About the Author (s)

Dr. Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Engler-Chiurazzi (she/her/hers) works as a neuroscientist and leader of Liz’s Lab. She and her team of hard-working students study how the immune system and the brain interact, with the goal of breaking down stigmas associated with mental health and neurological conditions and the barriers faced by those who suffer from these diseases.

Dr. Liz is also committed to advancing trainee development and neuroscience education in the community; she has led several outreach initiatives impacting more than 14,000 people in her 20+ years as a scholar. She directs brain education and community outreach activities for the university she works at.

Outside the lab, Dr. Liz gets sweaty, wears panties on her head, hits her friends, and earns some bruises as roller derby diva (under the name of Five Star Fancy). Off-track and beyond the bench, Dr. Liz is mom to 9 year old daughter and juniors derby skater, Little Star, and partner to long-time spouse, Mr. Fancy.

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Blog alter ego, Astro Fight*** (she/her/hers), started her roller derby journey in 2018, skating for the Morgantown Roller Vixens before transferring mid-pandemic to compete with the Big Easy Roller Derby. There Astro Fight jams, begrudgingly, and is currently honing her pivot skills.

***why this name/what’s this mean?

This derby name is a play on the word astrocyte. It is a term for a type of microscopic cell found in the brain. They get their name because of the star-like shape they have when viewed with a microscope. While neurons are perhaps the more well known brain cell because they carry out relaying information around the nervous system, they can’t do it without astrocytes. Astrocytes help neurons in a number of ways, such as:

• managing the amount of chemicals neurons use to communicate at the synpase (the space between two neurons)

• providing structural support (like scaffolding) for cells of the nervous system

• ensuring cells have the nutrients they need to do their work

Thus, strocytes are key supporting actors in their role helping neurons to do all this communication. These cells are so important for the function of the brain, that they make up the majority of cells you find in the nervous system! You can learn more about astrocytes from this Khan Academy video, this Wikipedia article or this excellent scientific book chapter.

About the Blog

This blog chronicles the roller derby and research journeys of Dr. Liz / Astro Fight, highlighting how skills in one domain support growth in the other. Started as a pandemic project in 2018 while the laboratory was shut down, a major objective of this blog is to engage the public and promote awareness of science (and modern roller derby too) in an innovative and interesting way. Each post will share tips, tricks, and pearls of hard- and sometimes painfully-earned wisdom about how they strive to be a badass in the lab and on the track. Some stories will be heartwarming, some will be hilarious, some will be heavy. But in sharing these anecdotes, the authors hope to empower readers who are interested in science or a research career, with the end goal of improving science literacy and diversifying the STEM workforce.

Disclaimer: The views, opinions, experiences and recommendations expressed in this website or social media-associated handles are those of Dr. Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Engler-Chiurazzi (aka Dr. Liz, Astro Fight), and do not reflect those of any institution or organization with which she is affiliated. As well, this blog is self-funded and the author does not receive or seek any compensation from academic-, medical-, scientific-, mental health-, or roller derby-affiliated companies or entities to produce this work. Donations to her lab are accepted.

This blog and the content contained within it is for informational and enrichment purposes only. Dr. Liz is a Ph.D. in Psychology (focus in Behavioral Neuroscience) whose expertise is primarily focused in the research domain. Dr. Liz did not train to provide mental health counseling, and will not, under any circumstances, offer opinions or advice on diagnoses, treatment regimens, or behavioral interventions for mental health conditions. This blog is not a substitute for mental healthcare by a licensed clinical practitioner. If you are concerned about a specific mental health issue, please seek the input of your general practitioner or other medical provider.

Dr. Liz strives to ensure that the most up-to-date information and research on topics discussed is presented in each post. She further aims to provide access to the sources of her information to enable readers to evaluate the quality and completeness of the content for themselves. However, the field is also very large, complex, and evolving constantly as new information is generated by the many thousands of dedicated scientists and clinicians working to address mental health issues. Dr. Liz welcomes questions, comments, concerns, feedback, and notices of errors and omissions in the content presented.

Finally, Dr, Liz is a professional scientist, college professor, and active derby skater/coach which means that she is … busy. As such, the regularity of her posts may vary depending on grant deadlines, semester demands, and bout schedules. So check back often because you never know when she will publish