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An Educational Journey Leading to a Career in Science

An Educational Journey Leading to a Career in Science. University of Wisconsin—Whitewater. April 12, 2010. Curiosity is the Engine that Drives Science. United States of America. Longmont, Colorado (1984). Longmont Junior High School. Martin Luther King Middle School. Lakewood

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An Educational Journey Leading to a Career in Science

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  1. An Educational Journey Leading to a Career in Science University of Wisconsin—Whitewater April 12, 2010

  2. Curiosity is the Engine that Drives Science

  3. United States of America Longmont, Colorado (1984) Longmont Junior High School Martin Luther King Middle School Lakewood High School 7th Grade (1984) 9th&10th Grade (1986 & 87) 8th Grade (1985) Longmont, Colorado St. Petersburg, Florida St. Pete High School The Pointer Institute Hao Wah Chinese Restaurant St. Pete Beach Hotels 10-12th Grade (1987-89)

  4. Georgia Institute of Technology (1990) 1990 Philosophy Aerospace Engineering Hoechst Celanese Chemical Engineering 1997 Pathfinder landing 1994 Gary B. Schuster Chemistry 1998 Irving Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship Andrew Wiles, Princeton James Gunn, Princeton Peter G. Schultz Chuck Thacker, UC Berkeley

  5. UC Berkeley (1998) Student demonstration 1998 Free expression Andrew Martinez (a.k.a. The Naked Guy) A homeless man

  6. The Scripps Research Institute (1999-2001) Torrey Pines Golf Course Scripps Black Beach Miramar Air Station San Diego Naval Station

  7. Publication of the Aging Work Progeria Werner Syndrome

  8. Hayley Okines Hayley’s preparing for her best friend’s funeral http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmb-XkSQg4c A tribute to children with Progeria http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=app_2309869772&id=100000381621440

  9. Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Professor, 2001 Chemistry Department Research Interests Addressing problems at the interface of Chemistry and Biology, with emphasis on gene regulation and correction

  10. Discovery of the Genetic Codes 1954 1953 1944 2001 DNA Recognition

  11. Nucleic Acid Recognition WC base-pairing DNA Double Helix Recognition Frank-Kamenetskii, M.D. Nature, 1987, 328, 17.

  12. Groove Binding Paris team Triplex-Formation Hoogsteen pairings Lyamichev, V.I., Mirkin, S.M., Frank-Kamenetskii, M.D. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn.3, 1985, 327−338. Moser and Dervan. Science, 1987, 238, 645. Sun and Helene. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol., 1993, 3, 34. Thuong and Helene. Angew. Chem. Int.2003, 32, 666. MIT, Johns Hopkins, Scripps teams Caltech team Polyamides Polydactyl Zinc-Fingers Kielkopf and Dervan. Science, 1998, 282, 111. Fregeau and Lown. JACS, 1995, 117, 8917. Jantz and Berg. Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 789. Beerli and Barbas. Nat. Biotech, 2002, 20, 135. Pavletich, N. P. and Pabo, C. O. Science, 1991, 252, 809.

  13. Watson-Crick Recognition of Double-Stranded B-DNA CMU team • Dragulescu-Andrasi, A., Rapireddy, S., Frezza, B. M., Gayathri, C., Gil, R. R., Ly, D. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 10258.  Rapireddy, S., He, G., Roy, S., Armitage, B. A., Ly, D. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 15596. • Chenna, V., Rapireddy, S., Sahu, B., Ausin, C., Pedroso, E., Ly, D. H. ChemBioChem2008, 9, 2388. • Sahu, B., Chenna, V., Lathrop, K. L., Thomas, S. M., Zon, G., Livak, K. J., Ly, D. H. J. Org. Chem. 2009, 74, 1509. • He, G., Rapireddy, S., Bahal, R., Sahu, S., Ly, D. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 12088. • The infamous quotes: • “If you sleep well at night, you are not doing important science” • “There is no second place in science” • “If you’ve been to hell, everything else afterward is nirvana”

  14. First Impressions on the Job • Felt a sense of awe • Felt like walking on a tight-rope without the safety net beneath • The BIGGEST fear was that I might ruin the lives of these young graduate students & postdocs

  15. A Career in Science Industry Academia • Pros •  Comfortable life (9-5 job) • Higher (initial) salary • Receive other financial incentives • Deliver goods directly to consumers Cons • Follow company’s hierarchical rules • Work is dictated by profit • Job insecurity • Pros • Academic freedom • You are your own boss • Opportunity to shape the lives of young people • College tuition incentive for your children • Job security (tenured) Cons • Constantly writing grant proposals • Work long hours • A lot more external obligations

  16. Securing an Academic Job Tenure (5th or 6th yr) Hiring (1) Put together a tenure package (PI) -Scholastic achievements -Educational accomplishments -Departmental/university obligations -A list of students and colleagues (2) Dept. solicits letters from students, colleagues both internal & external (natl. & intl.) (3) Departmental level (4) Adhoc tenure committee (5) College level (dept. heads) (6) College deans & Provost (7) Board of Directors (8) President sends out the verdict •  Stiff competition • Selection is based on merit • Invitation for interview • Give a “chalk talk”, m/w colleagues  Make an offer to the best candidate Start-Up Package •  Laboratory space • Start-up account

  17. Philosophy on Education and on Life • Students learn best when they are inspired • Schooling is about learning on how to learn • Tackle each problem with fervor and conviction • In life work hard, play hard—NO REGRET • Take on personal misfortunes as challenges, not as excuses • GRADES will not matter in real life

  18. A Measure of Success • It’s NOT about fame or fortune • It’s about finding something in life that you are passionate about • It’s about setting milestones and do everything you can to achieve them • Even if you don’t succeed, you should be happy knowing that you have given your best • Each one of us has different dreams and ambitions My definition of success • A hardworking, honest, considerate, and responsible person • I strive to be a better person each day than the day before • Live your life according to your principles and values; there’s a proverb in my country that says “At HOME we have separate mothers, but in the FOREST there is only ONE mother” • Be a big BROTHER or SISTER to those in need; take them under your wings and provide them with directions and guidance A career goal: Dedicated towards improving human health A personal goal: Restore the hopes and dreams of children around the world

  19. Concluding Remarks • The future is a blank slate • Find something in life that you are passionate about • Mold it, shape it in any which way or form you like • Make this world a better place for our children to live in • The road may be long and treacherous, but you will get there if you are determined Danith H. Ly, Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University http://www.chem.cmu.edu/groups/ly/

  20. Acknowledgements Postdocs: Miaomiao Wang Srinivas Rapireddy Venugopal Chenna Bichsmita Sahu Graduate students: Peng Zhou Anca Dragulescu-Andrasi (Stanford) Gaofei He Subhadeep Roy (Univ. Colorado) Matthew Crawford Iulia Sacui Raman Bahal Undergraduate students: Lei Due (Penn State) Brian Frezza (Scripps Research Institute) Jihoon Lee (U Florida) Elizabeth Wiltrout (U Chicago) Jesse O’Hara (Princeton) Andy Hsieh (UC Berkeley) Brian Belardi (UC Berkeley) Robert Meehan (Yale) Sheldon Cheung (Caltech) Collaborators: Professor Bruce Armitage Professor Alan Waggoner Professor Joanne Yeh (Pitt) Professor Enrique Pedroso (Spain) Dr. Gregory Fisher Dr. Marcela Madrid Dr. Roberto Gil Dr. Jennifer Grandis (UPMC) Dr. Sufi Thomas (UPMC) Dr. Charles Thornton (RMC) Dr. Jerry Zon (ABI) Dr. Kenneth Livak (ABI) Funding: Berkman Faculty Development Fund CMU Innovative Seed Fund Applied Biosystems Head and Neck SPORES (NIH) Lung Cancer SPORES (NIH) National Institutes of Health

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