Joseph Ribaudo, Pierson ’21
A Post-Grey’s Anatomy Career Shift
By Rachel Welch
Ever think Grey’s Anatomy could change your life? Starting off Yale as an economics major on a pre-med track, Joseph had the opportunity to study abroad in South Africa the summer after his first year. But he realized shortly thereafter that his love for economics was not one that he wanted to pursue post-graduate, and he decided to focus on pursuing biology and medicine (Grey’s Anatomy “may or may not have influenced [his] decision”).
At the end of his sophomore year, Joseph started the process that every undergraduate interested in medicine dreads: emailing professors for the chance to work in their research lab. Dr. Sreeganga Chandra was one of the ones that responded, and after his interview he immediately knew that was the place he should work. He was reassured by his friend from Pierson College in his same year who also worked in the Chandra Lab, who had said that “it is tough to find a [principal investigator] (PI) who is around to help you and guide you, but [Chandra] is always there; her door is always open.” The Chandra Lab, which focuses on synapse loss and neurodegeneration as it relates to Parkinson’s disease (PD) was also a perfect fit for Joseph because he had past experience working with a PD model researching its relationship to sex hormones.
Finding a PI who is engaged with their lab and involved in the undergraduate’s research is rare. But Joseph told me excitedly about how caring and hands-on his PI is, and that the culture of the lab follows suit. Just two weeks after joining the lab, one of the PhD students, that Joseph himself doesn’t work with, baked him a cake for his birthday. Stories like this one show that even though research may be intimidating, labs are made up of real people, people who care about one another and work hard. This type of collaborative and supportive lab culture exists here at Yale, and it is potentially just an email away.
Before beginning his research, Joseph underwent safety training and learned all of the techniques that were necessary to become a research assistant: gelatin coatings, sectioning of brain tissue, sacrificing the animals, behavior experiment protocols, and immunohistochemical protocols. Now, Joseph and his mentor, a postdoctoral student, focus their research on behavioral studies in PD models using mice. Specifically, he works with the protein auxilin involved with endolysosomal processes in neurotransmission and has been linked to PD. The idea behind one project is to see that if the gene that codes for auxilin gets knocked out, then a PD model can be created. Joseph is also working on a project that focuses on discovering the link between olfactory depletion and PD. In human patients, evidence is emerging that variations in olfactory dysfunction can be correlated with PD and be a premotor symptom of the disease. However, the issue is that people lose smell with old age slowly and as a result, they don’t necessarily realize they are losing their sense of smell, so a mouse model has been developed to see what happens with olfactory dysfunction, potentially seeing depletion of neurons or another marker for PD. Lastly, Joseph is currently working on imaging and analyzing a study looking at the up-regulation of microglia and astrocytes in the hippocampus as a result of neuronal inflammation in the PD model.
One node of stress for students is approaching the conversation of having a paid or an unpaid position, or doing work for credit. How does a student even begin to make that decision? Joseph offered that working closely with your research mentor is the best way to write a proposal for the grants or fellowships that are available for students, and if that doesn’t end up working some labs will pay students per hour. Furthermore, Joseph’s MCDB major offers an intensive in which students can choose to conduct research and earn course credit by spending up to 20 hours a week conducting independent research.
When asked for advice for freshmen wishing to get started, he advises students to be assured that that yes, you will get into a lab. Even if it’s not the perfect place at first, it will all work out and your lab will grow on you. You will find your place, and it will be less stressful if you start early and explore outside your comfort zone! However, Joseph’s story also shows how it is never too late to switch your career path and join a lab. Even if you get a later start, you will always be able to find a home and a community at a research lab exploring the questions you have about the world.