For many postdocs, research fellowships are a vital form of funding. This semester, three postdocs from MCB labs have recently been awarded fellowships. Bongmin Bae of the Whipple Lab earned an F32 award from the NIH. Malcolm Campbell of the Uchida Lab received a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). And Fabian Voigt of the Engert Lab was selected for a Branco Weiss Fellowship.
Bongmin Bae (Whipple Lab)
The NIH awarded a Ruth L. Kirchstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, or F32, to postdoc Bongmin Bae of the Whipple Lab. F32 grants support postdoctoral training of promising early career scientists who are likely to become independent investigators. “I’m really grateful and excited to receive this fellowship,” Bae says. “It means a lot to me because it recognizes the work I’ve been passionate about. I want to thank Amanda and everyone in the Whipple Lab for their support and feedback.”
Her research looks into how three-dimensional structures of DNA shape imprinted gene expression. Specifically, she’ll be investigating how chromatin and regulatory elements in the DNA interact in the context of genomic imprinting.
“What motivates me most is the joy of learning something new each day,” Bae adds. “It’s the small discoveries and the constant process of uncovering new details that keep me engaged and excited about my research.”
Malcolm Campbell (Uchida Lab)
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) selected postdoc Malcolm Campbell of the Uchida Lab to receive a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. K99s are awarded to late stage postdocs to facilitate the transition from postdoc to independent researcher leading their own lab.
“It’s satisfying to get some recognition for the quality of work I’ve done so far and encouragement to continue along this career path–something I don’t take for granted,” Campbell says. “My advisor Nao Uchida was tremendously helpful and read many drafts and my excellent lab mates provided intellectual and moral support, including during late nights in lab. I had two kids during my postdoc, so there’s no one I’d like to thank more than my wife, Linda, who heroically supported me holing up for a month to write it.”
The award will support Campbell’s research on how networks of dopamine neurons predict future rewards. “I discovered that a specific group of neurons drives a “derivative-like” computation tracking the change in how much reward the animal expects,” he says. “It turns out this change signal is very useful from a theoretical perspective, and we now have the chance to understand how it works concretely in biology!”
Fabian Voigt (Engert Lab)
Postdoc Fabian Voigt of the Engert Lab has been chosen to receive a Branco Weiss Fellowship. The international fellowship provides up to five years of funding for early career scientists pursuing research with potential to open up new fields.
Voigt is developing tools for measuring neuronal activity in larval zebrafish while they’re freely swimming and interacting socially. Existing methods often require the fish to be under very unnatural conditions, such as holding them still under a microscope. New tracking microscope techniques for studying freely moving zebrafish will hopefully yield new insights into social behaviors.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to receive this fellowship as it supports both my current postdoctoral work as well as starting my own lab—and does so without geographical restrictions,” Voigt says. “The Branco Weiss Fellowship has a long tradition of funding highly interdisciplinary research which is especially significant for me as my favorite way of
doing research is to bridge fields that usually don’t interact with each other—for example astronomy and neuroscience .Getting support for risky interdisciplinary projects is exceedingly difficult and I got incredibly lucky in that regard as both of my academic mentors—Fritjof Helmchen at the University of Zurich and Florian Engert at MCB have provided me with the freedom to pursue weird ideas—which is something I’m incredibly grateful for!”
Please join us in congratulating these postdocs!
