My guest in this episode is the Virologist, Mark Young. Mark is a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiologists, an awarded distinguished lecturer, and on the board of the society of virology and many universities and organizations. His work has been cited over 15,000 times.
Mark Young was my academic adviser and mentor when I was a grad student at Montana State University. Together, we designed the experiment that led to my discovery of a new species of virus in the hot springs of Yellowstone.
I chose to work with Mark not just for his academic credentials, but our shared interest in adventure and unconventional thinking. Mark's mentorship ultimately led to the creation of this podcast.
Mark is known in the scientific community for discovering viruses in the hot springs of Yellowstone and for the discovery that you can do chemistry inside a virus particle.
Recently, Mark has become the first person to synthetically create a new virus from scratch. (Don't worry it doesn't infect humans, just E. coli).
Mark is both a highly social, adventurous, and unconventional scientists and a rigorous academic focused on excellence.
What you will learn in this episode:

* What it is like to discover a new species
* The challenges of doing field research in Yellowstone
* How Mark seeks out wild and crazy ideas
* What it takes to succeed in academic research
* What we need to know about synthetic biology
* Ethical questions about biology and the future of humanity

Thanks to this week’s sponsors
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Quotes:
"Viruses are beautiful tools for asking biological questions" - Mark Young
"To succeed in academic research, you can either be better at what you do than everyone else, or you can do something nobody else has done"- Mark Young
"I purposely interact with people way outside my field to achieve a constant and diverse input of ideas"- Mark Young
"Effective scientists are highly social"- Mark Young
"We designed this synthetic virus evolve. I've always wanted to observe evolution from the beginning"- Mark Young
"I would like to see open access to all journals and new discoveries"- Mark Young
"We need a mechanism where we build trust in experts"- Mark Young
"Our rate of technological growth is outpacing our ability to understand consequences" - Mark Young

Continue the Adventure:
Mark Young Faculty Page at MSU

Mark Young | Synthetic Viruses, The Beginnings of Life, and Yellowstone National Park