I have been fortunate to be able to work with an incredibly talented and diverse group of people. These pictures are just some of the faces of those who I am grateful to know and have been able to work with over the past year. All of these people are individuals that work directly or assist our work in the scientific discovery of vision and the exploration of vision loss. We have an amazing team here at the John A. Moran Eye Center and I am honored to be a part of our journey to discover and explore the science of vision with the ultimate outcome of curing vision loss.
Not all of my colleagues images are here, however if they came by my office or appeared in front of my camera lens this year, they will be here.
While Ann is not an employee of the Moran, we have worked a bit on photography for the Moran as well as on continuing Internet related projects. She is a dear friend and my rediscovery of photography through a digital medium has been one that I’ve shared with Ann over the past few years.
Carl is an amazing talented electron microscopist able to capture images that would make you weep with joy. He is an integral part of our effort to reconstruct the retina and I am most pleased to be able to work with a fellow Texan and good friend.
Crystal is a graduate student in the neuroscience program here. She is talented, hard working and it has been a pleasure to get to know her.
Dave is one of the undergraduates that has worked in our lab for a couple of years now. He is applying to medical school and might be leaving us soon which is to be expected as one cannot keep good talent around forever, but we will miss him and wish him the best of luck.
Drew is another undergraduate working with Felix, a post-doctoral researcher here. Drew brings with him a most pleasant personality and Swedish pastries.
Ed is one of our junior faculty here at the Moran and one of our developmental biologists. He’s good company, a talented scientist and I am most happy to have him as a friend and colleague. On top of that, he’s good company for an evening out on the beach, people watching while sipping on fine scotch wiskey.
Faisal, Adam and Yuuki are undergraduates working in the Bernstein and Zhang labs that have been critical in obtaining donated human tissue through the Lions Eye Bank. I am most grateful for their hard work and will be treating them very soon to another sushi lunch in thanks.
Felix is one of our post-doctoral researchers who is driven, very talented and good company. I had the pleasure of sharing a road trip with him through Dinosaur National Park to the FASEB summer research conference earlier this year.
Greg, the other Jones here at the Moran (…no relation…. I think…..) and a good friend is our Executive Director of Research and a riot of a good time to spend time with.
James Anderson is our graduate student from the neuroscience program who came to us from Microsoft. He is amazingly intelligent, driven by scientific questions and great fun to watch learn, mentor and explore science with. He has been invaluable to me in working with the computer science department and getting our code up and running. On top of that, we have him working on top secret projects that I am very excited about that I am hoping will have big scientific payoffs.
James Tucker is our other graduate student, this time from the MD/PhD program here and is working on other top secret projects that we hope to have play a role in big impact science.
Jen, our executive secretary that has been critical to our accomplishing work here and we could not do it without her. She also makes a mean limoncello and enjoys a fine sushi meal. In fact, I think its time for Jen, Julee and I to go out for a sushi lunch after the holidays.
Jessica is another one of our undergraduates who has been of tremendous help to us in plowing through a tremendous amount of work in the past couple of years. Thank you so much Jessica.
Jia-Hui is our anatomist who always amazes me with her incredibly precise and beautiful ultrastructural work and histology. She routinely presents me with slides asking if they are what I was looking for and somehow those slides are even more than I could have asked for. She also trained me how to section and while I consider myself fairly accomplished, she tells me that I am “pretty good, for a boy….”. On top of all that talent, she is a talented cook and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet.
Jim is our director of institutional advancement and I hear a pretty good voice in the annual Christmas Carol play. Jim’s also a Harley rider so look out.
Julee is our administrative assistant that we are so lucky to have working with us. She pulls longer hours than many of the scientists here as I see her in often before sunrise and well after sunset and packs so much accomplishment into those hours that you’d think she had an identical clone working along with her.
Junior is the building super. He is the guy that you go to when something goes wrong in the building and has saved our bacon on more than one occasion. Take for instance the water leak right on top of our brand new $750k microscope… Wow, that was an experience. Junior is also an example of taking the boy out of New York, but not being able to take the New York out of the boy.
Kevin is one of our über technicians that has been invaluable to our work here by developing new protocols, managing the equipment and dealing with all of the technical and social engineering related to maintaining a confocal core facility. He is another critical member of the team and can school even the most educated person on a surprisingly deep knowledge of botany.
Maggie….. what can I say about Maggie except that we go waaaay back. She is the backbone of the lab and not to be trifled with, yet at the same time, Maggie is one of the sweetest, most tender personalities I’ve known. Just don’t cross her or she’ll eviscerate you. She’s a talented cook, world traveler and we’d be lost without her.
Paul is one of the best examples of the MD/PhD you can find, able to juggle both a basic research program as well as a clinical practice and the Moran is better off for having him here as a colleague. He also collects one of the most surprising things….. rare trees.
Ahhhh Peter. Peter is one of our graduate students working down the hall in Sabine’s lab. He is riotously funny is the most dry, self deprecating manner, yet is impressively competent in the lab. On top of that, he’s a hobbit, just like the rest of us, capable of discussing and enjoying food at the precipice of destruction.
Priyanka is another neuroscience graduate student rotating through the lab and also a fellow epicurean who has delighted us with an amazingly diverse sampling of desserts.
Robert, my mentor and dear friend. I have so much to be grateful for with this person as he is the epitome of an academician and a gentleman who has modeled so much for me. He carries himself with honor, honesty, damned hard work and a dedication to science that is rare indeed.
Sabine is our other developmental biologist who works just down the hall from me. She brings a most needed European sensibility to this place and is one of the most talented, hard working and insightful scientists that you will find. On top of that, she is good company and an appreciator of fine cuisine. We’ve shared more than one delightful meal together and I look forward to many more.
Sukanya is a graduate student in Wolfgang’s lab and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. I had the pleasure of walking with her for half the day on one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever taken up in the Maroon Bells of Colorado this year. She’s a hard worker, talented scientist and I look forward to seeing more of her work.
Todd started out in our lab working as an undergraduate student who turned into a superstar developing his own protocols and presenting at international meetings. He is now a medical student and working with us on a couple of projects, one of which I am very excited about as it will turn upside down some misconceptions about a particular class of neuron in the retina. I love DIY science.
Wayne is our COO equivalent who basically runs the building and administrative components related to keeping this place upright. He is an impressive talent who has built us two buildings now and continues to help make this environment a productive one. He’s also a pretty impressive shot with a rifle.
Wolfgang is a scientists scientist who puts in longer hours than most post-docs and his work has been critical in understanding the visual cascade. He shares a love of the outdoors along with a photographic passion while also enjoying a good conversation over equally good beer which makes him good people in my book.
Yanhua is the latest addition to our lab, coming to us as a post-doctoral researcher. He is immensely hard working, in the lab for long hours and very pleasant company. I look forward to more interactions with him in and out of the laboratory.
Yingbin is one of our newest faculty members who is very passionate about his work and is good company indeed. This photo was taken of him presenting this year at the FASEB summer research conference in Colorado. I look forward to collaborations with Yingbin as well as getting to know him more outside of the lab.
Oh yeah, this is the knucklehead who took all these photographs and the guy everybody suffers as he never seems to be without that camera…