Lab Scientists Under the Microscope: Meet Carin Huset

Move over real-time PCR machines. Make way mass spectrometers. Take a step back DNA sequencers.

In celebration of Public Health Laboratory Appreciation Month, we’re continuing our popular “Lab Scientists Under the Microscope” series and spotlighting the real heroes of laboratory science—the dedicated professionals who make public health laboratories hum.

Every day, these scientists work with dangerous substances and high-consequence pathogens. They connect the dots that link cases and identify outbreaks, keeping us safer from foodborne illnesses, infectious diseases and more. They work weekends, holidays and after hours to prepare samples and run programs so the rest of us can get our test results in a timely fashion. And they do it all with increasingly limited resources and funding.

Each week of Public Health Laboratory Appreciation Month, we’ll highlight one of these unsung powerhouses and give you a glimpse into their lives inside the lab. Read on to meet the scientists!

Carin Huset, PhD, Research Scientist, Biomonitoring and Emerging Contaminants Unit, Environmental Chemistry Section, Minnesota Department of Health Public Health Laboratory

What got you interested in laboratory science? Was it a teacher? A book? Your own health experience?

I’ve always been interested in science, so it’s hard to pinpoint a specific “when.” But I know I liked chemistry since high school, when we had a test tube of an “unknown” substance in class and we had to test and identify the contents—add some of the “unknown” to this solution, look for a color change or precipitate, do the PT wire test, etc. I thought it was all pretty cool.

If you weren’t a lab scientist, what would you be?

Thanks to Dana Scully from “The X-Files,” I did consider the FBI for a minute, but I really like being in the lab.

What’s your favorite pathogen/substance to work on—and why?

I really like to work on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). I’ve studied PFAS since they were called perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). Despite studying them for so long, they are constantly finding new ways to challenge us, and I like learning new things.

The theme for this year’s Public Health Laboratory Appreciation Month is legends. What scientist, be it a real-life person or fictional, famous or not, do you consider a legend? Why?

Dana Scully! She was a legend who has inspired many young women in STEM!