Dean Sanders

My journey to science:

My path to science has always been a bit of a mystery to me, however I believe my interest stems from a core personality trait. That is, I deeply desire to understand how the world around me works on a mechanistic level. My first steps toward science began when I was a sophomore in high school and I was given my first car. To my fathers bewilderment, I immediately began pulling it apart and rebuilding it. The look of confusion on his face was priceless. However, what neither of us realized was that during the rapid unscheduled disassembly of my vehicle I was inadvertently teaching myself the fundamentals of combustion engines, hydraulics and the basic principles of harnessing electricity. Although I remain interested in these topics, the most useful thing I got out of my exploration of car mechanics was not the knowledge gained on their workings, but how to teach myself a new subject matter. After all of my academic pursuits I've come to wholeheartedly agree that:

“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.” -W.B. Yeats

Early On

It was this fire that was struck in me so many years ago during my first bacteriology course at the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan campus. I became fascinated by the sheer dominance of microbes throughout our planet. A single celled organism that collectively controls almost all nutrient and energy cycling throughout the earth, sign me up for that major. Naturally, I went on to pursue microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Here, I performed my first experiments in Brant Kedrowski's laboratory where I learned how to perform chemical extractions and HPLC purify cranberry bio-compounds which were later screened for antimicrobial activity (Antimicrobial compounds in Cranberry). I also joined the environmental research and innovation center during my final two summers at UWO to perform microbial load testing at Sheboygan county beaches with the purpose of tracking indicator organisms during varying environmental conditions (Beach Microbial Load Testing). These first experiences were crucial because they taught me the basics of hypothesis driven scientific research. My experiences at UWO were also instrumental in my decision to pursue advanced education in science.

Undergraduate Study and Scientific Inspiration

After undergraduate I began graduate study at the Bacteriology department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Marcin Filutowicz. We investigated the relationship of the social amoeba Dictyostelium and its bacterial prey. In my first manuscript we described how various Dictyostelid species consume different species of bacterial biofilms (Protist 2017). Since the discovery, we have filed for a patent on the use of Dictyostelids as a potential therapeutic agent against antibiotic resistant bacteria (Patent Application) and Dr. Filutowicz has opened AmoebaGone to perform translational research on Dictyostelium as a bio-control agent. During my masters research I leveraged my ability to build instruments to improve our knowledge of Dictyostelids biofilm interaction. During my work I designed and built a functional fluorescence macroscope (Macroscope Schematics) and multiple bacterial biofilm reactors (Biofilm Reactor). During this short stint in graduate study I became fascinated by next-generation sequencing technology. I took courses on genomic and proteomic analysis and built my first bioinformatics computer on my minimal budget (< $400). After installing my first Linux OS and learning a few BASH tricks, I was immediately hooked. Suddenly, all of my hobbies and academic pursuits merged. I could now perform carefully controlled experiments, build the instruments I didn't have and analyze data on my organism of choice. I then decided I would pursue the final step of advanced scientific education, Ph.D.. I would sharpen my skills and better understand biological systems from a molecular basis. I happily accepted an offer to join the UW-Genetics department in Fall of 2013.

Graduate Study

I was immediately drawn to the area of eukaryotic gene regulation because of its incredible complexity yet high fidelity. This began my study of chromatin and epigenetic gene regulation in plants. Initially, my thesis project focused on how plant development was altered by changes in chromatin regulation. We found that mutations in specific lysine sites of the highly conserved N-terminal tails on histone H3 proteins (near identical in all eukaryotes) caused dominant negative effects on histone methylation at all other H3 in the genome (Plant Physiology 2017). Consequently, gene expression of genes important for carotenoid biosynthesis and flowering became mis-regulated. I am currently working on understanding what role DNA methylation plays in gene expression regulation during plant heat stress (My Current Research). If DNA methylation proves important this research may have far reaching implications in the area of trans-generational epigenetic inheritance.

Post-Graduate Work and Study

After graduating with my Ph.D. in Genetics from the Univeristy of Wisconsin I immediately began working as a computational biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Biotechnology Center (December 2018). This position was an exciting new direction for me as I dove into the population and quantitative genetics field. My primary focus in this position is to perform genotype-by-sequencing (GBS), genomewide association studies (GWAS) and genome assembly on a wide variety of model and non-model organisms. I very much enjoy the excitement of working on the cutting edge of biological study and the challenge that comes along with it.