Monday, October 29, 2018

Demystifying the Expert: Dr. Mark Gabriele


To introduce the public to science in a combination of comedy and education, Dr. Anca Constantin and Dr. Klebert Feitosa host the event Demystifying the Expert. The program brings together a guest speaker, who is an expert in their field of science, and comedians from JMU’s very own New & Improv’d, who attempt to “demystify the expert.” Questions, games, trivia and improvised skits all contribute to the fun as the audience learns about the expert’s work. Podcasts for previous Demystifying the Expert events can be found here on SoundCloud!

            On October 11, 2018, the first Demystifying the Expert event for the 2018-2019 term welcomed Dr. Mark Gabriele from the Department of Biology as our guest expert for the evening.  Dr. Gabriele has been faculty at JMU since 2001, after research appointments and received his doctoral degree from Wake Forest University, but he is also an alumnus from JMU!

The members of JMU’s New and Imrpov’d who participated in the event were: Michael Mathis and Ethan Schultze, both junior media arts and design majors, and Caroline Buddendorf, a sophomore theatre major.  Right before the inaugural twenty questions game, Dr. Gabriele asked each comedian what their favorite genre of music or band was, which would later clue in to how Dr. Gabriele entered his field and in particular what he studies.  Michael mentioned his Spotify recommendations being primarily hip hop, Ethan had classic rock and Queen being his favorite band, and Caroline named Gorillaz as her current most listened to group.

            After Dr. Gabriele’s questions, the comedians had their turn to inquire in the twenty questions game.   Each comedian took turns asking Dr. Gabriele yes or no type questions to help them deduce what area of science she studies.  Our comedians started off strong in narrowing his field down to something in biology, but then spent much of their time trying to figure out what exactly he did related to animals.  After twenty questions, Dr. Gabriel revealed that he, while he does use animals in the lab in his work, is a developmental neuroscientist with a focus in sensory integration, or the circuits within our brain that allow us to use our senses.


            As he explained with open ended questions, he does much work in the studies of audition, how we hear, and his love for music is what kept him in developmental neuroscience for the past two decades.  He also revealed his favorite band, The War on Drugs.  He shared his most fascinating discovery from his work, where he had seen that the brain had already developed the neural networks for hearing and vision before the ears and eyes were fully formed. 

            In his elevator pitch, where he gives a brief overview of his work and how it relates to the greater world, he mentioned how his work applies to many different disorders, from things as isolated in cause like tinnitus to much more complex disorders like autism-spectrum disorder.  And, in addition, he talked about how his work would be able to help improve therapy parameters for patients, but also that his work was trying to find a way to change the neural networks in order to alleviate these disorders.

            The second game was the fill-in-the-blank game, during which the comedians guess words that complete titles of articles that relate to Dr. Gabriele’s research.  Both related to the maps within the brain that transmit sensory data, but while the first mentioned how some people’s brains may have more connections between their cortices, the second article talked about how maps that never had a need to develop (as in the case of a person born without hands) were not only still developed, but eventually used in the event of ‘regaining’ sensory capabilities, as with a transplant procedure.

            Next was the jargon game during which the comedians guess what certain acronyms or terms mean in the expert’s field. Here, the comedians learned about the microglia, small cells in the brain that support neurons and are responsible for pruning brain connections into the proper maps.

            Finally, the audience got to learn more about Dr. Gabriele outside of his life as a biologist with the Two Truths and a Lie game. During this game, the comedians and audience learned that Dr. Gabriele, during his undergraduate career at JMU, was an Olympic-level swimmer, having his personal record for the butterfly stroke still standing at Godwin Hall.  In addition, we learned that he learned to balance his busy life with meditation, with most sessions lasting thirty minutes and the most public being in an airport.

            The final event of the night was the skit in which the comedians played out an imagined day in the life of the office hours of Dr. Gabriele.  With some mandatory quotes relating to biology and neuroscience from pop culture favorites like Gattaca, our comedians came up with a scenario where a humble student approaches Dr. Gabriele about a test question, but quickly delving into an exploration of the deeper meanings of life, friendship, and what is real and what is made real by the imagination.  From ‘Dr. Gabriele’ hinting that he may be a multi-dimensional being to judging a man, or imaginary man, by his outfit, it certainly was a wild ride!


            We look forward to seeing you at the second Demystifying the Expert event for the fall semester at 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 8, 2018, at Taylor Down Under, the first floor of Madison Union!