Strassmann/ Queller lab group

How to make a major transition in

your researchJoan E. Strassmann strassmann@wustl.edu

http://strassmannandquellerlab.wordpress.com

Read my blog! http://sociobiology.wordpress.com

Talk on being installed as Charles Rebstock

Professor of Biology

me, 1974, Costa Rica

I wanted to do it

all!

Encourageme

nt from my

father

Examples of my social insect questions

1. How does a colony with thousands of wasps

maintain high relatedness?

2. Will aggression really make a young female’s ovaries

regress?

3. Queen for a day! Who’s next?

Why and how to make a huge scientific transition

Enormity of the transition

Different natural history

Different kingdom

Different techniques

Different colleagues

Different scientific societies

Different hurdles

Different opportunities

Enormity of the transition

About two years spent studying the biology of dying cells.

Why did we do it? How could we do it?

Joint crazy risk taking!

1. We had to know about the new system and have some

idea of its potential

2. We had to have some impetus to explore

A. Feeling a desire for something new

B. Student needing help with choosing the next project

3. We needed a hook that made the new field enticing

The genome meant we could get genetic markers – microsatellites-easily.

4. When we began exploring, we found a friendly community

5. When we got close we got both an offer and a push

Dennis Welker, Utah State University

Push

Co

mm

un

ity

Ho

ok

Imp

etu

s

Kn

ow

led

ge

Genetically different clones combine in fruiting bodies and some contribute less

to sterile stalk than to living spore

24 slugs from plates with both clones

51

Clo

ne 1

201510

Clo

ne 2

C

AG

T

Nearly two years studying dying cells as we struggled to become microbiologists

What kept us going?

1. Continuing interesting questions1. Is there conflict in chimeras?

2. Do they recognize kin?

3. Can we change their social structure under experimental evolution?

What kept us going?

1. Continuing interesting questions

2. Students interested in the work

What kept us going?

1. Continuing interesting questions

2. Students interested in the work

3. Great mentors – Richard Kessin

What kept us going?

1. Continuing interesting questions

2. Students interested in the work

3. Great mentors

4. Great collaborators

What kept us going?

1. Continuing interesting questions

2. Students interested in the work

3. Great mentors

4. Great collaborators

5. Funding

Funding

Co

llab

ora

tors

Men

tors

Stu

den

ts

Qu

esti

on

s

Each other, continuing scientific risk taking, and an

eye for the big questions

A true love of the organism

Some examples of what we have figured out

1. Conflict in chimeras causes them to move less

far than pure clones.

2. Genetically different clones occur together, so competition

is likely in nature

3. There are symbiotic social amoeba bacteria

interactions

What else has our group done?

http://strassmannandquellerlab.wordpress.com

What else has our group done?Ask them!

http://strassmannandquellerlab.wordpress.com

Less teamwork, a single stone covers the opening

With teamwork, a glorious arch!

What’s next?

What’s next? The next generations of Wash U postdocs, grad

students, and undergraduates!