Balancing teaching and research experiences in doctoral training programs: lessons for the future educator

While a variety of alternative careers has emerged for Ph.D. life scientists in industry, business, law, and education in the past two decades, the structure of doctoral training programs in many cases does not provide the flexibility necessary to pursue career experiences not directly related to a research emphasis. Here I describe my efforts to supplement my traditional doctoral research training with independent teaching experiences that have allowed me to prepare myself for a career that combines both into a combined educational program. I describe the issues I have come across in finding and taking part in these endeavors, how these issues have affected my work in pursuing my Ph.D., and how my experiences translate into my hopes for a future education-based career in molecular and cell biology.     

Where the hormones, there moan I

This autobiography traces the effects of "marriages" of different fields on the development of new directions of research. Such events occurred several times in my career and generated much of my research.     

Passage of a Young Indian Physical Chemist through the World of Photosynthesis Research at Urbana,Illinois, in the 1960s: A Personal Essay

In September 1963, I came to the famous Photosynthesis Laboratory of Eugene Rabinowitch (1901-1973) at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois, after submitting my doctoral thesis, under Professor Pasupati Mukerjee, in physical chemistry, then at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta, India. I present here my personal impressions, my research and interactions at the then International Center of Photosynthesis at Urbana, Illinois. A brief mention is made of research of others at this center, my collaboration with Govindjee (Urbana) and with John Olson (at Brookhaven National Laboratory).     

(M,R)-systems, (P,M,C)-nets, hierarchical decay, and biological aging: reminiscences of Robert Rosen

I have the pleasure to present a number of personal experiences that I had with Robert Rosen, both as his student and as a research colleague, and I will describe how this affected my academic career over the past decades. As a matter of fact, Rosen's work with (M,R)-systems as well as his continuing mentorship guided me into my own research in gerontology and geriatrics. Amazingly, this still continues to affect my work in complexity theory after 30 years.     

The microenvironment matters

The physical and biochemical properties of the microenvironment regulate cell behavior and modulate tissue development and homeostasis. Likewise, the physical and interpersonal cues a trainee receives profoundly influence his or her scientific development, research perspective, and future success. My cell biology career has been greatly impacted by the flavor of the scientific environments I have trained within and the diverse research mentoring I have received. Interactions with physical and life scientists and trainees and exposure to a diverse assortment of interdisciplinary environments have and continue to shape my research vision, guide my experimental trajectory, and contribute to my scientific success and personal happiness.     

Plans of mice and men: from bench science to science policy

The transition from bench science to science policy is not always a smooth one, and my journey stretched as far as the unemployment line to the hallowed halls of the U.S. Capitol. While earning my doctorate in microbiology, I found myself more interested in my political activities than my experiments. Thus, my science policy career aspirations were born from merging my love of science with my interest in policy and politics. After receiving my doctorate, I accepted the Henry Luce Scholarship, which allowed me to live in South Korea for 1 year and delve into the field of science policy research. This introduction into science policy occurred at the South Korean think tank called the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI). During that year, I used textbooks, colleagues, and hands-on research projects as my educational introduction into the social science of science and technology decision-making. However, upon returning to the United States during one of the worst job markets in nearly 80 years, securing a position in science policy proved to be very difficult, and I was unemployed for five months. Ultimately, it took more than a year from the end of the Luce Scholarship to obtain my next science policy position with the American Society for Microbiology Congressional Fellowship. This fellowship gave me the opportunity to work as the science and public health advisor to U.S. Senator Harry Reid. While there were significant challenges during my transition from the laboratory to science policy, those challenges made me tougher, more appreciative, and more prepared to move from working at the bench to working in the field of science policy.     

Radicals in Berkeley?

In a previous autobiographical sketch for DNA Repair (Linn, S. (2012) Life in the serendipitous lane: excitement and gratification in studying DNA repair. DNA Repair 11, 595–605), I wrote about my involvement in research on mechanisms of DNA repair. In this Reflections, I look back at how I became interested in free radical chemistry and biology and outline some of our bizarre (at the time) observations. Of course, these studies could never have succeeded without the exceptional aid of my mentors: my teachers; the undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and senior lab visitors in my laboratory; and my faculty and staff colleagues here at Berkeley. I am so indebted to each and every one of these individuals for their efforts to overcome my ignorance and set me on the straight and narrow path to success in research. I regret that I cannot mention and thank each of these mentors individually.     

Teaming up: from motors to people

When I reflect on how I became a cell biologist and why I love being one today, one thing that comes to mind is the many terrific collaborations I have had. The science I am most proud of from my graduate and postdoctoral training would not have been possible without working in teams with other scientists. Now, in my own group, much of our best work is being done collaboratively, both within the lab and with other labs. In this essay, I will highlight my experiences working in teams as a trainee, the role teamwork has played in my own research group, and how important I think collaborative science is for the future of biological research.     

A Reminiscence

Leslie Orgel and Francis Crick with Gobind Khorana in Madison, Wisconsin (December 1965). I first met Leslie at the Endicott House (MIT) in February 1964. Leslie was then spending a period of time at MIT and the occasion was a party for him. During our conversation, Leslie talked about starting some experimental work. He seemed to be particularly interested in polyphosphates and the chemical activation of small molecules (building blocks).Shortly after his move to the Salk Institute in the Fall of 1964 I visited him in January 1965. He already had a lab going. I remember meeting Jim Ferris, in particular, and John Sulston sometime later. That particular time was exciting for my research as well. We had the first results on the Genetic Code using the chemical-biochemical approach that my lab had developed. Francis Crick was also at the Salk Institute during the time of my visit. Both Leslie and Francis were very excited by my results and they began to ask a lot of questions and gave me a whole lot of suggestions about further experiments. In fact, my thinking and planning of things that we were doing were so scrutinized and clarified during these discussions that, it seemed to me, my own group had only to turn out all the experiments that were needed. These interactions with Francis and Leslie continued intensively throughout that year and later. In fact, both Leslie and Francis accepted my invitation to Madison in December 1965 for more discussions.Since those early days of the Salk Institute, I have made numerous visits over the years to Leslie and his research group. It has always been very exciting to learn about the many discoveries bearing on chemical evolution that have unfolded from Leslie's research group. In addition, I have always benefitted from the insightful comments that Leslie invariably provided on my own research. I look forward to our continued interactions and friendship in the future.Leslie, A Happy Birthday!     

The wanderings of a free radical

In my career I have moved from chemistry to biochemistry to plant science to clinical chemistry and back again (in a partial way) to plants. This review presents a brief history of my research achievements (ascorbate–glutathione cycle, role of iron in oxidative damage and human disease, biomarkers of free radical damage, and studies on atherosclerosis and neurodegeneration) and how they relate to my research activities today. The field of free radicals/other reactive species/antioxidants underpins all of modern Biology. These agents helped to drive human evolution and the basic principles of the field are repeatedly found to be relevant in other research areas. It was an exciting field when I started some 40 years ago, and it still is today, but some major challenges must be faced.     

Forty years of research on the assembly and infection process of bacteriophage

This short biographical note was written as part of the lead-in material for a festschrift kindly organized for me on the occasion of my 70th birthday. The collection of articles assembled in this issue range within the spectrum of the topics covered in the special issue ‘Multiscale structural biology—biophysical principles and practice ranging from biomolecules to bionanomachines.’ Here I describe some of the high points of my 40 years of research science conducted in the USA, Switzerland and Japan. I also use this opportunity to express my sincerest thanks to my former colleagues and the very many contributors who so kindly contributed to this special issue.     

Adenosine: old passion, new perspectives

In this review is summarized my research in the adenosine field from the beginning of my carrier to day. My research began preparing the degree thesis with Prof. Carlo Alfonso Rossi, about the purification and characterization of adenosine deaminase. My scientific interest for adenosine has spread during the years and I have been interested in the study of ARs and their related transduction and in the study of molecular mechanisms involved in homologous and heterologous AR receptor regulation.     

In search of evolutionary developmental mechanisms: the 30-year gap between 1944 and 1974

The approach I have elected in this retrospective of how I became a student of evo-devo is both biographical and historical, a case study along the lines of Waddington's The Evolution of an Evolutionist ('75), although in my case it is the Evolution of an Evo-devoist. What were the major events that brought me to developmental biology and from there to evo-devo? They were, of course, specific to my generation, to the state of knowledge at the time, and to my own particular circumstances. Although exposed to evolution and embryology as an undergraduate in the 1960s, my PhD and post-PhD research programme lay within developmental biology until the early 1970s. An important formative influence on my studies as an undergraduate was the work of Conrad Hal Waddington (1905-1975), whose writings made me aware of genetic assimilation and gave me an epigenetic approach to my developmental studies. The switch to evo-devo (and my discovery of the existence of the neural crest), I owe to an ASZ (now SICB) symposium held in 1973.     

A quest to understand molecular mechanisms for genetic stability

In the midst of the post-war turmoil in Japan, I fortunately followed a path to become a scientist. Sometime at an early stage of my career, I encountered the problem of the cellular response to DNA damage and had the chance to discover a DNA repair enzyme. This event greatly influenced the subsequent course of my research, and I extended my studies toward elucidating the molecular mechanisms of mutagenesis as well as of carcinogenesis. Through these studies I came to understand the importance of mechanisms for dealing with the actions of reactive oxygen species to the living systems. These recollections deal with these endeavors with emphasis on the early part of my scientific career.     

Twenty years of research on primordial germ cells.

Just twenty years ago I was preparing a research project centred on establishing methods for the isolation and culture of mouse primordial germ cells (PGCs). The project had been suggested to me by Anne McLaren and was to be developed at the Medical Research Council (MRC) "Mammalian Development Unit" in London under the direction of Anne herself. At that time I was a young postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Histology and Embryology of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and did not imagine that my decision to be involved in this project would signal a profound switch in my scientific life. From then on my research would mostly concentrate on primordial germ cell biology. I feel like saying that the modern history of mammalian primordial germ cells began twenty years ago at the MRC Mammalian Development Unit under Anne McLaren's impulse. It is not surprising that among the most active researchers in the last twenty years in studying mammalian primordial germ cells, three, namely Chris Wylie, Peter Donovan and myself, began their studies under Anne McLaren's guidance. Over the years, Anne's suggestions and encouragement were always precious for my studies and her presence marked my most important findings on PGC biology. She often invited me to present the results obtained in my laboratory to workshops and congresses. In the present article some of these results particularly influenced by Anne's teaching and suggestions will be briefly reviewed.     

Another decade of advances in research on primary cilia,porosomes and neosis: Some passing thoughts at 70

This editorial contains some of my reflections on a career spanning almost 50 years in biomedical research at the cellular level and over 12 years as Editor‐in‐Chief of Cell Biology International, at the time of my 70th birthday. It is gratifying that I have been involved in some of the more important organelles and processes that have come to the forefront of cell research today, and I have chosen just three examples to illustrate this point.     

Against Harmful Research on Non‐Agreeing Children

The Code of Federal Regulations permits harmful research on children who have not agreed to participate, but I will argue that it should be no more permissive of harmful research on such children than of harmful research on adults who have not agreed to participate. Of course, the Code permits harmful research on adults. Such research is not morally problematic, however, because adults must agree to participate. And, of course, the Code also permits beneficial research on children without needing their explicit agreement. This sort of research is also not problematic, this time because paternalism towards children may be justifiable. The moral problem at the center of this paper arises from the combination of two potential properties of pediatric research, first that it might be harmful and second that its subjects might not agree to participate. In Section 2 of this article I explain how the Code permits harmful research on non‐agreeing children. Section 3 contains my argument that we should no more permit harmful research on non‐agreeing children than on non‐agreeing adults. In Section 4, I argue that my thesis does not presuppose that pediatric assent has the same moral force that adult consent does. In Section 5, I argue that the distinction between non‐voluntary and involuntary research is irrelevant to my thesis. In Section 6, I rebut an objection based on the power of parental permission. In Section 7 I suggest how the Code of Federal Regulations might be changed.