Perspectives

Ph.D. Student Emily Bernstein
My goal to pursue a graduate career in genetics could not have been better fulfilled than it has been at the University at Stony Brook. Stony Brook has an outstanding reputation in the sciences and its graduate programs are excellent. The Graduate Program in Genetics has given me an opportunity to perform research with some of the country’s most renowned scientists.

Laboratory rotations are an integral part of choosing a thesis lab—it is where you spend the majority of your Ph.D. years. The program provides the option for rotations at two other institutions in addition to Stony Brook, namely Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. This allows for collaboration with more than 80 researchers, as well as a diverse scientific community. I have chosen a lab at Cold Spring Harbor where I have found my scientific niche and have spent the past year working on an exhilarating and educationally motivating project. The Genetics Program has given me an experience of a lifetime that will no doubt prepare me for whatever scientific challenges may come my way in the future.

Alumnus Sanford J. Madigan, Ph.D. 1990
Senior Director, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning X-Ceptor Therapeutics, Inc.
As a senior manager with an early stage biotechnology company, my principal responsibilities include overall strategic planning for the company; acquiring technologies relevant to our needs and goals; presenting the company as part of a small team to larger companies that may be interested in collaborating with us on our proprietary drug-discovery targets and platform technologies; and negotiating the scientific, legal, and financial parameters of these collaborative arrangements.
I received a Ph.D. in Genetics from Stony Brook in 1990. At Stony Brook I studied the sterol biosynthetic pathway in Dictyostelium discoideum under the tutelage of Dr. Eugene Katz. My primary studies entailed using selective pressure to isolate mutant strains in which the normal end product of sterol biosynthesis was replaced by a precursor molecule that afforded resistance to the selection. We were able to begin to elucidate the sterol biosynthetic pathway in this organism by determining the epistatic effects of various mutations.

The programs at Stony Brook were varied and stimulating, thereby creating both a broad perspective and challenging environment. Faculty members were always available to discuss or to critique ideas, an invaluable aspect of my development. In particular, my graduate advisor fostered independence and critical thought, which, I believe, are two skills essential to any career. I did my post-doctoral work at the Salk Institute. I am now at my third biotechnology company and have interacted with leading scientists in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry. The excellence of caring and the talented people at Stony Brook stacks up in an extremely positive light against these experiences.

Alumna Kimberly Gilmour, Ph.D. 1995
Clinical Scientist, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, England
The main reason that I chose to enroll in the Genetics Program at Stony Brook was the diverse faculty and research interests as well as the opportunity to do truly original research. I was not disappointed. During the required coursework, we heard world experts discuss topics ranging from DNA replication to population genetics. While at Stony Brook, my research in Nancy Reich’s lab focused on cytokine signal transduction. Not only did Nancy support and encourage my work, but my committee provided ideas, support, and encouragement to collaborate and think beyond my current research.

Having received my Ph.D., I was awarded an Imperial Cancer Research Fund Fellowship and spent three years in London in the laboratory of Dr. Mike Owen studying thymocyte development. The broad base of knowledge I gained at Stony Brook allowed me to apply a variety of techniques and ideas to my research and led to the development of a retroviral system for infecting murine fetal thymus organ cultures with signaling molecules, replacing the need to use transgenic and knock-out animals.
In February 1999, I was appointed as a Clinical Scientist in Immunology at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (GOSH). I oversee and develop protein-based diagnostics for primary immunodeficiency patients in England and Wales. I now use many of the assays that I used as a Ph.D. student to identify components of cytokine signaling pathways to diagnosis children with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) who lack particular components of these cytokine signaling pathways. One of the patients I diagnosed was sent to Alan Fisher in Paris for gene therapy, a discussion topic when I was at Stony Brook. Due to our unique patient population here at GOSH, I have identified new causes of primary immunodeficiency, established collaborations as far afield as Japan, Philadelphia, and Switzerland, published papers, diagnosed patients, and educated everyone from graduate students and clinicians to the general public about immunodeficiency. None of this would have happened without the excellent training, support, and guidance I received at Stony Brook.

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