This video presents a special session on the intersection of microbes, the microbiome, and social equity. The speakers discuss how social factors, such as access to resources and healthcare, influence microbial communities and health outcomes, emphasizing the need for a social equity lens in microbiome research and education.
Dr. Monica Trujillo's Talk: Dr. Trujillo's presentation focused on using wastewater surveillance to study the SARS-CoV-2 virus in New York City. She described how her team, initially lacking substantial resources, collaborated with city agencies to develop a safe, cheap, and effective method for detecting and quantifying the virus in wastewater samples. Their work revealed a correlation between viral concentrations in wastewater and clinical data, highlighting the potential of wastewater surveillance to monitor disease prevalence and identify areas needing more resources. Further, her research investigated the evolution of the virus, revealing "cryptic sequences" – viral genetic variations detected in wastewater but not yet in clinical samples – that potentially represent viruses evolving under pressure from vaccines and antibodies. She discussed the implications of these findings for understanding viral evolution and the limitations of relying solely on clinical data for epidemiological surveillance. Dr. Trujillo emphasized the importance of considering social inequalities when interpreting wastewater surveillance data.
Dr. Ariangela Kozik's Talk: Dr. Kozik's talk centered on the critical need to abolish the use of race as a simple biological variable in human microbiome research. She argued that race is a social and political construct, not a biological reality, and that using it as a primary variable in research perpetuates harmful stereotypes and obscures the underlying social and environmental factors driving health disparities. She defined key terms such as race, racism (both individual and systemic), ethnicity, and ancestry, highlighting the historical context of racial categorization in the United States and its influence on scientific research. She presented examples of studies that improperly used race as a biological variable, resulting in flawed interpretations and potentially harmful consequences for healthcare practices. Dr. Kozik stressed the importance of adopting a systems-level approach in microbiome research, emphasizing the need to examine the "associative factors" (e.g., access to resources, environmental exposures) and "structural drivers" (e.g., systemic racism, historical injustices) that shape health outcomes, rather than relying on oversimplified racial categories. She advocated for a shift in research priorities that explicitly considers the impact of racism on health and the host-microbiome relationship.
Dr. Carla Bonilla's Talk: Dr. Bonilla's presentation focused on incorporating social justice principles into microbiology education. She discussed her approach to teaching, emphasizing a student-centered, culturally relevant pedagogy that acknowledges students' identities and experiences. She described using pedagogical tools such as critical reflection, critical feminist pedagogies, and culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to foster critical consciousness among her students. She highlighted the importance of engaging in challenging discussions about social justice issues in the classroom, creating a safe and respectful environment for students to express their perspectives and challenge assumptions. She outlined her course curriculum, integrating microbiome research with social justice concepts, and the learning activities she used to help students develop their understanding of the intersection between these fields. She also stressed the importance of developing students' ability to critically reflect on their learning experiences and become lifelong learners who can contribute to a more socially equitable world. Dr. Bonilla emphasized the relevance of these pedagogical approaches to ASM's goals of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in microbiology education and research.
Dr. Monica Trujillo's speech detailed her research on using wastewater surveillance to track SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) in New York City, particularly focusing on its application to understanding and addressing health inequities. Her presentation unfolded in several key parts:
1. The Genesis of the Project: Dr. Trujillo began by explaining the impetus behind her research. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City experienced stark disparities in infection rates and severity across different neighborhoods and communities. Driven by a desire to contribute to understanding these inequities, she and her colleagues, including John Dennehy and David Smith, embarked on a project utilizing wastewater surveillance. This was a particularly resourceful approach given the limited resources available to her as a community college professor.
2. Existing Knowledge and Rationale: She then reviewed what was known about SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater at the project's outset: the virus could be detected, its persistence was inversely related to temperature, and it was believed (though later confirmed) that the virus shed in wastewater wasn't necessarily infectious. The core rationale for using wastewater surveillance was its ability to provide a population-level view, encompassing both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, regardless of their access to testing or healthcare. This was particularly crucial in addressing health disparities, as those lacking resources might be underrepresented in traditional clinical data.
3. Challenges of Wastewater Surveillance: Dr. Trujillo acknowledged the challenges inherent in wastewater surveillance, emphasizing the need for careful sample concentration, purification, and effective measurement techniques to obtain reliable data. The diluted nature of wastewater necessitates robust methods to isolate and analyze the viral RNA accurately. She stressed the importance of translating the obtained data into actionable insights for public health interventions.
4. New York City's Inequalities: She highlighted the significant socioeconomic and racial inequalities present in New York City, which were further exacerbated by the pandemic. Using data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, she demonstrated how pre-existing disparities persisted and worsened during the pandemic, affecting different communities disproportionately. The examples included financial hardship, which cascades into other problems impacting health.
5. Collaboration and Protocol Development: Dr. Trujillo described the collaboration with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Initially, the DEP lacked the capacity to measure SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater. Her team provided training and developed a cost-effective protocol, including a pasteurization step to improve the signal, which was subsequently adopted by the city. This collaboration highlighted the practical application of academic research to real-world public health challenges.
6. Initial Findings and Correlation with Clinical Data: She presented the workflow of their protocol (collecting wastewater, extracting RNA, quantifying viral load) and demonstrated how their wastewater data correlated well with the city's clinical testing data, initially confirming the virus's presence and prevalence across different areas.
7. Monitoring Viral Evolution: As the pandemic progressed, the focus shifted to monitoring the evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Trujillo explained the limitations of relying solely on clinical data for understanding viral evolution, highlighting that clinical sampling depends on individuals seeking testing and may not accurately represent the entire population, particularly asymptomatic individuals.
8. Wastewater Sequencing to Detect Variants: She then described their approach to sequencing SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater samples to identify circulating and emerging variants. This methodology focused on a specific region of the viral genome (the receptor-binding domain), allowing them to detect the presence of different lineages, including Delta and Omicron, even before widespread clinical detection.
9. Cryptic Sequences and Hypotheses: The most significant finding was the detection of "cryptic sequences" in wastewater – viral genetic variations with unique mutations not yet observed in clinical samples. These mutations were predicted to alter viral host range (e.g., allowing infection of rodents) and evade antibodies, suggesting the virus was evolving under immunological pressure. She presented a hypothesis that these cryptic sequences might originate from individuals with compromised immune systems who shed the virus for prolonged periods, allowing for extensive evolution. The appearance of the Omicron variant later seemed to support this hypothesis, as it shared some mutations with the cryptic sequences found earlier.
10. Expanding the Research and Conclusion: The research was extended to other states (California, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin), with similar findings of cryptic sequences, reinforcing the potential importance of wastewater surveillance for early detection of emerging viral variants and a deeper understanding of viral evolution dynamics. Dr. Trujillo concluded by emphasizing that SARS-CoV-2 can replicate in the gut and that comparing clinical and wastewater data requires careful consideration of the different viral populations and evolutionary pressures involved. She also acknowledged the contributions of various collaborators and students involved in this project.
Dr. Ariangela Kozik's speech provided a critical examination of the use of race as a biological variable in human microbiome research, emphasizing the social and political underpinnings of racial categorization and their impact on scientific practice. Her presentation can be broken down into the following sections:
1. Introduction and Goals: Dr. Kozik began by stating her hope that her presentation would challenge the audience's perspectives and promote ongoing engagement with the issues she raised. She acknowledged that the content might be challenging but encouraged good-faith communication and mutual respect. Her main goals were to illustrate the origins of racial categorization in the United States, explain the limitations of applying these categories to scientific research, and highlight the connections between social equity and the microbiome.
2. The Problem of Health Inequities: She presented compelling statistics illustrating significant health disparities affecting communities of color in the United States. These included higher rates of asthma, pregnancy-related mortality, and other health problems among Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations, emphasizing that increased economic advantage often does not eliminate these disparities. She also highlighted the diversity within the "Asian" category, cautioning against generalizations about this broad group.
3. Misuse of Racial Categories in Research: Dr. Kozik argued against the common assumption that inherent biological differences between racial groups explain health disparities. She stated that racial and ethnic classifications are socially constructed, not biologically based, and have been historically used to justify systems of oppression. She highlighted the failure of race-based biological hypotheses to explain health inequities, arguing that such approaches often focus on individual or group deficiencies while ignoring systemic, environmental, and structural factors. This perspective was particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where higher mortality rates among people of color initially prompted a search for inherent biological differences, rather than examining systemic factors.
4. Defining Key Terms: To establish a clear understanding, Dr. Kozik provided definitions for commonly misused terms: race (a social and political construct assigning significance to different human bodies), racism (the belief that race determines human traits and the system of oppression based on race), ethnicity (shared characteristics including language, religion, culture), and ancestry (a person's inherited DNA from specific ancestors). She emphasized that race is not a fixed biological characteristic and that racial categories have changed over time and across geographic locations. This point was reinforced with examples of how the definition of "whiteness" and the classification of various ethnic groups have shifted throughout U.S. history.
5. Historical Context of Racialization in Science: A significant portion of her talk detailed the historical role of science in perpetuating racist ideologies. She discussed the work of several influential figures: Carl Linnaeus (who classified humans into four varieties with embedded stereotypes), Johann Blumenbach (who introduced the term "Caucasian" and established a racial hierarchy), Samuel Morton (who used skull measurements to rank intelligence and justify slavery), and Samuel Cartwright (who invented the pseudo-disease "drapetomania" to explain slaves running away). These examples illustrated how scientific practices have been used to justify systems of oppression and inequality throughout history. She explicitly connected Cartwright’s work to the persistence of race-based corrections in lung function calculations.
6. The Eugenics Movement and its Legacy: Dr. Kozik highlighted the Eugenics movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, demonstrating how it used scientific ideas to justify forced sterilizations and other discriminatory practices against marginalized groups. She emphasized that the proponents of Eugenics were not fringe figures but respected scientists and intellectuals whose ideas significantly influenced public policy.
7. Contemporary Examples of Systemic Racism in Research: She provided contemporary examples of how the legacy of racism continues to affect research and healthcare, including studies showing bias in pain management for Black patients and inaccuracies in pulse oximeter readings for darker skin tones. These examples underscore how seemingly objective scientific tools and practices can perpetuate systemic inequalities.
8. Ghost Variables and the Need for Systemic Analysis: Dr. Kozik introduced the concept of "ghost variables" – racialized terms that are used in research without explicitly acknowledging the underlying structural racism and associated factors. She argued that studies often use such variables without adequately defining them or exploring the deeper social and environmental contexts that shape them. She advocated for a more thorough approach that considers both associative factors and structural drivers of health disparities.
9. Intersectionality and Global Context: She also addressed the importance of intersectionality in considering racialized experiences and the need to adapt research frameworks to the specific historical and socio-political contexts of the regions being studied.
10. Conclusion and Call to Action: Dr. Kozik concluded with a powerful call to action, emphasizing the need to dismantle the legacy of racism in science and adopt more equitable research practices. She stressed that race is not a biological reality and that its biological consequences arise from the operation of racism. She urged researchers to move beyond simple racial categories and focus on the systemic factors contributing to health inequities, advocating for research designs that incorporate associative factors and structural drivers. She ended by quoting Maya Angelou’s wisdom: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Dr. Carla Bonilla's speech focused on integrating social justice principles into microbiology education, emphasizing a student-centered, culturally relevant pedagogy. Her talk progressed through several key themes:
1. Personal Introduction and Positionality: Dr. Bonilla began by introducing herself and her background, highlighting her ten years of experience teaching biology to undergraduates and her recent move to the University of San Diego. She emphasized her commitment to approaching her work from a place of "intentional, critically reflected positionality," meaning she consciously considers her own identity and experiences (as a Latina woman, and someone involved in activism) and how these shape her perspectives and actions. This framework aligns with Dr. Kozik's emphasis on the importance of self-reflection in understanding biases and their impact on research.
2. Pedagogical Philosophy: She outlined her core pedagogical philosophy, which combines a humanistic approach (influenced by her experience at a Jesuit institution) and a student-centered approach. This means focusing on helping students achieve their goals and aspirations rather than imposing a predetermined curriculum. Her goal is to help students find and fulfill their potential in science, emphasizing that her teaching focuses on the students' learning processes and understanding rather than just the subject matter itself.
3. Integrating Social Justice and Microbiology: Dr. Bonilla explained how she integrates social justice principles into her microbiology teaching. She sees this integration as vital, especially given ASM's prioritization of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her approach allows for open discussions about the intersection of science and social justice, enabling students to critically examine research practices and question underlying assumptions.
4. Pedagogical Tools for Social Justice: She introduced several pedagogical tools effective in promoting social justice principles:
* **Positionality and Critical Reflection:** Encouraging students to examine their own positions, identities, and biases, and how these influence their interpretations of scientific data and research questions.
* **Critical Feminist Pedagogies:** Employing pedagogical approaches informed by feminist theory to raise critical awareness of power dynamics and social inequalities in science.
* **Social Justice Principles and Practice:** Integrating principles of social justice (equity, access, participation, human rights, diversity) into research design, interventions, and scientific practices. She highlighted that these are not merely theoretical concepts, but active practices.
5. Applying Pedagogy in the Classroom: Dr. Bonilla described her experience teaching a seminar course on microbes and social equity to junior biology students. She mentioned the students’ varied backgrounds and the need to provide them with foundational knowledge of both microbiology and social justice concepts. Her teaching employed active learning strategies designed to engage students in deep discussions and critical analysis.
6. Creating a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment: She discussed the importance of establishing a safe and respectful classroom environment where students feel comfortable engaging in potentially challenging conversations on controversial topics. She achieved this through various approaches: physical space conducive to discussion (sitting in a circle), allowing mask-wearing to create a sense of safety and comfort (during the time of her class), introducing techniques for productive dialogue and respectful disagreement, and providing varied learning formats to cater to diverse learning styles (journal clubs, roundtable discussions, pair shares, one/two-minute papers). This emphasis on building a safe space for open discourse reflects her student-centered approach.
7. Backward Design and Learning Objectives: Dr. Bonilla used backward design in constructing her course. This meant starting with clearly defined learning objectives: students should be able to:
* Describe the connection between microbiome research areas and social justice.
* Explain techniques used in microbiome research and interpret data.
* Identify the connections between microbiome research and social justice concepts.
* Propose new research areas and interventions based on the learned principles.
* Critically reflect on their learning.
* Communicate concepts effectively.
8. Assessment and Critical Reflection: Assessment methods used incorporated both summative and formative assignments. Students led journal clubs, participated in group discussions, and wrote papers in the style of scientific perspectives. The critical reflection component focused on the students’ metacognitive processes – how their understanding and perspectives evolved during the course. This was to foster lifelong learning.
9. Curriculum Topics and Learning Activities: The course covered diverse topics relevant to microbiology and social justice: nutrition, diet, gut-brain axis, reproductive health, antibiotics, and stress. Students engaged with primary literature and were encouraged to explore their own interests and connect them to broader social issues. The course emphasized application of the five principles of social justice (equity, access, participation, human rights, diversity) and the One Health framework.
10. Student Outcomes and Acknowledgements: Dr. Bonilla concluded by sharing anecdotal evidence of student growth and engagement. Many students demonstrated increased critical awareness, developed a sense of agency and motivation for civic action, and integrated their learning from other courses (e.g., sociology, criminology). She acknowledged the contributions of her students, research assistant, and colleagues in the development and implementation of her pedagogical approach. She explicitly highlighted the importance of her work for ASM's mission and the broader field of microbiology education.