RNA Featured Researcher — Elizabeth Tidwell, Biophysics
Elizabeth Tidwell
Graduate Student, Markos Koutmos Group
Program in Biophysics
- Who/what brought you to science? From a young age, I wanted to understand the reasons behind natural phenomena. During my pre-college and college education, I became fascinated with the interconnection between math, chemistry, and biology; how they can be combined to explain what is happening in the biological systems. My family and teachers encouraged this curiosity and that lead me to study biochemistry in college and now biophysics in graduate school.
- What are your research interests? I am interested in how the three dimensional structures of noncoding RNA can be used as therapeutic targets in human diseases.
- What do you hope is the outcome/impact of your research? In my research, I hope to develop tools or methods that can be used by other researchers and labs to discover more about the relationship between RNA structure, function, and disease. I also hope to inform and inspire students through outreach and teaching.
- What advice would you give to students who’d like to get more involved in research? Get involved in any research you can, even if it isn’t the type of work you want to do long term. There is value in learning about any branch of science and you would be surprised how many skills are the same between fields. Also be tenacious, failure is just part of the game.
- What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? If I wasn’t a graduate student and an RNA biologist, I would love to try to be a baker or a chef!