Les Satin

University of Michigan

Editor, The Biophysicist

What have you read lately that you found really interesting or stimulating? (a paper, a book, science or not science)

I am currently reading The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, about the early 1940s and Winston Churchill. Churchill’s exemplary leadership in a time of grave crisis to Britain is such a contrast to our dysfunctional politics today and is so interesting that it is hard for me to put down! Of course, Mr. Churchill was also quite a character as well, so that adds to my interest.

I must add that reading submitted manuscripts to The Biophysicist is also incredibly interesting to me. As a regular reviewer of mostly bench research, papers on biophysics education and learning are so refreshing and exciting. I would love to recruit more people to our group of regular reviewers so that they could share in this exciting process!

What has been your most exciting discovery as a biophysicist?

This is a difficult question because I have had quite a few. However, one that was particularly exciting was our discovery that using dynamic clamp to study isolated beta cells showed that adding a small voltage-dependent conductance (simulated, mind you) to a spiking cell converted the cell to a full-fledged burster, in accord with simulations carried out by using a mathematical model! We were skeptical this could happen, but it did! The results appeared in Biophysical Journal as Zhang M. et al. (2003) Biophys J. 84:2852–2870. The simulations were done by Richard Bertram and Arthur Sherman, by the way.