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Dr. Miriam Goodman Academic Profile
mbgoodman-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Lexington, Massachusetts
University: Brown University (Sc. B.), University of Chicago (Ph.D.)
It might be surprising to imagine that Dr. Miriam Goodman once considered careers in business consulting, pharmaceuticals and plumbing before becoming a neuroscientist. Take a closer look at her lab, though, and you’ll find that Dr. Goodman is much more than just a researcher. Her job as Principal Investigator of the lab not only Show more...
requires her to perform various tasks but to constantly think of them from different perspectives. Her responsibilities, which range from overseeing the lab’s progress, providing material and human resources for her colleagues, writing grants and papers, and teaching two graduate level classes among other things, attest that Dr. Goodman is a veritable neuro-all star. Now scientists from all over the world contribute to her research in understanding the sense of touch at a fundamental level. Bringing together every lab members' background knowledge and unique skills to answer questions and solve problems as a team is her fondest wish.
Dr. Goodman started working at Stanford University in 2002 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1995 and postdoctoral work in C. elegans neurophysiology and genetics at the University of Oregon and Columbia University. Dr. Goodman’s history working in labs dates back to high school, when she began writing scientific software in research labs at the NIH. She continued working in research labs throughout her undergraduate studies in biochemistry at Brown, save for one summer working as a material scientist. In 2004, Dr. Goodman was awarded the Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology for her essay describing her research on C. elegans to explore how the sense of touch works on a molecular level. Show less... |
Dr. Juan G. Cueva
jcueva-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Hacienda Heights, California
University: University of California, Los Angeles (B.S., Ph.D.)
Dr. Juan Cueva became the first postdoctoral scholar to join the Goodman Lab in 2003. From his first research experience as an undergraduate, Dr. Cueva recognized that his curiosity and love for learning something new every day were a perfect match for a career in research. He is presently working on sensory transduction, looking to better understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie the activation of the mechanical Show more...
mechanisms in the transduction channel. Additionally, he is developing immune technology to enrich touch receptor neurons from fixed populations of cells from dissociated embryos for the joint Goodman-Pruitt mechanobiology project. The joint project is an example of what Dr. Cueva appreciates the most about working at Stanford. “You can easily form collaborations with other groups in unrelated fields,” he said. “There are so many talented people and all the resources you need in state-of-the-art facilities.” Dr. Cueva has always been interested in research and hopes to continue neuroscience related research in the future, particularly in molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration involved in diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzeimer’s. Show less.. |
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Dr. Amy Eastwood Academic Profile
amyeast-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
University: University of Virginia (B.S.), Caltech University (Ph.D.)
Dr. Amy Eastwood’s career has not just bloomed—it has rocketed. From her takeoff in high school where her chemistry teacher inspired her to pursue a career in science, Dr. Eastwood obtained her Ph.D. at Caltech University, which in turn drew her interest to look at her research on ion channels in a morenatural environment. Show more... Houston, we have found C. elegans. Dr. Eastwood came to Stanford University in late 2008 and now, with the Stanford University’s Dean Fellowship and a NIH NRSA Fellowship under her belt, Dr. Eastwood is studying structure-function relationships in MEC-4 channels. She is piecing apart how the MEC-4 channel functions on the molecular scale by investigating how specific amino acids participate in gating the channel. Dr. Eastwood says that being able to work in a lab and participate in each one of her colleagues’ successes keeps her motivated, focused, and trusting that the lab is moving forward. Show less... |
Dr. Shana Geffeney Academic Profile
geffeney-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
University: University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A.), Utah State University (Ph.D.)
Dr. Shana Geffeney likes to think of herself as a detective. She takes pleasure in finding the clues to understand how things happen and works with her colleagues to answer the questions on how animals sense the outside world. Currently, Dr. Geffeney is finding out how sensory cells respond to mechanical stimuli, chemical signs and osmolarity using the sensory neuron ASH. By looking at Show more... different ion channels in the neuron, Dr. Geffeney is hoping to understand which are responsible for the mechanical stimulus, or how the sensory input connects to its behavioral output. With this, she aims to gain more insight as to how sensory stimuli affect other functions of our bodies such as hearing and touch function. Dr. Geffeney’s internal drive and her love to answer questions inspired her to become a researcher rather than continue to pursue her initial career path options, psychology and medicine. Show less... |
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Dr. Dominique Glauser Academic Profile
glauser-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Cernier, Switzerland
University: Neuchâtel University (B.S.), Geneva University (Ph.D.)
From a young age, Dr. Dominique Glauser took a great interest in science. He liked learning about different things and getting explanations as to why they work the way they do. When it came to neural science, however, the explanations were still in development and Dr. Glauser knew he wanted to learn more about it. His search for Show more... answers is what brought him to Stanford University in 2008. Dr. Glauser took a turn away from pure molecular biology to take a closer look at the smallest multicellular organism while still covering multiple levels of complexity. He now looks at the temperature sensation in C. elegans as a model to discover how molecules convert temperature signals to neural activation. Dr. Glauser hopes to see neural research grow to have a better idea of how our consciousness emerges from neurons. “Because we are part of the system, we cannot explain it at 100 percent, but we can certainly reach more satisfactory levels of understanding,” he explains. Dr. Glauser turns to his wife and their newborn child as a source of motivation in his work. Show less... |
Dr. Brandon Johnson
johnsbe-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
University: Lake Forest College (B.S.), Stanford Univeristy (Ph.D.)
Meet Dr. Brandon Johnson, circa age 8: a kid captivated by all of his science classes and dreaming of setting off on epic Jacques Cousteau-type of adventures. Now add a piercing, a family of his own, and the Goodman Lab instead of a classroom and you’ve got the Dr. Johnson of the 21st century. Dr. Johnson is passionate about his research in electrophysiology and a real outdoorsman Show more...
when he has the chance to escape from the lab. His project involves looking at the role of alternative splicing in BK channel function, which started as a collaboration between Richard Aldrich and Miriam Goodman’s labs. Dr. Johnson’s job in combining the interests of these labs is to figure out how alternative splicing in genes regulates or modulates protein function. Outside the lab, Dr. Johnson continues training in swimming and participates in the Trans Tahoe Relay every year along with his team of six, The Tahoe 11 Milers. Swimming, surfing, hiking, and spending time with his family provide Dr. Johnson with the outlets he needs to keep him coming to the lab with energy and determination. Show less... |
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Dr. Valeria Vásquez
vvr-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela
University: Universidad Central de Venezuela (B.S.), University of Virginia (Ph.D.)
After the first conference she attended in Margarita, Venezuela in 1999 at which she presented her work with electromicroscopy in plants, Dr. Valeria Vásquez knew that science was her passion. She first worked with ion channels in Dr. Eduardo Perozo’s lab at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago and felt immediately hooked by these membrane proteins. From plants and Show more... bacteria to C. elegans and from Venezuela to the United States, Dr. Vásquez’s enthusiasm for her work has never wavered and lead her to work at Stanford University in 2009 to continue her studies on ion channels after earning her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. What she finds the most fascinating about her field of research is the opportunity it gives her to look at things as a whole; seeing multiple aspects of each component working together. Her hope is to always find something new and exciting, whether it goes with or against her hypothesis. She is now working on research on the mechanical receptor channel complex in touch receptor neurons for C. elegans. While her drive to work hard is deeply self-driven, Dr. Vásquez keeps a photograph of her family in Venezuela to keep her spirits high during the workday. Show less... |
Dr. Dong Wang
wangdong-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Pujiang, China
University: Zhejiang University (B.S.), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Ph.D.)
In October 2009, Dr. Dong Wang literally travelled across the world to join the Goodman Lab team at Stanford University. Before his arrival, Dr. Wang worked at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he studied to obtain his Ph.D. by examining the regulation of ion secretion in airway epithelial cells, focusing mainly on CFTR chloride channels and their sensitivity to mechanical stimulation. Dr. Wang contacted Dr. Goodman after Show more...
finding that her lab was also studying similar properties in mechanical sensation in ion channels. Currently, Dr. Wang is investigating the molecular mechanism of temperature sensation in C. elegans in the hope of identifying new thermosensory molecules in AFD neurons and, eventually, in other types of temperature-sensitive neurons. “We’ve come so far in physiology,” Dr. Wang says. “I hope the work with C. elegans can give hints to similar results we can find in human beings, and I hope my project will help with understanding human diseases since they can have something to do with temperature sensation disorder.” Dr. Wang’s favorite part about working at Stanford is being surrounded by some of the world’s top professors and having the chance to attend their seminars. Ultimately, Dr. Wang hopes to one day get a faculty job at a university in China as a professor of physiology. Show less... |
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Rebecca Agin
ragin-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Bay Area, California
University: University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A.), Foothill College (A.A.)
While studying marine biology at UC Santa Cruz, Rebecca Agin says that the best advice her advisor gave her was never to neglect the basic courses and to keep applying genetics, molecular biology, and other fields to marine biology. Since then, Agin has gone from being a scuba instructor to getting an associate art degree in graphic and information design and from working with NASA’s education division developing its science curricula to working for a start-up Show more... company aiming to write collaborative software for cancer cures. Since December 2009, Agin has been working as one of the Goodman Lab’s technicians and is specifically assisting Dr. Glauser in doing SNIP mapping to help him locate the position of heat sensation mutation in C. elegans. “Basically, I’ve worked in my field since college, but never in marine biology,” Agin explains. Working with the Goodman Lab has been different, however, because Agin claims she knows the work they are doing is leading to answers for questions no one has quite yet figured out. “This is the first job where I wake up interested and eager to go to work,” she says. When she isn’t in the lab or spending time at home with her son, Agin is an avid swing dancer and member of the Academy of Danse Libre, a vintage performance group that puts on shows that feature dances and fashions from the Victorian era up to the 1930s. Show less... |
Carmen Liao
zliao-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Guangzhou, China
University: Medical School of Guangzhou (M.D.)
If the Goodman Lab were a puzzle, Carmen Liao would not only be the one helping to put it together, but she would also be the one making sure none of the pieces got lost when putting it away and the first one to know where it was when someone came looking for it. As the lab’s technician, Liao is responsible for helping piece together the parts of the lab’s projects and plays a key role in preventing the stress ensued by losing track of things. After Show more... two years doing medical training in China as a resident in a hospital, Liao came to Stanford University in 2000 with her husband where she started working as a technician for the medicine department. Now, her job in the Goodman Lab is twofold. She takes care of lab maintenance by keeping things running smoothly and knowing where everything is, and assists people in their work on different projects. Above all, chatting with her colleagues in the lab is her favorite part of every day. “They taught me a lot after I immigrated here,” Liao said. “I love Stanford and the environment here, but I especially like it for the people.” Show less... |
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Don Vongviphut
donvong-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Torrance, California
University: Stanford University (B.S. in progress)
Don Vongviphut had heard some of the crazy stories from his friends about certain research labs at Stanford. But when he became interested in genetics after a course he took in his third year, Vongviphut got in contact with the Goodman Lab for an opportunity to do some work in research and was happy to find that everybody was, well, “pretty awesome.” Taking off from literature by former lab member Show more... Austin Brown, Vongviphut is running a variety of experiments on MEC-6 channels in C. elegans and observing what potential similarities there may exist between them and PON-1 channels in humans. Vongviphut is currently working to earn his B.S. in biology and hopes to eventually get a Ph.D. in either biology research or civil engineering or an M.D. in emergency medicine. When he isn’t working, Vongviphut keeps himself busy with an extensive list of sports, musical instruments, and projects such as putting together a motorcycle or teaching himself to play the drums. Show less... |
Jzesern Tan
jstan-[at]-stanford-[dot]-edu
Hometown: Mountain View, California
University: University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A.)
What does it take a film and digital media student to come work as an administrative associate at a Stanford University research lab? For Jzesern Tan, a whole lot of guts and a good dose of curiosity was almost all he needed. Tan took a turn in his career not only for a change of pace, but also to keep finding out new information as to how things work and, as a result, always keep Show more...
learning. In his words, “Never be complacent.” His tasks and responsibilities working as the administrative associate allow him to experience many different aspects of the work that goes on in the lab. His interests and hobbies expand beyond the scientific field to allow him to take advantage of as many living and work opportunities as he possibly can. One thing he’s happy not to change, however, is his location. According to Tan, nothing beats the climate he enjoys every day in the Golden State. Show less... |
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