Pathways to New Positions
Panel Date: Monday, April 24, 2023
Watch the recording here
The panel will engage scientists that have worked in Arabidopsis, obtained their PhDs, held postdoc positions, and have gone on to fairly recently secure independent positions in academia, industry, and research institutes. We include panelists that currently have positions in plant biology and non-plant biology areas, following their education and training in using Arabidopsis. They will share their perspectives on finding their jobs, interviewing and preparing, and advice for those on the job market, or who will be there soon.
Panel will be moderated by NAASC members Adrienne Roeder, Anna Stepanova, and Joanna Friesner
Panelists
Dr. Natalie Clark, Computational Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard (USA)
Dr. Cesar Cuevas-Velázquez, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry of the School of Chemistry, UNAM (Mexico)
Dr. Heather Meyer, Senior Scientist, Mozza Foods (USA)
Dr. Justin Watkins, Analytical Scientist, KBI Biopharma (USA)
Some questions that may be discussed (you can submit your own when you register!):
How did they find their jobs?
How did they prepare for their interview?
What did they wish they knew before applying?
Is there any other preparation they wish they had done?
What advice do they have for going on the job market?
Panelist Bios
Dr. Natalie Clark is currently a computational scientist in the Proteomics Platform at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She was first introduced to plant biology during her Ph.D. in Biomathematics at North Carolina State University, where she worked with Dr. Ross Sozzani on Arabidopsis root stem cell development. She then pursued a postdoctoral position with Dr. Justin Walley at Iowa State University, where she used multi-omics approaches to investigate hormone signaling and disease resistance in both Arabidopsis and maize. Through these roles, Dr. Clark established herself as a systems biologist who integrated both wet lab and computational work. In 2022, she transitioned out of plant biology and into a fully computational role in the Proteomics Platform, where she applies her mathematics and computational expertise to various proteomics-focused projects.
Dr. Cesar Cuevas-Velázquez obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemical Engineering with honors from the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatepec (Mexico). He did his PhD in Biochemical Sciences at the Department of Plant Biology of the Biotechnology Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), working with Dr. Alejandra Covarrubias. During his PhD, Cesar and his colleagues discovered that the structural sensitivity of dehydration-induced Intrinsically Disordered Regions (IDRs) from Arabidopsis is connected to their protective properties under desiccation in vitro. He then did a postdoc with Dr. José Dinneny at the Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Department of Biology, Stanford University, where he used an Arabidopsis IDR to develop a genetically-encoded fluorescent biosensor that dynamically reports the effects of osmotic stress in living cells from bacteria, yeast, plants, and human cell culture. During his postdoc, Cesar was named PEW Latin American Fellow in the Biomedical Sciences. Since 2019, he started his own lab as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the School of Chemistry, UNAM. In his lab, he and his team use molecular, biophysical, and cell biology approaches to characterize the structural sensitivity of IDRs in response to changes in the physicochemical properties inside the cell. His lab leverages this knowledge to develop fluorescent biosensors that are activated by macromolecular crowding. His team also explores how intracellular macromolecular crowding impacts plant cell functions, particularly during environmental perturbations such as osmotic stress and desiccation.
Dr. Heather Meyer received her Ph.D. in Genetics, Genomics, and Development at Cornell University, where she worked with Dr. Adrienne Roeder to investigate how cells exploit variable gene expression in order to drive cell fate decisions and tissue growth using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. She then moved on to do her postdoc at the Carnegie institution for Science, where she worked on how intrinsically disordered proteins may function as thermosensors in plants. Now Dr. Meyer is currently working as a senior scientist for the plant biotech company MozzaFoods — a company bioengineering plants to produce dairy-identical cheese— while also continuing her research on plant thermosensing at the Carnegie Institution for Science-Stanford.
Dr. Justin Watkins was first exposed to the great Arabidopsis plant as an undergraduate researcher at NC State University in the Heike Sederoff lab where he worked on projects related to gravitropism and phototropism. After graduating with a B.S. in plant biology, he started his Ph.D. under the mentorship of Dr. Gloria Muday at Wake Forest University. His dissertation focused primarily on characterizing the role of flavonol antioxidants in regulating guard cell signaling and drought sensitivity in Arabidopsis and tomato, although there was some Arabidopsis root architecture research thrown in there for good measure. Building on his passion for cell biology and teaching pedagogy, Justin began the SPIRE Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at UNC Chapel Hill in the Alan Jones Lab. Supported by the NIGMS, the SPIRE program allowed him to combine research at UNC Chapel Hill with teaching at UNC Pembroke as a Visiting Assistant Professor. His research focused primarily on Arabidopsis Heterotrimeric G Proteins, specifically, the biochemical mechanisms behind how G proteins enable the plant to sense pathogen invasion and coordinate downstream defense responses. Taking a 90-degree left turn in late 2021, Justin transferred his experience in research and education to the biopharmaceutical development world. Working at KBI Biopharma in Durham, NC, Justin is an analytical chemist helping design the process development pathway of new drugs, including antibodies, protein vaccines, and cell therapeutics. Justin utilizes a wide variety of separation and plate-based assays to assess critical performance criteria of potential commercial drug products that are then presented to internal and external clients. While not directly related to his Arabidopsis research, his past experiences no doubt impact his research in the drug development sphere.
