Eva LaDow is a post-doctoral fellow at the Gladstone Institutes of Neurological Disease. Her project at Gladstone aims to determine whether any drugs already approved by the FDA may also be used to treat ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. She grows neurons, introduces mutant DNA into the neurons to mimic ALS, and then collects and analyzes the data. LaDow says her job is “full of cool things!” The “coolest” is working with the third generation of the lab’s automated microscope, the Brain Bot. The microscope allows her to take pictures each day of tens of thousands of individual neurons and keep track of them for weeks or months. LaDow also enjoys sharing the work she is doing with local high school students through special events like “Brain Awareness Week” and teaching at the Community College of San Francisco.
This video is one of three in the Career Spotlight: Biotechnology series.