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Ashley Schwartz, BS, is a 2023 recipient of the Diversity Initiatives Career Development Award. In this blog, Ashley shares her experience of receiving the award and using it toward participating in the Gene Regulatory Networks for Development Advanced Research course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. To learn more about the Diversity Initiatives Career Development Award, visit the award’s web page.

I was fortunate enough to participate in the Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) for Development Advanced Research course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in October 2023, thanks to the SOT Diversity Initiatives Career Development Award. This two-week course brought together graduate student researchers and faculty from various backgrounds and institutions worldwide, offering a unique opportunity to delve into GRNs through a mix of lectures, discussions, and hands-on workshops.

As a computational science PhD student specializing in computational developmental toxicology, I was drawn to this course to gain a biological perspective to complement my modeling techniques. The GRNs for Development course deepened my understanding of gene regulation, emphasizing the crucial role of temporal gene expression in development. This biological insight provides a holistic understanding of the biological underpinnings governing developmental processes. I intend to leverage this knowledge to investigate developmental perturbations following exposure to environmental contaminants.

The GRNs course sparked reflections on my dissertation research, which I aim to utilize to improve my current and future research. I developed the ability to construct networks with profound biological meaning, ensuring interpretability across the interdisciplinary field. This skill will shape my computational models, making them accurate and easily interpretable for researchers with varying biological and computational backgrounds. The workshop also highlighted the importance of proper documentation for biological software development, a lesson that will amplify the impact of my work on the broader scientific community as I create software for my primary research.

Beyond the technical aspect of GRNs, the course also emphasized the importance of research ethics and fair access to scientific knowledge. It served as a reminder that we need to support the advancement of minorities in science by providing mentorship and promoting scientific communication. I am committed to actively engaging in mentorship activities, creating a supportive environment for scientists from diverse backgrounds, and sharing my experiences to amplify the voices of diverse students in the community.

The quote, "If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones—we had better know something about their nature and their power," from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is very significant to me, as it perfectly describes the motivation behind my research. It was an exciting experience for me to study at a place where Rachel Carson gained much of her inspiration for many of her impactful books, such as Silent Spring. I even got to take a picture with her statue at the Marine Biological Laboratory.

In conclusion, the GRNs for Development course has been a pivotal chapter in my academic journey, shaping my understanding of gene regulation and influencing the trajectory of my research. I extend my sincere gratitude to the SOT Committee on Diversity Initiatives for affording me this enriching opportunity. I look forward to the meaningful impact these learnings will have on my future endeavors.

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