S02-E03 Cristian is an electron microscopist

Cristian works as a technician at the Oak Crest Institute of Science in Monrovia, CA. He started out as an intern and now works full-time as a microscopy technician. Hear Cristian’s story and learn about electron microscopy in this episode.

The Talking Technicians podcast is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program.

Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation.

Join the conversation. If you are a working technician or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org.

Links from the show:

The Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC):
https://micronanoeducation.org/

Link to Cristian’s paper:
https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/147/10/dev186312/224230/Developmental-arrest-of-Drosophila-larvae-elicits

Links to Oak Crest's website and Oak Crest’s YouTube page:
https://www.oak-crest.org/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCieZjM2wyo6AmCldC8p3rlA

Episode Web Page:
https://micronanoeducation.org/students-parents/talking-technicians-podcast/

Transcript

Peter Kazarinoff  0:02  
From MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center. This is Talking Technicians, the podcast about technicians: who they are, what they do and where they come from. I'm your host, Peter Kazarinoff. I teach technicians and engineers at Portland Community College. In each episode, you'll meet a working technician and hear their story. That means real interviews with real technicians about real jobs. At the end of each episode, you'll hear actions you can take if you want to be a technician, too. In this episode, you'll meet Cristian. Cristian works at the Oak Crest Institute of Science in Monrovia, California. Cristian, welcome to Talking Technicians. 

Cristian  0:50  
Thank you, Peter. It's a pleasure to be here. 

Peter Kazarinoff  0:54  
Thank you so much for coming. So how, where do you live? And how long have you been there for? 

Cristian  1:00  
So, I actually live in Ballpark, California. It's about 10 minute drive to work. And I've actually lived there my entire life. I - my parents bought a house there before I was born. And I was happily raised in, and still live there.

Peter Kazarinoff  1:14  
Do you share care to share anything about your family or household? Is any your family still around in California?

Cristian  1:20  
I am the only boy of three sisters. And I am also the only one to go into STEM. My sisters did go to universities. They all majored in Child Services. And I am the only one to go into STEM. So it's a little it's a little different.

Peter Kazarinoff  1:36  
And tell me about where you work. What is the oak crest Institute of Science? And what do you do there?

Cristian  1:44  
Yes, so the oakerson pseudoscience is a pretty elaborate lab. We have a lot of different laboratories, from chem analytical lab, to all the way to imaging prep, where is where I work. Oak Crest is an up and coming company. I feel like we have a lot of potential that people don't know how to really reach it. And we have a lot of services that we can provide to universities or other smaller laboratories that I feel like a lot of who don't know our capabilities yet.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:13  
And what's your job title? What do you do day to day at work?

Cristian  2:18  
Yeah, so my job title here is actually electron microscopist. I am in charge of running the imaging core. Some of the day to day tasks that entails is as simple as me coming in and cutting sections on days.

Peter Kazarinoff  2:34  
Tell me about sectioning. You said said that you section specimens. What does that mean? And how thick are they?

Cristian  2:42  
Yeah, so I am cutting sections that are tissues, most of the times, I'm not always tissues, we also do other samples. But currently when my project - I received fruit fly tissues, and those are actually dissected to a certain section of the fruit fly that we are trying to look at. And so I get that, I dehydrate it, I stain it with heavy metals, and then I embedded in resin. And once that resin is ready, that's about it takes about a week, that's about a week and a half process 10 days usually. And so once that is done, the block is of course a regular resin block that we're able to manipulate. I cut the block to the edge of the tissues. And then that's when I start collecting sections, because the tissues that we get are only about 10 millimeters thick or long. So there's not a lot of room for error. So a lot of the times these resin blocks, we only have about 10 tissues. So that's only a total of like 100 millimeters in total tissue that we're actually able to work with. So, so yeah, so well once the resins are ready, I actually have to it's a quite a process to get to the tissue once they get to the tissue, then I start cutting sections that are about 60 nanometers thick, I cut 60 nanometers thick sections. Once those 60 nanometer thick sections have the tissues that are required for me to image then those tissues are put on to block grids that are pre-coded with the form bar. Form bar is also made here. And this form bar is kind of a simple, thin plastic that is actually a whole ment hold the sections onto the grid. And once all that is ready, of course, I have this thing again, because these sections are so thin, that light, electrons actually pass right through them. And if we don't have any heavy metals on the sections, they're like transplants right through, and we're not able to detect the heavy metals and that's actually how we get our image.

Peter Kazarinoff  4:42  
 You mentioned that you were an electron microscopist. What is an electron microscopist? And what is an electron microscope? 

Cristian  4:51  
Electron microscopist, I usually work with microscopes. They use electrons to acquire an image. And these electrons bounce off of course surfaces of either the tissue or we also have a scanning electron microscope, which scans the surfaces of on top of that. Most of the time, that's insects that we look at to use for this scanning electron microscope. And what I use to look at the sections that are 60 nanometers thick, it's called the transmission electron microscope. So these are two different machines that we actually have in house. And so the transmission electron, transmission electron microscope is what I use more on a day to day. So that one actually is in a high pressure vacuum. Oil you - oil is used to remove all oxygen, and water, practically anything from the column. Because these electrons if they hit any of these molecules, we were not getting it right, we will never get an image. It's going to be hitting air molecules or anything, and the electrons aren't going to be able to get captured, and the image. So then the scanning electron microscope, that one's actually more for materials, we use that one a lot for catheters and stuff like that - people that want to see the surfaces or how exactly something is being made. And they want to make sure that okay, this is, this is exactly what we're looking at, or this is exactly what the surface should look like. And that one actually is also high pressure. But that one can be a little delicate, if you're not careful with the water content of the animal, or, let's say the material that you're putting in there, because it can slowly suck out the water, and then they can mess up the vaccine, because of course, that would also use oil.

Peter Kazarinoff  6:33  
And do you work alone? Or do you work in a team as an electron microscopist?

Cristian  6:38  
So my team consists of me and Chris Buser. So me and Chris actually, we're, we're always feeding off each other. So he kind of gives me a project to do. And if I have any questions, I can always go to him. But of course, I always have a large, large number of mentors here like Paul Webster, Mangie. And a lot of others like Mark and JC that I can always go to if I have any questions at all. That's a great beauty of Oak Crest. There's no like, no doors closed. If I have a question about anything chemistry, analytical chemistry or anything at all, I can go to any one of my mentors, and they're really they're really willing to help me with anything that I need.

Peter Kazarinoff  7:24  
At Oak Crest, do you interact with engineers, scientists or medical doctors? Or is it mostly people that operate equipment like you do?

Unknown Speaker  7:34  
It's actually a nice mix of both. So we do get a lot of visitors actually here. And people that actually want to see what the behind the scenes is, or, or when you see the students that you're teaching to do the work that I need to do. So I actually gets to meet up quite a bit. And during COVID, we actually had our own sampling protocol here. So we actually had to work with the doctor from UCLA to actually get some protocols going and get it to our medical chief. So it's actually pretty interesting to get to meet these people and see how our little organization is able to bring so many people together. Great minds, actually to open your mind to see what the possibilities are.

Peter Kazarinoff  8:14  
What did it feel like your first day of work? What did it feel like when you walked into Oak Crest for the first time?

Cristian  8:21  
I am not going to lie, it was scary. I was really scared the first day of Oak Crest, because you walk around, you get a safety tour of everything. And so you actually get to see all the machinery that everyone is using or going to use or fixing. And so you see how much just trust they having you in saying like, Oh, hey, OK, this is the TM, the transmission electron microscope, you're going to be using it about a week. So here's the user manual, get familiar with it, and we'll teach you but I mean, of course, no one ever just throws you into the woods and just tells you here, learn about your own. Of course, people are very patient, and they learn that you need time to learn the equipment as well. So that's really nice. But I was very scary. I got I got a little nervous. Didn't think I belonged. Of course, I feel like the first day was the roughest. But ever since then, I was able to make friends, my colleagues and it's actually really good environment to work in here at Oak Crest.

Peter Kazarinoff  9:17  
How did you get into your current role as an electron microscopist? What was your work experience? Your education experience?

Cristian  9:25  
That's a great question. Thank you for asking. So actually, I didn't know what an electron microscopist was until about the day that I came to Oak Crest. So I actually was going to community college, which is Citrus Community College and located in Glendora, California. And I was almost done with my units thinking about transferring, not sure what I was gonna do in my career or transfer to. And I talked to the same counselor, Marianne Smith and the other counselors as well. And she She kind of just told me like you - you can, you can do a lot more than what you think you can. I'm going to give you - I applied, of course, to an internship, and she, she gave me an opportunity to come here at Oak Crest. And it was kind of funny cause when I got here, I didn't really know what I was gonna do. I just knew where the location was. And right away, I kind of picked up microscopy, Paul gave me a book from, like, 1980s, they never written a new book, it's the same processes and everything. So it was kind of interesting to see how, how something so old can still work and they're still going hard and working good. So it's kind of a, it was kind of a difficult process to see myself getting to where I'm at, because it was kind of every day, it was something new. I was learning a little bit of microscopy, but I was learning microbiology. So I didn't see myself becoming an electron microscopist until really, Paul gave me a project. And I really enjoyed it. It was just, it was something that I really enjoyed. And I asked Citrus if they can continue to pay for me to pay for me to continue learning actually how to be electron microscopist. And so just college agreed. And so once I really figured out that electron microscopy was, what I wanted to do here at Oak Crest. Citrus college actually paid for me to be here for about three to four months. And over the internship timeframe, I got about like $5,000, over three months to, to learn and just be here in the lab. And so it really motivated me to get to learn a skill set here at Oak Crest.

Peter Kazarinoff  11:36  
You mentioned that you studied STEM subjects at Citrus Community College. How did that help you in your current role?

Cristian  11:45  
The classes I took a Citrus College that really prepared me for electron microscopy, and for Oak Crest overall, where molecular biology because the teacher in molecular biology Sullivan, she really, she really went in depth to understand that what we're learning is not just in a book, it's real life, and it's around us every single day. So she applied it to everyday situations. So her classroom, like molecular biology really helped me to really, really understand what I was looking at when I was starting to look in under a microscope, because not everything looks how it looks in a textbook. You have to kind of have some some hands of Okay, this is a rhizome or Oh, this is the nucleus like, because not everything looks like a textbook, not everything's colored. But she did a really good, really good job actually, of giving us slides and being like, Oh, look at, look at this slide. This is how it's gonna look in the real world. So that really, it really piqued my interest. And it really led me into going into more STEM classes. And then of course, I took Anatomy here there is such as college. And that made me more intrigued about the human body and how we work. And then just really tied into here, electron microscopy, and now working with neuromuscular junction, and actually seeing how those actually work and trying to solve theories that they haven't been solved ever. So it's really, it really helped me a lot to really appreciate what I'm doing here at Oak Crest.

Peter Kazarinoff  13:12  
What was something unexpected about working at Oak Crest, and working with electron microscopes that you only learned after you started working?

Cristian  13:21  
So, so yeah, so something unexpected, I really learned about when I started working was that nobody comes from the same place, even in high school. If you didn't want to be in the same career. Somehow, if you really love it, it's going to find you. And even in even in six months, prior to working at Oak Crest, I did not know how a microscope worked. It was something really different for me. I didn't really understand that these are photons or electrons, and there's different micrscopes that we can use for different tools. And so it's really unexpected to know that you don't have to know anything about your field. And within six months to three months, you can be published and actually do something if you really put hard work into it and your effort into it every single day.

Peter Kazarinoff  14:09  
Have you published any of the work that you've done at Oak Crest?

Cristian  14:12  
Yeah. So actually, one of the links I gave you are one of my published papers, and recently actually finished another publication with Karen Chang in USC. So but that one's still being revised and everything. So yeah, so officially, I have one and then I have another one waiting, almost close.

Peter Kazarinoff  14:29  
Congratulations! We'll make sure to share a link to that paper in the show notes. It's pretty impressive that you've already got a couple of publications under your belt. 

Cristian  14:38  
Thank you.

Peter Kazarinoff  14:39  
So what advice would you give to current students or people who want to transition their careers and work in your industry?

Cristian  14:47  
I would say to get some hands on experience first and know that a lab is really what you want to work in. Working in a laboratory a lot of independent working where you have to kind of monitor yourself and say I have these tests to complete today. And if, if that's not the person you are, then I don't recommend that for you. But if that's if you're a good independent worker, then I really recommend you work in a lab. Because it's, it's challenging, but you get to set your own schedule and get your own timeframe and, and you know, how you like to work after a while. So, I would recommend that for anyone that likes to their free time.

Peter Kazarinoff  15:22  
How did your life change after you got this job at Oak Crest?

Cristian  15:26  
So my life actually changed dramatically. I used to work at Pizza Hut I used to, I used to work delivering pizzas and moving furniture and nice to have all kinds of odd jobs. So working in a lab really put some stable, stability in my life and, and really helped me realize that I don't always have to be working and working so hard to just get a couple dollars. And it's better to get some education. And earned money the right way.

Peter Kazarinoff  15:59  
Christian, do you have any final call to action if people resonate with your story?

Cristian  16:04  
I just really want them to give science a try. A lot of people say especially growing up in Hispanic household, people say science is hard or it's it's impossible. It's something that you can't do. And, and people need to understand that the only careers that a doctor is not only a dentist or a pharmacist, like there's a lot of other lab jobs and lab lab technicians that that love their job, love what they do work with bacteria work with microscopes, and they just open your eyes and you can find something in science that you love as well. 

Peter Kazarinoff  16:37  
Cristian, thank you so much for being on Talking Technicians and sharing your story with us. 

Cristian  16:42  
Thank you. 

Peter Kazarinoff  16:44  
Bye now. 

Cristian  16:45  
Have a great day.

Peter Kazarinoff  16:51  
Talking Technicians is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program. Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation. Join the conversation. If you are working technician, or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talking technicians.org. We're always looking out for great guests to share more stories with you.