Before the COVID-19 epidemic, Viviana Cantillana managed the laboratory of Daniel Laskowitz, MD, MHS, in its home in the Bryan Research Building. Now, with her lab microscope in her living room, she’s performing stereology analysis on more than 200 samples of mouse brains from her own home. Cantillana talks to use about her work and how it has changed since the outbreak, how things have changed since she started at Duke nearly 20 years ago, and how she enjoys her spare time in isolation.
How are you currently being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak? What’s one helpful strategy or resource that you’ve picked up to help you cope (professionally or personally)?
Thankfully, so far neither my immediate family members nor my close friends have been affected by COVID-19. However, I worry about family members and friends who are in the high-risk group to develop a serious disease.
On a personal level I started to prepare over 3 weeks ago for changes in our life. My husband is in the high-risk category, so I placed him under “house arrest” figuratively speaking. I have been doing all the shopping and running errands for my household and for a friend who is in the high-risk group and who lives alone.
Professionally, it has been a challenge. I work in a research lab, so the bench work is not easily transferred to allow working from home. However, when we were notified of the possibility of closing the research lab, I realized that if I was allowed to take the microscope to my place I could do the stereology analysis from home. Between March 16th–22nd, I spent all my time staining as many samples as I could handle, now I have close to 200 brains to analyze.
Cantillana's new telecommuting workspace includes a microscope from the Bryan Building.
The strategy to cope with this strange situation is try to keep my life as normal as possible. Because I am now working from home, I try to follow the same schedule as working on campus. On weekends my husband and I do things that are unrelated to work. We are taking advantage of the spring season and we entertain ourselves looking at the birds and squirrels feeding, playing and fighting over the feeders hanging from our back deck. Except for my husband, all my immediate family, i.e., mother and siblings live in Chile, and we are constantly in touch via video calls and family chat. Now we use the same media to stay in contact with friends here in NC.
One important point that helps me cope is I watch 1-2 hours of TV news each day max.
What were your pre-COVID responsibilities within the Neurology Department? What did a typical day for you look like?
Well, in research you don’t do the same thing every day. As a lab manager of Dr. Laskowitz‘s lab I do all the purchases and the mice orders for the lab. I’m also the safety official for the brain translation group. As such I’m responsible for assuring that the Lab follows all safety protocols. In the research part, I do the stereology analysis for the group and most of the cutting and tissue stains. I train everybody in the lab on how to section the brains to stain them. I set conditions for new stains. I also do animal work.
What interests you the most about your usual work? What is the hardest part of your job?
I am especially interested in data analysis. I am part of a group that concentrates on testing novel therapeutic strategies for brain injuries in mouse and rat models. It's very exciting when you prove your ideas were correct and the system responds as expected. It’s a good feeling when you see that the drug you are using has a positive effect in the animal model and eventually could open a path to help someone.
The hardest part is that some experiments take a long time to complete, and sometimes they can be analyzing only at the end. You could expend a year on a project and realize that it didn't work as expected. That is frustrating!
You started working at Duke Neurology nearly 20 years ago. What’s the biggest change in your work (or in Duke or the Bryan Center in general) since then?
I started working in Neurology in 2002. I worked until 2010 in Hana Dawson’s lab. After a 4-year hiatus at the VA, I came back to Neurology to work in Dr. Laskowitz’s lab. In this lab the research is aimed generally at helping people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thus it may be said the research never wanders far away from the patient’s needs! When you do basic science research, you are trying to understand a system. A negative result could be as valuable as a positive one. On the other hand, when you work with a more translational approach, a negative result is frustrating, because doesn´t help you, and it does not help the patient.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?
I like fantasy books and movies. It amazes me that a writer can imagine a world with completely invented societies and cultures. It always fascinates me that the writer can create a history with new species, languages, cultures and societies. It is the reason Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite books.
What other passions or hobbies do you have outside of the Department?
Gardening! I like plants. My deck and porch are full of plants. This year I decided to grow tomatoes on my balcony, and I’m waiting for my variety of herb seeds to germinate. I also enjoy spending time with friends, I like to have them over and by now all my friends know what a “Chilean Once” (pronounced “un -say”) is. [Editor’s note: a Chilean once is a late-night snack, often served with coffee or tea.]
First one is gathering with friends. From bottom to up: Nora, Alicia, Patricia, María, Judith and I.
Above, Cantillana (top) enjoys a day with friends, and below, takes a road trip with her family.
