<figcaption> Credit: JASON VARNEY | http://www.VARNEYPHOTO.COMVARNEYPHOTO.COM_blank</figcaption>
Credit: JASON VARNEY | http://www.VARNEYPHOTO.COMVARNEYPHOTO.COM_blank

Commenting on the immaculate desk of Sohyun Ahn elicits an embarrassed giggle, but practically any other question gets a thoughtful look from behind her blue cat's-eye glasses. Throughout her career, Ahn has made a habit of stepping back and studying the situation before acting. "It's important to take a break and think about things," she says.

When faced with the choice of where to pursue her doctorate, Ahn trekked to see her family in Seoul, South Korea. Her choice: to study under a Johns Hopkins heavyweight or join David Ginty, so new he wasn't even listed in the graduate brochure. With her parents as sounding boards, finally she decided to go with a mentor who would be able to spend more time training her in lab techniques. Late one night, she tiptoed through her parent's house and dialed a Maryland phone number. When Ginty answered,...

Title: Investigator in the Unit of Developmental Neurogenetics, Laboratory of Mammalian Genes and Development,
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH
Age: 36
Representative Publications:

1. S. Ahn et al., "A dominant-negative inhibitor of CREB reveals that it is a general mediator of stimulus-dependent transcription of c-fos," Mol Cell Biol, 18:967-77, 1998. (Cited in 209 papers) 2. S. Ahn et al., "Dynamic changes in the response of cells to positive hedgehog signaling during mouse limb patterning," Cell, 118:505-16, 2004. (Cited in 36 papers)

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