a key step toward new drugs and vaccines for combating COVID-19 with a deep dive into one protein’s interactions with SARS-CoV-2 genetic material.
2020-21 College of Science awards: Celebrating excellence in research and administration
OSU CoS
Heather Masson-Forsythe, a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, received the Inclusive Excellence Award for her vital contributions to many equity and justice and outreach programs that have brought recognition not only to the biochemistry department but also to Oregon State.
Episode 38 - Dance your Sci-Comm (with Heather Masson-Forsythe)
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THAT?
Heather Masson-Forsythe won the 2021 edition of Science Magazine's "Dance Your PhD" competition (Covid19 Category). She's currently in her last year in her PhD in Biochemistry & Biophysics at the Elisar Barbar’s lab group (Oregon State University). In this episode she chats with Danni Reches about her academic journey, her Covid-19 research on the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein of SARS-CoV-2, and her experiences as first generation and LGBTQ+ in academia, and in STEM.
Deep dive into key COVID-19 protein is step toward new drugs, vaccines
NSF
Added Manju Hingorani, a program director in NSF's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, "This study underscores the importance of basic research in finding new approaches to combat not just COVID-19 but future viral pandemic threats."
Watch the winners of this year’s ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest
Science
The judges also selected winners in the categories of chemistry, biology, and social sciences, who will receive $750 each. They also crowned the winner of a new category created this year—COVID-19—which comes with its own $500 award.The winner of that honor is Heather Masson-Forsythe...
#LGBTQinBMB: Pride in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
"I didn’t fully understand my identity and start coming out until graduate school. I was lucky to be in a pretty open, accepting region of Oregon during this time, & I wasn’t the first or only person in my department to be out, but it definitely did change things"
#ASBMBSciArt: Science & Art Twitter Chat
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
"I think that the simpler you can explain a concept, the better you understand it. And having to deconstruct science so that I can build it into something new, has definitely made me a better science communicator."
Dancing through genres, biochemistry/biophysics student wins Science Magazine’s Dance Your Ph.D. contest
OSU News
“Scientific articles are so inaccessible to the public, they have so much jargon, and you have to know so much just to comprehend them,” she said. “I think the arts in general are really, really valuable on their own but also to communicate science, and as someone who really loves dance, I think it’s one of the best ways to communicate"
'Become the protein'
ASBMB Today
Masson–Forsythe organized the solo video like a scientific paper, with each section set in a different location and choreographed in a different dance style; for the introduction, she chose ballet, calling it “the basis of all dance,” while she performed the forward-looking future directions section as a hip-hop routine.
North Little Rock grad a dancer of science
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The dancer and creator of the video is North Little Rock High School graduate Heather Masson-Forsythe, a doctoral candidate in biochemistry and biophysics at Oregon State University.
In the nearly six-minute long video. Masson-Forsythe uses dance to show how the coronavirus nucleocapsid protein interacts with its genetic material.
Meet this year’s winners of the Dance Your PhD contest
ars Technica
As for the COVID-19 research prize, Heather Masson Forsythe, a graduate student at Oregon State University, won that category with an interpretive dance—performed solo on a beach, in the corridor outside her lab, and in the woods, among other locales—inspired by her thesis research on "Biochemical & Biophysical Studies of the COVID-19 Nucleocapsid Protein with RNA."
Un rap absurdo sobre clústeres moleculares atmosféricos gana el ‘Baila tu tesis' de 2020
sinc
La científica, que investiga nuevos fármacos que bloqueen el virus y detengan su replicación no es ninguna coreógrafa amateur: ha estado practicando baile desde que tiene 10 años. “Tenía que pensar en los movimientos de las proteínas del virus con las que trabajo todos los días”, comenta Masson-Forsythe.
Please Wear a Mask (Diving into COVID-19)
The Controversial Dive
On this science episode of ‘The Controversial Dive’ mckensea is joined by Heather, a biochemist/biophysicist studying COVID-19. The episode is intended to educate you on the virus currently plaguing society, while reminding you to please wear a mask, social distance, take the vaccine when it’s available to you, and be responsible.
Scientist's Viral TikTok Quells COVID-19 Vaccine Fears To The Tune Of Megan Thee Stallion
International Business Times
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for one biochemist, that means dancing to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body” with COVID-19 vaccination facts overlaid. The viral video had accumulated nearly 360,000 views on TikTok within a day.