Meet the Scientist: Lydia Heasley, PhD, assistant professor, biochemistry and molecular genetics
Everyone loves the scent of freshly baked bread. Or perhaps you're more partial to the smells coming from your favorite brewery. Either way, bread and beer have one important tiny organism in common - yeast! Yeast allows for the good flavors to be released in both rising dough and brewing beer. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the scientific name for bakers and brewers yeast; it is also one of the beneficial residents of our gut, helping with healthy digestion.
Yeast is often used in scientific studies to map cellular functions to human biology and help us better understand and treat disease. One of the reasons scientists like to use yeast in the lab is that it grows quickly and is easy to track how a population of cells can change over time.
Lydia Heasley, PhD, is a Colorado native who runs a research lab on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Her research group is studying how the behaviors and functions of yeast change when their environment causes stress. We know that the ability to adapt to a changing environment is critical to survival for all forms of life, including humans and yeast. In order to adapt, mutations or changes to the genetic code - the recipe book with instructions for how to make each component of our cells - are essential.
Changes in the blueprint of life
You might hear or read the word 'mutation' and immediately think of a negative outcome. That's not always the case! Mutations or changes to the genetic code do not always produce negative outcomes. Did you know that humans who enjoy milk and any other dairy products are benefiting from a commonly passed down mutation?!? This mutation allows us to digest things like ice cream. People who don't have the mutation are lactose intolerant and are unable to easily digest milk products.
