Jonathan Gootenberg: Exploring New CRISPR Enzymes

I feel like I always wanted to do a PhD because I was really excited about research. The idea of learning something about the world -- it becomes cliché at this point -- but it's exciting to know something that you've uncovered. And it's also exciting to take in the knowledge of the whole community, and to build collaborations. There's relatively less competition in science so [being able to work] with people to understand the natural world, that's really thrilling. A PhD in biology is kind of necessary to do anything [further in biology], whether academia or industry. And that dichotomy is not as strict as people think.

Let's talk more about that, since faculty positions are getting more and more competitive -- why do you think should students still consider a PhD?

A PhD is not academia -- It's experience, an opportunity to learn. I think you should take everything in life as an opportunity to learn, but, a PhD is school. Some people see it as "I'm going to do this and publish papers and go into academia," and others say, "I don't care how much I publish, I'll just get a job," but both of those [attitudes] are focusing on the wrong thing. [A PhD is] much more like a process of apprenticeship, which doesn't exist in many fields in such an organized fashion. It gets you the opportunity to have a fantastic mentor, and having that is really really vital. It gives you a sense of how you can operate in the world, how you can connect to people, and to see how someone thinks. That's the biggest thing about the research -- it's not as much about what you do, it's what you learn . . . Over the 4-5 years, I learned so much on how to operate, how to be a scientist, to manage people, and to interact with people.

The biggest thing about a PhD is who you're working with, and that really comes down to the advisor. I was lucky because Feng was [very involved], really dedicated to [his students'] careers. That's what academia [should be] about -- this tree of mentorship, and training the next generation of science.

What are some specific things that people should look for in a mentor?

Empirical signs -- if you have a mentor who has trained a lot of good mentees, that publishes a lot per person in the lab, and has a lot of grad students who are happy and have good relationships with their mentor, those are good signs. Of course you also want someone who has time for you. Someone who is much more established may have many more obligations. My advisor now is different from when I joined -- he has more obligations, he isn't in lab as much, and he has a family. You want to find a mentorship style that works for you, and someone who will attract good people in the lab -- that's a sign of a good PI (principal investigator). And someone who you feel like you can connect with. I took a class with Feng and I really liked it . . . That's not something you can always get. I think that you have to kind of feel it out -- you really want someone who can give you time -- you want someone with whom you can build a personal relationship that you can build on throughout your entire life.

What are you working on now post-PhD?

I'm currently wrapping up some projects in Feng's lab, and then I'm starting a lab at MIT together with Omar Abudayyeh -- we're going to be McGovern fellows [at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research].

What's for you 10 years out?

I think doing biological discovery and also applying those tools is really awesome; it gives you the opportunity to give things to the community that are really useful . . . So I think I want to explore that, thinking about things beyond CRISPR -- how we can find additional tools useful for gene therapy. I've always been interested in aging, so I'm writing a couple of new grants on understanding aging. I'd like to still be academic but have interactions with different companies. But more so I think it's just important to see yourself making an impact and enjoying what you do. I think these boxes of academia and getting saddled to that is not important. You can make a new model. You can say I'm going to create a new institute and do that. And these things are not as hard as people think -- Just explore.

Anything other advice you'd give?

It's really important to focus on who you work with and who you interact with. Those relationships support you throughout your life. One of the biggest predictors of happiness is having a good support group. I'm not saying that you should explicitly network, but find people you like. Build rewarding relationships -- those are really the most important things.