Postdocs can be both productive and happy. The report from the National Academies (Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience for Scientists and Engineers) highlights the problems that many postdocs face, but also acknowledges that many postdocs have stimulating and well-supervised research experiences. Amelie Gubitz and Westley Friesen, two postdocs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, are among those who recount positive and even glowing experiences with their mentors and laboratories.

Both young scientists are members of HHMI investigator Gideon Dreyfuss’s team that is studying the biology of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a degenerative disease of motor neurons in the spinal cord and the leading genetic cause of infant death. By most standards, the Dreyfuss lab is large: one research assistant professor, ten postdocs, five graduate students, three technicians, two undergraduate students and one administrative assistant. Large, however, need not mean inattentive. “Because making the lab an enjoyable place to work has always been a priority for me, it’s important that I like the people I work with and that they get along with each other,” says Dreyfuss of his efforts to create an atmosphere of cohesiveness within his research group.

This attitude strikes a responsive chord in his postdocs. “[Dreyfuss] is a supportive boss and always encouraging, even if you have a negative result,” says Gubitz, who joined the Dreyfuss lab in the summer of 2000 to work on the cellular biology of SMA. “He’s very supportive in finding alternative strategies so that you can try out different approaches in parallel and not get stuck on one idea or model.”

This receptivity applies as well to collaborations among postdocs. “Some of our papers are ‘single-author,’ but many are joint,” says Dreyfuss. He attributes such teamwork to the lab’s common scientific interests, the interaction he encourages at its weekly meetings and his own interest and accessibility. “His office is at one end of the lab and you can always find him there and the door is usually open,” says Gubitz, who has a mild form of SMA herself.

Friesen, who studies the molecular function of the SMN protein (the product of the SMA gene), knew pretty much what to expect prior to setting foot in the Dreyfuss lab—the result of his thoroughness in looking for a position. “I interviewed [Dreyfuss’s] postdocs and students before coming here to find out how he works,” recalls Friesen, now in the third year of his postdoc in the lab. He says his experience confirms what he was told, namely that Dreyfuss “has an unassuming management style where he lets you have some freedom.” Friesen concludes that he was attracted to the lab overall because of Dreyfuss’s “exuberance for discovery, which infects the entire lab.” —KYK

Photo: David Graham

Download this story in Acrobat PDF format.
(requires Acrobat Reader)

Reprinted from the HHMI Bulletin,
July 2001, pages 24-27.
©2001 Howard Hughes Medical Institute