Yoni Bibliowicz

It would be seven years after Yoni (Jonathan) Bibliowicz finished his Bachelor’s degree in biology at UT that he would find his niche here at the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology. In the meantime, the globetrotter, who grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel, traveled from Mexico to Australia and everywhere in between.

During the summer right after graduating from UT, he joined a graduate student from the university on a three month research trip to study the coral reefs of the Mexican Caribbean.  “It was a great experience to live on the beach and do research underwater, while scuba diving. After that summer I really considered studying marine biology, but I ended up in San Francisco and started doing lab work,” he said.

Bibliowicz worked in the biotechnology field, “…where I gained my appreciation for science and research, deciding that this was what I wanted to do as a career,” he said. He worked for companies such as Genentech, AP Pharma and Stratagene.

However, Bibliowicz also found that industry was not his cup of tea. “I found academia more of a challenge and in it, a scientific community that is very interactive, supportive and stimulating.”

Hence, he found himself back at UT, working toward his Ph.D. On his third rotation, Bibliowicz joined Dr. Jeffrey Gross’ lab and has now committed several years to his research with eye development in zebrafish. Gross is a very good at being “hands off on the one had, but available and attentive when we do need his opinion or insight on the other hand,” he said.

They are studying the molecular, cellular and developmental processes that regulate eye formation. By doing so, they hope to gain a better understanding of human conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, and ocular coloboma. In these experiments, Bibliowicz is finding a combination of things that he is searching for in terms of what he wants to do. “It integrates a lot of areas that I am interested in – genetics, developmental biology and neurobiology for instance. Also, marine biology has always been at the back of my mind, and now, seven years later, I'm working in the lab... studying fish,” he said.

Bibliowicz may be stuck in one place for a few years, but the population at UT is diverse enough to satisfy him. “The student population is very international, which I like. I think the interaction with those students has been very enriching. And there are labs working on all sorts of areas and so you are constantly stimulated with different angles of the scientific field,” he said.