Sam Wattrus came to Harvard as an undergraduate thinking he would study chemistry. But he took an introductory course in human developmental and regenerative biology (HDRB) when it was a new interdisciplinary concentration in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Now, 14 years after the concentration’s creation, Wattrus ’16, Ph.D. ’22, finds himself in a full-circle moment — as the first alum to establish an independent lab.
“The Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) Department [the home for the concentration] does an excellent job of training scientists in the ways that they teach and test material,” he said. “They give you data and a scenario and ask you to design an experiment as you would in the lab. It’s open-ended, so you must understand the concepts and apply them. It’s liberating and teaches students how to actually do science.”
