I’m very grateful to be part of the ICIS community, and in particular winning the Regeneron-ICIS New Investigator award last year was a huge boost for me just as I was starting my new lab. I am broadly interested in ligand-receptor systems that regulate tissue inflammation and repair (especially cytokines!). Besides, my main hobbies outside of lab are distance running and reading history books. I ran the Boston Marathon in April this year, so training for that has taken up a lot of my time recently!
Please tell us your name, degree, where you currently work, and position.
Robert (Bobby) Saxton, PhD, Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine at UC Berkeley.
Where did you do your training?
- Undergraduate – UC Berkeley
- PhD – MIT
- Postdoc – Stanford
Briefly, what is your research about?
My lab is broadly interested in ligand-receptor systems that regulate tissue inflammation and repair (especially cytokines!). We use structure-based protein engineering together with a variety of other biochemical and genetic techniques to study and manipulate inflammatory signaling, with the goal of developing new therapeutic approaches.
Tell us your thoughts about ICIS: how has being involved in the Cytokine Society helped your career?
I’m very grateful to be part of the ICIS community, and in particular winning the Regeneron-ICIS New Investigator award last year was a huge boost for me just as I was starting my new lab.
Are there any particular friendships or collaborations that came specifically out of Cytokines meetings?
No specific collaborations yet, but it has greatly expanded my scientific network and I’m sure many ICIS-related collaborations will be coming in the future.
What Cytokines meeting(s) have been your favorites? Tell us about any special memories or anecdotes.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to attend an ICIS meeting in person yet, the first meeting after I joined ICIS was Athens and I caught COVID just before my trip. But I was still able to watch most of the talks online and really got a lot out of it. Can’t wait for the next meeting in person though!
What do you like to do when not in the lab?
My main hobbies outside of lab are distance running and reading history books. I ran the Boston Marathon in April, so training for that has taken up a lot of my time recently!
What is the best life/career advice you’ve ever received?
I’ve received so much great advice from my undergrad, grad, and postdoc mentors that it’s hard to pick a single best one. But something I’ve been thinking about lately is from my postdoc advisor (Chris Garcia), on the importance of taking the ‘long view’ of projects and understanding that anything really worth doing will take a while to pay off. So, you can’t let yourself be too affected by the inevitable short-term ups and down that come in science. This mindset has certainly been very helpful while starting my lab.
What book or TV show are you reading/watching right now that you recommend?
I’m late to the game on this one, but I’m currently watching The Crown and enjoying it very much.
What is your favorite cytokine?
Definitely IL-10, but IL-22 is a close second!
Find Robert on Twitter/X: @rsaxton_