Endocrinologist uses dance to interpret role of vitamin D in beta cell function
The art of dance is used to help create awareness about diabetes.
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Sue Lynn Lau, MBBS, FRACP, took to the stage to interpret her PhD research on the role of vitamin D in beta cell function. Her creative interpretation of her thesis, which included marshmallow glucose and dancing beta cells, won the graduate student category of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Science magazines Dance Your PhD contest.
Lau, an endocrinologist and doctoral student at Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, was one of 36 entrants in the competition. The rules were simple: no words or images only dancing. Each video interpretation was submitted online and judged by a panel of nine judges on the ability to bridge the art and science worlds.
I loved the idea of the competition from the moment I saw it. I really believe that dancing should be part of everyday life its such a normal, natural way of self-expression. So why not use it to explain a scientific concept? Lau told Endocrine Today.
From dance to diabetes
Lau said her entry, The Role of Vitamin D in Beta Cell Function, was meant to be completely absurd and hilarious. She recruited her lab partners in the Immunology and Inflammation Program at Garvan to help with her dance interpretation.
In the video, Lau appeared as the Sugar Plum Fairy, feeding marshmallows to three beta cell dancers.
Sue Lynn Lau, MBBS, FRACP, (right) and lab partners in the Immunology and Inflammation Program at Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, perform a dance to interpret Laus PhD research on the role of vitamin D in beta cell function as part of the Dance Your PhD contest. Source: S. Lau |
This symbolizes glucose entry into the cell, which initiates a cascade of events ultimately leading to insulin secretion, represented by the blowing of soap bubbles by the beta cells, she said. Finally, the beta cells boogie to the music Walking on Sunshine, which represents our hypothesis that vitamin D may be an important factor in beta cell function and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.
Lau and her recruits took a break from the lab and had to learn to shoot video and edit, with lots of reference to the help menu, said Lau, who has no professional dancing experience.
My nonmedical friends who watched the video seem to have understood the concept that beta cells make insulin in response to glucose and that I am researching whether or not vitamin D may help this process, she said. To date, the video has had more than 70,000 views on YouTube.
I think that dance would be a great way to create awareness about diabetes. If it triggered even some people to think about diabetes and want to find out more, that would be a good thing, she said.
Next for Lau
The competition received entries from around the world on a variety of theses, such as astronomy, quantum physics, anthropology and archaeology. The contest winners have each been paired with a professional choreographer, and together they will attempt to translate a scientific paper the researcher has written into a dance. In Laus case, it will be a paper written by Jenny Gunton, MBBS, PhD, her supervisor and senior research officer while she was at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
This month, the winning contestants will attend the 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in Chicago where they will have front-row seats to the debut of This is Science, a professional dance interpretation of their published research.
As much as I would love to keep dancing, fortunately, it is all now in the hands of the professionals. My role is to help the choreographer understand the science behind the paper, so I have been sending her lots of stuff explaining diabetes pathogenesis, microarray, gene expression and more, she said.
Lau will complete her doctorate in 2010 and will then return to clinical endocrinology work.
My particular interest is to help people with diabetes understand more about their condition and learn the skills to take care of it, especially those the conventional system may not effectively reach migrants and refugees, the poorly literate or socially isolated. I think theres always a need to find creative ways to address the challenges ahead in diabetes research and clinical care, she said. by Katie Kalvaitis
To view The Role of Vitamin D in Beta Cell Function video, visit youtube.com/watch?v=QiTFBRPFRh8.