How are you?
I am good! Thank you for asking. I am currently enjoying my morning coffee and feeling grateful to be alive and working in a profession that I enjoy.
Please introduce yourself. What should the world know about Ismael Gomez?
I was born in a small village on the outskirts of Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. The village is named La Caja, which translates to “The Box”. Although I was born there, I am very much a product of North Carolina’s soil. My parents and I moved here when I was only 2 months old. They moved here to work in the fields, picking sweet potatoes and cutting the flower heads off of tobacco plants. At its peak, North Carolina produced about a third of the world’s tobacco. This revenue is largely responsible for funding the state’s big three universities (Duke, UNC-CH, NC-State) which give “The Triangle” its name. Due to growing health concerns regarding tobacco in the 50’s and 60’s, legislators decided to diversify and invest heavily in biotech, resulting in Research Triangle Park. Thus, North Carolina’s soil is why I am here doing what I do today. I sometimes like to joke that my parents found me in a sweet potato field with my umbilical cord connected to a sweet potato root!
Can you tell us why you chose to work in a core facility, and how this experience differs from being a postdoc in a research lab?
I chose to do a postdoc here at the Bioinformatics and Analytics Research Collaborative (BARC) because I wanted to get more hands-on experience with bioinformatics. BARC provides bioinformatics analysis services for labs at UNC, but also other institutions and even the private sector. I got my PhD in Cell Biology and Physiology where I did some single-cell RNA-sequencing work. I mostly relied on others for the bioinformatics part, but I was able to start doing some of the analysis on my own towards the end. I felt that doing a postdoc at BARC would give me solid training in bioinformatics and thus I could have strong wet lab and bioinformatics skills.
What kinds of skills have you developed in this role that you might not have gained in a traditional postdoc?
Too many to name them all! In a traditional postdoc I would likely dedicate most of my time to one project, developing expertise in one specific research area. At BARC I have contributed to over 14 projects across 11 academic labs and 3 biotech companies. I have mostly worked on scRNA-seq analysis, but I have also worked with many other NGS modalities such as spatial transcriptomics, adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing (AIRR-Seq), nanopore methylation sequencing and more. When I started at BARC, I hardly knew how to code. Now I feel like I can analyze any type of data.
You have been with UNC-CH for a long time – from undergraduate to PhD to postdoc. A true Tar Heel! How has being part of this community shaped your growth as a scientist and in what ways has your perspective evolved over time?
I have been here a long time! It’s interesting because I don’t think I’ve ever felt very embedded in the UNC-CH community. I am an introvert by nature and tend to immerse myself in my work. There are so many different types of research happening here at UNC-CH and I have always sought to explore these different research areas. For example, during my PhD rotations I intentionally picked labs across a wide range of disciplines, from a yeast genetics lab where I investigated the role of liquid-liquid phase separation on fungal evolution, to a mouse genetics lab where I investigated how reserve stem cells of the tongue might contribute to the development of oral cancer. Now at BARC I am being exposed to even more research modalities. Every experience has added a new layer of perception. Over time, this has made it easier to make connections across research disciplines and find patterns to help answer new research questions.
Do you have any advice for new postdocs, or things that you wish you had known when you first started?
My advice would be to lean into what is most interesting to you. I sometimes get the sense that grad students and postdocs are in a rush to publish the most impactful paper or use the most advanced technique, simply for the sake of outcompeting others. While some aspect of this mentality is certainly useful, after all, scientific research is now more competitive than ever, it’s important to focus on things that fuel your passion, even if there is no clear end-result in mind. I find that by doing this, creativity can flow, and impactful findings and techniques come naturally.
Can you recommend any interesting things for postdocs to experience while living in the Triangle area?
I am a big music nerd, so I have definitely enjoyed my fair share of concerts here. I would recommend checking out the legendary Cat’s Cradle venue in Carrboro as well as Motorco Music Hall in Durham.
Can you share a book, movie, or podcast that has had a meaningful impact on you?
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has recently had a meaningful impact on my life. While I can’t say that I completely understand and or agree with everything in the book, I find some concepts to be very profound and useful. According to Tolle, our identity comes from our perception of time (our past experiences). Much of the world’s suffering comes from our desire to preserve this identity (sense of self). According to Tolle, by realizing that time doesn’t exist, and the only thing that exists is this present moment, we can let go of this sense of self and thus end suffering.
Where do you hope to see yourself in the next 5 years?
In 5 years, I hope to see myself still working in science, immersed in the pursuit of answering a challenging and interesting research question