From September 18-22, 2017, we introduce you to 5 postdocs at the JGI in honor of National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which recognizes the contributions of these early career researchers. Through a series of hard-hitting questions, we find out what drives each one.
Hiroshi Otani, postdoc in Sam Deutsch‘s Synthetic Biology group
What do you work on? The products of microbial metabolism have biotechnological applications such as antibiotics or biofuels. I’m using actinobacteria to develop a better method to systemically identify these compounds and how they’re being produced under particular conditions. I use a combination of functional genomics and OMICS approaches to understand such microbial metabolism.
When did you join JGI? February 2016
Where did you join us from? University of British Columbia
What drives your passion outside of JGI? Jazz
What song do you have on constant repeat? “Waltz for Debby”
What’s your favorite dessert? Fruits
What could the letters JGI stand for other than “Joint Genome Institute”? Jazz Geek and Indie
What do you appreciate most about JGI? Easy access to instruments for HTP experiments