September 19-23 is National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Since 2009, the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) has sponsored this annual celebration to recognize the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to research and scientific discovery. Check out the NPA website to view the virtual and in-person events being held this week.
This week, BPS will be highlighting postdoc members on the blog. Today, read about Christopher T. Lee, University of California San Diego.
What is your current position?
I am currently a Kavli Institute of Brain and Mind Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSD.
Please share a brief description of your research.
My research focuses on the development of computational multiscale models to investigate emergent system behaviors in biology. I'm interested in developing and applying new theories, algorithms, and softwares to model and study the complexity of life. Recent projects include developing tools to generate computable realistic geometries of subcellular scenes, a new tool for modeling membrane mechanics in 3D, and investigating how dendritic spine shape influences synaptic plasticity.
Can you please provide a few potential applications of your research?
A key interest is the feedback relationships between cell signaling and shape regulation, which is relevant to how we learn and form memories. Shapes of dendritic spines are also perturbed in many neurologic and psychological diseases. A mechanistic understanding behind how cell shape progression occurs alongside disease development may lead to important new hypothesis and predictions for basic science and future therapeutic design efforts.
How might your research be relevant to those who are not working in your specific field?
Beyond the common health outcome interests, I get a lot of inspiration from work in other fields. At the heart of many problems across fields are common themes such as dimensionality reduction, and data denoising, among others. How we design our experiments and workflows to solve problems in biophysics may be useful in seemingly different disciplines which have related mathematics.
For biophysicists with less computation and modeling experience, we aim to make our tools accessible such that the mechanistic insights that are possible through quantitative modeling can be available to anyone. Seriously, please reach out if you want to use our tools to build models of your own!
What is your favorite thing about biophysics?
My favorite thing about biophysics is the elegance of a well designed experiment or model. The simplest experimental designs often lead to the most profound discoveries.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Outside of work I like to tinker and do projects with my hands. Whether it's mechanical service of my bicycle, building a home network configuration, or earthquake retrofitting of a structure, creating something provides a nice juxtaposition to the uncertainty of research and reminds me that consistent effort tends to lead to amazing outcomes.
Do you have a website where our readers can view your recent research and follow your career? Or want to share professional social media handles?
You can view some of my recent research here: https://ctlee.github.io Also follow me on twitter: @CTLeeRes