{"title":"Being the Alice of academia: lessons from the Red Queen hypothesis.","authors":"S G Negatu, M C Arreguin, K A Jurado, C Vazquez","doi":"10.1093/femspd/ftac034","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Viruses and hosts must navigate environments in which each tries to outcompete the other for survival or to coexist within the same spaces. In Lewis Carrol's Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice, \"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!\" Borrowing from this idea, the Red Queen hypothesis asserts that organisms, such as viruses, must continuously adapt to environmental pressures to survive. In this commentary, we draw parallels between the Red Queen hypothesis and the experiences scientists of color navigate to thrive in academic spaces. In both phenomena, adapting to environmental pressures is necessary for survival. We identify the various pressures and bottlenecks faced by historically underrepresented groups in academia, as well as the adaptation strategies they must implement to persist in academia.</p>","PeriodicalId":19795,"journal":{"name":"Pathogens and disease","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9629500/pdf/","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pathogens and disease","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftac034","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"IMMUNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Viruses and hosts must navigate environments in which each tries to outcompete the other for survival or to coexist within the same spaces. In Lewis Carrol's Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" Borrowing from this idea, the Red Queen hypothesis asserts that organisms, such as viruses, must continuously adapt to environmental pressures to survive. In this commentary, we draw parallels between the Red Queen hypothesis and the experiences scientists of color navigate to thrive in academic spaces. In both phenomena, adapting to environmental pressures is necessary for survival. We identify the various pressures and bottlenecks faced by historically underrepresented groups in academia, as well as the adaptation strategies they must implement to persist in academia.
期刊介绍:
Pathogens and Disease publishes outstanding primary research on hypothesis- and discovery-driven studies on pathogens, host-pathogen interactions, host response to infection and their molecular and cellular correlates. It covers all pathogens – eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and viruses – and includes zoonotic pathogens and experimental translational applications.