Resources

Welcome to our laboratory website. I hope you have found useful information on our research program.  

This page includes the philosophy that drives the human side of our science. It starts with a simple feeling: 

I can experience no greater honor than being a scientist. 

We think that a scientist stands and faces Nature and the Universe as they are, learns their wonderful secrets, and pools this knowledge to improve lives overall --- the lives of humans and hopefully also those of our fellow animals. This is a fulfilling way to live. 

For this faculty member, this was a long trajectory. I was born in a different country, in a working-class family based in a rural area with a poor educational system, and I was brought to the United States as an economic immigrant. I had thousands of miles to travel, language barriers to overcome, many evenings of washing restaurant dishes, and a lot of catching up to do with science. Statistically, my current academic life was unlikely.  

But I am a scientist, and that is because of the welcoming spirit of this country and its core belief in science and medicine and technology and progress. I am here because of teaching institutions like the University of Utah, Harvard University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Universities are makers of scientists. They represent opportunity. The love of science can be born in anyone; it knows no nationality, color or socioeconomic privilege.  

So, our philosophy is that if a person loves science, we have the obligation to ensure that person has the opportunity to serve within it. Everyone should find the place from which they can build their best self and contribute their best efforts, regardless of social privilege, and when you love Nature, then that journey starts here, in academia.  

So, we will always fight to make sure that you have this opportunity. Welcome to this calling. It is an incredible journey.