Student Spotlight March 2020

William Beckerson

William Beckerson graduated from Georgetown College with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a Minor in Business Management. In 2017, William received his Masters of Science in Biology from the University of Louisville. William is currently receiving his Doctoral Degree in Biology here at the University of Louisville with an anticipated graduation date of June 2020. 

When I was looking for a place to do research after I finished my undergraduate degree, I ran across Dr. Michael Perlin’s research here at UofL. Mike works with some really fascinating fungal pathogens that infect carnation flowers in a very specific way. Most of these fungi can each only infect one species of carnation flower, even though most of these flowers are so similar in nature. This presented an excellent opportunity for me to start answering some of the questions I had about pathogen-host interactions. 

In particular, I study how pathogens change over time to infect certain organisms. When bacteria, fungi, or viruses can only infect a narrow range of organisms, like how the bird flu usually only infects birds, we call their relationship with those organisms “host specificity”. Sometimes, these pathogens evolve in such a way that allows them to infect new organisms. A great example of this is the recent SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, more commonly known as the “Coronavirus”. While scientists are still trying to figure out where this particular virus originated, rare mutations can allow pathogens that normally infect other animals to start infecting people. When a pathogen becomes capable of infecting a new host, we call it a “Host Shift”.

While a lot of attention is given to pathogens that shift hosts to people, for obvious reasons, this phenomenon is not just unique to animal pathogens. I study these sorts of host specificities in plant pathogens. For example, right now there is a big outbreak of Fusarium, a fungus that is destroying the banana industry sort of like the potato famine in the 1840’s. As a matter of fact, plant pathogens collectively cause over a BILLION dollars of damages to agricultural crops worldwide. Every single year. So, my research involves figuring out why fungal pathogens infect certain plants, so that we can use that information to prevent these types of “Host Shifts” from causing lots of damage to crops in the future.

In addition to my work with pathogens, I am also very passionate about teaching, getting communities involved with science, and public outreach. As such, I often volunteer to speak with K-12 classrooms about my research, along with several other popular science topics. When talking about my research to kids, I often describe what I do as “studying what makes plants sick”, or as one student form a recent Skype a Scientist interview put it, I am a “plant doctor”. 

4. What made you go into this field of study?

 As a first-generation college student from a rural part of Kentucky, I grew up with little to no exposure to science in our public-school system. I first became interested in biology during an introductory course that I was taking as a general education requirement in college. During that class, I became fascinated with how microscopic organisms like bacteria communicate with the world around them. I remember thinking at the time, “How does something without a brain recognize when it is near food”? Overtime, this curiosity grew into a desire to know more about how pathogens recognize and communicate with their hosts. Since then, I have been pursuing these question at UofL, as well as sharing what I have learned with various K-12 schools in Kentucky and across the globe with the Skype a Scientist Program. I think, like most scientists, the reason I study what I do today is a combination of pure curiosity and a desire to contribute to the community.

One of my goals for the near future is to establish a community science initiative with Dr. Charissa de Bekker at the University of Central Florida. After finishing with my dissertation work in plant pathogens this summer, I will be joining her lab at UCF to study an incredibly fascinating animal pathogen system, known to some as “Zombie Ants”. If you are unaware of these amazing host-specific pathogens, they consist of Ophiocordyceps fungi that infect ants and actually modify the ants’ behaviors in a way that allows the fungus to spread its spores more efficiently. Using this pop-science system, we have developed a community science platform called the “Zombie Fungus Foray” in partnership with UCF, its First-Generation Program, and its Hispanic Initiative, which we hope to use to get the local community involved in finding zombified ants using the iNaturalist app and teach them about science and critical thinking in the process. By studying these behavior-modifying fungi with the help of the community, we hope to find chemicals that could be used to treat behavioral disorders.

I think the accomplishment I am most proud of during my dissertation work with UofL was a successful group effort between Dr. Michael Perlin, Hector Mendoza, Joseph Angermeier, and I to establish funding for an international exchange of students with our research collaborators in Germany. Together, the four of us wrote and received a grant from the National Science Foundation called the International Research Experiences for Students grant (IRES) that funds up to 7 students per year to travel abroad to Germany for research every summer. The reason I am most proud of this effort is in large part due to the opportunities that it provides to students to travel outside the US and experience other parts of the world in a way that fosters the exchange of life experiences, different ways of thinking, and scientific collaboration. It was a wonderful experience to work with other labs in Germany and to experience their culture.

My favorite part of my graduate school experience at UofL is all the different places I traveled to and all the collaborative efforts I was a part of, both with other faculty here at UofL and abroad with our collaborators in France and Germany. I have met and worked with so many amazing individuals and experienced so many life changing things during my time at UofL.

Graduate students in the US face a myriad of psychological issues, including depression, anxiety, and imposter syndrome. While the source of these issues can arise from a wide range of different places, from financial insecurity to a simple pressure to perform well in your program, nearly all graduate students face them to various degrees during their program. One of the best ways to deal with these as a student is to recognize that you are not alone in dealing with these issues. I have dealt with a fair share of anxiety during my dissertation, but one thing that has been helpful to me was reading into just how prevalent these psychological disorders are in academia, especially in the US, realizing that experiencing them is normal and does not make you any less valuable as an academic, and talking with other graduate students about it. While there is certainly a lot more institutions could do for their graduate students in our country, participating in student organizations such as the Biology Graduate Student Association that we have here at UofL can be a great way to interact with other students going through the same things you are and build a support group. 

I have a wonderful, intelligent, and supportive wife (Mary Beckerson) and two silly little dogs (Sneaker and Wicket).