Matthew Clark
As a student at Pima Community College, the NIGMS-supported Bridges to Baccalaureate program enabled me to conduct research at the University of Arizona with the late Michael Wells. My work sought to understand viability via the regulation of protein synthesis in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti. My time in the Wells lab was formative; he remains my role model for facilitating undergraduate research and doing outreach. Without his mentorship, it is unlikely I would be a research scientist today. Later research with Roger Meisfeld guided my interest in endomembrane dynamics led me toward a more tractable genetic model system, Drosophila, working with Bing Ye at the University of Michigan while in the NIGMS-supported Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP). Our work on Golgi complexes, which play important roles in neuronal morphogenesis and function, revealed key structural and functional features of dendritic Golgi outposts. Ye recommended that I read the biography of Drosophila neurogeneticist Seymour Benzer, Time, Love, Memory. Inspired by Benzer's creativity, I saw the potential of studying the genetic basis of behavior in fruit flies. Motivated by this goal, I pursued a PhD with Chris Doe at the University of Oregon. I was his first student to study behavior in a lab otherwise focused on developmental neurobiology. My PhD work revealed higher-order interneurons responsible for controlling distinct aspects of Drosophila larval motor programs. To supplement my training I spent time at the University of Manchester learning electrophysiology with Richard Baines, and also attended two summer courses at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole and one at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. These experiences set the stage for my postdoctoral training with Michael Dickinson at Caltech where I worked to understand motor programs governing flight behavior in Drosophila.
Clark Lab
Kate Amaddio
Lily Atiyeh |
Brandt Foss
Emily Heese |
Tia Kean
Elizabeth Malley |
Sydney Shea
Carol Zheng |