Tibetan Monks Learn Secrets of the Gene
CSHL cancer researcher Rachel von Roeschlaub knows few boundaries. She has blended a background in chemistry with a flair for painting into a life that has taken her from the professional tennis circuit, to a biotechnology startup company, to the foothills of the Himalayas to teach Tibetan monks about genes and DNA. After returning from a recent trip to Dharamsala, India, Rachel discussed her experiences with the Harbor Transcript.
Photo taken by Rachel von Roeschlaub during her recent teaching visit to Dharamsala, India. Richard Gere (left), Ursula Goodenough, and Eric Lander (right) happened to be in town (see text). |
HT: Where did you start life?
RvR: I was born nearby, in Syosset. Later, my family moved to Port Washington. Growing up, I enjoyed playing tennis, and I stuck with it through high school. I even attended college on a tennis scholarship. Granted, it wasn't Stanford or anything — only the University of Montana. Still, it was a Division I school for tennis. I played as a professional for one year, when I was 19, and I eventually beat a player ranked number three in the world.
HT: That is something! Which number three did you beat?
RvR: You must have misheard me. I didn't beat number three. I beat number three hundred! Now you know why I decided to focus on chemistry rather than tennis from then on! Anyway, after three years of chemistry research as an undergrad, I went to the University of Oregon to do a Master's in organic chemistry, which I received in 1995. I liked Montana, but not Oregon. Too much rain, plus, I sold my car and got a bike instead, which was soon stolen, so it was no fun walking around in the rain all the time.
HT: What did you do after your Master's?
RvR: When I was home on a break, I saw a job notice in the paper for a "chemist to work with a new Long Island-based biotechnology company" called Amplicon. I applied for the job, and became one of Amplicon's first employees. There were seven of us, and it was exciting to be a part of something early on which turned out to be great. You told me there would be another article in this newsletter that mentions Mike Wigler and the RDA technology he developed. Well, RDA was the core technology of Amplicon. We had a great time perfecting RDA and using it to identify genetic alterations in cancer cells. I was at Amplicon until 1997. When the company was acquired by Tularik, I joined Tim Tully's lab at Cold Spring Harbor and worked on genetics of long-term memory. After a year and a half there, I taught at Long Island high schools for a year with a curriculum I created called "DNA Adventures." Now I'm back at Cold Spring Harbor doing cancer research, parttime, in Masaaki Hamaguchi's lab.
Rachel von Roeschlaub in Dharamsala, India with His Holiness Thaye Dorje, the 17th Karmapa. The Karmapa is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. |
HT: Tell me about your painting.
RvR: Four years ago, while on a trip in Europe, I saw Michaelangelo's David in Florence, I read The Agony and the Ecstasy1 (Irving Stone's biographical novel of Michaelangelo), and I visited southern France. I was so moved by these experiences that when I came home, I went to an art store, bought some red, black, and white paint, and then spent hours and hours, just painting and painting and painting. I hit upon a style that seemed right for me. Quite a bit later, I came across a book about Aboriginal Art. I was surprised to learn my style had another, much more ancient origin. I'm told my style is a combination of Aboriginal Pointillism and American Folk Art.
HT: I understand that at an exhibit of your art at the lab (Primitive Images, June 15—June29, 2002), virtually every one of your works was sold.
RvR: Yes. People seem to like it. This is a problem for me, and would be for any artist. I have no inventory left! The galleries are emptying! Luckily, I don't own a television. Otherwise, I would never have enough time to work. I need to find a way to simplify things and just paint. That's where I really enjoy myself.
HT: I also gather that the proceeds from your Primitive Images exhibit at the lab supported your work with teachers and Tibetan monks in exile in India. That sounds interesting. How did it come about?
RvR: I had read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. I got something from it, and I felt I should give something back. So I sent a letter to a high school in northern India, in Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama and other Tibetans are living in exile. Later, I met someone at a meeting of science educators in Montreal who told me about a science program for monks in southern India. So in February of 2002, I traveled to southern India and taught at the Drepung Monastery in Mundgod, and last September, I went to Dharamsala to teach both their high school teachers and the monks about genes and DNA science.
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, greets Rachel von Roeschlaub during her teaching visit in Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama is the head of state of Tibet and the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. Gyatso was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. |
HT: Of course, Gregor Mendel was a monk, though of a different tradition.
RvR: At Drepung, the monks loved hearing about Mendel and how he used pea plants to explore the basic principles of genetic inheritance. They're planning to set up their own version of Mendel's experiments. But you have to remember that most Tibetans have no concept of genes or DNA, or even of cells, as I discovered. They were fascinated to learn about these things. I had brought a microscope to show them cells, and some basic equipment and simple reagents to isolate their own DNA and show them what it looks like in a tube. Tibetan education typically doesn't employ such hands-on methods. It's lecture based. So they loved seeing cells and DNA for the first time. This led to some comical exchanges in which Buddhist philosophy seemed to have better explanations than modern science. For example, after a long lesson about how DNA serves as a template for the production of proteins, one of the teachers asked, "Cells need DNA to make proteins?" Answer: Yes. "And cells need proteins to make DNA?" Answer: Well, yes. "Ahhhh, now I understand!" Also, when I explained that as science progresses, there is a need to continually produce new textbooks with updated information, one of the monks said, "God must think that's very funny."
HT: What were some of the other highlights of your trip?
RvR: Introducing myself to the Dalai Lama (see photo). His handshake was at the same time very gentle and yet so strong. I found that extraordinary. I should add that, unbeknownst to me, my visit to Dharamsala overlapped with a "Mind & Life" conference. The conference was billed as a dialogue between Buddhism and the Sciences, and was attended by—are you ready for this?—Richard Gere and Eric Lander (see photo). [Editor's note: Eric Lander is a prominent genome researcher on the faculty of the Whitehead Institute at M.I.T. Richard Gere starred in "Pretty Woman" with Julia Roberts.] You won't believe this, but Richard Gere asked me, "Haven't we met before?" To which I replied, "No. I think I would have remembered!"
The Most Venerable Achok Rinpoche holding a DNA model. Rinpoche is Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India. The Dalai Lama has asked Rinpoche to work with leading scientists to bring Western science into the Tibetan curriculum, which His Holiness says is vital for the enhancement of global understanding. |
HT: He said that? I think he needs a new opening line.
RvR: Me too.
HT: What kinds of reactions did you get from the people you taught in Dharamsala?
RvR: The high school teachers were very excited about getting the equipment I left behind for them. Twelve hundred students from four schools will have access to it. So this is a great beginning of their modern science curriculum, which they have asked for. They had no idea how simple working with DNA is now, and one teacher said, "Rachel, this was five hundred percent worth it!"
HT: What's next for you?
RvR: I'm giving a talk in South Africa in November about how to bring DNA science to rural areas. The major hurdle is the lack of electricity. So I'm figuring out the best way to run DNA gels using batteries. From there, it's back to India for a month. This trip, I'll have much more time to teach the monks and I'm going to offer my services to the nunneries for the female monks.
HT: And when you return?
RvR: Then I'll need to get back to painting, which is becoming more my own, in a way. It's not just dots anymore. I'm combining lines with dots. That may sound trivial, but whenever you combine elements like that, the possibilities increase dramatically. Unfortunately, the possibilities are not all good. So it takes a long time to work things out. I'm using some new subjects too. There will always be something new to explore.
HT: That's like science. Always something new until the day you die.
RvR: Yes!
|
