WEBVTT 00:00:05.356 --> 00:00:12.521 [Dr. Drennan] "Wow...you must be smart!" 00:00:12.521 --> 00:00:15.361 That's what people say to me when the 00:00:15.361 --> 00:00:17.309 conversation comes around, and they 00:00:17.309 --> 00:00:19.870 find out what I do for a living. So, I am 00:00:19.870 --> 00:00:21.631 a professor of Chemistry and Biology in 00:00:21.631 --> 00:00:24.020 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 00:00:24.020 --> 00:00:27.961 known as M.I.T. They say, "Wow...M.I.T., 00:00:27.961 --> 00:00:32.968 wow...professor...You must be smart!" 00:00:32.968 --> 00:00:34.714 Sometimes they say that and they walk 00:00:34.714 --> 00:00:37.066 away. Other times they say that looking 00:00:37.066 --> 00:00:39.459 at me, waiting for me to respond, either 00:00:39.459 --> 00:00:41.555 in the affirmative, or deny the fact that 00:00:41.555 --> 00:00:44.074 maybe I am smart. But what they don't 00:00:44.074 --> 00:00:46.914 realize is that, asking me if I am smart, 00:00:46.914 --> 00:00:49.994 is a really complicated question for me 00:00:49.994 --> 00:00:51.940 to answer. 00:00:51.940 --> 00:00:54.713 So, think about what it is to be smart. 00:00:54.713 --> 00:00:56.912 There's....usually when you ask someone, 00:00:56.912 --> 00:00:58.476 they'll come up with characteristics of a 00:00:58.476 --> 00:01:02.786 smart person. They'll say, "Hmm...good 00:01:02.786 --> 00:01:05.189 problems solver." or "A lot of knowledge 00:01:05.189 --> 00:01:08.102 on a particular topic." , "Able to take 00:01:08.102 --> 00:01:10.767 information and see things in that 00:01:10.767 --> 00:01:13.410 information that other people might 00:01:13.410 --> 00:01:17.162 miss. " "Success in a field." All of 00:01:17.162 --> 00:01:18.869 these are characteristics of a smart 00:01:18.869 --> 00:01:21.529 person. All of those are characteristics 00:01:21.529 --> 00:01:24.493 of me. But there are also other 00:01:24.493 --> 00:01:27.222 characteristics not really normally 00:01:27.222 --> 00:01:30.465 associated with a smart person, such as, 00:01:30.465 --> 00:01:32.842 "Having been in a remedial class in 00:01:32.842 --> 00:01:36.650 school."--Having had to repeat a grade. 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:38.410 Those are things that are also true about 00:01:38.410 --> 00:01:43.696 me. So smart, but learning disabled. That 00:01:43.696 --> 00:01:46.372 was a term that my elementary school 00:01:46.372 --> 00:01:48.984 teachers used for me. So what is Learning 00:01:48.984 --> 00:01:51.312 Disability? What is being Learning Disabled? 00:01:51.312 --> 00:01:54.422 When you think about that, you learn 00:01:54.422 --> 00:01:56.323 differently. If there is a bunch of 00:01:56.323 --> 00:01:58.377 information, you may see it in a different 00:01:58.377 --> 00:02:01.294 way. You may make connections between 00:02:01.294 --> 00:02:04.580 that information that other people miss. 00:02:04.580 --> 00:02:06.179 So there's definitely parallels...I just 00:02:06.179 --> 00:02:07.941 described two things: one for smart and 00:02:07.941 --> 00:02:09.585 one for Learning Disabled, that were the 00:02:09.585 --> 00:02:11.339 same. 00:02:12.249 --> 00:02:14.421 So...I was a pretty odd kid, I have to say. 00:02:14.421 --> 00:02:16.142 My parents were older when I was born, and 00:02:16.142 --> 00:02:20.359 I was an only child, and my parents really 00:02:20.359 --> 00:02:22.507 didn't know all that much about raising 00:02:22.507 --> 00:02:24.828 children, to be honest with you. We would 00:02:24.828 --> 00:02:26.626 talk about politics at the dinner table 00:02:26.626 --> 00:02:29.335 when I was 5 years old. I worked on my 00:02:29.335 --> 00:02:33.066 first political campaign when I was 6. 00:02:33.066 --> 00:02:34.721 So when I started first grade, I was 00:02:34.721 --> 00:02:36.712 discussing with my first grade teacher 00:02:36.712 --> 00:02:38.551 what I thought about International Trade 00:02:38.551 --> 00:02:41.639 Agreements, and they decided that, "Wow... 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:43.810 she must be a smart kid!"- so they put me 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:47.946 in the top reading group. Then I went 00:02:47.946 --> 00:02:49.956 down, maybe I'd be more comfortable in 00:02:49.956 --> 00:02:52.828 the second from top, and then when I hit 00:02:52.828 --> 00:02:56.872 rock bottom, and still was below what the 00:02:56.872 --> 00:02:58.894 other kids in this bottom reading group 00:02:58.894 --> 00:03:00.257 were able to do, it was time to talk to my 00:03:00.257 --> 00:03:03.805 parents and say, "She seems smart, but, 00:03:03.805 --> 00:03:07.695 she can't learn to read." So somewhere 00:03:07.695 --> 00:03:09.371 between first and second grade, I was 00:03:09.371 --> 00:03:12.102 diagnosed as being Dyslexic. And my 00:03:12.102 --> 00:03:14.574 parents were pulled aside, and said, "You 00:03:14.574 --> 00:03:16.985 know, you should prepare yourself. Her 00:03:16.985 --> 00:03:19.158 Dyslexia is so severe, that she is probably 00:03:19.158 --> 00:03:20.710 not going to be able to graduate from high 00:03:20.710 --> 00:03:24.792 school. But--my parents got me extra 00:03:24.792 --> 00:03:28.027 tutoring, and the second time through 00:03:28.027 --> 00:03:32.094 sixth grade, I learned to read. So the way 00:03:32.094 --> 00:03:33.810 that I read--I don't know how normal 00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:35.874 people read, but I don't think I read like 00:03:35.874 --> 00:03:38.935 that. So what I did the second time through 00:03:38.935 --> 00:03:40.984 sixth grade is, I memorized the shapes of 00:03:40.984 --> 00:03:44.407 words, and I memorized what words looked 00:03:44.407 --> 00:03:47.836 like that shape, and then what that word 00:03:47.836 --> 00:03:51.402 sounds like, and what that word means. It 00:03:51.402 --> 00:03:53.626 took a ~lot~ of time to memorize the shapes 00:03:53.626 --> 00:03:55.600 of all of the words that you might encounter 00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:58.617 in a book. But once I had done that, 00:03:58.617 --> 00:04:02.150 I could read. So, after I finished sixth 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:04.926 grade the second time, my father retired, 00:04:04.926 --> 00:04:06.630 he was older, and we moved to a 00:04:06.630 --> 00:04:08.884 different state, and I started in another 00:04:08.884 --> 00:04:13.401 school. I had been in the remedial class 00:04:13.401 --> 00:04:16.840 in sixth grade, and then I was mainstreamed 00:04:16.840 --> 00:04:19.280 in seventh grade. All of a sudden, I 00:04:19.280 --> 00:04:21.493 started doing really well, and I went to 00:04:21.493 --> 00:04:24.032 the top of the class. I had an English 00:04:24.032 --> 00:04:26.320 teacher that said I was one of her best 00:04:26.320 --> 00:04:30.616 students ever. English...me! Best students. 00:04:30.616 --> 00:04:32.362 And so then the kids started teasing me 00:04:32.362 --> 00:04:35.854 about being smart. From the bottom to 00:04:35.854 --> 00:04:37.982 the very top, teased on one end, teased on 00:04:37.982 --> 00:04:40.362 the other end. I feel like that's what 00:04:40.362 --> 00:04:42.153 Dyslexia is all about. Whatever you do, 00:04:42.153 --> 00:04:45.729 you're just going to be teased. 00:04:45.729 --> 00:04:47.405 I wasn't supposed to graduate from high 00:04:47.405 --> 00:04:49.610 school, but I did. I did it in three years, 00:04:49.610 --> 00:04:51.361 so I got back on track and I went to 00:04:51.361 --> 00:04:55.663 college. I didn't want anyone to know 00:04:55.663 --> 00:04:57.332 about my Dyslexia in college. I didn't 00:04:57.332 --> 00:04:58.920 want the professors to know, I was 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.260 embarrassed. I didn't want that letter of 00:05:02.260 --> 00:05:04.955 recommendation that said, "Oh, she's 00:05:04.955 --> 00:05:09.206 really good, for a Dyslexic person. " 00:05:09.206 --> 00:05:10.796 I wanted the letter that said, "She's 00:05:10.796 --> 00:05:14.990 really good." I thought, okay...I'm 00:05:14.990 --> 00:05:18.380 going to make mistakes on the test, I'm 00:05:18.380 --> 00:05:20.230 not going to get extra time, I won't have 00:05:20.230 --> 00:05:22.053 time to correct my mistakes, sometimes I 00:05:22.053 --> 00:05:23.982 won't have time to finish the test, but I 00:05:23.982 --> 00:05:26.222 am going to learn the material that much 00:05:26.222 --> 00:05:28.286 better than everyone else. So, if my 00:05:28.286 --> 00:05:31.850 Dyslexia costs me five points, I'll know 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:34.404 five points more worth of material than 00:05:34.404 --> 00:05:36.744 everybody else. I'll just be better at it, 00:05:36.744 --> 00:05:38.520 I'll know it better, and that will allow 00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:40.750 me to compensate. You know, that worked 00:05:40.750 --> 00:05:43.000 actually, quite well. I went to Vassar 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:44.958 College, it's a small school. The faculty 00:05:44.958 --> 00:05:47.145 get to know the students, they knew who 00:05:47.145 --> 00:05:49.194 knew the material. They knew who were 00:05:49.194 --> 00:05:51.083 cramming for the test and just trying to 00:05:51.083 --> 00:05:52.786 get a good grade, and they knew who was 00:05:52.786 --> 00:05:54.980 really interested in learning. This worked 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:57.525 very well. I discovered that I loved 00:05:57.525 --> 00:05:59.432 science, I loved chemistry, I loved 00:05:59.432 --> 00:06:01.703 biology, and I want to be a teacher and 00:06:01.703 --> 00:06:04.595 professor. So...I want to go to grad 00:06:04.595 --> 00:06:07.958 school. But there is a problem going to 00:06:07.958 --> 00:06:10.437 grad school, and that is that there is a 00:06:10.437 --> 00:06:13.861 standardized test that was between me and 00:06:13.861 --> 00:06:19.280 my dreams. No matter how much better I 00:06:19.280 --> 00:06:21.280 felt like I'd learned those vocabulary 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:25.551 words that no one will ever use...ever... 00:06:25.551 --> 00:06:28.958 I knew that I couldn't do as well. I needed 00:06:28.958 --> 00:06:32.474 more time, I couldn't compete on a 00:06:32.474 --> 00:06:35.173 standardized timed test like that. So I 00:06:35.173 --> 00:06:37.242 said, okay, I'm going to let people know 00:06:37.242 --> 00:06:39.916 I'm Dyslexic, and take the extra time. 00:06:40.446 --> 00:06:44.111 I'll never forget that day. I was in 00:06:44.111 --> 00:06:46.548 college, I had been working at a summer 00:06:46.548 --> 00:06:48.991 camp in the summers in the Pocono 00:06:48.991 --> 00:06:51.096 Mountains. I had found a local college 00:06:51.096 --> 00:06:53.607 that was offering these G.R.E. exams, 00:06:53.607 --> 00:06:55.669 and there was a professor paid extra 00:06:55.669 --> 00:06:58.324 money to proctor me. I was the only one 00:06:58.324 --> 00:06:59.884 with a disability, I was the only one in 00:06:59.884 --> 00:07:03.649 the room. I had the extra time. 00:07:03.649 --> 00:07:05.280 I remember he came in, and he was trying 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:08.430 to be so nice to me. He said, "Cheer up. 00:07:08.430 --> 00:07:12.290 There's some university that might take 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:16.827 you. You never know! It's possible." He's 00:07:16.827 --> 00:07:19.292 like, "You know, there are no statistics 00:07:19.292 --> 00:07:23.662 for people like you." And you know, I had 00:07:23.662 --> 00:07:25.683 been embarrassed by my Dyslexia, but I 00:07:25.683 --> 00:07:28.140 had never had really thought that it was 00:07:28.140 --> 00:07:30.974 like, people like ~me~. Somehow, this one 00:07:30.974 --> 00:07:33.858 thing about me just completely defined 00:07:33.858 --> 00:07:37.299 my entire existence, that I was Dyslexic, 00:07:37.299 --> 00:07:39.922 and that's all I was. I think...I don't 00:07:39.922 --> 00:07:42.164 know if I said anything to him...I'm sure 00:07:42.164 --> 00:07:44.540 I was polite, I'm always very polite. But 00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:48.086 I remember thinking at the time, someone 00:07:48.086 --> 00:07:49.530 will accept me, and it's going to be a 00:07:49.530 --> 00:07:54.018 really good school, and I'll show you. 00:07:54.018 --> 00:07:55.646 So, I did get into a good school. I went 00:07:55.646 --> 00:07:57.619 to the University of Michigan, and I had a 00:07:57.619 --> 00:07:59.564 wonderful adviser there, the late Martha 00:07:59.564 --> 00:08:03.071 Ludwig. She really took me under her wing 00:08:03.071 --> 00:08:04.917 and mentored me, and helped me reach my 00:08:04.917 --> 00:08:07.158 full ability. I was pushing...I was like, 00:08:07.158 --> 00:08:08.915 I want to do this, I don't want Dyslexia 00:08:08.915 --> 00:08:12.295 to define me. I want to keep going, not 00:08:12.295 --> 00:08:13.941 supposed to graduate from high school... 00:08:13.941 --> 00:08:15.668 HA, I'll go to college! HA, I'll go to grad 00:08:15.668 --> 00:08:18.641 school. I'm just going to keep going. But 00:08:18.641 --> 00:08:20.025 you know, I always felt like there was 00:08:20.025 --> 00:08:21.755 going to be this kind of "Dyslexia ceiling". 00:08:21.755 --> 00:08:24.222 It's like, okay...you got that far. You got 00:08:24.222 --> 00:08:26.280 into Grad school, but, eh...now you are 00:08:26.280 --> 00:08:28.735 done. I didn't have a lot of confidence 00:08:28.735 --> 00:08:31.452 and I had a really huge imposter syndrome 00:08:31.452 --> 00:08:32.828 going on, waiting for everyone to figure 00:08:32.828 --> 00:08:34.721 out I really didn't belong there. Somehow, 00:08:34.721 --> 00:08:36.521 I really shouldn't have even graduated from 00:08:36.521 --> 00:08:40.200 high school. But Martha saw in me 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:42.973 tremendous potential. She mentored me, 00:08:42.973 --> 00:08:45.163 and with a collaborator, Rowena Matthews, 00:08:45.163 --> 00:08:46.720 I had these two female professors who 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.960 really helped work with me, and gave me 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:51.954 tremendous opportunities. Like the 00:08:51.954 --> 00:08:54.874 opportunity to talk about my research in 00:08:54.874 --> 00:08:57.465 an international meeting. At that meeting, 00:08:57.465 --> 00:08:59.352 there was another female professor in the 00:08:59.352 --> 00:09:01.240 audience, JoAnn Stubbe. And she saw me 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.744 and said, "That's somebody we'd like to 00:09:03.744 --> 00:09:06.399 hire on the faculty at M.I.T." So, I didn't 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:10.100 apply, because, what am I? Crazy? 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:12.363 Professor at M.I.T.? No...that would not 00:09:12.363 --> 00:09:15.086 work out. I didn't apply, but I was 00:09:15.086 --> 00:09:17.521 recruited, invited to come and give a 00:09:17.521 --> 00:09:20.659 talk. Okay, I said, how fun is this? I'm 00:09:20.659 --> 00:09:23.929 talking at M.I.T.! And then they offered 00:09:23.929 --> 00:09:27.011 me a job, and my jaw hit the bottom. 00:09:27.011 --> 00:09:28.424 I was like, "What do you mean?" and they 00:09:28.424 --> 00:09:30.953 were like, you know, "We are offering 00:09:30.953 --> 00:09:32.375 you a position at M.I.T." So I took it, 00:09:32.375 --> 00:09:34.442 and I thought, "Okay, this is going to be 00:09:34.442 --> 00:09:35.890 really fun for a few years. I'm going to 00:09:35.890 --> 00:09:38.114 have the time of my life doing research, 00:09:38.114 --> 00:09:40.387 until they figure out what a crazy mistake 00:09:40.387 --> 00:09:43.617 they made and kick me out." But, somehow, 00:09:43.617 --> 00:09:46.134 I was able to fool them for a long enough 00:09:46.134 --> 00:09:48.104 to get tenure and then be promoted to a 00:09:48.104 --> 00:09:50.500 full professor, so they can't fire me now. 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:53.617 They can figure it out...too late... tenure. 00:09:53.617 --> 00:09:56.194 Awesome thing! Really awesome. 00:09:56.194 --> 00:09:58.675 So, I was at M.I.T. with these really 00:09:58.675 --> 00:10:03.619 smart people. My research: I really think 00:10:03.619 --> 00:10:07.406 it was an advantage to be Dyslexic in some 00:10:07.406 --> 00:10:08.996 of the research I'm doing. 00:10:08.996 --> 00:10:10.485 I'm just going to tell you briefly about 00:10:10.485 --> 00:10:13.590 my research to see how Dyslexia, I think, 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:16.004 was an advantage for me to be able to do 00:10:16.004 --> 00:10:19.602 well in this area. 00:10:19.602 --> 00:10:22.504 My research is about visualizing tiny 00:10:22.504 --> 00:10:25.553 molecules, like protein molecules. If you 00:10:25.553 --> 00:10:27.766 think about visualizing things--this is my 00:10:27.766 --> 00:10:30.585 daughter, Samantha. And if I want to 00:10:30.585 --> 00:10:33.384 visualize her moving around and doing a 00:10:33.384 --> 00:10:35.689 dance, I can take out my cell phone and 00:10:35.689 --> 00:10:38.927 take a picture of her. That's pretty easy. 00:10:38.927 --> 00:10:40.852 But inside my daughter, and inside all 00:10:40.852 --> 00:10:43.446 living creatures there are cells, and those 00:10:43.446 --> 00:10:46.220 cells are much smaller, but still, you can 00:10:46.220 --> 00:10:47.643 get a microscope. If you get a good 00:10:47.643 --> 00:10:49.913 quality microscope, you can visualize 00:10:49.913 --> 00:10:53.171 those cells moving around. But inside 00:10:53.171 --> 00:10:56.380 cells, there are proteins, or enzymes, that 00:10:56.380 --> 00:10:58.933 are carrying out the life functions of the 00:10:58.933 --> 00:11:02.256 cell. If you want to see those proteins, 00:11:02.256 --> 00:11:05.257 moving around, that's a lot harder. There 00:11:05.257 --> 00:11:07.883 isn't such a thing--like a microscope, and 00:11:07.883 --> 00:11:09.998 you have to use biophysical methods, one of 00:11:09.998 --> 00:11:13.278 which is X-ray crystallography, what I do. 00:11:13.278 --> 00:11:15.311 You need to get these images of these 00:11:15.311 --> 00:11:17.698 protein molecules moving by taking 00:11:17.698 --> 00:11:22.394 snapshots using this biophysical method. 00:11:22.394 --> 00:11:24.776 That is the research my lab does. We want 00:11:24.776 --> 00:11:27.450 to watch protein molecules shake, rattle, 00:11:27.450 --> 00:11:30.790 and roll and carry out their function. 00:11:30.790 --> 00:11:32.212 Let me just tell you a little bit about the 00:11:32.212 --> 00:11:34.764 technique of crystallography. Jenny 00:11:34.764 --> 00:11:38.087 Glusker compared crystallography to a 00:11:38.087 --> 00:11:40.997 light microscope. In a light microscope, 00:11:40.997 --> 00:11:44.312 you have visible light shining through your 00:11:44.312 --> 00:11:46.619 amoeba, planararian, whatever you are 00:11:46.619 --> 00:11:48.963 looking at. The light is diffracted, and 00:11:48.963 --> 00:11:51.610 there is a lens which can combine the 00:11:51.610 --> 00:11:53.502 diffracted light waves, and give you an 00:11:53.502 --> 00:11:56.145 enlarged image. If you want to look at 00:11:56.145 --> 00:11:58.600 something small like a protein molecule, 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:00.302 you can't use visible light, you have to 00:12:00.302 --> 00:12:03.912 use x-rays. You can't just have one copy 00:12:03.912 --> 00:12:05.590 of your molecule, you need to have 00:12:05.590 --> 00:12:07.533 thousands of copies of your molecule 00:12:07.533 --> 00:12:10.146 lined up in a regularly repeating pattern 00:12:10.146 --> 00:12:12.692 or a crystal. So you shine x-rays through 00:12:12.692 --> 00:12:16.746 your crystal, the x-rays are diffracted, 00:12:16.746 --> 00:12:18.736 but now there is no such thing as a lens 00:12:18.736 --> 00:12:21.913 which can combine diffracted x-rays. 00:12:21.913 --> 00:12:24.191 The crystallographer and her computer need 00:12:24.191 --> 00:12:27.528 to do that. We collect data that tells us 00:12:27.528 --> 00:12:31.245 on a piece of film or a detector, tells us 00:12:31.245 --> 00:12:33.829 about those x-rays. You get a spot on the 00:12:33.829 --> 00:12:37.146 piece of film when the x-ray hits. Then, 00:12:37.146 --> 00:12:39.718 we have to mathematically combine the 00:12:39.718 --> 00:12:42.112 information about the waves, and you get 00:12:42.112 --> 00:12:45.187 what is known as an electron density map. 00:12:45.187 --> 00:12:47.650 This is a map in three dimensions that say 00:12:47.650 --> 00:12:49.665 electrons are here, which means your atoms 00:12:49.665 --> 00:12:52.320 are here. Into that, you have to put atoms 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:56.574 to build the structure of your molecule. 00:12:56.574 --> 00:12:58.855 Proteins are made up of twenty different 00:12:58.855 --> 00:13:02.651 amino acids, and those are shown here. 00:13:02.651 --> 00:13:04.602 You know your protein has those amino 00:13:04.602 --> 00:13:06.479 acids, and you know the order of the amino 00:13:06.479 --> 00:13:08.663 acids in your protein, and then you get 00:13:08.663 --> 00:13:10.936 electron density that looks like this. 00:13:10.936 --> 00:13:13.889 This is one slice of electron density. 00:13:13.889 --> 00:13:16.755 You have to figure out which side chain 00:13:16.755 --> 00:13:22.582 goes in which piece of electron density. 00:13:22.582 --> 00:13:25.416 This is just the perfect technique for me 00:13:25.416 --> 00:13:28.170 because of the way I learned how to read. 00:13:28.170 --> 00:13:30.293 There was the shape of a word, and I 00:13:30.293 --> 00:13:33.295 figured what word went into that shape. 00:13:33.295 --> 00:13:35.283 This is the same thing, but it's infinitely 00:13:35.283 --> 00:13:38.115 easier, there's a lot of different words! 00:13:38.115 --> 00:13:41.744 There are only 20 amino-acids. This is not 00:13:41.744 --> 00:13:45.168 bad at all. There was a shape, and I just 00:13:45.168 --> 00:13:47.374 had to figure out what amino acid went 00:13:47.374 --> 00:13:49.577 into that shape, and build protein 00:13:49.577 --> 00:13:52.636 molecules. So here is a piece of electron 00:13:52.636 --> 00:13:54.988 density, here is the amino acid that fits 00:13:54.988 --> 00:13:57.734 in. Here is another piece of electron 00:13:57.734 --> 00:14:00.103 density, here is the maino acid that fits 00:14:00.103 --> 00:14:02.560 into that piece. There is only 20 00:14:02.560 --> 00:14:06.155 possibilities. This is not so bad. Now... 00:14:06.155 --> 00:14:07.738 these maps, you might say...that 00:14:07.738 --> 00:14:09.364 looks pretty straightforward, every one 00:14:09.364 --> 00:14:11.316 could probably do that. But this is really 00:14:11.316 --> 00:14:13.611 good quality data, and a lot of times what 00:14:13.611 --> 00:14:15.295 we get is not very good, and the maps 00:14:15.295 --> 00:14:18.065 don't look that good. But I am very good at 00:14:18.065 --> 00:14:19.939 recognizing patterns that other people 00:14:19.939 --> 00:14:22.533 don't see, and seeing things in that 00:14:22.533 --> 00:14:25.427 density that other people miss. Sometimes 00:14:25.427 --> 00:14:27.218 my students will be working on this part 00:14:27.218 --> 00:14:28.687 of the structure, and they are trying to 00:14:28.687 --> 00:14:30.496 build it ~this~ way, and build it ~that~ 00:14:30.496 --> 00:14:31.808 way, and they can't figure out what is 00:14:31.808 --> 00:14:33.368 going on and I walk by and go, "Oh, like 00:14:33.368 --> 00:14:35.773 that..." They try it and they look at me, 00:14:35.773 --> 00:14:37.770 and they are like, "How on earth did you 00:14:37.770 --> 00:14:40.678 see that?" It's because I have these years 00:14:40.678 --> 00:14:43.494 of experience looking at patterns. It's the 00:14:43.494 --> 00:14:46.380 way that I read, it's what I do. So I am 00:14:46.380 --> 00:14:49.356 able to see those shapes. Sometimes... 00:14:49.356 --> 00:14:51.220 we had a discovery early on that got me 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:53.450 tenured at M.I.T., and I found out later 00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:55.726 that other people had been stuck. There 00:14:55.726 --> 00:14:57.775 was this one part of the protein, one 00:14:57.775 --> 00:14:59.298 part of the map, it was a very flexible 00:14:59.298 --> 00:15:02.839 region. The electron density was terrible. 00:15:02.839 --> 00:15:04.662 No one else could trace it. They couldn't 00:15:04.662 --> 00:15:06.439 finish solving the structure, they couldn't 00:15:06.439 --> 00:15:08.691 figure out what was going on. But I was 00:15:08.691 --> 00:15:10.054 able to do it. I did it myself early on in 00:15:10.054 --> 00:15:13.580 the lab, and I built it and it was right. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:15.421 We got the first structure, and we got the 00:15:15.421 --> 00:15:18.949 credit. I really do believe there are 00:15:18.949 --> 00:15:21.263 things that you see differently when you 00:15:21.263 --> 00:15:23.659 are Dyslexic that can be a huge advantage 00:15:23.659 --> 00:15:26.992 in certain areas. This "visualizing", this 00:15:26.992 --> 00:15:29.859 ability to see shapes and patterns 00:15:29.859 --> 00:15:33.582 definitely is true for me. 00:15:33.582 --> 00:15:37.536 What kind of advice can I give going out? 00:15:37.536 --> 00:15:41.270 I feel like one thing, "Don't listen to 00:15:41.270 --> 00:15:44.298 what anyone tells you , you can or can 00:15:44.298 --> 00:15:47.640 not do." --Not graduate from high school... 00:15:47.640 --> 00:15:49.815 I think that's maybe why I am a professor. 00:15:49.815 --> 00:15:51.691 I'm like..."I'm going to stay in school... 00:15:51.691 --> 00:15:57.700 FOREVER!" No one really knows what 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:00.799 someone is capable of. Even that person 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.030 doesn't know what they are capable of. 00:16:03.030 --> 00:16:04.892 The only way you figure out what you are 00:16:04.892 --> 00:16:07.464 capable of is to try it! You can't be 00:16:07.464 --> 00:16:11.134 afraid to fall on your face and fail. If 00:16:11.134 --> 00:16:12.655 you are doing anything that's important 00:16:12.655 --> 00:16:15.324 or significant, it's going to be hard! 00:16:15.324 --> 00:16:17.325 There is going to be failure. The key to 00:16:17.325 --> 00:16:20.062 success is just going, "Well, that didn't 00:16:20.062 --> 00:16:22.790 go well...Let's try that again!" You pick 00:16:22.790 --> 00:16:25.582 yourself up and you go right back at it. 00:16:25.582 --> 00:16:28.341 If you do that, and you just do what you 00:16:28.341 --> 00:16:30.346 love to do, and find things that are cool 00:16:30.346 --> 00:16:33.308 and interesting and fun. And only work 00:16:33.308 --> 00:16:35.982 for nice people. Life is hard enough. You 00:16:35.982 --> 00:16:38.020 really don't want to work for people who 00:16:38.020 --> 00:16:40.253 are not nice. Get yourself a group of 00:16:40.253 --> 00:16:42.420 people that you really like that you can 00:16:42.420 --> 00:16:45.389 support each other...People who will have 00:16:45.389 --> 00:16:48.085 your back. If you don't have that support 00:16:48.085 --> 00:16:51.144 group, look for it. You know, I could work 00:16:51.144 --> 00:16:52.696 for a lot of different people, but I 00:16:52.696 --> 00:16:54.365 picked someone that I knew would be a good 00:16:54.365 --> 00:16:57.494 mentor toward me. That was really key. If 00:16:57.494 --> 00:16:59.122 you have nice people surrounding, and you 00:16:59.122 --> 00:17:03.339 just go for it...it's amazing. There is no 00:17:03.339 --> 00:17:05.950 Dyslexia ceiling, it doesn't exist unless 00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:08.079 you create it in your own mind. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.813 Thank you very much.