Edna Chiang is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program at UW-Madison. Raised in Michigan, she completed her BS at the University of Michigan in Microbiology and Spanish. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Wisconsin Idea STEM Fellow, she is passionate about science communication and excited to share her work with Minocqua Science On Tap.
Edna works with Dr. Hannah Carey, Professor of Comparative Biosciences, to study the symbiosis between hibernating mammals and their gut microorganisms. Both hibernators and their microbes experience extreme changes in diet and physiology throughout the year, which inspires a variety of exciting questions. How is hibernation different from sleeping? How do hibernators and their gut microbes work together to survive the winter? And what does any of this have to do with space travel? Join us for a night of stimulating discussion to find out!