Member Spotlight: Ru Gunawardane, PhD

Ru Gunawardane, PhD
Allen Institute, USA

Hometown
Sri Lanka

Current Residence
Seattle, WA

Graduate Degree
PhD

Postdoc Work
Studied cell migration and invasion of breast cancer cells

Current Position
Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science

ISSCR Participation
Speaker, AI and Digital Biology Symposium in Seattle, USA and Speaker, iPSC 20th Anniversary Symposium in Kyoto, Japan

• What is the current focus of your research?

  Understanding how collections of cells achieve morphogenesis using stem cell models, computation, and synthetic biology.

• How would you explain the significance of this work to a lay audience?

  We are trying to extract the fundamental rules that guide our cells to form organs and tissues.

• What do you find most rewarding about your work?

  Opportunity to do cutting edge science to understand how cells work and to do so as a multidisciplinary team with open science being a major driver.

• What led you to become a scientist and to stem cell research?

  I was always interested in understanding how cells go wrong in disease and I was excited by the ability to use iPSCs to really get at how "normal" cells make decisions about cell fate and function.

• What guidance would you share in talking with trainees interested in pursuing your area of research?

  Learn how to do great science and collaborate - the future of science will be more and more team based.

• Do you have any mentors or individuals who have inspired you in your stem cell work?

  All the amazing breakthroughs in generation of iPSCs, imaging, and CRISPR technologies are truly inspiring and have made a lot of the work we all do possible both in basic science and translational applications.

• How do you spend your free time?

  Time with family and nature.

• What is something your peers would be surprised to learn about you?

  That I love to learn new languages.

• What do you most value about your membership with the ISSCR?

  Sense of community and belonging along with great science!