Career Spotlight: Dr. Irma (Lisa) Cisneros, Ph.D.

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Welcome to the infectious Science Podcast.

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This is not just another Science Podcast.

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Infectious

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science is produced by a team from the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Galveston national lab

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where we study some of the most dangerous viruses on the planet.

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Our goal is to inspire future scientists towards a career in science with a focus on one health,

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one health one planet. That's right, when other approaches

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public health threats by examining the connections between people, plants, animals and the environment we all share.

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The show will explore how one health is your health. So sit back and learn

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something infectious science where enthusiasm for science

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is contagious.

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Hi, everyone.

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Today we are going to talk with a new friend of mine, Lisa Cisneros, who is an assistant professor here at UTMB. So Hi, Lisa, welcome.

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Thank you. Hi, how are you?

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Good. How are you?

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I'm good. It's Friday.

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Yeah, happy Friday. Okay, Lisa. So tell me a little bit about what you do now and what kind of research you're interested in.

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So right now, I'm an assistant professor in the department of pathology, which is kind of cool, because some of my research history involves drugs of abuse, and understanding how they are leading to inflammation in the brain. So when people think about drugs of abuse, you don't think about necessarily pathology, right. But what we have seen is that some of these drugs, activate antiviral responses. And so that's really important for viruses that we know get into the brain. And so that's really kind of where our research is leading to right now.

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What kind of educational background did you have to go through in order to get to where you are now?

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So it's pretty lengthy story. I graduated from high school in 2000. And I knew that I loved science. I was head cheerleader. I was in all these clubs, but I was also a huge nerd. And I graduated with like seven credits of science. Every elective I could take was a science elective. My parents were very conservative. So I had like a 10pm curfew. And so when I got into college, I went crazy. I moved out of my parents house. Yeah. And I didn't do so great. My first two years, I was on probation. And I ended up getting out of school, I met my husband, we started a family. I went back and got my bachelor's and didn't finish until 2007.

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And I did that really close to where my parents were because at that time, I had two kids already. And where was that?

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That was South Texas. So that was in Brownsville University of Texas Rio Grande Valley now, but it used to be University of Texas Brownsville. Okay. And I grew up in Harlingen. And so we were down there for a really long time till 2007 When I got my bachelor's, Oh, wow. And then I applied for a research position at UT Southwestern. I did about a year when I got pregnant, and I quit. And then when my daughter was my youngest daughter, she was about six months. And I was like, I think I want to go to graduate school.

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And I wasn't really sure what that meant. All I knew is it was like another degree. And at that point, I felt like a professional student. So I was like, I want to go back to school. So I applied to the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

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And I got a letter that I had been accepted as an MBRs. Rise scholar. And what's that? MBRs, right. It's like a minority research scholarship to help diversify the scientific way.

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And as an undergrad in Brownsville, I was an MBRs rise scholar there. So I think that helped me get that fellowship.

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And then I was at UNC Health Science Center in 2009. The day my youngest turned one, orientation. And I was there until 2015 When I finished so

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how was that for you going to grad school and being a mom at the same time?

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I was the oldest graduate student. Yeah, I was the only mother. And I was commuting an hour for that first year.

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Holy moly.

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Okay, so you had a lot on your plate. And

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I didn't do so well, then either. I was on probation after my first year of graduate school. I'm just not a good test taker. I'm very detail oriented.

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So when I would study, I tried to memorize all the details instead of the broader picture.

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Yeah. And so that it took me a while to learn them. Yeah, I think that's

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something that a lot of people don't know about scientists and graduate school that not everyone in science is like a straight A student who's like really good at test taking.

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I'm really bad at test taking, too. It's more about the creativity and the ideas.

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Yes. I always like to say you have to think outside of the box. Right, right. Yeah. How

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did your family adjust to you do all that and stuff in the lab and have to go back and forth. So I was really

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fortunate that my pre doc mentor was also a woman with Children. Okay. And the difference? Yeah, huge difference. Yeah. And she was amazing. So she allowed me the flexibility to be able to go pick up my kids from school and take them home. And so it was really helpful. Also, my kids school was across the street from graduate school. And I lived across the street from my kids school. So everything was like, yeah, right there. Right.

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So that was really helpful. And my husband owns his own business. Okay. So again, a little bit of flexibility. Yes.

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So much flexibility. Yeah,

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you know, we get stuck in this. What's the clear cut trajectory? But it seems like you took breaks, you came back again, you really did this on your own terms. You were like the boss of your own career. I love that. Yeah. Yeah.

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That's so awesome. That's so encouraging for me. And what kind of research did you do in grad school.

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So when I was in graduate school, I knew I wanted to do virus or so you went to Science Center. It's a relatively smaller graduate school, and it's an osteopathic training school. So they don't train medical doctors, they train DEOs. And so when I was looking at mentors, there was only one mentor on the whole campus who did virus work. And so I approached her. And she told me that she wasn't accepting students, but I was persistent. And finally, she was like, This chick is not gonna leave me alone, fine, just come home to the lab, do your rotation. So I chose her as my last rotation. Or actually, I guess she chose me as her last rotation. And I did a little bit of work. But I think what she liked was that I had already had research experience. And so I started working on HIV, learning how to culture primary human astrocytes. And in that lab, we used fetal tissue. So we would get aborted fetuses and we would isolate astrocytes and neurons.

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And so I learned all of that process. And not just the science, but also the ethical background, using that kind of tissue. Yeah, and she was a huge advocate, when she was at Nebraska, to utilize that kind of tissue and research. And she did the same thing. They're in Fort Worth. And so I remember, you know how, as a mentor, you have to fill out the paperwork, how the student did satisfactory or unsatisfactory, she gave me an unsatisfactory, I thought I was gonna die. I was still commuting an hour. At this point, she told me, you should probably think about moving closer. As a graduate student, you're gonna have to spend more time in the lab. And so then the next year, I move closer, she accepted me into her lab. And then she handed me a grant that she was a co PI on, right. i One of the aims was methamphetamine and HIV. And I was like, I never imagined myself working with substances of abuse. Because personally, with my husband and myself, we have a history of like substance use disorder. And so it felt weird, but it also felt like it was meant to be.

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And so I just started working on methamphetamine and HIV, looking at targets in the brain that activate some different kinds of neurotoxic modalities and stuff.

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So different pathways. Interesting. Do you think that gave you more of an edge because of your personal experience with your research area, that it made it more important to you are that you had different insights or

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so I really try and connect my research to people.

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And I think that having that history, I've done more than just science here in Galveston.

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I've done like the Gulf Coast Recovery Center, and I've sat with people and their group counseling sessions. And I've talked to them about my history.

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And I remember them being like, oh, my gosh, you did this and your doctor. No. And I'm like, Yeah, I mean, I overcame it, thank God. Because not everybody does. It's a disease. But I think being able to encourage people is really nice for me, and it helps me also connect it all to the science.

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Wow, I'm so I'm so glad that you got to make that connection. So what were your early inspirations then even before that, you said that in high school, you were the cheerleader, but you also were a nerd? Where did that nerdiness come from? Where did it originate?

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I had a fourth grade teacher. Her name was Miss Vincent. And I remember the very first day of school, she walked into class with a big python around her neck, oh, my God. And she was dressed up like in this forest outfit, and like, you know, came in the X. She wasn't a science teacher. She was all subjects. But she was emphasized the science. Yeah. And that was the first year I had a science fair project. And what was your project? I have to know what was your project. So I wanted to build a volcano so bad. So me and my best friend paired up and we built a volcano. But I remember that she failed us because I didn't understand the concept of a hypothesis. Okay, and I couldn't develop a hypothesis for a volcano.

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more of like an engineering project like can I develop the spa can so that's still pretty hard.

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Why remember heard? I think it was It wasn't really like a fail, right? It was kind of like more of a discussion.

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Like you don't get to compete at City Science Fair this year, because you don't have a hypothesis. Yeah. I know. But then I always had a hypothesis after that. Early lesson. That's right.

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So that's where it all started in your fourth grade. Fourth

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grade.

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Where's your fourth grade teacher? Now? Does she know that she inspired?

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I don't think so. That would be really awesome, though.

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Should look her up if you can't

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if she would like to know that.

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I don't remember her first name, though.

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I wonder if I'm sure like your school. Maybe you can contact your school. They probably totally let

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me do it. Yeah.

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Oh, my gosh.

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But if she's still a teacher, then that would be awesome.

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Can I come and talk to your kids? Oh, my gosh, I'd be so

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awesome. And then you can show up with your

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your snot a Python.

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We'll find you some like little red sneakers?

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Yeah. All right. So

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do you have any advice for any young people who might be listening and being interested in a career in science?

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I think hands on work is really important. So if somebody is not sure if they're interested or not, one of the best things to do is get your hands dirty. When my kids were little, I would always ask the teachers if I could come and do something with them. And we would always extract DNA from our cheeks. Yeah. And they just all loved it so much. And I think that things like that really push people into these kinds of careers. So I think definitely, if you have an opportunity to participate in any kind of science, that's number one. And also, being able to take constructive criticism is so before it is so hard. The first time I presented as a pre Doc, I'm obviously a woman in science. I have a history of being a cheerleader, I have a very bubbly personality. After my first presentation, my mentor took me to the site. And she was she told me, You're so coy.

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She's like, why are you flirting with the audience. And I was like, I am. She's like, you're flipping your hair, and like, you know, doing all this stuff.

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And I was like, I didn't realize, you know, that's just me. And so I ended up taking like speech classes to learn how to speak in a more professional manner. But bringing out your personality is also important is so now that I'm here, and now that I've established myself a little bit, I used to hide my bubbliness before, but now I think that I'm able to bring it out maybe because I'm more confident or I feel a little bit more in a better position to do that. Yeah, but I'm just learning how to be yourself but also that professionalism has to stay. So that's really important too. Yeah, how

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to balance the personal and professional. Your science, personality,

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science, personality. I love that I think everybody should have one. Urinary

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Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease transmitted by ticks.

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It's generally found in Asia, Africa and Europe, and as the most widespread tick borne disease in the world. It is also the second most widespread cause of hemorrhagic fever after dengue. The disease got its curious name from the fact that it was separately found in the Crimean peninsula, and the Congo many years apart, and it took scientists more than a decade to figure out that what they were looking at, were actually the same diseases. The virus circulates in nature between ticks and a variety of animal species. But ticks and animals do not develop disease. Only humans develop disease, which can sometimes be very severe, with bleeding seen under the skin, or even from the mouth and nose. Mortality can be as high as 30%. Over the last 20 years, we have seen an increase in cases with discovery of the disease in new areas, most likely due in large part to human activity. And now you know about Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever. This has been your viral minute.

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It's super interesting to me about your kind of non traditional path from high school to now you're a professor. And I was wondering how this kind of non traditional path and your interesting background influences how you interact with your students now?

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Well, like I said, I struggled a lot with courses and like just kind of getting into the detail of things instead of the broader picture. And so when I have students or even lab technicians or research scientist postdocs, I feel like everybody can be successful if they're in the right environment, right. I try to really learn how each individual is Can can be the most successful. So everybody has a completely different personality. Yeah. And my lab is a family, it's my second family, and everybody has to come together and feel good. I think that based on my own personal experiences, I really do try to bring in students who are also from non traditional backgrounds, and students who are really eager, because I've heard other professors say, I never accept a student, the first time they asked me, you know, they have to show me they want it. Yeah, and I don't believe that. I feel like, if they come to me, then they've had me in their mind. And if they can justify to me what they think their future in the lab is like, and if they can get along with the other lab members during a rotation, I want to take you if I can take you, I want to take them or bring them all to me. And so right now I have two graduate students, one of them grew up on a farm in New York, she's a little bit she doesn't want to mess up, right.

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And she's also kind of nervous about using cells and stuff. So we're training her through all of that, and patient. And my other graduate student is actually from Mexico, she has two children, she reminds me so much, so much of me that she's an MD in Mexico. So she came over here, and I actually directly admitted her into my lab. And then she just got a really competitive scholarship.

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So I'm so I'm so excited for her. But in the end, I want them to know that I'm there to support them. And I'm not there to make their life crazy. I don't expect them to be in the lab at midnight, or on the weekends. I think, if you can manage your time wisely, you can definitely structure your schedule so that you're there from Monday through Friday.

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Because I also hear a lot of professors who are like, Oh, my students should be expected to be here for 12 hours a day on weekends. And I don't think any of that's necessary. While I hold expectations for the people that I mentor and work with. I also expect them to hold their own expectations. Right, right.

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And so this is something that I always bring up to them. Yes, I want you to reach this threshold. But what do you want to reach? Yeah, what are your expectations of me also? And so I think that I'm like that because of my history and my own personal pathway to where I am now.

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Yeah, that's so interesting. I sounds a lot like you care about the student themselves, not just as a student, as a scientist,

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they're part of my family, right?

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So you were mentioned before, that your research centers around how drug use can influence how viruses affect the brain? And can you tell me a little bit about how you do that? What does a normal day in one of your experiments look like? Like, what are your experiments like?

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So when we are doing in vivo modeling of self administration, what's in vivo mean, in vivo, like an animal's Oh, so a lot of my work is in cells, but we also do some animal work. And some of the stuff that we've done before with collaborations with the Center for addiction research, is we use a really standardized animal model that's really well established. And it's a self administration rat model, okay.

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And so the rat basically has a catheter into their very large artery or vein and in their back, and the rat is put into a chamber and they're allowed to press a lever for drug, okay.

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And that's really how they establish this self administration of these drugs of abuse. And that's really important because establishing self administration is part of the circuitry in the brain. So one part of your brain talking to another part of your brain.

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And if you give the animal the drug with a needle, it's not the same thing, because they're not allowed to establish those connections. Yeah. And that's really important for the research that we're doing. And so I always say everybody's eyes are like, pop open when I say we work with drugs of abuse, because you don't meet first of all Hispanic female who's a scientist, right? Everyone's like, you're a scientist. I'm like, Yeah, I'm saying this. And then when you tell them that you're working with drugs of abuse, they're just like, wow, tell me more. That's so interesting.

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So at least you said that when you first started grad school, your little one was only one years old. Now. They're a little bit older. So do you want to talk to us a little bit about how what did they think about their mom being a fancy pants? Professor? Are they proud of you? Are they embarrassed?

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Like what did they think?

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Well, I certainly hope they're proud of me. But I'm now there's so much older. So I have like my 19 year old my son, and when I was 17 year old and my youngest, who was one is now 14, and my 19 year old, he was never really into schools. He had ADHD. And so I was just as long as you pick a career just do so.

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Yeah. So He's following in my husband's footsteps and he's doing plumbing. You know, it brings them on. Yeah, I don't have to pay his car payments.

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And then my 17 year old, she's super artsy and craftsy. And she is doing media arts and digital arts. And so I have an amazing lab logo. And the techy guy in my lab designed it, but my daughter, I commissioned her and paid her to make it super professional and illustrator.

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And so I think I'm trying to kind of pitch that like be a scientific illustrator. Oh, that'd be so we'll see if I can kind of get her in there. And my youngest one, I think she's going to be the one to go into some sort of science field. I know she's Googled me at school before. Yeah, showed her friend Yeah, and showed her from my mom's a doctor. I always have to be I'm not that kind of doctor though. Everybody thinks for an MD. But I hope that they're all really proud

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of you. Well, thank you so much, Lisa, for hanging out with us today and talking about your life and your story. And if any of you listening at home want to know more about Lisa's work, you can check her out, check the show notes, and we'll leave more information about her research and where you can find her on social media. So thanks for listening. And thanks, Lisa.

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Thank you guys so much for including me I really appreciate.

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