Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) Activity

"Handcuffing the Killers: Conformational Control and Real-Time Monitoring of Caspase Proteolytic Activity," at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory on Wednesday, April 24, at 4 p.m. in Berkner Hall. Sponsored by Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) and Brookhaven Science Associates (the company that manages the Lab), the talk is free and open to the public. Visitors to the Laboratory 16 or older must carry photo I.D. When mutated, damaged or old cells don't die off properly, problems like cancer, auto-immune or neurodegenerative diseases can result. Seeing how apoptosis (programmed cell death) works could help scientists identify the molecular events that cause both normal and diseased cells to die. During her talk at Brookhaven, Hardy will discuss how researchers have developed an apoptosis "reporter" that tracks the actions of caspases, molecular scissors that cut key proteins to kill cells. The group used green florescent protein and attached a small protein tail to keep it dark. When caspases are active, they chop the tail off and give scientists a glowing green view of cell death. In addition to her work as a lab leader and professor, Hardy also helped to cofound a mutual mentoring program for women faculty in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines at UMass. Inspired by the book Every Other Thursday, which describes a mutual mentoring group in the Bay Area that has been meeting for 30 years and involves several National Academy members and prominent scientists, the mentoring program at UMass continues to grow strong. Hardy will share some of the organizing principles around this highly successful mentoring group she founded and with which she continues to be involved. Hardy earned her BS and MS in chemistry and biochemistry at Utah State University in 1994. She attended graduate school at the University of Calif