Melissa Harrison explores the foundations of human life, in fruit flies (she's a biologist)

Melissa was born into a family of scientists, but she always wanted to be a historian. As she grew up, however, she realized that science allowed her to satisfy her infinite curiosity and desire for discovery, and so she "went into the family business."Melissa Harrison, PhD, is now a molecular biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she studies how human cells turn particular genes on and off,  developing from a single cell into a full-grown person. She uses the fruit fly as an easy, inexpensive model. Her latest research with UW colleague Peter Lewis, PhD, uncovered a protein that plays a role in a pediatric cancer called diffuse midline glioma. No one knows what this new knowledge will bring as researchers continue to study the protein, but, as Melissa says, "biotech companies can’t invest in this sort of foundational research….and so it really falls on the academic institutions to do that sort of foundation-building knowledge.” Her passion for knowledge combined with her resilience has helped her prevail when the science is difficult: "You know, you have to be a fighter in some ways, right? I'm really stubborn and I think that helps in science a little bit."