The Baker Lab Podcast

Doing research over the summer as an undergraduate is a great way to experience what life is like as a scientist. In this episode, you’ll hear from students who visited us last summer to advance computational and laboratory experiments. The podcast team’s very own Nathan Greenwood also shares his story from a summer student to a mentor. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Johnny Mendoza, and Joe Min. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

As a new professor with a newborn, Parisa suffered a stroke that left her unable to walk or talk. She leaned on love and stubbornness to recover her voice, raise her child, lead her lab, and even run a 5k foot trace. This episode traces her remarkable journey from growing up in Iran to starting a lab at the University of Oregon, and from sudden setbacks to lasting resilience. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

When is it time to walk away from a research project? For Linna, it happened after a year of frustrating experiments — when her PhD advisor helped her reframe what it means to do science well. In this episode, Linna traces her path from chemistry student to computational biologist. Now ready to mentor others, she will soon lead a research lab of her own as a new professor. We explore how machine learning is transforming what enzymes can do and get into the emotional side of science, the future of therapeutic enzymes, and what it really takes to build a supportive lab environment. You can check out her new lab here: https://lanalchemist.github.io // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

What happens when a kid who sketches dinosaurs grows up to reimagine biology? In this episode, postdoctoral scholar Arvind Pillai traces his unexpected path from paleoart to designing proteins that change shape on command. Along the way, he reflects on the sting of academic rejection, the joy of discovery, and how online debates with creationists sharpened his view of evolution. Arvind’s story explores how complexity emerges — not just in molecules, but in the making of a scientist. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Launching UW’s first iGEM team changed the course of Ingrid’s career. Her team built an enzyme to digest gluten that took first place in the biotech competition — and fueled a new company. Hear Ingrid explain what it takes to translate scientific breakthroughs into real products and companies. // This podcast was produced at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine by Ian Haydon, Roni Weissman, Enisha Sehgal, Nora McNamara-Bordewick, Riti Biswas, Joe Min, and Nathan Forest Greenwood. // Music by Kevin MacLeod and Ingrid's college band, The Wild Types.