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It's not an easy task to stand on top of a box on London's busy Southbank and try to entertain everyone and anyone in the passing crowds of tourists, school pupils, city workers and arts lovers. Even if you are a stand-up comedian, performance artist, or street entertainer, it would probably still be many people's idea of a tough gig.

Standing on that box and engaging people in the latest scientific research surely makes it even harder. Yet it doesn't appear to phase Dr Ravinder Kanda. Ravinder is a research associate in paleovirology and genomics in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, and she is one of 12 scientists taking part in Soapbox Science on Friday July 5.

The event, supported by L'Oreal UNESCO For Women In Science Scheme, is now in its third year and gets some of the UK's leading female scientists to talk passionately about their subjects to the general public. Its aim is to help eliminate gender inequality in science by raising the profile, and challenging the public's view, of women and science.

OxSciBlog caught up with Ravinder to learn more about her research and what she'd be talking about to all comers from the top of her soapbox on the South Bank.

You also can read an interview with Ravinder about her research and her career in a blogpost on the Soapbox Science website.

OxSciBlog: What are endogenous retroviruses and why are they so interesting?
Ravinder Kanda: Only 2% of our DNA is used to build our bodies. The rest of it – noncoding DNA – is a mixture of old genes that have lost their function, repetitive strings of DNA whose function is not understood, and other elements. Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are a kind of noncoding DNA that make up 8% of our DNA. ERVs are all descended from viruses, very like those that cause disease, like HIV, which managed to insert themselves into our ancestors' DNA in the distant past.

OSB: When and how do we think ERVs got incorporated into our DNA?
RK: The way this particular group of viruses, called retroviruses, infect a cell involves inserting themselves into the DNA of the cell – they become part of our DNA. Once inside the DNA of a cell, new copies of the retrovirus can be produced using the cell's machinery. These new copies can then leave the cell and go on to infect other cells. Occasionally, a retrovirus will infect the germ-line cells – the cells that produce sperm and eggs. In this instance, the virus is now part of the DNA of that sperm or egg cell. When fertilisation occurs, this one cell divides to become two. Both cells now contain a copy of the virus. Two cells go on to make four – all have the viral DNA too. When that fertilised egg develops into an adult, every single cell in that individual's body contains the viral DNA. When this happens this virus is known as an endogenous retrovirus, meaning it is within our DNA. It is inherited by all the offspring of that individual.

There are around 100,000 copies of these ERVs in our genome. By comparing the DNA of other primates and mammals, we can estimate how long ago these ERVs inserted into the DNA of our ancestors. For example, it is estimated that the common ancestor of our closest relative, the chimpanzee, and modern day humans existed approximately 8 million years ago. If a particular ERV is present in the DNA of both humans and chimpanzees, we can say that it must have inserted into the DNA of our ancestor more than 8 million years ago. We can then look at the next closest relative, the gorilla, and see if the ERV is present in their DNA. If it is present in the the gorilla, the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas is thought to have existed around 15 million years ago and so we can say that the ERV inserted into the DNA of our ancestors 15 million years ago. Some of the ERV insertions are ancient, dating back 100 million years.

OSB: How might these 'DNA invaders' be good for us?
RK: In some instances, we have managed to 'borrow' some of the viral genes and use them for our benefit. The most famous example is a gene that is involved in pregnancy, specifically with the formation of the placenta. This gene comes from a virus and is essential for the formation of the placenta. Without it we would not be able to reproduce as we do. In other species, there are instances where having a particular ERV gives you some protection against infection from other related retroviruses. For example, sheep have a particular ERV that can block the receptors of a cell, preventing entry into the cell and therefore infection by other related viruses.

OSB: What can ERVs reveal about the evolution of infections in animals and humans?
RK: Many ERVs in our DNA are ancient, indicating that this invasion has been occurring for millions of years. By comparing those viruses that are present in DNA to viruses that currently infect and cause disease, we can see that some of these viruses are very good at making a leap and infecting different species to those in which they were originally found, something called cross-species transmission. For example, we know that HIV was a virus that originally infected primates. The subgroup of viruses to which HIV belongs – lentiviruses – has recently been discovered in the DNA of other species. These discoveries challenge our understanding of how these viruses might change and evolve.

OSB: What further research is needed to understand more about ERVs?
RK: Lots! We are only just beginning to understand what an influential role viruses may have played in many various aspects of the evolution of a species. One consideration is that some viruses can make the leap to infect other species, such as HIV. A better understanding of cross-species transmission, why or how this occurs, and why some viruses are better at doing this than others, may also help us identify potential 'hotspots' of infection. This could allow us to be better prepared against possible future threats.

For me personally, I am interested in the role that ERVs play with regards to offering immunity against infection from other viruses. The idea of using viruses against themselves is an interesting one. However, we need a better understanding of exactly how this occurs. We still have a long way to go.

How much do we know about the great female scientists of the past?

As part of researching a new children's book Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University's Department of Zoology has been finding out. OxSciBlog asked her about her new project and the unsung heroines of science...

OxSciBlog: Why choose to write a children's book on female scientists?
Sunetra Gupta: It was really my colleague Martin Maiden's idea. I was trying to think of a suitable project to promote women in science (as part of my application for the Rosalind Franklin Award) and Martin came up with this project. I instantly approached Ted Dewan to see if he was interested in illustrating it, and to my great good fortune he agreed.

Ted is an incredibly versatile  illustrator and author of children's fiction and non-fiction as well as science books for adults. He also has a fantastic sense of humour: his website mentions that "at age 15 he won his first drawing competition at the local Baskin Robbins Ice Cream store. The prize was a pink card entitling him to 31 free ice cream cones" - two of these apparently remain unredeemed…

One of the reasons the project appealed to me was because I had, myself, been inspired at a young age by reading a biography of Marie Curie - and yet, I realised I had never had the opportunity to find out about any other women scientists. There is definitely a niche here waiting to be filled. Also, at a completely selfish level, I was eager to remedy my own serious gaps in knowledge about their lives and their science.

OSB: Which scientists did you most enjoy finding out about?
SG: So far, I have only read about two people in sufficient depth - Rosalind Franklin and Anna Thynne. Rosalind Franklin is an obvious choice and I have very much enjoyed Brenda Maddox's biography, as well the very interesting defence of her by Anne Sayre in response to James Watson's portrayal of her as 'Rosie', the grumpy research assistant.

I might never have come across Anna Thynne but for a lovely little book by Rebecca Stott which I had been sent some time ago when it had been submitted for a prize I was judging. She was a very remarkable woman - wife of the sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey (while Buckland was Dean), mother of many, and can be credited with establishing the first marine aquarium in her living room. This is all in the early 19th century - by the 1850s aquaria were all the craze.

Another woman I felt ashamed not to have known much about is the 18th century astronomer Caroline Herschel; I have been reading about her in Richard Holmes's fantastic new book 'The Age of Wonder' and cannot wait to lay my hands on her diaries.

OSB: What has been the most challenging aspect of your research?
SG: Finding the time to do it. My commitments as an academic are quite extensive, and I am also very far behind on delivering a book on science and literature that I was funded to write by the Arts Council in 2007. There is also the tug of wanting to carry on with my new novel, and to spend time with my two daughters.

Researching the book has been pure pleasure, and writing my fragments (we are currently adopting a scrap-book format) has also been a lot of fun. Ted has been producing some amazing illustrations - he is absolute dream to work with. We've had some crucial decisions to make regarding layout and content - these have probably been the hardest bits so far.

OSB: What do you hope young readers will take away from the book?
SG: Some acquaintance with the lives of these women would probably be as much as I expect, but I'm naturally hoping that they (girls and boys alike) might find some inspiration here. Many of these women had to struggle, to adapt, to compromise, to suffer, and they always carried on. Even if they are not attracted to a scientific career, knowing the stories of these women scientists can have a transforming effect on young minds.

OSB: How has the book changed how you think about the female scientists of the past?
SG: It is embarrassing how little I knew about these women beyond the vague notion that they were brave and had to endure much. Whereas I had a much larger acquaintance with the lives of women writers, thanks to books such as Gilbert & Gubar's 'The Madwoman in the Attic' and, of course, all the biographies that are so readily available, not to mention the films about them.

I hear that a film is being made on Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron and possibly the first computer programmer) with Zooey Deschanel in her role, so perhaps women scientists will finally be in the public eye.

Again, I will say that the main benefit here is to learn about inspiring personalities - not everyone who enjoys 'Becoming Jane' is destined to become a writer, not everyone who falls in love with Zooey Deschanel as Ada Lovelace in ‘Enchantress of Numbers’ will become a scientist, but something will have been added to each person by learning about their lives and passions.

Professor Sunetra Gupta is based at Oxford's Department of Zoology.