Simon Lab Spotlight! Elizabeth “Betsy” Levendosky

Betsy Levendosky, Associate Researcher, from Montclaire, NJ
B.S. in Human Evolution from Rutgers University

Betsy was one of a few members of the Simon Lab at the Cold Spring Harbor Labs Retrovirus Annual Meeting!

Q. Cats or Dogs or Other? 
A. I am 100% a dog person.  

Q. What sparked your interest in virology research or led you to join the Simon and Mulder Lab? 
A. The Simon and Mulder Lab is one of the only labs that has projects that deal with HIV and Microglia. That was something that really interested me because it is a field that is very understudied.  

Q. What is the most interesting part of your job? 
A. I would say it is when I get to know something, or see something, that I know no one else in the world knows about or has seen. There is something really beautiful in the fact that I am the first person to see this new thing that has emerged. 

Q. What is your favorite spot in all of New York? 
A. I would have to say Prospect Park because it's where I live now. 

Q. How did the Pandemic impact your position on research and virology? 
A. I think it got me more interested in academic research in general. For instance, I was always told that the brain was immune-privileged. However, with the COVID-19 virus, in the beginning it was viewed as a respiratory illness. As researchers studied the virus more, we came to realize that it impacts the brain as well. 

Q. What does a day in the lab look like? 
A. That is the beauty of research – it's all very different. Every day starts with a check-in of what I'm doing. Sometimes my day starts with reading papers and other times I'm analyzing data I've created or setting up and experimenting. For one project, I also sometimes get primary postmortem human brains so that can completely throw off my day. It is a roller coaster, and I love it. 

Q. Aside from being a great scientist, what would you describe as your personal superpower? 
A. I would have to say how good at Candy Crush I am. I'm at level 10,000 and I have never seen anyone else at that high of a level before. 

Q. If you could share one piece of advice with people interested in research, what would it be? 
A. It is important to have a certain level of drive and tenacity. As a researcher, you could spend months setting up an experiment, and after all the preparation something messes up or it doesn't go your way, and you must start all over again. It is very rewarding when you are successful with your experiment, but it can be very disheartening when it doesn't work out. 

Thank you Betsy for sharing your story and Aidan Vera for helping with the Spotlight Series!