Friday, January 16, 1998
New professor shows fascination for life
PROFILE Jay Phelan shows his love for biology, students, has the
markings to prove it
By Michelle Navarro
Daily Bruin Staff
He took Physics 6B twice, has a tattoo, appeared in a Pat
Benetar video, works out at the John Wooden Center four times a
week, and wants to know why people cheat on their spouses.
Sound like Joe living next door? Actually, try one of UCLA’s
newest additions to the biology department’s life sciences core
program, Jay Phelan.
Surprised? Perhaps this will help: the tattoo is a colorful DNA
molecule (something only a professor would get), the frequent
visits to the Wooden Center are slightly related to his area of
research, and the question of why people cheat on their spouses is
examined in a book Phelan is co-writing titled "Mean Genes."
Phelan began his UCLA professional career last quarter as a
professor for the Life Sciences 4 (genetics) course. However, his
history with the Bruins goes back farther than that.
The doctor received his bachelor’s degree from UCLA in 1985. And
yes, he encountered that physics (electromagnetics) course famous
for being better the second time around.
"Yes, I had trouble with it, both times I took it," Phelan
lamented, adding that the class unfortunately proved to be one of
the most practical and relevant courses he took. "Of all the
classes to have a hard time with, I wish it had been another
class."
On returning to the campus, Phelan said his heightened rank in
the UCLA food chain did cause a little turbulence.
"It is a little odd being on campus again," he said. "I feel
like I was when I was a student. But now, the tables are turned.
When I go into Moore 100, it’s stressful for a different
reason."
In regards to his teaching, however, he said his Bruin roots
have been nothing but beneficial.
"It helped me in that I’m very familiar with what students are
going through," Phelan said. "I feel I can identify."
The professor explained how he tried to alleviate the
synchronous midterms ordeal that science majors experience three
times each quarter by scheduling his midterms one week ahead of the
normal track.
But that isn’t the only way Phelan attempted to accommodate his
students. Aware that attending a class with 300-400 other students
can be intimidating and difficult, Phelan scheduled several lunch
hours per week where students were welcome to eat with him and do a
little socializing.
"(At UCLA) everyone is a number and I didn’t want that," he
said, "I love, when teaching, to know what’s going on in people’s
lives."
"I realized it was feasible to meet half of the students if I
had time to hang out and not talk about class," Phelan said. "It
turned out to be fun. I mean, I have to eat lunch everyday."
Discussions on topics from movies to whether or not
homosexuality is genetically linked occurred between the students
and Phelan during those lunches. Not only did the 27 lunches make
the class less impersonal, but it also helped reduce Phelan’s
apprehension about speaking in front of the large crowd.
After receiving a masters degree in environmental studies from
Yale and a doctorate in biology from Harvard, Phelan had taught at
Pepperdine University, where most of the classes were relatively
smaller in number than those at UCLA. So getting up, literally on
stage, and speaking before a mass of faces through a microphone was
not easy.
"It’s really terrifying. It changes everything. There isn’t that
one-on- one," he explained. "But, it is satisfying to know you can
share with that many people."
Sharing knowledge is clearly something Phelan does well since
the professor has, to date, been invited to give 16 presentations,
mainly on aging (his field of research), all over the nation. Not
to mention showers of honors from the Geron Corporation – Samuel
Goldstein Distinguished Publication Award to the Harvard
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. He’s also received several
grants throughout the past 14 years.
Phelan’s research on aging has gained him national recognition.
His involvement in this particular area developed for several
reasons.
According to the doctor, he "wanted research that was
intellectually satisfying and relevant to non-students." What more
relevant topic than aging?
The preoccupation with growing older is evident. Everywhere
products are popping up, promising eternal youth or ways to slow
the physical signs of aging. However, this isn’t what Phelan is
interested in.
"I’m not concerned with staying alive longer as I am with
staying healthy longer," he said.
While at Harvard, Phelan participated as a research subject in a
study on the psychological effects of steroids, which ultimately
increased his interest in the field.
"I was injected with testosterone, and then I had to fill out
surveys," he said, adding that other participants had said the
added hormone made them feel the best they ever felt. A few, on the
other hand, had extremely violent reactions and were removed from
the study. Phelan wanted to see for himself.
"It turned out, for me, that I felt nothing at all. I was
disappointed."
Another instrument that drew Phelan into the aging sphere was
his own health.
"The gradual decline I was feeling depressed me," he said. "I
want to do everything I can to stay healthy."
The proof of that statement lies in his healthy lunches and
faithful trips to the Wooden Center.
"I might be fighting a losing battle," he joked.
Currently, Phelan is looking at the relationship between
reproduction and aging – whether or not there is a cost of
reproduction.
"Reproductive hormones all cause cancer. Maybe we don’t always
need to have that exposure that we do, maybe there is a way to
mitigate that damage," he said.
"Evolution creates us so we can do certain things: survive and
reproduce." Phelan is interested in finding out if there is a way
that people could live longer and still reproduce when they
want.
In the works now is "Mean Genes: Why Our Toughest Battles are
with Ourselves," a book Phelan and another professor from Harvard,
Terry Burnham, are writing.
"Your brain, unfortunately, is not a mindless simp that kowtows
to your every desire. No. It has a mind of its own," reads one
passage from the upcoming book.
It maintains that people exist as two entities: a personality,
or individual with "likes, dislikes, desires, and dreams," and a
"machine," a.k.a. the brain, that responds to those personality
elements.
"If you tell your brain, as part of a New Year’s resolution,
that you would like to cut down on fatty foods to watch your
weight, it most likely laughs at you and continues to set off bells
and whistles of approval when the dessert cart is brought around,"
the book says. "It fights you all the time. And it usually
wins."
Phelan and Burnham also discuss the issue of technology’s
influence on the human environment.
According to the duo, change has occurred so quickly that "our
genes have not caught up," and as a result the genes "are telling
us to do things that were appropriate in the environment we spent
most of evolutionary history in, but aren’t quite right in today’s
world."
As for the question of why people cheat on their spouses and
other similar ones, like why we like fatty foods, Phelan said, "We
don’t really explain any individual’s behavior but more like the
average behavior. It’s certainly possible to override the genes,
even though few people actually do."
Phelan feels that if people understand that they have certain
genetic predispositions and drives to do society no-no’s, they
could have more control.
"If you understand them, it can help you to not give into them,"
he said. "It helps me when I decide what I want to be, to know that
the pressure I’m feeling is not because I’m weak, but because I’m
human."
The professor has a deep fascination in the world of genetics
because of the part it plays in everyday life. From DNA
fingerprinting to cloning and artificial inseminations, the effects
may be seen all around. However, at the same time, Phelan realizes
that there is a potential for the science to get into the wrong
hands and get abused.
The movie "Gattacca" was a preview into one of those
possibilities. It illustrated how knowing the genotype of, for
example, a potential employee could fuel discrimination. If certain
health risks are there, they might not hire the person for
insurance purposes.
Phelan is more than aware of such likelihoods and knows what
role he wants to play.
"I want to be one of those people that prevent that from
happening," he said. "I don’t want people to misuse science and
there is a big potential for that."
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Life science professor Jay Phelan has a colorful DNA
molecule tattoo on his back.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Professor Jay Phelan is a new life sciences professor who earned
his undergraduate degree from UCLA in 1985.