Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Dr. Lin Tian is a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and Clinical Professor at the University of California, Davis. She earned her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Science and Technology of China and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cellular Biology from Northwestern University. She then completed postdoctoral training at Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus. Lin remained at HHMI as a Research Specialist before joining the faculty at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in 2012. She began her current position at Max Planck in 2023. Lin has received multiple awards and honors, including an NIH New Innovator Award, the W.M. Keck Foundation Award, the Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award, and she has been named a Rita Allen Scholar and Hartwell Scholar. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:55)
In addition to her scientific and leadership roles, Lin is a mom, wife, and daughter. She often spends her free time with her family, driving her two sons to different activities, cheering for them at their swim meets and baseball games, and helping them with homework. Lin also enjoys walking her dog and doing things around the house.
The Scientific Side (4:58)
The main goal of Lin’s lab is to develop, leverage, and also share novel optical and molecular tools that can help us characterize neural signaling and find new treatment targets for neuropsychiatric disorders. For example, her lab developed lab-based biosensors that allow researchers to optically measure the brain’s activity during behavior.
A Dose of Motivation (6:48)
“Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas, probably in that order.” – Sydney Brenner
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:07)
Lin grew up in China, and her father always encouraged her to travel, to study abroad, and to see the world. In her school years, Lin focused on science, and she attended the University of Science and Technology of China for her undergraduate studies. After graduating from college, she enrolled in graduate school in the United States and worked on a project related to cell signaling. Lin became fascinated with the idea of being able to visualize proteins while they are being transported or performing functions in cells. This curiosity led her to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus for her postdoctoral fellowship, and it was there that she really began to see technology and interdisciplinary science as critical for driving new discoveries. Lin’s work developing a calcium indicator to visualize neuronal activity in living, behaving animals launched her independent research career with her first faculty position at UC, Davis.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (24:02)
Troubleshooting in science can take a really long time, but reaching out to colleagues and collaborators can help you work through problems in the lab. Lin always tries to think positively and embrace challenges and changes. Last year, she moved her lab and her team from California to Florida. This was a big change that required a lot of work and coordination, but everyone pitched in to help. The lab is now back up and running again, but it took a lot of time and effort to get to this point.
A Shining Success! (27:35)
Becoming a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience has been a meaningful success. Transitioning from a public university focused on education to a private institute that focuses on research has been an exciting experience. While education and mentoring are still important to Lin, having support and an environment where she can focus on addressing some really difficult challenges in the field is a unique opportunity. Lin looks forward to developing an in-depth, computational understanding of how our brain works, and she sees this as a path to developing new therapeutics, particularly for mental health problems which have widespread impacts on society today.
Book Recommendations (31:08)
Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind by Joyce Meyer
Most Treasured Travel (32:34)
Recently, Lin visited Portland to attend the Max Planck Section Meeting, and then afterwards she went to Rome for the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Investigator Meeting. These were both great meetings. The ASAP meeting brings together people from various disciplines to figure out better ways to accelerate the pace of discovery and find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. While in Rome, Lin and a few colleagues went out together to sample the local gelato and tiramisu, as well as visit historic sites like the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel. For personal travel, Lin loves to visit the Hawaiian Island of Maui, and she travels there almost every year.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (36:03)
Scientists are just normal people who do research for their careers. Lin and her colleagues have many other facets to their life, and they like to do a variety of nonscientific things as well. In Lin’s lab, the group goes out to eat together and they celebrate holidays together as well. For example, for Chinese New Year, Lin invited everyone over to her house for a potluck dinner and game night. They also have a lab logo, matching lab t-shirts, and they have fun together and support each other. Building a strong team and fostering collaboration between team members are really important to Lin.
Advice For Us All (40:37)
Never give up, be positive, and learn how to multitask. Persistence and a positive attitude are key for overcoming challenges in both life and science. Also, everyone has to juggle multiple responsibilities in their lives, so multitasking is an important skill. Lin draws inspiration from her colleagues and trainees, and it is really rewarding to be able to push the boundaries of the field and to help trainees cultivate their interests and careers.
Guest Bio
Lin specializes in engineering biosensors and optical probes to monitor and control brain activity in living research animals. Lin and her team have made significant advancements in the field, developing calcium indicators to record neural signaling and creating a new class of genetically encoded indicators to detect neuromodulators such as serotonin, dopamine and glutamate. These innovations allow for precise measurement of neurotransmitter release dynamics, offering insights into brain mechanisms that control behaviors in healthy and disease states. Her lab also develops drug discovery platforms that can help identify new potential medications for neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by Innovative Research, Inc.