MPATH Faculty Search Webinar and Q&A
October 05, 2023Information
On September 18, we held a Q&A session about the MPATH faculty search. We discussed the search process, starting a lab in the department, resources for support and mentorship, and life in Connecticut.
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- 00:22Hi everyone. Thank you for
- 00:24joining and we'll give everyone
- 00:25a few minutes to get logged in.
- 00:53Okay, Let's get started.
- 00:56My name's Andy Goodman,
- 00:59I'm chair of the Department of
- 01:01Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale
- 01:03School of Medicine and want to thank
- 01:05everyone for joining in this webinar.
- 01:07The plan for the next hour is to spend
- 01:11about the first half talking a bit about
- 01:15the the search and the faculty position.
- 01:20The panelists here will talk about
- 01:22different aspects of starting and running
- 01:24their labs here in the in the department.
- 01:27And and then I want to wrap that up
- 01:31at around 12:25 and dedicate the
- 01:33rest of the time for your questions.
- 01:36And so by hopefully 1225,
- 01:39we'll be ready to start taking any questions.
- 01:42Just to tell you in advance,
- 01:45the questions can be written into the
- 01:48Q&A box at the bottom of your screen.
- 01:51Then I will look through them and
- 01:53I'll read them out loud for everyone,
- 01:55for everyone to hear.
- 01:58And then the panelists will help me
- 02:02out with answering your questions.
- 02:04So first we're going to do some brief
- 02:08quick introductions of the panelists.
- 02:12My name's Andy Goodman.
- 02:13Like I said,
- 02:14I work on the human gut microbiome.
- 02:18And I think an unexpected positive
- 02:22for me in start since starting
- 02:25my lab about about 12 years ago
- 02:28was a life in Connecticut.
- 02:30I really had no idea about
- 02:32living in Connecticut.
- 02:33I'm not from here and have really
- 02:36enjoyed the environment that we we have.
- 02:40So, so next Hesper,
- 02:41how about you?
- 02:43Hi everybody. My name is Hesper
- 02:45Rigo and I'm an associate
- 02:47professor here in the department.
- 02:49My lab studies uses bacterial
- 02:52genetics and imaging techniques
- 02:54to study mycobacterial infections
- 02:56at the single cell level and I
- 03:01would say 1 unexpected or maybe,
- 03:03I don't know, maybe it was kind
- 03:04of expected but but my strength
- 03:06of enjoyment was unexpected.
- 03:08In terms of running a lab.
- 03:09Turning a lab is really just
- 03:11what it means to mentor trainees
- 03:12and getting to see their growth,
- 03:14especially graduate students
- 03:15from the beginning of their time
- 03:17in the lab to to graduating.
- 03:18It's it's a really it's an amazing
- 03:20experience and a great honor to
- 03:22be involved in their training.
- 03:29I meant this Yachi Ho,
- 03:31associate professor in this department.
- 03:33I started my lab in 2017.
- 03:36I work on mechanisms of HIV persistence,
- 03:39particularly using clinical samples and
- 03:41single cell multionics and genomics
- 03:44or C based profiling approaches.
- 03:46Walther and I,
- 03:47we are the two director of graduate
- 03:50studies in the microbiology PhD program.
- 03:52It was well three in the previous
- 03:54years and recently it's me taking
- 03:56taking on this and so we both work
- 03:58very closely with our students and
- 04:00unexpected surprise for me is that
- 04:02before I interview and applied here at
- 04:04this department about 6-7 years ago,
- 04:06I knew nobody, not even welfare.
- 04:07We've never met in meetings you
- 04:09know talk any to anybody and people
- 04:10in here are doing great science
- 04:12but I just never know them.
- 04:14I I didn't even expect that I will
- 04:15get the interview and get get an offer
- 04:18but it turn out it's being a wonderful
- 04:20wonderful environment and to work
- 04:22with and that's a great surprise to me.
- 04:27Walter
- 04:28Walter Motis professor in the department.
- 04:32I'm a biologist and the image HIV and
- 04:36Sascori 2 across multiple scales.
- 04:40Fun fun fact about my start was that I
- 04:44had a student from day one because first
- 04:48year student transferred from from a
- 04:51different lab into my lab. It was great,
- 04:57great. Thank you.
- 04:58And we'll circle back to each of our
- 05:00panelists to talk about other aspects
- 05:03of the faculty position in a minute.
- 05:06But I wanted to start by taking a
- 05:08few minutes to talk a bit about the
- 05:11search process and the calendar.
- 05:13So as you've probably seen in the
- 05:16advertisements or on Interfolio,
- 05:18this is an open search.
- 05:20We're interested in bringing in
- 05:24colleagues that are working on viral,
- 05:26bacterial or parasitic infections,
- 05:29pathogen host interactions,
- 05:31as well as the role of microbes more
- 05:33broadly in in health and disease.
- 05:36And you know,
- 05:37one way that we're thinking about this,
- 05:40this question in such a broad range
- 05:43of research areas is how we can best
- 05:46support and mentor each applicant.
- 05:48So to give you a bit of an inside
- 05:50peek in the discussions that happen,
- 05:52once the applications come in,
- 05:54we ask the question of will an
- 05:59applicant have the support they
- 06:01need and do better here than
- 06:03they would somewhere else.
- 06:05So again,
- 06:05we're looking to bring in new
- 06:07areas and also to find those links
- 06:10where again we can be the best
- 06:12mentors and and provide the best
- 06:14set of colleagues to allow junior
- 06:17faculty member to help them thrive.
- 06:20In terms of the calendar,
- 06:22things are a bit approximate,
- 06:24but just to give you a general overview,
- 06:27we're going to start reviewing
- 06:30applications October 15th.
- 06:32So the Interfolio site will
- 06:34not close on October 15th.
- 06:36But it's really a good idea
- 06:37to have your application in,
- 06:39because it's harder for applications to
- 06:42catch up if they come in after October 15th.
- 06:47Over the course of the fall,
- 06:48we'll have multiple rounds of review.
- 06:50Every application will be read
- 06:52by multiple members,
- 06:54faculty members in the department,
- 06:58and then a second round of application
- 07:00that will be read by all faculty
- 07:02members in the department,
- 07:04with the goal of inviting
- 07:08a subset of applicants to a faculty search
- 07:11symposium that will be held in the spring.
- 07:14So we hope to have those invitations
- 07:17out by early January and have
- 07:21the symposium in February.
- 07:23So the way that this symposium will
- 07:26work is the final group of of applicants
- 07:31will be invited to come visit on site
- 07:34and I will spend 2 days together.
- 07:38The the every applicant will give
- 07:41a seminar for the department and
- 07:45well as well as have meetings with
- 07:47trainees as well as individual faculty
- 07:50members and and then we plan to have
- 07:54second visits in in March and April.
- 07:57So that that's a general calendar as
- 08:01you've probably seen on the interfolio
- 08:02site and in the advertisements there
- 08:05is a a goal of of actually making
- 08:09multiple offers in this search and
- 08:12recruiting a multiple faculty.
- 08:13So this symposium is a bit of
- 08:16an unusual format,
- 08:18but we found it can be a very effective
- 08:20way of getting a sense of of the growth
- 08:23of the department as well as learning
- 08:27about some really exciting science.
- 08:29So that's the general calendar.
- 08:31Once we get to our Q&A in a few minutes,
- 08:33if you have questions about
- 08:35the search or the calendar,
- 08:37I'm happy to talk,
- 08:39talk more.
- 08:39But now I'll hand it over to Hesper
- 08:42who's going to talk a bit about research
- 08:45and teaching and a few other things.
- 08:54I got a giant screen of myself. Okay.
- 08:57Yeah. So I'm, I'm going to talk a
- 09:00little bit about the your research
- 09:02teaching balance in the department
- 09:05and then some office support,
- 09:08our admin support that we have
- 09:10here in the in the department.
- 09:11So where the Med school which I think
- 09:13for many Med schools and and this
- 09:15one is no exception means that our
- 09:18teaching load is actually quite light
- 09:20compared to our colleagues on the in
- 09:22the FAS department at the main camp.
- 09:25And so we really teach beginning
- 09:28graduate students and and primarily
- 09:32we have two courses that are that are
- 09:37departmental faculty participate in.
- 09:40One is a course directed towards
- 09:43bacterial pathogenesis and mechanisms
- 09:45of interactions and with the host
- 09:48and and bacteria and then the
- 09:50other one is related to virology.
- 09:52And so each departmental faculty
- 09:55typically teaches one or two lectures
- 09:57every semester And one of those courses,
- 10:00you know there are other opportunities
- 10:02to teach around campus.
- 10:03So, so I actually teach several lectures
- 10:08in the graduate level microscopy course
- 10:11here at the Med school and I also
- 10:14actually teach several lectures in the
- 10:16undergraduate course about microscopy.
- 10:18But overall I would,
- 10:19you know the balance,
- 10:20the teaching research balance tips
- 10:23heavily towards research here in
- 10:25this department which I think if
- 10:26you know you're anything like me,
- 10:28I think was a huge benefit actually
- 10:32to joining this department.
- 10:33And then in terms of, you know,
- 10:36I've never been in any other department,
- 10:37so I don't know what it's else
- 10:39it's like out there in terms of
- 10:41office support or admin support.
- 10:43And and that means really, you know,
- 10:44and I didn't know this when I started my,
- 10:46my lab,
- 10:47I didn't understand how vitally important
- 10:49these people are to getting, you know,
- 10:51your research program up and going.
- 10:53But they're extremely important.
- 10:55And I would say, you know,
- 10:57I'm always amazed at like just the vast
- 11:00amount of help that I get on in any one area,
- 11:04especially around grants,
- 11:05Submitting grants is,
- 11:07you know,
- 11:07something we have to do a lot.
- 11:09And having the support there of
- 11:11like understanding how to create a
- 11:12budget and what that means and and
- 11:14all of the support going toward
- 11:16to the submission of that grant
- 11:18has been really phenomenal here.
- 11:21So Okay, I guess I'll stop there,
- 11:25Okay. Thanks, Husper.
- 11:27I'll turn it over to Yachi,
- 11:29who's going to talk a little more about
- 11:32the graduate program and mentorship
- 11:33and support for junior faculty.
- 11:36Sure. So we are running this
- 11:40microbiology PC program.
- 11:41So our department is
- 11:42about 12 primary faculty,
- 11:44but this PC program involves
- 11:46A faculty around the campus,
- 11:47about 100 faculty.
- 11:49So naturally faculty in our
- 11:51department will be in this PC program.
- 11:53But then with this,
- 11:56this collaboration with other people,
- 11:58it means that we are able to recruit
- 12:00a diverse range of PhD student
- 12:02because they're attracted to a very
- 12:03rigorous diverse kind of program.
- 12:05So right now we have more than
- 12:0850PHD students currently.
- 12:09With that each each year there
- 12:12may be about around 8PHD students
- 12:14each year coming in and these
- 12:16students are supported either
- 12:18by micro microbiology training
- 12:19grant or virology training grant,
- 12:22some departmental funds,
- 12:23school funds and then this creates
- 12:25us a very good opportunity
- 12:26for us to interact with them.
- 12:28All these students come in and
- 12:30doing 3 rotations frequently with
- 12:32our faculty versus others and
- 12:34with this collaboration we we've
- 12:36been having a great time and
- 12:38having our PhD students and for
- 12:40the junior faculty support and
- 12:42in our department we have this a
- 12:45faculty rib kind of presentation,
- 12:47basically just faculty and that we
- 12:50talk about and our ongoing research.
- 12:53How do we drop this into aims that
- 12:55we can submit for the next hour one
- 12:58we get each other feedbacks and
- 13:00we have these closed door but very
- 13:03intimate kind of interaction and
- 13:04what if you do this, what if you do that.
- 13:07These are very insightful wise and
- 13:09hands on kind of and help from
- 13:12each other at a faculty level.
- 13:14For example when I started as a
- 13:17faculty I may have problems you
- 13:19know strikes like a shaping my
- 13:21own research directions or trying
- 13:23to crack into a grant.
- 13:24And I feel like these support
- 13:26from our our you know department
- 13:28colleagues are very very helpful.
- 13:30And also I would like to say that
- 13:33different from some institutes I
- 13:34sort of feel that at at least at
- 13:38yellow in my our department on the
- 13:40day one I got so much so much support
- 13:42as a junior faculty that welfare helped me.
- 13:45At that time.
- 13:46Jorge was the the department chair.
- 13:48He helped me as if if I cannot get
- 13:50tenure they will feel terrible.
- 13:52They will feel as if if
- 13:54they didn't help me enough.
- 13:55This is a a department trying their
- 13:58best to help me. Do you need resources?
- 14:00Do you have everything? Can I read?
- 14:01I can read your grant for you.
- 14:03It's a very,
- 14:04very unhelpful collegial and you
- 14:06know wonderful department and I feel
- 14:08like this is a great place for junior
- 14:11faculty to develop your own career.
- 14:19OK. Thanks she and and and Walter
- 14:21I think I had asked you to say a
- 14:24bit about departmental activities
- 14:25and and life in Connecticut.
- 14:28Yeah. So we have many academic activities
- 14:33and and career events and and yeah
- 14:38she and Andy know how important is
- 14:41this so so in general is what what we
- 14:43is that our trainees, our students,
- 14:46our post docs are involved in in
- 14:48the organization of these events.
- 14:51Like we just had our department
- 14:54retreat on Friday where students post
- 14:58docs and faculty gave short talks
- 15:0010 minute each and we had a poster
- 15:03sessions there and many percent.
- 15:05So I think I really really liked
- 15:08the format the we have of seminars,
- 15:13the departmental seminar seminars.
- 15:15Again a committee of this all trainees
- 15:19involved oversee the nomination process
- 15:22and and the of course secondary as well.
- 15:26But this helps us really to to make this
- 15:29an institution of our department that
- 15:32has a support from all constituents
- 15:37and then the research and progress
- 15:41one student and one postdoc,
- 15:43the present in these this
- 15:45and our experience give us
- 15:47gives us the best attendance,
- 15:49the best faculty attendance as well,
- 15:51so we can provide feedback to our trainees.
- 15:54And in these events
- 15:59I like to say a few words about
- 16:02living in Connecticut as well.
- 16:05Connecticut is very green but it
- 16:09has a strap board bridges so so the
- 16:13entire state they formed when the
- 16:17African continent separated from
- 16:20America and and they continues in
- 16:22Massachusetts all the way into Southern
- 16:24New Hampshire the New England scenic
- 16:27trail and starts in Guildford goes
- 16:29along these switches all the way to
- 16:31the Monadnock and the urban life.
- 16:34So my I spent my open life in New Haven.
- 16:38I love I love New Haven I love the
- 16:41year campus SLS in West Hartford
- 16:43because my wife and my kids work and
- 16:46go to school in West Hartford and
- 16:48and both are really great places.
- 16:51Thanks. Right.
- 16:54Thanks, Walter.
- 16:56So that was a a quick whirlwind tour of
- 17:00some of the topics that that you know,
- 17:03maybe come to mind as you're thinking
- 17:05about about faculty positions.
- 17:06But I hope the overall message that
- 17:09you've seen is that, number one,
- 17:11this is a department that is a beginning
- 17:14a significant phase of of growth.
- 17:17This will be the first in a series
- 17:19of faculty searches that have been
- 17:23commissioned by the School of
- 17:25Medicine to significantly expand
- 17:27in microbial pathogenesis.
- 17:29Concurrently, they'll be an expansion
- 17:32in space as well in the floor
- 17:35directly above where the department
- 17:37is currently currently located.
- 17:39So it's a period of a very exciting,
- 17:41exciting growth and and it's a group
- 17:45of people who are serious about
- 17:48their research and serious about
- 17:50their mentoring and we really take
- 17:53take pride in our graduate program
- 17:55and and supportive of postdocs.
- 17:56I'd add one more example which is a retreat,
- 18:00a second retreat that we held earlier
- 18:02this year that was focused specifically
- 18:05on trainees where we brought in
- 18:08alumni and other microbiology pH D's
- 18:11representing diverse careers and spent
- 18:14the whole day actually off site at
- 18:17the Mystic Aquarium for trainees to
- 18:20learn about a wide range of careers in
- 18:23academia and biotech and and beyond.
- 18:26So, so again a department with a lot
- 18:30of growth and we're very excited to
- 18:32have this search under underway and
- 18:34maybe I'll stop there and set aside the
- 18:37rest of our time for any questions.
- 18:40Like I said before,
- 18:41please write your questions in the
- 18:44Q&A and I'll keep an eye on those.
- 18:46One thing I'd add is that if you have
- 18:49questions about specific research topics,
- 18:52probably best to send those by by
- 18:57e-mail and and rather than than
- 19:04here. But yeah, we'll open
- 19:06up the Q&A for any questions.
- 19:14OK. So the first question
- 19:18has already come in.
- 19:20It's the question is about
- 19:22computing resources and data storage
- 19:25services available on campus.
- 19:30Anybody wanna start with that?
- 19:32I can also answer address that one
- 19:37and I can. I can start first though,
- 19:39because we work on single
- 19:40set RN A/C based approaches,
- 19:41so we need a whole lot of and
- 19:43high high performance computing.
- 19:45So right now we have like
- 19:47a 40 terabytes with YCGA.
- 19:49So basically this is a Yale
- 19:51Center for Genomic Analysis.
- 19:53There's a very large investment
- 19:55from the School of Medicine
- 19:57to make sure that we can,
- 19:58we can proceed very well on
- 20:00these big data analysis.
- 20:02So we have a huge amount of
- 20:03storage at a very affordable
- 20:05price and they're still keep
- 20:07expanding to meet the need
- 20:09for different labs.
- 20:12Thanks, Archie. Yeah,
- 20:14so every faculty member has access
- 20:16to the High Performance Computing.
- 20:19Cluster. You can opt in to
- 20:21purchase additional compute nodes
- 20:23within the cluster if you want,
- 20:26but even without any payment at all.
- 20:29My lab, which does a lot of microbiome,
- 20:33metagenomics, RNA seq, etc.
- 20:35Has always just used the default
- 20:38allocation of computing resources
- 20:40that every faculty member gets,
- 20:42and that's been sufficient in in in my case.
- 20:46I'd also add that the High Performance
- 20:48Computing group is also very well staffed,
- 20:51and they can help you implement
- 20:54software onto the cluster,
- 20:57either for use by your lab only or
- 21:00for broader use across the university.
- 21:03So it can be if you if you seek that it can.
- 21:07In addition to storage and compute nodes,
- 21:09it can be an interactive experience
- 21:12where you're working with the HPC
- 21:15group on software implementation.
- 21:19Yeah yeah we we need a lot of
- 21:23computing space so cryo Electro
- 21:25tomography and and and the center
- 21:27has just been upgraded and these
- 21:30all units I never heard about
- 21:33before because every this is an
- 21:36exponential expansion really of what
- 21:40is needed for all the large data.
- 21:42But this is this is state-of-the-art,
- 21:45and very cheap.
- 21:50The next question is about the source
- 21:53of funding to support new faculty.
- 21:57So as part of a recruitment,
- 22:01we offer a startup package that includes both
- 22:06lab space as well as funding to support.
- 22:12We typically look at expenses
- 22:16required for fully funding salary
- 22:19for the first three years as well as
- 22:23resources for starting the lab and
- 22:25that comes from the School of Medicine
- 22:29provides that that startup package.
- 22:31I would add that after the first three years,
- 22:34if there's any of those funds that
- 22:36you haven't spent, for example,
- 22:38you know if you've got gotten
- 22:40grants in those first three years,
- 22:41that funding from the startup
- 22:44is still yours to keep.
- 22:46So it doesn't expire.
- 22:48You're not forced to spend
- 22:50everything at the last minute.
- 22:52That's a resource that you'll
- 22:53have as long as you're at at Yale
- 22:58and and and and. In fact,
- 23:02after that point, the university,
- 23:05the School of Medicine continues to cover
- 23:1050% of salary, with the expectation
- 23:13that 50% of salary will be raised
- 23:16on grants again after three years.
- 23:18For the first three years, 100% of the
- 23:20salary is paid by the medical school.
- 23:22But after the first three years,
- 23:24if you raise more than 50% of your
- 23:28salary on grants, any overlap goes
- 23:31back essentially to your startup.
- 23:33So you can actually grow your
- 23:35startup over time,
- 23:38even after the first three years.
- 23:42The next question is is
- 23:44also a very good one.
- 23:46To what degree is research in the
- 23:48department motivated by grants?
- 23:50Does the question come first
- 23:52or the funding concerns?
- 23:56I can give my answer to that,
- 23:57but I mean I'll let, I'll let our other
- 23:59panelists give their perspectives.
- 24:10Okay, I can go ahead first in in my
- 24:13mind there really is no question
- 24:15that the question comes first.
- 24:18When we look at applications,
- 24:21we are not doing this from the perspective of
- 24:26you know that how something's going to
- 24:28be funded or whether something's going
- 24:31to be funded is the primary question.
- 24:33We're looking for transformational,
- 24:38exciting, groundbreaking,
- 24:40creative science and scientific questions
- 24:45that again as a department we can provide
- 24:48support to allow someone to really thrive.
- 24:50That's where we start.
- 24:51We offer a lot of support for
- 24:54funding those projects along the way.
- 24:56I think you heard about some of
- 24:59those examples like our faculty
- 25:01research in progress,
- 25:02like our very strong business
- 25:05office etcetera.
- 25:06But in my view the the question
- 25:10very much comes first.
- 25:15I would like to add some of
- 25:17my my experience with this.
- 25:19I would say when I joined this
- 25:21department my my assigned role is Yachi.
- 25:24You just do the best science.
- 25:26You don't need to pretend to
- 25:27write a grant with anyone any
- 25:28colleagues to help each other.
- 25:30No, you just find a question and do the best.
- 25:33And I think that these great
- 25:35scientific directions which which
- 25:38I hope what would develop we'll
- 25:40get into grants for example like
- 25:41I would say so fix my hasper got
- 25:43a Searle and Pew in the the very
- 25:45beginning of how she started this
- 25:47program and that's a very like a
- 25:49clear and saying is that you know
- 25:51we have someone who's working on
- 25:53something that may hopefully change
- 25:55the textbook change the paradigm
- 25:57then the funding will just come by
- 25:59itself because of the great science.
- 26:09Yeah. I would just I guess add you know
- 26:12and one thing I didn't mention
- 26:13sort of in the my introduction is
- 26:15you know when one of the things
- 26:16that I think is always really
- 26:18impressed me about this department
- 26:20is that the their ability to,
- 26:22you know what I mean I guess
- 26:24at this point I mean us like
- 26:28when we evaluate applicants, right,
- 26:30we aren't looking at like your just
- 26:34check boxing in terms of like your
- 26:37papers and your you know maybe your
- 26:39fellowships and all of that stuff.
- 26:40Like we're actually trying to evaluate
- 26:42you know the whole package and and
- 26:44what we think is in terms of potential
- 26:46for great scientific discoveries.
- 26:48And I think a good example of this
- 26:51is actually when I got hired I didn't
- 26:53have a postdoc paper and it came later,
- 26:56you know, came out actually while
- 26:58I was when I first started the
- 27:00lab I I pushed my post op paper.
- 27:01But there the willingness for the
- 27:04committee to like bet on me as as a
- 27:07scientist and not like a reviewer,
- 27:09you know, not based on the,
- 27:12you know the opinions of sort
- 27:14of three anonymous reviewers,
- 27:15I thought was a incredible thing.
- 27:18And I think just speaks to the
- 27:20quality of mentorship and the
- 27:22type of you know exciting science
- 27:25that people want to see here.
- 27:30Yeah if I if I can add
- 27:33so it's it's three times that you
- 27:36know faculty where were recruited
- 27:40and by by this department before the
- 27:43main postdoc paper came out So this
- 27:45this kind of illustrates that we are
- 27:48you're not checking superficially
- 27:50boxes we we we we are looking for
- 27:55exciting greater science and this
- 27:57relates also to the next question we
- 27:59are not we are not going for specific
- 28:02fields I'm just back from the from
- 28:05the crossing harbor horse partage
- 28:07and meeting and you're you had the
- 28:11scientists come from Europe and they
- 28:13came from the institute for franchise
- 28:16research so each an entire for each
- 28:18topic an entire institute that's not
- 28:20how we think So we we believe if if
- 28:23they have diversity we learn the most
- 28:26from each other so they're not really
- 28:29we are interested in you and what
- 28:32you bring and not topic and they're
- 28:35not superficially checking boxes
- 28:39right thanks. So the next question
- 28:41for the audience to was whether
- 28:44there was any specific research
- 28:46areas that were hoping to expand and
- 28:48Walter kind of answered that already.
- 28:51I would highlight again that that
- 28:53there's the possibility of actually
- 28:56recruiting multiple faculty from this
- 28:58same search and we have a very wide,
- 29:02wide perspective,
- 29:04not targeting specific areas in advance,
- 29:07but instead thinking about individual
- 29:09applications and how we can provide the
- 29:13best support to help someone succeed
- 29:15even beyond how they would otherwise.
- 29:18The next question is about
- 29:20the symposium format,
- 29:21whether we've used it before,
- 29:22and what the feedback was from
- 29:24visiting participants.
- 29:25So the answer is,
- 29:27is we sort of have used it before.
- 29:30The other hat that I wear is director
- 29:33of the Microbial Sciences Institute,
- 29:35which is a group of microbiologists from
- 29:39various departments across the university.
- 29:43And we've used the symposium
- 29:45format there for multiple years,
- 29:47including in partnership with Microbial
- 29:51Pathogenesis in the in the past.
- 29:54And I'll be very honest,
- 29:55I think there's pros and cons and
- 29:57it's a bit of an art to doing
- 29:59a symposium successfully.
- 30:03I think that the advantage,
- 30:04what I really like about it is it
- 30:08allows us to look at at candidates,
- 30:11you know,
- 30:12in a very short time window and not
- 30:15stretched out over six weeks or two months.
- 30:17And so we don't have candidates
- 30:21who are being evaluated from a
- 30:24visit two months before compared
- 30:26to someone who came last week.
- 30:28It'll also allows us to have
- 30:31stronger participation across the
- 30:35medical school because people can
- 30:38just set aside that day to attend
- 30:41rather than some people see some
- 30:43visits and some people see others,
- 30:45and that includes our trainees.
- 30:46So our postdocs and students will
- 30:49attend all the seminars and be
- 30:52quite involved in this process
- 30:54and it facilitates that.
- 30:56And also again,
- 30:57I want the symposium to highlight the
- 31:01exciting phase of growth that we're in,
- 31:03in the department.
- 31:04And because we hope to be
- 31:07making multiple offers,
- 31:10the people who visit in the
- 31:13symposium will get to see the
- 31:15type of science that's around.
- 31:17I should clarify that the
- 31:18chalk talks will not be open.
- 31:20So that'll just be an individual candidate
- 31:25with the search committee and faculty,
- 31:29whereas the seminars will be
- 31:33attended by all the participants.
- 31:35So we have asked candidates or
- 31:39participants after about feedback
- 31:41in the symposium and I think that
- 31:44the thing that we have to get right
- 31:46is again the chalk talks that
- 31:49there's enough time for people to
- 31:51talk about their future research
- 31:53directions while also having everybody
- 31:56have a chance to participate.
- 31:59And so that's something again with our
- 32:01experience doing this over several years,
- 32:02I think we're pretty have
- 32:04pretty well well figured out.
- 32:08The next question is, is I think
- 32:12for maybe all three of our panelists
- 32:17a question about the microscopy
- 32:18facilities and support for
- 32:20data acquisition and analysis.
- 32:31Hasper and Walther can
- 32:33talk for two hours each.
- 32:35I can take, I'm going to stab at it.
- 32:39So you know I I would say that
- 32:41imaging at in all different
- 32:43modalities is like baked and deal.
- 32:44It's one of the things that it was
- 32:47so exciting to me about starting
- 32:48a research lab here was just the
- 32:51appreciation and desire for you know
- 32:54using advanced imaging technologies
- 32:56and that goes from light microscopy
- 32:59and you know or whole animal imaging
- 33:03down to cryoelectrontomography.
- 33:04So I would say that you know we
- 33:07in terms of like you know a lot
- 33:09of labs actually including mine,
- 33:11we don't really use the microscopy
- 33:12centers which I think are excellent
- 33:14here because because we have our own
- 33:17technology and and it's all in house.
- 33:19But I think because of that there's
- 33:21so much expertise here that you can
- 33:22really just like go to you know,
- 33:24you know who the experts are and and
- 33:26they're all and they're all willing to help.
- 33:29I also say there's funding set aside.
- 33:31You know,
- 33:32I was just actually talking to Jen Lu
- 33:34who's a member of our department who
- 33:35is really like one of The Pioneers
- 33:38in cryoelectronic topography,
- 33:39especially towards bacteria.
- 33:41And you know,
- 33:42we're planning a collaboration to to
- 33:46use this technology and my technology
- 33:49to kind of answer some cool questions.
- 33:51So I think there's, like I said,
- 33:53I think it's really big den.
- 33:54I think the support,
- 33:56you know you know I'll let others speak
- 33:58to sort of the institutional support.
- 34:00I actually I've never had to
- 34:02you know utilize that.
- 34:04But it's a very exciting area that I
- 34:08think Yale is incredibly strong in.
- 34:13Yeah, but I mentioned the image across scale.
- 34:16So we frequently use like 6 different
- 34:21instruments from biodominescence
- 34:23allowing in vivo imaging to photon
- 34:26down to confocal lightsheet and
- 34:30then Titan cry also basically across
- 34:34all the scale scales and because we
- 34:38work on South Korea two and HIV it
- 34:41does includes instruments in B, SS3.
- 34:44So and this is not possible this out
- 34:47storm institutional support but it's
- 34:50not it's not just institutional support
- 34:53but also support by your colleagues.
- 34:55So so it is kind of then then several
- 35:00times we needed new instrumentation
- 35:02and BSS three and then I I wrote
- 35:06instrumentation grants one it was
- 35:08funded and the other time it wasn't
- 35:11funded and but I I understood that
- 35:15this is my my responsibility as a
- 35:19citizen to to write an application
- 35:221st and and and outline the use
- 35:25and how many people would use it.
- 35:27And then then the second time when it
- 35:30didn't come through then colleagues
- 35:35several HHMI colleagues are willing to
- 35:38use the annual instrumentation funds
- 35:41to to contribute to this And then and
- 35:46that there's we were able to arrive at
- 35:4950% of the cost and then the medical
- 35:52school covered the remaining 50%.
- 35:53So this is just an example how institutional
- 35:57support and support from from colleagues
- 35:59is really what what makes us work.
- 36:02The Cancer Center supports many core
- 36:05facilities so that it's it's I think
- 36:07because Yale is so strong and imaging
- 36:10it's an appreciation across all
- 36:13levels that how important this is.
- 36:17I would add, I think Hesper and
- 36:20Walter represent one extreme of the
- 36:22spectrum and microscopy expertise
- 36:24and I represent the other extreme.
- 36:27But with the help from
- 36:29microscopy core facilities.
- 36:31I've had grad students do imaging
- 36:34focused imaging centered projects
- 36:36where again they're they're have
- 36:38just gone to the microscopy cores,
- 36:41gotten their training there and
- 36:42it's become the central technique
- 36:44in their project even though that's
- 36:46not my background and expertise.
- 36:48So from from both extremes,
- 36:51I think there's there's a
- 36:54lot of opportunities.
- 36:56The next question is about opportunity for
- 37:00interacting with departments and faculty
- 37:03outside the Med school in Arts and Sciences,
- 37:06for example, and grad students are,
- 37:10can you recruit grad students from
- 37:12Arts and Sciences into your lab,
- 37:13for example?
- 37:14And maybe Yachi,
- 37:16you could talk a little
- 37:17bit about the BBS program.
- 37:19Yeah. So at Yale BBS,
- 37:21all graduate students admitted to Yale
- 37:23BBS which is more than hundreds that
- 37:25they can join any lab within the LBBS.
- 37:28So Yale micro is BBS for example if
- 37:30they're MCDB student immunology student,
- 37:32genetic students,
- 37:33they choose to join any of those micro labs.
- 37:35Yes, they're, they're,
- 37:36they're they're fine doing so and this
- 37:39is under the full support with Yale.
- 37:41And then I will say a collaborations
- 37:44with undergrad campus and it's very,
- 37:46very active because it's not very far.
- 37:48This is like just no more than like 15
- 37:51minutes between these like undergrad
- 37:53campus versus our medical campus.
- 37:55For example over the COVID time I send
- 37:57a graduate student Kristen to doctor
- 37:59wrong fans lab bioengineering in the
- 38:02science field and we're have making
- 38:04these microfluidic device in their
- 38:06lab and just a natural collaboration
- 38:10so right so the graduate program in
- 38:14biological biomedical sciences spans
- 38:16both what we call the undergraduate
- 38:18campus as well as the medical school.
- 38:20So graduate students are not
- 38:22predestined for faculty of Arts and
- 38:26Sciences labs or medical school labs.
- 38:28They come in through an
- 38:30umbrella program that's
- 38:32both both parts of campus participate in.
- 38:37The next question may also be for
- 38:40Yachi about clinical potential
- 38:42for clinical access to clinical
- 38:45samples and clinical collaborations.
- 38:48Yeah, so my research builds
- 38:50on translational research.
- 38:51I take blood and clinical samples
- 38:53from people living with HIV.
- 38:55So when I move from Johns Hopkins over
- 38:57here and my first question is that
- 38:58do I have access to clinical samples?
- 39:00It's really my bread and butter just like
- 39:02immunologists they need their mouse models.
- 39:04So I asked for three people running
- 39:07these clinical trials on site.
- 39:09They are all just so willing to share their
- 39:12protocol and their their samples with me.
- 39:14So I have seamless no break in
- 39:17recruiting study participants
- 39:18and getting clinical samples.
- 39:20And even if if you're approaching
- 39:22a different aspect,
- 39:23there is this Yale Center for Clinical
- 39:26Investigation which Andy worked with
- 39:28too that they Yale wants to enforce
- 39:30these kind of translation research.
- 39:32So even if your pure PhD for example,
- 39:35I don't actually practice in
- 39:36the United States,
- 39:37but then that we are able to obtain clinical
- 39:39samples through these collaborations.
- 39:43So the Yale Center for Clinical
- 39:46Investigation is really a bridging
- 39:47program for basic science researchers
- 39:50to start bringing clinical translational
- 39:52questions into their program.
- 39:55And to be more specific about it,
- 39:57in my case, one of our early
- 40:00studies that involved human samples,
- 40:02the YCCI provided a study
- 40:07coordinator just you know,
- 40:08on an hourly basis.
- 40:09So rather than you need to hire somebody
- 40:11to be our clinical study coordinator,
- 40:14they already had study coordinators
- 40:16there that were able to provide
- 40:18a small amount of their time
- 40:20to do our small pilot project.
- 40:22They also helped us with developing
- 40:25software to access important parts
- 40:28of anonymized clinical records,
- 40:30which as a basic scientist was
- 40:33something I'd never done before and
- 40:35it was all done through the YCCI.
- 40:39The next question may be for
- 40:42Walter about BSL 3 facilities.
- 40:47Yeah, I mentioned you have imaging
- 40:52capabilities and BSS three and
- 40:56there there's basically one in the
- 40:59neighboring building 1 entire floors.
- 41:01The water to BSS 3 is really combined
- 41:05animal and biosafety Level 3 and they
- 41:09SASCO V2 increased the use tremendously
- 41:14but it's well organized and and
- 41:20there are some additional small
- 41:22groups but I think the school wants to
- 41:26continue to develop and maintain the
- 41:29main main facility that's that's the
- 41:32way to go because you have a high user
- 41:36base and and the investments like in
- 41:38fact we need the new facts sort of for
- 41:41instance that's going in, There are
- 41:43all in in one big core facility, right.
- 41:49There's a few questions about the
- 41:52promotion process and associate and tenure.
- 41:55So maybe I'll kind of combine them together.
- 42:01The I think the first thing to say
- 42:03about the promotion process is that
- 42:05the commitment from the medical
- 42:10school for someone to hopefully spend
- 42:13their career at Yale going through
- 42:16promotion is made at the initial offer.
- 42:19That's when the the the bottleneck
- 42:21is is really having the university in
- 42:24the medical school commit to allowing
- 42:26us to do a search in the 1st place.
- 42:29Because when the medical school
- 42:31commits to a search,
- 42:32they're committing to the plan that that
- 42:36person will stay through promotions
- 42:38and tenure all the way through.
- 42:40So it is not a scenario where many
- 42:44assistant professors are hired
- 42:45with the goal or plan that a small
- 42:48number would stay with tenure.
- 42:50It's really the opposite of that.
- 42:52For that reason,
- 42:54the commitment from the medical
- 42:56school for multiple faculty positions
- 42:58for microbial pathogenesis is
- 43:00is all the more exciting because
- 43:03they're actually very conservative
- 43:05at this stage of starting a search.
- 43:08Because once we start a search,
- 43:09the plan is that anyone we recruit
- 43:13will continue again their career
- 43:16here all the way through and beyond
- 43:20a tenure in the history of of the
- 43:24microopathogenesis department,
- 43:25I think there's been one person
- 43:27who has not gotten tenure in the
- 43:31department to date.
- 43:34And I would also,
- 43:37yeah, but this this one person
- 43:39also had the department to support.
- 43:41So we want you to succeed and
- 43:45then when we bring you here,
- 43:48we are committed to your success
- 43:51and we understand that the clock
- 43:54is different for each person. So we
- 44:02and some people need more time. So
- 44:07yeah, I will add one thing
- 44:08about like during COVID,
- 44:09when every institute around the
- 44:12nation are facing with challenges,
- 44:14I think Yale is doing very well.
- 44:16For example, during COVID,
- 44:17we as young faculties are vulnerable,
- 44:19you know, to stop our research program
- 44:21because of certain restrictions.
- 44:23The Dean actually gave us COVID
- 44:24Bridge funds to make sure that we're
- 44:27able to sustain our research to
- 44:28move forward and in other institutes
- 44:30they may not have this buffer
- 44:32to help faculty over this time.
- 44:35But not only we don't,
- 44:36we don't lay off people,
- 44:37we don't have furlough,
- 44:38but we are well supported by the school.
- 44:46The, the next question I guess we
- 44:51can we can go to this question about
- 44:52opportunities for small pilot grant
- 44:56funding either within the department
- 44:59or interdepartmental seat and
- 45:00pilot funding at Yale as a whole.
- 45:03I can I can maybe start with with with that.
- 45:08We are actually launching a pilot grant
- 45:12program within the department to support
- 45:16collaborative projects around imaging
- 45:17and cryo ETI don't think these guys
- 45:19have actually even heard about this yet,
- 45:20but it's coming soon and there are many
- 45:25grant opportunities especially for a
- 45:28junior faculty where the university
- 45:30is any university is only allowed to
- 45:33nominate one or two people and those
- 45:36go through an internal process first.
- 45:39I was actually on that internal
- 45:42committee for many,
- 45:43many years and and helped junior
- 45:46faculty with that that process.
- 45:48So they're really at all levels.
- 45:50There's there's departmental pilot funding,
- 45:53there's university pilot funding
- 45:56including for sequencing focused projects,
- 45:59for clinical and translational projects
- 46:04as well as a postdoc funding for for
- 46:09post doc candidates and then for the
- 46:12ones that are national or international.
- 46:15There's a lot of support in in
- 46:18preparing those those applications.
- 46:23Yeah, May at the Cancer Center.
- 46:25The Cancer Center has many pilot
- 46:27grants and the core facilities
- 46:29have pilot grants to help people
- 46:32transition into using technologies.
- 46:41So there's a question about
- 46:44Nodobiotics and metabolomics,
- 46:45which maybe I could, I could answer.
- 46:48So, So Yale does have a nodobiotic
- 46:51core facility that's been running
- 46:54for many years and that's really a,
- 46:57you know, pay per service set up
- 47:01where when you're not using it,
- 47:03you're not paying anything.
- 47:05But that's used by multiple labs
- 47:08across the campus for for neurobiotics,
- 47:13for mass spec and metabolomics.
- 47:14There's two different facilities.
- 47:17One is for proteomics and kind of more
- 47:24straightforward metabolomic studies
- 47:25where you drop off a sample and get
- 47:29either proteomic results or specific
- 47:31panels of metabolites return to you.
- 47:35The other is the West campus
- 47:38analytical core where it's a user
- 47:41focused facility where students and
- 47:44postdocs are directly operating the
- 47:46instruments and just sign up for
- 47:49your instrument time and they're
- 47:51developing their own protocols
- 47:53with the assistance of a fulltime
- 47:56engineer who supports the facility.
- 48:03There's a question about again more
- 48:06about interests are are we interested in
- 48:09structural biologists or are we focused
- 48:12on microbiologists and immunologists?
- 48:15I I would, I would say that we are
- 48:18interested in in structural biology.
- 48:20Again, I think that the question
- 48:22that we'll be using to think
- 48:24about applications is, you know,
- 48:25how can we help this candidate,
- 48:27and I'm repeating myself,
- 48:29but do better in this department than
- 48:31they would if they went somewhere else.
- 48:33And so if there's links with
- 48:36microbiology from a structural
- 48:38perspective that could very much
- 48:40be of interest for this search.
- 48:46Let's see,
- 48:52there's a few other questions
- 48:54about the the symposium.
- 48:56I know this is an unusual format.
- 48:59I just encourage you to
- 49:01keep an open mind about it.
- 49:04The the number of candidates
- 49:10invited to the symposium.
- 49:11We don't really have a clear number there.
- 49:15It will, you know, if I had to guess,
- 49:18it would probably be 4 to 6,
- 49:22although again, we're focused much more
- 49:25on the candidates rather than the,
- 49:28you know, getting to a certain number.
- 49:31And another question about whether we're
- 49:35conducting prescreening interviews
- 49:37by Zoom before the symposium,
- 49:40we we probably will not.
- 49:44Our goal is to be able to have enough
- 49:46time with candidates to really
- 49:49understand how they think about
- 49:51science and how they think about
- 49:53their research program and we'll,
- 49:55you know use the written applications
- 49:58and then more one-on-one time
- 50:00to get a better sense of that.
- 50:08Let's see,
- 50:13there's a question,
- 50:15I'm sort of jumping around here.
- 50:17There's a question about animal
- 50:20availability of animal core facilities.
- 50:27Walter, do you want to?
- 50:28Yeah. I mean, there's plenty of space
- 50:31and there's no new building being built
- 50:33without having more animal space.
- 50:36It's, it's always been a tough priority.
- 50:47Let's see
- 50:54to find other questions.
- 51:01There's a few.
- 51:10Let's see. Here's a question
- 51:12about collaborations with the
- 51:14Department of Immunobiology,
- 51:16which is physically located just directly
- 51:22kind of across the street from the
- 51:25Department of Microbial Pathogenesis.
- 51:27And the two departments have been,
- 51:29you know, closely linked for a long time.
- 51:32There are multiple faculty in
- 51:34the Department of Microbial
- 51:36Pathogenesis who have secondary
- 51:38appointments in Immunobiology.
- 51:42There's always the members of
- 51:45the immuno biology department at
- 51:47our seminars and vice versa.
- 51:49Many of our onboarding training for
- 51:51new students like our responsible
- 51:53conduct or research course,
- 51:55we teach collaboratively with
- 51:58the immunobiology students.
- 51:59So they're quite tightly linked
- 52:03and there's multiple opportunities
- 52:06for for collaboration there.
- 52:18And so here's a question asking about
- 52:23experiences about collaboration,
- 52:26such as joint grant applications
- 52:28and code supervision of students.
- 52:30Anybody want to talk about collaboration?
- 52:34We
- 52:41do have a couple of students
- 52:43who have joined mentors.
- 52:48I mean, at the moment, Mario, for sure.
- 52:53Yeah. So but they're they're whatever
- 52:56is best for the student and we are we
- 53:00are happier and yeah she you're the DJs
- 53:04to implement. So there's no it's it's
- 53:10a case by case if it if it helps in
- 53:13this case the most then then yeah she
- 53:18is willing willing to help. Yeah.
- 53:21She you you can talk about this.
- 53:25Yes several, several grants.
- 53:29There are many joint grants
- 53:31particular in a structure like Kyo ET,
- 53:33there are many grants as Junlu,
- 53:35there are many joint grants
- 53:37and microbiome there.
- 53:39There are joint grants this campus.
- 53:42And so that there are many collaborations
- 53:46that materialize in into joint grants.
- 53:52And so the first year I joined,
- 53:53just the very first year in October,
- 53:55I saw NIH RFA saying that NIH
- 53:58wants to fund to substance use
- 54:048HIV single cell transcriptional mix.
- 54:06I have no idea about these.
- 54:07So I just Google who's on campus, I yell,
- 54:09I found Google Clogger who's a practition,
- 54:10I found Sandy Springer who's a clinician.
- 54:12We just work together and wrote
- 54:13a grand that's iron level,
- 54:14the first iron level funding that I got.
- 54:16I know I don't know them at all.
- 54:18But then we work together,
- 54:19we have several publications afterwards.
- 54:21So these these collaborations
- 54:23just come driven by science.
- 54:25I would say people at Yale are more like,
- 54:27you know, you're in this town that you're
- 54:29like trick or treating with each other,
- 54:31that people know each other.
- 54:33I bump into daily sheds at Costco.
- 54:35I have a SLE grant,
- 54:37don't ask me why with you know,
- 54:39with like with immunologists.
- 54:41And it's just because when
- 54:43the signs come together,
- 54:44people are very willing to help and say,
- 54:46oh, this is exciting,
- 54:47let's just work together.
- 54:49We help each other's students and
- 54:50we we're on each other's committee
- 54:52and the students will just
- 54:54identify these faculties themselves
- 54:56and writing grants together.
- 54:58It's just very, very natural.
- 55:00I'll say there are many,
- 55:01many opportunities.
- 55:04I actually looked this up in the
- 55:06process of renewing one of our
- 55:09training grants for graduate students.
- 55:11So the when we look at at faculty
- 55:13who have participated in in this
- 55:16one training grant, which is a
- 55:18microbial pathogenesis training grant,
- 55:20in the last five years there's been
- 55:22over 100 coauthored publications
- 55:24between members of these labs.
- 55:27So again just in a five year span
- 55:30over 100 papers that included
- 55:33multiple labs related to microbial
- 55:35pathogenesis here at Yale.
- 55:37So I think that's another kind of specific
- 55:40example of of the strength of collaboration.
- 55:42And if I found for my entire time
- 55:45here that one thing I really liked
- 55:47about about this place is that it's,
- 55:50it's big enough that you can find an
- 55:53expert in anything you might think of.
- 55:56But it's also small enough that you
- 55:59can you e-mail somebody cold that
- 56:00you've never met before and just say,
- 56:02hey, I'm also at Yale,
- 56:04I'm trying to figure out how to do whatever.
- 56:06And those conversations
- 56:08go forward because again,
- 56:10we do see each other walking down the street,
- 56:13etcetera.
- 56:14So I think it's a very nice size
- 56:16in that way that that captures the
- 56:19strength of a strong community,
- 56:21but also the size and expertise
- 56:24that will help us do our best.
- 56:27So we didn't get to all of the
- 56:31questions and feel free to e-mail me
- 56:35directly with the ones I didn't get to.
- 56:37A bunch came in at the very end.
- 56:40Maybe just quickly,
- 56:41there was one question about
- 56:43the personal statement.
- 56:46So the the the content for the personal
- 56:49statement is provided in the interfolio site.
- 56:52So if you haven't seen that,
- 56:53I don't remember the wording of it exactly,
- 56:57but I just would refer you to the
- 56:59interfolio application site where if
- 57:01you click on the personal statement,
- 57:03it will give you a description
- 57:05of what we're looking for there.
- 57:08If you read that and it still is unclear,
- 57:11please e-mail me. We would.
- 57:14Another question was about the
- 57:16reference letters.
- 57:17We would like those to be sent by
- 57:20October 15th along with the rest
- 57:22of the application.
- 57:23Again,
- 57:24the interfolio site will not
- 57:25close on October 15th,
- 57:27but it really would be best if all
- 57:30your materials are there at that time.
- 57:35I see a question about the
- 57:37vision for the next 25
- 57:38years and the answer is things
- 57:40pretty simple. It's you.
- 57:41You will know what to do
- 57:43in the next 25 years. So
- 57:47that's that's right.
- 57:52And maybe just in these last couple
- 57:55questions about somebody asked if
- 57:57there was a requirement to have a
- 58:00K award to apply to this position.
- 58:02Absolutely not. We are looking at,
- 58:06again, creative, exciting science
- 58:09that we can support and help you
- 58:14achieve beyond what you can imagine.
- 58:17And we look at whether you're in the
- 58:21right place to make that progress and
- 58:25there's not a K award requirement.
- 58:30And again, we didn't get to everything,
- 58:32but I want to respect everybody's time.
- 58:33So if you had a A,
- 58:35a question that I didn't get to,
- 58:37really don't hesitate to send me an e-mail.
- 58:39I'm sure the rest of the panel here also
- 58:42wouldn't mind if you emailed them as as well.
- 58:45So again, thank you all for joining.
- 58:47Thank you to the panelists
- 58:49for donating your lunchtime.
- 58:51And we look forward to
- 58:53seeing your applications.
- 58:54Take care, everybody.
- 58:55Hi,
- 58:57everybody. Hi, everybody.