Speaker bios
Preparing for an Independent Research Career (9:00am-9:45am)
Featuring Christopher V. Wright, D. Phil., Cell and Developmental Biology
Christopher Wright (Professor, Dept. Cell & Developmental Biology) is vice-chair for faculty affairs for his department, Director of the Vanderbilt Program in Developmental Biology, Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology, and Associate Director for Developmental Biology in the Biodevelopmental Origins of Lung Disease (BOLD) Center. His B.Sc. (University of Warwick, U.K., 1980) included training in developmental biology under Drs. Alan Colman and Hugh Woodland. His D. Phil. in Biochemistry (University of Oxford, 1984) with Dr. John Knowland focused on purifying and characterizing steroid receptors as transcription factors, testing their ability to reprogram gene-expression in frog oocytes. From 1985-1990, Wright worked with Dr. Eddy De Robertis (Basel, Switzerland then UC Los Angeles), on the just-discovered vertebrate homeobox genes. Amongst many publications, he reported the first description of Pdx1 in frogs, a marker of posterior-foregut embryonic endoderm including prospective pancreas. Since joining Vanderbilt in 1990, Wright has been amongst the leaders in the transcriptional regulation of pancreas organogenesis. From over 200 publications, selected discoveries include the first examples of cell-fate switching by switching on or off specific transcription factors and determining how they control developmental potential in stem and progenitor cells. Other major discoveries in other areas of developmental biology include embryonic germ-layer specification and differentiation; activities of BMP, Wnt and Nodal signaling molecules; mechanisms of setting left-right asymmetry.
Many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have trained in his laboratory and many now run their own senior research programs in the USA and abroad. He was a member of F32 NRSA fellowship evaluation committees and full member of NIH DEV-1 study section, and chaired that committee. He chaired one of the inaugural MIRA/R35 review panels and NICHD T32 study sections reviewing clinical/physician-scientist training and basic research. He directed an NICHD T32 grant in developmental and stem cell biology for around 26 years. He has taught and organized many premier graduate-level courses and been on numerous admissions committees for students and postdoctoral fellows. He helped recruit dozens of assistant and higher-level professors to Vanderbilt and has been a member of over 100 Ph.D. thesis committees, chairing dozens. He co-organized top-level meetings such as Keystone Meetings, Gordon Conferences and Society for Developmental Biology National Meetings. He received the 2022 Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Award from the International Society for Developmental Biology.
Applying and Interviewing for Faculty Jobs (10:00-11:30am)
Prashant Donthamsetti, Ph.D., Pharmacology
Jin Chen, M.D., Ph.D.., Cancer Biology and Cell & Developmental Biology
Krishna C. Mudumbi, Ph.D., Cell and Developmental Biology
Prashant Donthamsetti is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology. After graduating from Boston University and a brief stint in industry, he joined the lab of Dr. Jonathan Javitch at Columbia University as a graduate student. There he uncovered novel aspects of dopamine receptor function and pharmacology. From there, Prashant went on to do his postdoc at UC Berkeley in the lab of Dr. Ehud Isacoff, where he pioneered novel photo-pharmacological tools for controlling receptor function. At Vanderbilt University, the Donthamsetti lab is currently developing novel tools to both detect and manipulate various aspects of brain function.
Krishna completed his undergraduate degree at Emory University, after which he worked in industry for some time before getting his Masters from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia studying fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) dimerization. He then went on to get his Ph.D. In Weidong Yang’s lab where he developed various single-molecule microscopy methods to study protein trafficking into the nucleus. After his Ph.D., he joined the lab of Mark Lemmon at Yale university, where he was an NCI early K99 Fellow. In the Lemmon lab he combined single-molecule microscopy work with structural studies to understand the mechanisms of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. Krishna opened his own lab at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in January 2025.
Funding the Launch of your Research Career (12:00-12:45pm)
Featuring Nicole Zaleski, MA, MPH, Associate Director, Research Development
Nicole joined the Research Development and Support (RDS) team in November 2023. Her focus areas include mapping VU research strengths to external federal and foundation opportunities, supporting the development of compelling proposals, and enhancing multidisciplinary collaboration and team science. Prior to joining RDS, Nicole served as Associate Director of Therapeutic Development at Sarah Cannon Research Institute where she oversaw a blood cancer and cellular therapy research portfolio comprised of ~100 clinical trials, evaluated new study opportunities for scientific interest, and engaged with pharmaceutical companies to secure partnerships. She also brings experience with funding strategy and grant writing from her previous role as Scientific Project Manager at the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research where she contributed to several federal and foundation proposals. Nicole received an MA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies from the University of Arizona, an MPH in Global Health from the University of Arizona, and a BA in Psychology, Gender Studies, and French from Louisiana State University.
Setting Up a New Lab (1:00-2:15pm)
Kristin Patrick, Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology, Molecular Pathogenesis
Monica Santisteban, Ph.D., Medicine
Marie Suver, Ph.D., Biological Sciences
Dr. Patrick is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Yale University and completed postdoctoral training in RNA biology and yeast genetics at University of California, San Francisco. Her lab works to uncover novel mechanisms of post-transcriptional control of innate immune gene expression in macrophages. They are particularly interested in how RNA binding proteins orchestrate inflammatory responses and restrict pathogen replication. In addition to running an NIH-funded research program, Dr. Patrick is a dedicated mentor of graduate students and was recently appointed as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Microbe-Host Interactions Graduate Program at VU.
Dr. Marie Suver’s research focuses on understanding how neural computations drive coordinated behavior. Her lab uses a variety of tools to dissect the neural circuits that control behavior including in-vivo patch clamp recordings, two-photon imaging, machine learning-assisted quantitative behavior, genetic tools and connectomics. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington, Dr. Suver first earned degrees in computer science and biology. She earned her PhD at the California Institute of Technology where she studied the role of state-dependent neuromodulation in the visual system working with Dr. Michael Dickinson. For her postdoctoral work she joined Dr. Kathy Nagel’s lab at the NYU Neuroscience Institute to study mechanosensory circuits for wind-guided behavior. During her postdoc Dr. Suver won several awards including the Leon Levy Fellowship in Neuroscience, NYU Langone’s Outstanding Postdoc Award, and a BRAIN Initiative K99/R00. In 2022, Dr. Suver established her independent lab in the department of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt to study sensory-motor circuits for coordinated behavior. Using the compact and tractable brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the Suver lab aims to advance our understanding of fundamental mechanisms for sensation and perception.
International Faculty Panel (2:30-3:45pm)
Rafael Arrojo eDrigo, Ph.D., Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Vivian Gama, Ph.D., Cell and Developmental Biology, Associate Dean for Mentoring
Annet Kirabo, D.V.M., M.Sc., Ph.D., Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Rafael Arrojo eDrigo was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I received by bachelor’s in biology from Mackenzie University in Sao Paulo and my Ph.D. in endocrinology from the Federal University of Sao Paulo. Did most of my PhD work in the US. After graduating, I moved to Singapore for my first postdoc at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where I trained on advanced light microscopy techniques applied to diabetes research. After 4 years, I moved to the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences in San Diego, California for my second postdoc. There, I learned about cell aging, and developed electron and stable isotope microscopy techniques to study cell and protein longevity. After 4 years, I moved in 2020 to Nashville to start my own lab at Vanderbilt Molecular and Physiology Dept.
Dr. Kirabo is a tenured Associate Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with joint appointments in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. My research program focuses on the immune mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on how lipid oxidation-derived aldehydes, particularly isolevuglandins (IsoLGs), contribute to maladaptive immune activation, inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and end-organ injury. I have made seminal contributions to understanding how IsoLGs mediate antigen presentation and activate T cells in hypertension, culminating in over 185 peer-reviewed publications. My lab has pioneered methods to detect, quantify, and neutralize IsoLGs using chemical scavengers and genetically modified models.