Mental health, Mpro, and starting graduate school: a conversation with TJ Cross

In this episode, we discuss topics which may be triggering for some listeners. Please use the following time stamps to navigate away from the sections that may be triggering: 15:52-17:08 (mentions of depression, substance abuse); 20:59-23:00 (mentions of depression) 

TJ Cross (he/him) is an incoming graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles. During his (long) undergraduate career, he has switched majors, attended community college, and completed his undergraduate education during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at the University of California, Irvine. Between three institutions, he has garnered three associates degrees, a bachelors in science in Chemistry, an honorable mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, and the 2020 American Institute of Chemists Student Award. During his last year at UCI, TJ joined Professor Rachel Martin’s biochemistry research lab two days after the pandemic shut down all in person classes and research. In the span of three months, his first author paper studying mutations to the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) was accepted to Biochemistry, being published in September 2020. Since then, he has been continuing to research the implications of mutations on not only Mpro but also other enzymes. He is currently performing summer research with Professor Anastassia Alexandrova at UCLA, examining the electric fields exerted by enzymes on their active site. You can follow TJ on Twitter @dz_lmnz.

Link to Alex Lang's Website for NSF-GRFP resources mentioned in episode: alexhunterlang.com

TJ's Favorites

1) My favorite study snack: Rick Martinez's (Bon Appetit) brown butter toffee cookies. When we make them, the whole batch is gone in a matter of minutes (and who doesn't like getting work done on a sugar high).

2) Song to get you hyped: I usually listen to Soundcloud sets from EDM DJs. My current fixation is Gryffin's "ELEVATE RADIO 017" mix; with a combination of remixes and slammin bass, it never fails to get me pumped up. Illenium also has some great hits on his phoenix radio sets, also on Soundcloud.

3) What's on TJ's Watchlist? I recently binged "The Blacklist" on Netflix... I would recommend it for being cheesy and easy to watch. I'm currently watching Gilmore Girls, also on Netflix; it's perfect for it's quick paced, witty humor, though many of the references are dated since it was an early 2000's show.

4) Dream Vacation Spot: My dream vacation spot is one from my childhood actually! It's a sleepy little town called Albion in northern California, near Mendocino. There's a campground by the Albion river that my family and I always used to go to when I was a kid. It has a huge rock on the beach that's super fun to climb, and not too far there are a ton of shops in neighboring towns. I highly recommend it for a visit!

Chemistea is a chemistry and science podcast founded by Lucy Yang (she/her), currently a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Irvine, studying chemistry and biological sciences. Some of the most famous scientific collaborations and discoveries were born from a conversation over tea, and on her podcast, Lucy aims to combine her love of talking with her love of sharing and hearing stories—stories about others' passion for science, their journeys, and any and all fun shenanigans in between. You can follow Lucy on twitter @isolucyine. She is also the founder of The Kawaii Chemist, a shop where you can find cute chemistry stickers and merch, where 100% of profit goes to charity. You can check out The Kawaii Chemist here, and you can donate to support Kawaii Chemist and the Chemistea podcast here. Thank you listening!