"My name is Elyse Munoz.
I'm going into my fourth year at the genetics program here at Penn State.
I focus on the role of iron A binding proteins and the transmission of the parasite between
mosquitoes, its vector and mammals, its host.
When I started out at Arizona State, my first year of college, I was a political science
major and my classes were incredibly boring.
And one of my friends like hey, take anatomy with me.
It'll be fun.
And I was like okay.
I like anatomy.
Sounds cool.
So I took it and he actually dropped the class and I stayed with it and as soon as the semester
ended, I changed my major to biology.
And I said mom, I'm going to be a scientist.
And she goes are you okay?
So, but that was really the defining moment when I got to do big science and I could actually
see the application of my work and get to play with these really huge, awesome machines.
It's not just sitting there and actually doing the experiments.
But there's a lot of thought that goes into it and designing and making sure that we're
answering the correct questions.
What are the big questions we'd like to answer?
What are the big concerns and then we talk about experiments that we can design to address
those questions.
And then it gets into the nitty gritty.
How much hydrochloric acid are you going to add and how much vinegar do you need, right?
We have eight different professors at Penn State alone that work on every aspect of malaria,
whether it's the mosquito side or its the sickness and the humans and mammals and having
that center here again allows for that same interdisciplinary action.
Working on a single cause, malaria, from many different aspects and many different perspectives.
So I was awarded the Huck graduate enrichment fund award last year which is $5,000 for grad
student to work on whatever they want.
So, in addition to giving us all these opportunities of here, meet with everyone, discuss ideas.
Discuss science.
Additionally they're giving us this opportunity to pursue our own intellectual ideas.
And try to make that impact that way.
So malaria is an incredibly worthwhile pursuit because it affects millions of people every
year.
Just last year approximately 627,000 people died from malaria and a majority of those
deaths are children under five.
And three to four billion people are at risk for contracting malaria every year.
And we do have some drugs that are effective but the parasites are rapidly becoming antibiotic
resistant.
And we still don't have a vaccine.
So really this is what we're trying to do.
This is our goal, is to hopefully eradicate malaria and save all of these people.
So science really makes the world go around.
There's no question.
And what's really important for the future generations and other young scientists such
as myself is to really, really keep that in mind that what we're doing has a much greater
impact than just us getting our PhDs.
It's really about affecting change.
It's about reaching out into the communities that need us into the countries that need
us and being able to solve worldwide issues.
Whether that's poverty, whether that's feeding people, whether that's disease.
And that is why it's so important to make sure that the next crop of scientists that
are coming in are excited and passionate about there work because obviously, it's hard.
It takes a lot of time.
It takes a lot of effort but in the end knowing that what you're doing is actually going to
make a big difference helps quite a bit.
When I think about life sciences, I think about understanding the world around us.
Understanding how we work.
Understanding why energy is used at the way that it is.
Understanding why insects buzz around flowers.
Very simple things that you maybe don't think about but are an integral part of your everyday
life.
So the life sciences is really you and me.
So what I would absolutely love to say to you right now is we found a cure for malaria.
Ultimately that's what I'd like to be able to say.
Malaria is cured."