My PI
Yesterday i got the chance to sit down with Bill Westel, my PI, and get to know him a bit better.
The first thing i noticed was his computer wallpaper. It's a picture of a cute little chinese girl holding a couple of books. That's Dr. Wetsel's 7 year old daughter, who he and his wife adopted when she was a little over a year old. Even though he always has many projects going on, Dr. Wetsel always has time for his daughter whether it is helping her with her homework, doing tae kwon doe with her, or hanging out with her on Saturdays. She's a lucky girl. =)
Let's rewind to when Dr. Wetsel was a kid. As a boy scout, he always went to see films about space and geology (the two coolest things in science at that time). The coolness of it all is what got him interested in the sciences along with the fact that he grew up on a farm and always loved animals. After all, Dr. Wetsel's current work is all about mice.
Dr. Wetsel's path to where he is now was full of twists and turns. As an undergrad at UVA, Dr. Wetsel was extremely enthusiastic about the brain. He took an intro to psychology class and was so intrigued that he continued on to take every single class that involved the brain. Starting research his junior year, he worked on various projects and spent 20-30 hours a week working in the psychology lab in addition to taking classes. One project on eating and drinking preferences opened up the opportunity for him to travel all over the world with work on food aid. He liked the traveling, especially the Asian countries, and hopes to be able to take his daughter around the world when she gets older. He also mentioned that the work he did with the food aid was amazing because it produced immediate results, but it also made him realize that he was more fit for research. In grad school at Kent State, Dr. Wetsel got to combine his love for the brian and animal behavior and studied monkeys, rats, and pigeons.
After getting his masters in psychology though, Dr. Wetsel was a bit BOREDBOREDBORED and decided that he wanted to learn the biological mechanisms behind the psychology he had been studying. So, Dr. Wetsel went to graduate school at this place called MIT...in biology. It was here that he took the classes he didn't get to take as an undergrad: biochemsitry....cell bio....molecular bio...etc. He then spent his postdoctorate years working with neuropeptides and at the NIEHS for 10 years working with neuroendocrine reproduction and cells in culture. However, his time spent with cells was cut short when he decided to move back to animal models....specificially the mouse and even more specifically KNOCKOUT MICE. Now he's been at DUKE for around 10 years.
Dr. Wetsel's job is all about the children. There's his daughter, of course, and then all the various projects he's been a part of. And like with one's children, Dr. Wetsel will not call one of his projects his favorite. He does offer up a turning point in his career as when he discovered genetic models of mice that involved new technology and a new expertise for him. Then there's the children in the form of postdocs and their experiments. Dr. Wetsel's favorite thing about his job is watching his postdocs grow and nurturing them. He also relishes the learning experiences that he receives with his job. He is always interested to read about new developments...i would call that other people's children.
Speaking of learning and knowlege, Dr. Wetsel has done EVERYTHING. Talking to him, i really got the feeling that he just finds something he enjoys and goes for it. He even tried medical school, but decided he didn't want to be a doctor because he couldn't manipulate humans like he could animals and realized it would be difficult to be a good researcher and a good clinician at the same time. His approach to his studies was very creative as well. He took the subjects he was less interested in such as organic chemsitry and physics and looked at them through a biological perspective. Dr. Wetsel says that his wide range of knowlege about everything brain related which spans from the more general psychology to the more specific biology behind the psychology to animal behavior studies makes him the perfect person to converse with about anything remotely related to the mouse and/ or the brain.
Finally, some advice from Dr. Wetsel for future science researchers: READ about everything and learn to WRITE well and SPEAK well and SOCIALIZE well.
all in all, Dr. Wetsel's a really cool guy. too bad i forgot to take a picture with him.
