Martin Jonikas, PhD

My favorite part of science is working with students and colleagues of different backgrounds on bigger goals than any of us could achieve on our own. I value people, creativity, grit, teamwork, diversity, communication, productivity, and safety. I believe in a healthy work/life balance: work hard, play hard. I am committed to providing a nurturing and fun training environment for everyone in the lab.

I grew up in Paris, France and Berkeley, California. I was always fascinated by machines and was fortunate to have the opportunity to major in aerospace engineering at MIT. As part of a graduation requirement, I was forced to take a molecular biology class with an amazing professor, JoAnne Stubbe. The class opened my eyes to the world of molecular machines and led me to pursue a PhD in yeast genetics at UCSF, where I was mentored by Jonathan Weissman, Peter Walter, and Maya Schuldiner. I then was given the opportunity to start our lab at the Carnegie Institution for Science on Stanford campus. Seven years later, I moved the lab to its beautiful home in the Princeton Department of Molecular Biology.

Curriculum Vitae