Arianna (she/her/ella)

Thanks to these programs and orgs!: UCI MSP, SACNAS (UW and National), UW M3D, the cilia biology community, ASBMR THRIVE, UW BMHA, Yale Ciencia Academy (my Tusa family), the zebrafish community, and AGE.

Thanks to you if you've made it to the end! 🙂

I want to thank the communities and orgs that have helped get me here. As the first in my family to pursue a PhD, the unspoken rules of academia make this path challenging, but I've made it this far thanks to some luck and mentors & supporters who were willing to explain how things work to me.

I work on paying the generosity and kindness forward. I also continue to fight for equity in spaces that were not welcoming to those outside the majority.

I still feel vulnerable asking for help, but I've been fortunate that a majority of people are willing to help. That kindness has given me the motivation to continue on this path and to make it better for the next generation of trainees.

I acknowledge that academia isn't perfect and is inaccessible to many. I face barriers that continue to make this a challenging path, but I've gained support from many places in and out of UW.

I'm always looking for peers and colleagues who want to geek out about their work since it's how I learn more about the breadth of research going on. I'm also a really good hype woman if you ever need a pep talk before a presentation.

Some fields have been more welcoming than others, and I still get flustered when asked what my research focus is at conferences, since it feels like everyone else has stuck to their area of research for a long time.

It has been challenging changing fields and now wanting to build a scientific program at the intersection of several scientific fields, some of which I am far from being an expert in.

I've always gotten excited about the science I've done, mainly based on the excitement of others involved, but I felt like the projects weren't the exact impact I wanted to make to science. Now putting together what I've learned and what I'm learning feels right, even if others don't see it yet.

While my scientific experiences may seem a bit unfocused, they make perfect sense to me as I'm carving out my own area of research. And most importantly, I feel like I have some ownership about the scientific questions I want to ask, which is not something I've felt before.

From a screen performed in Ron's lab, we've found a zebrafish mutant with severely abnormal skeletal phenotypes and a reduced lifespan. It's in the early stages, but I am characterizing this line and am building more questions based on this and other known and potential aging models using zebrafish.

In my postdoc, I've been gaining training in orthopaedics research and utilizing zebrafish as a model system. I am also a fellow on the Biological Mechanisms of Aging T32 at UW. I've worked on a few projects since joining the lab, but I am now focusing on a project that is the basis for my K99.

Long story short, I found an environment that helped me get excited about science again and my mentors have really encouraged (but not forced) me to try and start my own group in the future.

Ron and I discussed my feelings about academia and I was upfront that while the science in his lab was of interest to me, I wasn't sure whether I'd stay as a postdoc for more than a couple years if being in academia no longer brought me joy.

After meeting with Ron several times and getting advice from several friends and mentors, I decided to stay at UW, but moved to a new department and into a research field I'd never imagined myself in.

I finished my PhD in 2022 and had started looking for a postdoc position in 2021, when things were still uncertain with the pandemic. I loved being at the bench, but didn't know if I still liked being in academia or if I wanted to move into another sector.

The pandemic, health issues, and some burnout from the PhD and diversity work involvement left me unsure about whether I wanted to stay in academia. If you've read this far, I will say I never wanted to be a PI up until this point in my scientific journey.

I was in Dan Doherty's lab where I used immortalized cell lines to determine how cells carrying variants in JS-associated genes responded to Hedgehog stimulation. We focused on ciliary response (hello cilia friends!) to stimulation by looking at protein localization and target gene expression.

I went to UC Irvine for undergrad before doing my PhD at UW. I was in the M3D program and my thesis focused on Hedgehog signaling in Joubert syndrome.

Fair warning, it's a little bit of a rant and little bit of a self reflection, so please be kind if you feel the need to comment 🙏🏾😅
Also, I'm currently writing my K99/R00 application. I am open to encouragement, advice, and examples if you are willing to share 🙂.

Time for my bluesky re-intro! My name is Arianna and I'm a postdoc at the University of Washington in Ron Kwon's lab. I'm interested in understanding how genes influence skeletal aging and lifespan using zebrafish as a model system. Keep reading to learn a bit more about my journey!

Big news: Our #Zebrahub paper is out in #Cell!

A timecourse atlas of zebrafish embryonic development combining #scRNAseq & #lightsheet, to undersdand progenitor dynamics.

📄 Read: cell.com/cell/fulltex...
🌐 Explore: zebrahub.sf.czbiohub.org

#DevBio #Biology #Zebrafish Big thanks to all authors!

yeehaw bluesky and superior video upload capabilities

i'm a zebrafish cell biologist studying skin wound healing. shown here are tissue-resident macrophages migrating towards a wound in a zebrafish skin explant.

and i'm on the job market!

And here’s the rest! A list of ECRs in the #zebrafish community 😎 Reach out if you think you should be added 🙏 🧪 go.bsky.app/HwxuHey

The @leadingedgeprogram.bsky.social app is live!

Deadline: Feb 3, 2025

leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/

This is the best community I’ve been a part of - words truly can’t describe how special this program is!! I was in the 2020 cohort and it keeps evolving with our needs; you won’t regret it!!!

Opportunity 👀👀👀👀
Minority travel award to MICROBE. Deadline is soon! Please share!

asm.org/travel-award...

The Sister Presidents are Suffering | Inside Higher Ed

"I don't know a single woman of color serving as a college or university president who has not received a credible threat of violence. Not one."

www.insidehighered.com/newsletter/s...

Are you a developmental or stem cell biologist looking for an academic job? Would you like support & advice

Development's 'Pathway to Independence' programme is open for applications

Deadline 31 Jan 2024

Spread the word

Details:

journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pi...

Sacnas Postdoc Leadership institute certificate for Arianna

18 of the Postdoc Leadership Institute Fellows taking a fun picture.

Arianna and two of her postdoc colleagues/friends standing in front of a SACNAS banner.

Arianna and her colleagues/friends from the university of Washington taking a selfie.

Thankful for having attended the SACNAS conference last week. The Postdoc Leadership Institute gave me time to reflect on my values and new tools as I continue my academic journey. It was fun meeting new colleagues and seeing old friends. Can't wait until next year!

New paper in PLOS Biol with @graciellehigino.bsky.social et al.: "Postdoctoral scientists are mentors, and it is time to recognize their work". We argue that ensuring that post-docs receive proper credit for ALL their labour would benefit all academia.