On the job: real-world careers in the life sciences.

AuthorStewart, Heather
PositionFocus

Helping young students see the life sciences as a viable--if not exciting--career path is a big focus for educators and tech industry leaders. Here, we profile two working scientists, both of whom have made impactful contributions to their fields--one working for private industry and the other within the halls of academia. Their stories help illuminate the varied paths and possibilities within the sciences.

Brian Caplin

Chief Science Officer, Fluoresentric, Inc.

Brian Caplin, Ph.D., stumbled into scientific research while on his way to medical school and a career as an ophthalmologist. In the summer between his junior and senior year at Wabash College, he worked in his professor's lab, researching the genetics of an algae.

"[Initially,] that was really not interesting to me at all, but I needed to do it to have something to stand out [on my application for medical school]," says Caplin. "I spent the summer working on this, and I was totally, totally 100 percent hooked on the science. It was so cool. It was creating new knowledge that no one had ever seen or experienced before. Well, medical school disappeared from my agenda."

Caplin studied molecular genetics at Ohio State University, learning cutting-edge techniques in biotechnology. After that, he devoted several years to working for laboratories researching cancer. "It was really cool," he says. "We were doing stuff that ... resulted in some pretty good targets for cancer therapeutics."

A constant learner, Caplin became interested in a new technology called real-time PCR, a technique that is used to amplify a targeted DNA molecule so it can be detected and/ or quantified. Real-time PCR is most often used for disease diagnostics. Caplin moved to Utah and, he says, knocked on the door of Idaho Technology--a frontrunner in the field of PCR, now known as BioFire Diagnostics--until it offered him a job.

Working at Idaho Technology enabled Caplin to learn about and contribute to the latest techniques. While there, he patented both a novel method for quantitative PCR and a novel probe-based genotyping chemistry.

"I've had a lot of opportunities to play in the latest, greatest science while the latest, greatest science was in the process of developing," he says. "From a scientist's perspective, there's nothing more pleasurable; expanding the knowledge beyond the newest, latest [and] greatest is really fun, enjoyable, beneficial, but finding the new science that's going to take over the...

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