National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins recently highlighted a video profile of an Emory researcher on the NIH Director’s Blog. Josh Maxwell, PhD, appeared in one of several videos of Emory researchers produced through LabTV.

LabTV, founded by technology entrepreneur Jay Walker, features hundreds of young researchers from universities and institutes around the United States, telling the public about themselves and their work. The videos include childhood photos and explanations about what they do and what motivates them. The series is meant to inspire young students to pursue careers in medical research.

Maxwell, a postdoctoral fellow in Mike Davis’ lab in Emory’s Health Sciences Research Building, studies regenerative approaches to treating congenital heart problems in children. In the video, he describes how when he was growing up in the Pittsburgh area, he liked catching frogs and snakes, and that Bill Nye (“The science guy”) was one of his heroes.

Davis wears several hats; he is associate professor in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and director of the Emory-Children’s Heart Research and Outcomes (HeRO) Center.

At this point, 16 videos from Emory researchers are available at the LabTV site, and also on YouTube. They come from Davis’ lab and from Malu Tansey’s lab in the Department of Physiology, which explores the intersection of neuroscience and immunology, focusing on neurodegenerative disease.

LabTV is expected to offer additional opportunities for Emory research laboratories. Please contact Quinn Eastman for more information.