What’s Happening Around the Lab?
A hopeful look to 2021
December 31, 2020
It’s been a tough year, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting so many lives worldwide. Yet highly effective vaccines are now being administered to healthcare workers at Columbia and elsewhere, a testament to the remarkable pace of scientific progress and innovation that is possible when humans work together. Here’s hoping that things will continue to improve in 2021.
Welcome Diego, and holiday party
December 18, 2020
Diego Rivera Gelsinger (far right) joined us as a new postdoc in November, after recently completing his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. He joined the rest of the lab for a COVID-safe holiday party, where we continued our tradition of a boisterous white elephant exchange. And yes, the purple unicorn that Nora ultimately ended up with was one of the most sought-after gifts (at least for Sam).
A heartfelt goodbye to Leslie
November 24, 2020
The lab bids adieu to Leslie Beh (middle, black shirt), who is headed back home to Singapore to start an exciting position at Illumina. (Can you ship us some free sequencing kits, pretty please?!) We’ll never forget Leslie’s insightful questions during group meetings, impressive work ethic, passion for biochemistry, and friendship.
Where’s Waldo?
October 30, 2020
Although we couldn’t host a proper party due to COVID, the lab still observed Halloween in style. We had two Waldos (make sure you find the hidden one), and a Bob Ross look-alike, among other costumes. Next year, Sam hopes to host a Halloween party modeled after the epic events organized by the MCB department at UC Berkeley.
CRISPR wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry!
October 7, 2020
The lab celebrated Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier being awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, “for the development of a method for genome editing.” Sam completed his Ph.D. in Jennifer’s lab, so everyone in the lab now has direct ties to a Nobel laureate – pretty cool! Two new rotation students were part of the celebration (Florian and George, middle). Others had already departed by the time of the picture (i.e., not everyone drank an entire bottle of champagne, promise!).
PIZZA PARTY TO CELEBRATE REBECA JOINING THE LAB!
Aug. 28, 2020
We’re thrilled to welcome Rebeca King to the lab as our newest member! Rebeca is a third-year student in the M.D./Ph.D. program and will help intensify the lab’s focus on translating CRISPR technologies to address human disease. To celebrate, the lab had an outdoor pizza party overlooking the George Washington Bridge.
Leo presents at CSHL Genome Engineering conference
Aug. 18, 2020
The lab cheers Leo on as he presents his work at the (virtual) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory conference on Genome Engineering. Leo’s research has focused on developing RNA-guided transposons as an efficient tool for microbial genome engineering (check out his manuscript on bioRxiv), a topic that got immediate attention from Jennifer Doudna’s talk that kicked off the meeting. Amongst other excellent presentations was a moving tribute to Rosalind Franklin, who would’ve turned 100 this year.
Lab picnic on Columbia campus
July 20, 2020
After a long stretch of virtual Zoom meetings and non-overlapping shifts in the lab, we finally reconnected in person (with physical distancing) for a lab picnic. Tasty food and drinks, fun conversations, and a bit of volleyball, soccer, and wiffle ball!
Returning to work (finally!)
June 22, 2020
After months of remote meetings and WFH, we are finally back in the lab! We’re working in shifts, with Team A coming in mornings until 2:30pm, and Team B (shown) taking over at 3:00pm. Also, a hearty welcome to our newest lab member, Chance Meers (left), who joins us as a postdoc after recently completing his PhD at Georgia Tech.
Zoom happy hour
April 22, 2020
Thanks to Minjoo Kim, a new postdoc in the lab, we’ve temporarily replaced in-person socializing with Zoom happy hours, including fun online games. It’s BYOB!
Ethan receives Barry Goldwater Scholarship
March 27, 2020
Congratulations to Ethan Chen for being awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships in the natural sciences. He’s shown presenting a research poster at the National Collegiate Research Conference at Harvard earlier this year.
Lab in the time of COVID-19
March 16, 2020
As the terrible pandemic spreads across the world, the Sternberg Lab is shutting down and preparing for an extended period of working from home. To keep our spirits high, we’re meeting regularly via Zoom and keeping the Slack #random channel filled with fun pictures and cartoons, like this one.
Inaugural NYAS CRISPR Discussion Group
February 24, 2020
Together with Drs. Maria Jasin, Neville Sanjana, and Britt Adamson, Sam is co-organizer of a new CRISPR Discussion Group hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences. Sanne presented at the inaugural meeting, which took place in the beautiful NYAS meeting space in the financial district, with incredible NYC views.
Marcus presents at SURF conference
February 14, 2020
Marcus Hogan, a senior in the lab, presents his research at the annual poster session for Columbia’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. It’s great to have such fantastic students representing the lab!