This fall, the Lab welcomes six new faculty members. They’re a diverse group—a mix of junior and senior investigators, with research spanning across Biology. Want to know a little more? We are featuring brief profiles all week. So check back for more!
Assistant Professor Je Lee, Genomics
Where are you from?
George Church’s Lab at Harvard Medical School, but I grew up in Alaska.
What do you study?
How cells sense and remember timing, location and history, and how their surroundings influence their signals with other cells. I also develop various imaging and molecular sequencing methods for tracking genes, molecules and cells to understand how cancer cells arise and evolve.
What motivates you?
I love working with imaginative colleagues, posing important questions, and challenging consensus views.
What most excites you about CSHL?
A great collaborative environment where I can think quietly and deliberately, while engaging with the world’s best scientists through CSH meetings throughout the year.
If you aren’t in the Lab, where can you be found?
I like to spend time thinking and reading about the principles that govern complex behaviors in biology and society. That is, until my kids burst into my room, pulling me away to beaches, parks, and playgrounds.
Assistant Professor Jessica Tollkuhn Neuroscience
Where are you from?
Entirely from California! I was most recently at UC San Francisco, but I grew up in Santa Cruz and did both my undergraduate and graduate work in California.
What do you study?
I am interested in how transient events during development program neurons to take on a specific identity and function. More specifically, I am studying how estrogen and testosterone generate sex differences in the brain and behavior.
What motivates you?
I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else. Talking about new data with interesting colleagues over a good drink is the best way to spend an evening.
What most excites you about CSHL?
Being immersed in this spectacular community. Everything seems to be designed to facilitate innovative science. The beauty of the campus and the sense of history really get into one’s brain as well.
If you aren’t in the Lab, where can you be found?
I am a bit of a music nerd. I don’t make it out to many shows these days, but my prize possession is my 1958 all-tube Zenith Hi-Fi. I can both connect it to wifi and play records, including 78s!