CPS Grad Spotlight - B Kell
Name: B Kell
MSc or PhD Candidate: PhD Candidate
Location of Undergraduate Education: HBSc in Biological Physics & Mathematics, University of Toronto
Name of the Lab at CPS: Hilfinger Group
Selected Awards: Faculty of Arts & Science Top Doctoral Fellowship & Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Selected Research Contributions:
- Kell, B., Ripsman, R., Hilfinger, A. (2023) Noise properties of adaptation-conferring biochemical control modules. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(38), e2302016120.
- Kell, B., Diep, P., Yakunin A., Hilfinger, A., Mahadevan, R. (2023) Quantifying metal-binding specificity of CcNikZ-II from Clostridium carboxidivorans in the presence of competing metal ions. Analytical Biochemistry, 676(1), 115182.
- Diep, P., Boucinha, A., Kell, B., Yeung, B.A., Chen, X., Tsyplenkov, D., Serra, D., Escobar, A., Gnanapragasam, A., Emond, C.A., Sajtovich, V.A., Mahadevan, R., Kilkenny, D.M., Gini-Newman, G., Kaern, M., Ingalls, B. (2021) Advancing Undergraduate Synthetic Biology Education: Insights from a Canadian iGEM Student Lens. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 67(10), 749–770
B, please tell us about yourself and your journey as a PhD Candidate!
How did you come to UTM? What interested you to join a lab here?
Despite my undergraduate studies being at UofT, my first venture to UTM was a biophysics graduate student recruitment event. Prior to this event I thought I had made up my mind about graduate studies – to study abroad in an experimental spectroscopy lab – and was primarily attending out of curiosity as to what other groups were working on. Then I was enticed by Prof. Hilfinger’s enthusiastic description of his group’s theoretical biophysics work (and a bit intimidated by the idea of lab work after touring experimental labs!), which led me to affiliating with UTM as a member of the Hilfinger group for my PhD.
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue a graduate study?
While I didn’t start undergraduate studies with any specific intentions regarding what I would do afterward, the idea of graduate school was not something that I was really exposed to growing up. I think I was mostly driven by a curiosity towards understanding how things work and different ways of thinking about problems. What I was interested in specifically fluctuated throughout my degree, but for a time I was interested in medicine. This led to me taking a position in a research lab based out of Sunnybrook hospital, which lasted for several years. During this time, I came to realize how I enjoyed working on research problems and was able to pick up some relevant skills. I think this experience was a big influence on my decision to pursue graduate studies.
What are your research interests? Tell us few exciting things about your research.
Currently my research lies at the intersection of physics, biology, and control theory. The goal of my thesis is to uncover quantitative trade-offs which limit the performance of biological control systems, towards understanding how natural cellular processes regulate biochemical fluctuations in gene expression and persist with a high degree of robustness in the face of environmental perturbations. These insights may also be useful in the design of synthetic gene regulatory circuits for robust control of biological systems in bioengineering applications. For example, one of the key results in my PhD research so far has been discovering that certain configurations of biological ‘integral control’ can simultaneously achieve robust adaptation of an average molecular abundance while suppressing variability around the average, two control properties which were previously thought to be incompatible. By analogy, the improved configuration is like a cruise control system in a car that maintains a narrow range of speeds around a desired average despite wind gusts and windy roads, as opposed to varying, say, between 30 km/h and 120 km/h when you set the cruise control to 80 km/h on the highway. We are currently collaborating with Prof. McMillen’s synthetic biology group (local CPS collab!) to see if we can build the modified integral controller and demonstrate its favorable control properties compared to a typical implementation in living E. coli cells. For the final chapter of my thesis, along with experimental collaborators in Pittsburgh, I am aiming to extend our understanding of noise control and robustness in single-cell systems to multi-cellular systems in embryonic development.
What is your goal when you finish your degree?
I am currently exploring the possibility of pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship, but I am also keeping an open mind in case other interesting opportunities arise. Teaching? Research in a government or private-sector environment? Long-term, it would be nice to find a balance where I have some more time to focus on music and visual art, too.
What are some of your achievements you'd like to share?
I’m really pleased with the many opportunities I’ve had to mentor undergraduate students. It’s been very rewarding to see students benefit from our time together, whether it be in growing as researchers, planning out their next step after undergrad, or learning new skills/concepts in the classroom.
Outside of my grad school life, I’m also proud that I’ve been able to continue to nurture my interest in creating music and visual art.
Do you have any advice for students considering to pursue graduate studies in research?
Should you decide to go to grad school, I think it’s key to realize that even ‘failures’ are progress. No matter your discipline, your goal in research is to contribute new knowledge. So, naturally, you will try things that don’t work or are wrong. It’s easy to see these efforts as a detriment to progress and feel stuck, but really, ‘failing’ is just an inevitable step towards research progress.
Also, I think even though grad school can be quite rewarding, it’s important to remember that there are other things that are rewarding, important, and interesting, too. Make sure you nurture other interests and your well-being!