Dr. Sarah Hake
Acting Director, Principal Investigator
Plant Gene Expression Center, USDA/ARS-UC Berkeley
URL: http://plantbio.berkeley.edu/Faculty/faculty_members/Hake.html
Fields: Maize genetics
Specialty: Developmental Biology
Nominated by: Dr. Sheila McCormick
Excerpt from nomination:Dr. Sarah Hake was the first person to identify homeobox genes in plants. Homeobox genes are known to be important to animal development, in segmentation and patterning, but their discovery in plants was quite suprising. This discovery, made in the late '80s, created a whole new subfield.
Sarah's work is groundbreaking in other ways - for example, her lab demonstrated that plant homeobox transcription factors can move from cell to cell. She has trained a number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and is an excellent role model.
What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
I worked in a hospital pharmacy after graduating from college and decided to go to
graduate school. I needed to be more stimulated, have more responsibility,
and have more to do than put pills in bottles.
Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire? Why?
My heroine is Barbara McClintock (who won the Nobel prize for her work on
transposable elements in corn). She carried out controversial research
that few people believed, but did her experiments without error and so knew
her observations were correct. I admire her ability to be so focused that
mistakes are not made. I am also a strong admirer of a 6th grade teacher I
know who puts his soul into his teaching.
What are you most proud of (either professionally or personally)?
I am most proud of my mentoring. I think I provide good environments for my
students and postdocs.
What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?
Make sure you love research.
What is your favorite book?
Whatever novel I just finished. I enjoy any chance to read but don't do
enough of it.
What do you see as the single most interesting element of your work?
Using genetics to understand development.
What was your darkest moment (professionally) and what did you learn
from it?
Giving a lecture I wasn't prepared for. So, I have learned to be prepared
when talking to students.
What do you do to relax?
Cook delicious dinners with husband and children, garden, go running.
