We are located of the fourth floor of the Bass Biology Building
327 Campus Dr.
Stanford, CA 94305
(650) 721-6401
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
We are in interdisciplinary laboratory comprised of members with backgrounds in Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Biochemistry, Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology. We seek new members with the boldness, desire and ability to transcend disciplinary boundaries as required to answer fundamental questions in biology. Prior knowledge in any particular discipline is not necessary. In particular, graduate students are not expected to begin as fully fledged independent scientists as this is a skill learned in graduate school. Enthusiasm is a must though!
Interested Ph.D students not currently at Stanford should first apply to a specific Stanford Ph.D. granting program. Ph.D. students already at Stanford should contact Jan Skotheim directly.
Potential postdocs should send a CV and cover letter expressing their particular interests.
MENTORSHIP
The Skotheim Lab takes mentorship very seriously and believes training the next generation of scientists is extremely important. Since starting at Stanford in 2008, 7 out of 8 postdoctoral scholars have left our lab to start their independent positions as principal investigators. We have graduated 10 Ph.D. students, who are all continuing their careers in research in both academia and industry. In addition, we have mentored many undergraduates completing honors theses. 3 of these students are now graduate students at Berkeley, and one is at Harvard. Finally, we participated in a program at Stanford (RISE) mentoring underrepresented minority high school students.
Postdoctoral outcomes: Dr. Andreas Doncic (unfortunately now deceased) started his own lab as a PI at UT Southwestern, Dr. Jennifer Ewald started her own lab at the University of Tubingen, Germany, Dr. Kurt Schmoller, started his own lab at Helmholtz Zentrum Munich Institute of functional epigenetics, Dr. Ali Shariati started his own lab in UC Santa Cruz, Dr. Mardo Koivomagi started his lab at the NIH, Dr. Matthew Swaffer started his own lab at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr. Evgeny Zatulovskiy started his lab at the University of Camrbidge.
Graduate student outcomes: Among the labs graduate students, Amanda Amodeo moved directly to an independent position to lead a research group as Lewis Sigler Fellow at Princeton University and is now an Assistant Professor at Dartmouth college. Clayton Schwarz started a postdoc with Dr. Eric Siggia at The Rockefeller University. Umut Eser is now the Director of Data Science at Cellarity after a postdoc with Dr. Stirling Churchman at Harvard Medical School. Amy Johnson and Jon Turner are now scientists in the biotech industry. Oguzhan Atay founded his own biomedical testing company Billiontoone, where Devon Chandler Brown has joined as a scientist. Daniel Berenson is in the M.D./Ph.D. program and has resumed his medical training after graduating. Finally, Ben Topacio is currently a postdoc with Dr. Seth Rubin at UC Santa Cruz and also a lecturer.
Mentorship Philosophy: All graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the laboratory are expected to contribute to the development of their own project. Mentorship is oriented into developing creative, analytical, and independent scientists. The training lab members receive is highly interdisciplinary and reflects my own background in cell and systems biology as well as applied mathematics and physics. Other lab members have backgrounds in genetics, biochemistry, and engineering disciplines. We all learn a lot from each other through hard work in a fun, creative, supportive, and open environment. The rigorous, quantitative training that lab members receive, in combination with honed softer skills such as giving presentations, writing, and managing collaborations, is in high demand in both academia and industry as can be seen in the exceptional careers of our graduates.