![]() ![]() ![]() In addition to her research training, Hoffman says she has benefited from Austad's writing advice. Hoffman and her mentor, Steven Austad, in Austad's lab. (See “Fueling postdoc success” below.) She also credits Austad, a former journalist who has written several books and columns in the popular press, with helping her share her vision with grant reviewers. Hoffman says she benefitted from several courses she took through the UAB Office of Postdoctoral Education, which offers formal education, mentoring and other support to UAB’s 250-plus postdoctoral trainees. Getting a K99 takes a great idea, but it also takes superior communication skills. The NIH’s own research shows that receiving a K99/R00 makes an investigator very likely to receive an R01, the four- to five-year Research Project Grant that is, in Croker’s words, the “you-made-it signal” for a scientist’s research career. “It lays out a nice runway for a scholar to establish their independence,” with two or three mentored K99 years followed by a couple of R00 years as a junior faculty member. The K99/R00 is a “very prestigious award,” said Jennifer Croker, Ph.D., senior executive administrator of UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science. She’s really on her way to an outstanding faculty career.” “Jessica is exactly the kind of person that we look to hire when we are recruiting. “People who get these are almost guaranteed to get a faculty position in the near future,” Austad said. Melissa Harris, Ph.D., an assistant professor in biology who joined UAB in 2016, was awarded a K99 in 2014 while at the National Human Genome Research Institute for her research on gray hair and aging. ![]() But she is not the only kangaroo in her department. Hoffman is the first trainee in the Department of Biology, and the College of Arts and Sciences as a whole, to receive a K99 while at UAB. What I’m interested in is: Is there a conserved pathway for this? "We see that in every species with a significant size variation. "Ponies live longer than horses, small dogs live longer than large ones," Hoffman said. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute selected Malgorzata Kasztan, Ph.D., for The Role of Endothelin–1 in Tubular Injury in Sickle Cell Disease, with nephrology Professor Jennifer Pollock, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Jaroslaw Zmijewski, Ph.D., from the Department of Medicine Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, as mentors. Eman Gohar, Ph.D., was selected by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for her project, Sex Differences in Renal Sodium Handling, with Department of Nephrology professors Edward Inscho, Ph.D., and David Pollock, Ph.D., as mentors. UAB was one of 34 institutions with three or more awardees. In 2019, only 262 K99s were awarded to postdocs at 92 institutions. Known as “kangaroos,” these large, multi-year funding awards were created to help rising stars “launch competitive, independent research careers,” according to the NIH.Ĭompetitive is the key word. This question, and Hoffman’s previous work with Austad, convinced the National Institute on Aging to award her one of the coveted K99/R00 grants in April 2019. What I’m interested in is: Is there a conserved pathway for this?” We see that in every species with a significant size variation. “Ponies live longer than horses, small dogs live longer than large ones. “But within species, it’s the opposite,” Hoffman said. “Across species, the larger you are the longer you live,” Hoffman said. The award will allow her to start her own lab to take on a puzzling question in aging research: Why are size and lifespan interconnected? ![]() This year, Hoffman joined elite company when she received a coveted K99/R00 Pathway to Independence grant from the National Institutes of Health. Jessica Hoffman, Ph.D., is an evolutionary biologist in the lab of Department of Biology Chair Steven Austad, Ph.D., who also directs the UAB Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. Postdocs, who by definition are on temporary assignment, can think of little else. She is studying the metabolomes of mice, dogs and fruit flies to try to understand why size has a major impact on longevity across species.Whether you are a flea, an elephant or a postdoctoral researcher, eventually all things come to an end.įleas and elephants generally aren’t interested in their career paths. Hoffman received a prestigious K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award (known as a "kangaroo") from the NIH's National Institute on Aging. ![]()
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