Dr. Larry Rodriguez, [award-winning] PhD & postdoc in the Roberto lab at Scripps

Its been a crazy month with a few major updates: I’m now Dr. Larry Rodriguez, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Marisa Roberto at The Scripps Research Institute! I was also voted class clown by the USC School of Pharmacy graduate student body! Cover art is from a grad photo shoot in front of the USC School of Pharmacy. Photo credit to my girlfriend Lourdes Johanna Avelar Portillo!

PhDone?

I was interested in joining Dr. Roberto’s lab since I visited back in August, which meant I was on a tight graduation timeline: defend my dissertation before June 30th, a key NIH grant deadline, or no position. When COVID19 shutdown lab work, I still had some interesting experiments to do, but the key data had already been collected (the week of the shutdown no less!) I spent the next two months 1) revising a manuscript we submitted on the structure-function relationship between P2X4 receptors and alcohol, 2) writing up a paper on an interaction between P2X and NMDA receptors, 3) writing my dissertation, and 4) preparing for my defense. Suffice to say, a lot of writing. Confined to my apartment. During a pandemic. Stressful but I can’t (or maybe shouldn’t) complain.

The actual presentation took about 35-40 minutes and wasn’t too bad. What I was caught off guard by was the public Q&A which went on for about another 40 minutes. Then another 20 minute Q&A with just my committee (which went way better by the way.) I got asked some very tough questions, and I’m told that a few times, I was over thinking things, but in the end I passed! I submitted my dissertation (108 pages) on a few weeks later (in a Starbucks parking lot cuz I didn’t have internet at my apartment at the time) so now I’m just waiting for the graduate school to review my manuscript for formatting errors. Aside from that, I’m in the process of submitting the 3rd (and final) paper of my PhD. I can’t wait to be PhDone.

I also have to give a special shout out to my girlfriend Johanna! She made it her mission to celebrate my graduation despite the pandemic, and planned a surprise post-defense zoom celebration with family and friends, a graduation photo shoot, and various graduation-themed presents. She’s amazing and supportive, and I couldn’t have done it without her!

Postdoc at Scripps

Dr. Roberto is doing truly amazing research, and from the start, the lab felt like a great fit. Scripps is also home to a renown alcohol research center and a world class research environment. Also, my position would be supported by a T32 training fellowship, so again, I’ll be able to focus on research. Career-wise, the move also makes perfect sense, since my long-term career goal is to start my own drug discovery research institute; what better place to learn how these institutions function than at one of the best?

PhD award

During the USC School of Pharmacy’s annual end of the year celebration (via zoom this year) I was named/awarded class clown by my fellow graduate students. I did stand-up comedy a few times in undergrad (and won an award, by definition making me an award-winning stand-up comedian) but never performed in graduate school. I think I’m still pretty funny though, and apparently so do my colleagues, so I humbly accept this prestigious award!