Biotech Scientist Advocates for Authenticity

Name: Jesse Weber (he/him)

PhD: Cell & Molecular Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 2024

What was your main area of research?

My major area of research focused on using gene editing strategies to excise large regions of pathogenic DNA. This work focused mostly on neurodegenerative diseases that arise from something called "repeat expansion".

Whereas many genes relevant to keeping our brain functioning have stretches of repeating nucleotides, when these accidentally expand and become too big these repeats end up causing disease. This is a hallmark of both Huntington's Disease and some forms of ALS. Using gene editing to excise the repeat is a potential treatment route, yet it's incredibly inefficient in vivo.

My PhD focused on understanding why it's so inefficient in vivo, and how we can make it better.

What is your current job?

I am a Scientist at Scribe Therapeutics in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

My job entails:

• AAV and mRNA engineering within the context of gene editing

• Design screening efforts to identify AAV vector elements to improve gene editing in vivo

• Identify aspect of mRNA, such as UTRs, to screen and improve gene editing in vivo

The best thing is definitely the people!

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

I found this job through LinkedIn.

PhD graduate ➡️ Current job

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

This was something I never even had to think about. I knew that aspects of Academia, such as grant writing, were not for me.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

1. Consider that there are so many more options beyond just lab work! And, most notably, that you are not "leaving science" if you choose to do something like science writing - even if your mentors are saying that. All aspects of science are required to make our community grow and be successful - those in and out of the lab!

2. For interviewing, one of the positives I received in feedback from my current employers was that I seemed incredibly honest. Even if you have to rehearse answers to questions you know they'll ask (biggest strength and weakness, as an example) make sure you're authentic.

3. LinkedIn will probably be your biggest friend. Don't be afraid to connect with people you don't know and reach out to ask about their companies.