Today we are interviewing Dr. Crystal Conn, an assistant professor in Radiation Oncology here at UPenn! Dr. Conn, a member of the Trainee Advocacy Alliance and founding member of the Radiation Oncology Committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, started their lab in 2020. Since then, the Conn lab has grown and their molecular and cell biology research has developed around the goal of understanding how dynamic mRNA regulation influences disease progression. Read on to learn more about the questions the Conn lab aims to answer, to hear what it’s like to be a professor at Penn, and to get advice on thriving during your Ph.D!
What are the overarching questions your lab hopes to answer, and how do you aim to go about answering these questions?
We are looking to understand the role of mRNA regulation in the contexts of disease progression and cell adaptation. Focusing on protein synthesis under intrinsic and extrinsic stress allows us to study dynamic cellular processes that orchestrate cell survival. We typically focus on cancer progression and resistance to drug therapy with a focus on RNA localization, modifications, and non-canonical factors that navigate these responses. We use polysomes and ribosome profiling to directly observe RNAs selected for translation and compare those to total mRNA abundance to highlight translation specificity. Our aim is to take our findings back to in vivo models and/or human samples to study the factors and effects we identify in physiological contexts of disease.
What do you find most interesting about the questions your lab aims to answer?
The ability to change where and when translation happens can alter the cellular phenotype faster than transcriptional responses and, based on where the ribosome starts, can alter the proteome altogether leading to enhanced diversity independent of all pre-translational regulation. This is an area of my interest over the past 12 years and only in the past few years are others starting to see the complexity of this and the magnitude of downstream outcomes. Looking far from the textbooks to see how little we know about a subject... is what I always find the most interesting.
Are you looking for rotation students? What would you like interested CAMB students to know about your lab environment and research?
Always open to rotation students, though we typically only take ~4/year due to space and time. My favorite thing to do for rotations is have the students build their rotation project alongside me. It is critical that you are interested in what you do and driven by the project you are working on, so what better way than to build it based on your own ideas. I aim to assist projects along, but want to give creative freedom. The focus should be learning new techniques, expanding scientific knowledge, and if the project works well – it can be a great starting point for PhD work. As a new lab, it is also important for me to see student’s ability to be rather independent in driving their research, as there are no direct mentors to work side by side with in the lab. The lab mates all can aid for different aspects of the project and that helps to determine if the environment is a good fit as well. I feel very fortunate to have an amazing lab of unique personalities that vibe well and luckily are witty for entertainment too.
What advice would you like most to impart on Ph.D. students, both those who are just starting out and those farther along?
Perspective- you might not realize this in the moment, but you are going to do great. It might not seem that way day to day -or- when things are failing, but each step you are learning something new… so you are already winning. Honestly, no matter where you are in your scientific career or what lab you join, you can do great things and are the one in control to guide your research success. Mindset is everything and your perspective is critical to reflect on this. Look back and think about where you were at the start of the journey- 1st year of undergrad or 1st year of grad school and celebrate the success you have already made to be where you are in the current moment. Research life can get difficult, so think of the bigger picture of everything, celebrate all the little wins, and keep going!
Any suggestions on how to complete a Ph.D.? Do you have tips on battling burnout and finding out what you want your career path to look like?
Your “why” needs to drive you. You need to love your research question and be beyond driven by curiosity. When things don’t work out or if/when you hit a wall for endless weeks on something, it helps when the question and the experiments are your ideas (not placed on you)... because then you are invested! Always recommend small side-projects too to stay motivated in other areas or to try new things out. What kept me sane during grad school –I picked up running when I was stressed out (which became often during the last 2yrs) and doing outreach with local afterschool programs. I did not let these side things distract me, but they aided my ‘why’. Teaching middle schoolers the background between a hypothesis and seeing them excited helped to re-motivate myself as well. Going to scientific conferences, once my science was ready to present, was also exciting to see others really curious about my findings and to hear all the fascinating work ongoing by our field. It let me see my work in a different light and re-motivate me to ask the next questions.
What factors influenced your decision to become a professor? When did you know it was the right path for you?
I did not intend to stay in academia. I worked at two industrial/pharmaceutical jobs in and after undergrad and realized I needed a PhD in order to one-day drive teams to make career moves. However, during grad school I learned the freedom of academia that I didn’t see in industry jobs; I could start and follow many side projects and be the first to make discoveries. I decided to do a traditional postdoc and turned down a few high paying industry jobs for it because I knew I wanted to learn more scientific fields/ techniques before ‘settling’ into a career. Towards the end of my postdoc- I realized I had wrote and funded my research, trained my technicians, and presented my findings internationally… so I should at least try for an academic position to answer a few burning curiosities I have. In academia, no one tells me ‘no’ or ‘drop this project, our funding is elsewhere’… literally the lab is a rather limitless place for discovery. I have learned the joy of also having those new discoveries shared with me from the researchers in the lab and getting excited for their next experiments.
What’s your favorite part about being a PI at Penn? How did you decide where to start your lab?
I used to always say my favorite and my least favorite thing about Penn is the same thing “numerous resources” -it can be overwhelming to focus in when you are starting and trying to determine where to use what services. The people here have really become my favorite singular thing though. I have met outgoing, no-ego, phenomenal scientists that want to do great work together and I am genuinely so happy that I found these individuals to surround myself with in seminars, committee meetings, and late night dinners. When starting up the lab and applying for positions – one big thing for me was location. Location can be key for your happiness and your happiness is key for your success. I only applied to a select number of places I’d want to do science in and live. Penn offered many things- a university overflowing with resources (as noted above), top-notch scientists, and neighboring institutes, while also being in a city filled of history that has great cuisine, music, and art (while not being over-bearing). Luckily, it also has a major airport for conference travel and the area brought me home to the East Coast. In many ways Philly was the only location where I would have wanted to start my lab and Penn was my top choice.
To learn more about the team and/or the research ongoing in the Conn lab, visit the lab website at https://www.csconnlab.com/team. Dr. Conn is currently looking for interested graduate students!
