Gabe Boyle (left) and Jay Sarthy: 'He has a promising future in science and has equipped himself to be successful in academia or industry.'
Unlike some of his post-doctoral colleagues at Seattle Children’s, Gabe Boyle admits his career in science has been “a meandering process.”
There was “no strict guidance” from his parents or mentors growing up. He describes his upbringing in Cleveland, which included home-schooling, as “laissez faire.” Boyle even dropped out of an AP Biology class in high school.
“My father was a cognitive behavioral therapist,” said Boyle, 32. “He fed me a lot of information on lots of different subjects to see what would stick.”
After a frustrating two years exploring engineering at Case Western Reserve University, he decided “to ditch this and move into the brain stuff,” possibly a nod to his father’s influence. He moved southwest from Cleveland to Columbus to enroll in The Ohio State University and pursue a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Neuroscience.
He graduated in 2015 and moved even further west to the Twin Cities to conduct research in Alzheimer’s Disease.
“I was not interested – at all – in graduate school,” he said. “I was tired of school. I wanted a job.”
For the next three years at the University of Minnesota, Boyle conducted research into proteins associated with Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as co-managed a transgenic mouse colony, which included cross-breeding mice with different Alzheimer’s-related genetic perturbations, harvesting their brains, and comparing their biochemistry to healthy mice.
“This was one of the most challenging times of my life,” he said. “The Alzheimer’s work was like looking for needles in a haystack, but the work drove me toward a fascination with big data science. My PI kept pushing me toward pursuing a Ph.D. Eventually, I was fueled by the fear of what would happen to my career if I did not pursue Ph.D.”
Boyle was “dead set” on staying in the Twin Cities, though he fell in love with Seattle as soon as he arrived in mid-January and realized could breathe the air without worrying about frostbite.
While participating in a national conference, he met a researcher who encouraged him to apply to the UW’s Molecular & Cellular Biology program (MCB), an interdisciplinary graduate program jointly offered with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. MCB’s partner organizations also include: the Benaroya Research Institute, the Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle Children's, and the Allen Institute.
He applied, was accepted and, it appears, that “meandering process” became, if not a straight career path, at least a less circuitous journey.
“The MCB program has so much flexibility,” Boyle said. “It is self-directed. It enabled me to rotate among several different labs, from genetics, to technology development, to mutational scanning.”
One of those labs was that of BBI’s Doug Fowler, who helped Boyle navigate the four-year odyssey toward completing his Ph.D.
“Doug’s lab resonated with me in many ways, including emphasizing improving how we ask scientific questions, as opposed to focusing solely on asking the questions themselves,” he said. “His lab was like walking through a forest of different ‘project trees,’ while others’ labs offered single trees with lots of branches.”
Doug Fowler: '(Gabe) gave a lot of thought to what he wanted is work life to be like, and, later in his Ph. D., he did a lot of learning and thinking about how teams work.'
Fowler noted the outsized influence Boyle had in the lab, as well as on him personally. At Boyle’s defense of his dissertation, Fowler introduced him, saying, “If I could choose any one to be my boss, it would be Gabe.”
What did Fowler mean by that?
“Gabe really took the ‘meta’ part of his career seriously from the beginning,” Fowler said. “He gave a lot of thought to what he wanted is work life to be like, and, later in his Ph. D., he did a lot of learning and thinking about how teams work. He gave talks to numerous labs about what makes an effective team, and how to navigate mentoring relationships. On top of all that, he is a really thoughtful, kind and unflappable individual. He would be a great boss!”
Boyle’s boss since December of last year has been Jay Sarthy, M.D., Ph.D., a Seattle Children’s hematologist-oncologist specializing in pediatric bone marrow transplantation for children with blood cancers and rare genetic conditions.
Boyle, a postdoctoral scholar in Sarthy’s lab, profiles epigenomes of patient-derived leukemia cell lines with protein fusions to explore novel therapeutic targets.
“Gabe has brought flow cytometry skills, perspectives from working in different lab environments, and seeks out new literature to develop ideas for new ways to target pediatric cancer,” Sarthy said. “He has an outstanding attitude, is genuinely interested in applying his knowledge of biology to help children with cancer, and brings a curiosity to his work that is infectious.”
Such curiosity, complemented by empathy for others, is evident after spending just a few minutes with Boyle. He is committed to helping other aspiring scientists define, articulate, and achieve their professional goals.
While Boyle’s own professional goals remain to be fully articulated, Sarthy noted his post-doc’s drive for success is clear and that his enthusiasm for research is evident.
“Gabe is fun to be around and gets people excited about being in the lab,” Sarthy said. “He has also sought out resources to develop managerial skills, which is unique at his level. He has a promising future in science and has equipped himself to be successful in academia or industry.”
