Lin He: Mesmerized by micro

By Jef Akst Lin He: Mesmerized by micro © Eric Millette Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University of California, Berkeley. Age: 36 Lin He didn’t learn much biology in high school, as secondary education in her native China focuses more on math, physics, and chemistry. That “limited exposure” made biology “very mysterious,” recalls He, who decided to make it her major when she g

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Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University of California, Berkeley. Age: 36

Lin He didn’t learn much biology in high school, as secondary education in her native China focuses more on math, physics, and chemistry. That “limited exposure” made biology “very mysterious,” recalls He, who decided to make it her major when she got to college. After just 2 years working in a lab, trying everything from dissections to molecular experiments such as site-directed mutagenesis in firefly luciferase, she was certain that biology would be her career.

The next step was a graduate education. Inspired by her professors and other researchers who studied and worked in the United States, He decided to head to America for her PhD. She joined the lab of geneticist Greg Barsh at Stanford University, to whom she credits her maturation into a confident scientist. But it wasn’t until her postdoc with molecular biologist ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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