Jonas (“Gus”) Gustafson (left), Dr. Danny Miller, and Dr. Andrew Stergachis (right): 'A mutual bond of questioning and looking beyond.'
Fifth grade teacher ‘allowed me to establish a life-long knack and passion for STEM’
Many young scientists thank elementary school teachers for instilling their interests in science and math. Jonas (“Gus”) Gustafson admires and respects Connie Studer, his fifth grade teacher, so much that she officiated at his wedding 22 years later.
“Mrs. Studer gave me the confidence to pursue math and science as a career,” said Gustafson, a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of BBI’s Danny Miller, M.D., Ph.D. “She teaches to the strengths and abilities of each individual student, which allowed me to establish a life-long knack and passion for STEM.”
Studer, who has taught for 30 years in New Hampshire, notes that “some students just stand out.”
Gustafson was one of them.
“He was way beyond what the curriculum taught in mathematics, so I provided him ‘extra’ math,” she said. “It's just so much fun when you have a student with the interest, drive, and grit to work hard independently. I think it was this mutual bond of questioning and looking beyond, that bonded us for so long.”
That bond, manifested by “interest, drive, and grit,” has served Gustafson well.
After high school, he enrolled in the University of Vermont, intending to major in Environmental Studies because of his interest in “green” buildings. Gustafson soon realized it was “not a good fit” and switched to Biology with a minor in Math; he graduated in May of 2013.
Looking at Gustafson’s CV, one notices nine years of lab experience before enrolling in the UW doctoral program.
“After undergrad, I applied to jobs all over the East Coast, where I intended to stay,” said Gustafson, 33. “It wasn’t working out for me, so I moved near Sacramento and worked on a farm for a few months. I applied to technical position at several UC schools.”
Those efforts, unfortunately, did not lead to job offers. But in speaking with Gustafson, one grasps determined, but polite, perseverance.
Between farm chores, he reconnected with a college roommate living in Seattle and ventured north for a visit. Among the people he met was Michael Cunningham, M.D., Ph.D., who then was the Medical Director of Seattle Children's Hospital Craniofacial Center.
Gustafson and Cunningham had one important thing in common: Both graduated from the University of Vermont.
“Dr. Cunningham said, ‘I’m not hiring now, but let’s stay in touch,’” Gustafson said.
They did and a few months later, research funding Cunningham was expecting was awarded. Gustafson was hired and he moved to Seattle in 2014. For the next several years, he served as a lab technician and later supervisor, designing and overseeing numerous projects, involving:
- Primary osteoblast cell lines derived from patients’ skull bones
- Novel mouse models
- Custom biomechanical assays
- RNA-seq analyses
“I loved working with Michael,” he said. “I helped author publications and assisted with writing R01 grants. I learned so much from him, but I always intended to go to graduate school.”
Nine years and a multitude of projects and collaborations later, Gustafson realized in 2020, “it was time to leave the nest.” In 2022, he entered the Molecular and Cellular Biology Ph.D. program at the UW.
His first rotation was with Principal Investigator Andrew Stergachis, M.D., Ph.D., and focused on exploring the impact of a suspected pathogenic mutation on chromatin accessibility upstream of a disease-associated gene.
“Gus is tenacious about analyzing data,” Stergachis said. “It’s been two and a half years since his rotation in our lab, and we are still using some of the data he acquired to showcase our work on novel long-read sequencing.”
Gustafson’s CV lists authorship on more than a dozen papers published in peer-reviewed journals, plus others under review.
One of his career milestones – thus far – has been serving as lead author on the paper, “Nanopore sequencing of 1000 Genomes Project samples to build a comprehensive catalog of human genetic variation,” published last November in Genome Research. The paper uses long-read sequencing to evaluate samples from the 1000 Genomes Project, a unique collection of samples from healthy individuals around the world. The goal of the project is developing a catalog of complex genetic variations detected only by long-read sequencing.
“The more comprehensive analysis that can be performed using Long Read Sequencing – such as the identification and resolution of complex Structural Variants, improved phasing, and incorporation of associated methylation information – will allow clinical and research teams to stop focusing on ‘what’s the next best test’ when evaluating an individual with a suspected genetic condition, and instead focus on interpreting those variants that were previously difficult to detect or that may involve a novel gene,” the paper states. “Together, these efforts will lead to improved clinical outcomes, new gene–phenotype associations, the use of novel therapies, and an end to the diagnostic odyssey for many of the individuals and their families who are living with an unsolved or incompletely understood genetic condition.”
“It was my first first-author paper as a graduate student, the results of my first foray into computational genomics,” Gustafson said. “An incredible collaboration with more than 45 authors at more than 20 institutions from seven countries.”
It’s likely Gustafson will have many more “incredible” collaborations, according to Miller.
“Gus is smart and he works independently and diligently,” said Miller. “For a new PI, he’s a dream to have in your lab.”
