Logan Kaler, a postdoctoral fellow working at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory through the American Society for Engineering Education, grew up in Owings Mills, Maryland, with a sister and two artist parents. “Both of my parents are artists. My mother is an art teacher in Baltimore City and my father is a director of visual design at a marketing firm in Annapolis,” she shares. “Interestingly enough, my younger sister also went into science and has her degree in physics.”
Kaler became interested in science in elementary school. “Science was always my favorite subject, and the science fairs were always a highlight because I was able to explore a new question,” she recalls. During her undergraduate studies at Bay Path University, an all-women liberal arts university in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, she had the opportunity to explore a variety of scientific fields. “As a part of the Women in STEM Honors Program at Bay Path University, I was exposed to multiple fields in the sciences, ranging from paleontology to DNA technology, to the history of science. As I advanced in my studies, I gravitated towards biology and eventually landed on biophysics, as it had the biology aspect that I always found interesting but also had the tools for quantification. The ability to understand biological events and processes is important, but being able to quantitatively analyze them gives more support to findings,” she explains. “I remember learning different concepts in biology and when I started combining those concepts in my research, biophysics was the way to answer the ‘How?’ question.”
“My undergraduate mentor, Dr. Yadilette Rivera Colón, played an integral part in my career as a biophysicist—as I didn’t know what a biophysicist was until she introduced me to the field as a whole. As an undergraduate, I studied the structural and biochemical features of post-translational modifications, specifically acetylation via acetyltransferases. The structural and biochemical features of acetyltransferases were explored using computational analysis, and the resulting observations were used to hypothesize mutations regarding which changes in specific structural features might contribute to substrate specificity,” Kaler says.
Following the completion of her bachelor’s degree, she enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, to earn her PhD in biophysics. “In graduate school, I pivoted to studying host-pathogen interactions via microscopy and multiple particle tracking. The goal of my research was to understand how viral particles diffuse through the mucus in the airway to reach underlying cells, thus leading to infection.”
Of her current position in Washington, DC, Kaler says, “I am currently studying migration of cells in response to their environment.”
When asked about the biggest challenge so far in her career, she shared a valuable perspective. “At the time, each hurdle can feel like it is the biggest challenge—you try to find a way around it, but you end up having to go over it. And each time, when you look back, sometimes years down the road, you realize that what seemed insurmountable was more than doable,” she remarks. “In grad school, I struggled with some of the more rigorous math and physics courses, which were guaranteed to be a part of my qualifier, and I had to study with my classmates who were physicists and mathematicians while attending all of the professor’s office hours to make it through the classes and pass my qualifier. There were more hurdles that I had to overcome, but I faced them the same way: by leaning on my community for support. My community is more than my classmates and professors, they are my mentors and my lab-mates, my friends and my family. When the hurdles seemed too tall to get over, they were the ones cheering from the sidelines with support as I struggled my way over them.”
Kaler hopes to stay at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory working on projects that both advance scientific knowledge and have practical applications. “I think a lot of research is going into artificial intelligence and machine learning, both of which have a lot of applications in biophysics, including in data processing and computer vision. I will be interested to see what the future holds for biophysics,” she shares.
“When I first started attending the Biophysical Society Annual Meetings, I began to understand how different fields of science are linked together and how it is important to understand concepts more holistically,” Kaler recounts. “Now, the meetings are a chance for me to see what is new in the field but also a valuable opportunity to receive feedback on my work—sometimes from more pointed comments and other times from general discussions. The Biophysical Society has given me a lot of opportunities to interact with other scientists and explore different avenues of research. The events and panels that I have both attended and participated in gave me insight into the different career paths that I could take. I have developed a large network of scientists, which has allowed me to continue supporting biophysics education through serving on the Biophysical Society Education Committee.”
Speaking to those just starting their careers in biophysics, Kaler emphasizes the importance of becoming comfortable with sharing your research. “In science, it is so important to share your research, whether it is through papers, posters, or seminars. With sharing your work come questions and discussions, which can be intimidating, but remember that no one knows your research project better than you. Keeping that in the back of your mind can help you to present and answer questions, and confidently,” she advises. “Additionally, it is important to make your research accessible to more than just your colleagues in the same specialization as you. When you’re preparing a paper or a presentation, it can be extremely helpful to have someone from a different field entirely review your work.”