{"id":2208,"date":"2016-03-30T18:27:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T18:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:47","slug":"dean-73-what-makes-a-life-worthwhile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2016\/03\/30\/dean-73-what-makes-a-life-worthwhile\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean \u201973: What Makes Life Worthwhile?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are always twists and turns in life,\u201d Dennis Dean<\/a> \u201973 told students and faculty Tuesday in Hays Hall as he delivered the Haines Lecture in Biochemistry. \u201cSome of your worst experiences and biggest challenges may end up with very good outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Dean\u2014who today is Virginia Tech Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry<\/a> and Executive Director of the Fralin Life Science Institute<\/a>\u2014a life-threatening emergency led to the moment he realized his work was truly worthwhile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very passionate about my work, and I worked really, really hard,\u201d Dean explained. \u201cI was driven, worked seven\u00a0days a week, ten\u00a0hours a day. And I did pretty well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen on June 5, 1998, I wake up and I can\u2019t breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rushed to the hospital, Dean found himself in a hospice room. When a doctor told him he\u00a0was suffering from severe heart failure, Dean asked nervously but almost in jest, \u201cHow long do I have.\u201d The doctor looked at his watch.<\/p>\n

But Dean survived the night, his condition improved, and he was sent home, told to stay in bed and rest. In six weeks, if he got stronger, he would be re-evaluated for a possible heart transplant or surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind I was used to working every day,\u201d said Dean. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what you can do with your brain when you don\u2019t have anything else to do and you don\u2019t want to go crazy thinking about dropping dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he reflected on his research and asked himself, If you\u2019re going to die, and you had\u00a0one last experiment to conduct, what would it be?<\/em><\/p>\n

Dean made a near-miraculous recovery, was cleared for surgery, and four weeks after the operation was back in the lab.<\/p>\n

But he applied to his research the new attitude and clarity he\u2019d gained imagining that final experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next six weeks we accomplished more than we had in the previous six years,\u201d Dean said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to have passion, but not so much that it can kill you.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes its much more effective to think hard than work hard. And sometimes its much more effective to think hard than work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, much of Dean\u2019s best work was inspired by the life-changing emergency.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0described the focus of his research as \u201cworking on nitrogen fixation\u201d\u2014taking di nitrogen out of the air and making fertilizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, my job is making poop,\u201d Dean said to the laughter the lunchtime crowd. \u201cYou don\u2019t get invited to the president\u2019s office very often for cocktail parties to talk about making poop. It\u2019s very important and there\u2019s some really cool science behind it, but it\u2019s not the sort of thing that makes you feel great about your career.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there are those twists and turns.<\/p>\n

Dean explained that nitrogen fixation is one of three major processes that sustain life on earth\u2014along with photosynthesis and respiration. All three are driven by oxidation-reduction reactions that involve small clusters made of iron and sulfur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that both iron and sulfur in free form are extremely toxic, so\u00a0cells must capture iron and sulphur and mobilize it and combine it in the cell without killing the cell,\u201d Dean explained. His lab discovered the enzymes responsible for this process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fundamentally important discovery. Every living organism depends on this process, and students in my lab discovered it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0discovery has deep implications in the medical field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enzymes we discovered are very important, because if they screw up, free iron and sulfur which are very toxic go places they shouldn\u2019t be,\u201d Dean explained. That can manifest in \u201call sorts of nasty diseases,\u201d including Friedreich\u2019s ataxia, a congenital, debilitating, eventually fatal degenerative neuro-muscular disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t work on those diseases,\u201d Dean said. \u201cBut once we discovered those enzymes, people in the biomedical community started to recognize how important those enzymes are, and therapeutic intervention is now the target.\u201d<\/p>\n

The connection between his research and efforts to treat Friedreich\u2019s ataxia is\u00a0so strong that Dean was invited to speak at a conference for physicians and scientist who are working for a cure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a group of children there who have this disease, and it was heartrending to see these kids who could barely walk or breathe,\u201d Dean recalled.<\/p>\n

After he made his presentation\u00a0to conference,\u00a0he was approached by three of the young patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say, \u2018Dr. Dean, we want to thank you,\u2019 and I say, \u2018You don\u2019t need to thank me. The real doctors are over there\u2014you should thank them.’\u00a0Then one of the kids says,\u00a0‘No, we want to thank you, because your research gives us hope.’<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I tell students that, as a researcher and a professional, you will have the opportunity to truly touch the lives of people you don\u2019t even know, and you\u2019ll do it in ways you never thought possible. And that makes this life, and this career, worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Steve Charles<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Dean will be featured in an upcoming podcast on<\/em> Wabash On My Mind<\/p>\n

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