Drs. Lea Starita, left, and Riddhiman Garge: 'His careful analyses set a great example for others in the lab.'
Many people believe there are few – if any – similarities between science and music. Riddhiman Garge is an exception.
“In science, you work hard to get an experiment to work, and it’s the same when you are writing music,” said Garge, a drummer and BBI post-doctoral researcher in the labs of Drs. Lea Starita and Jay Shendure. “In fact, writing music is similar to writing a research paper. You have to have the skills, you have to put in the hard work, and then have to be able to perform it and communicate it to the wider community.”
Science and music became Garge’s passions as a child in Bangalore, or Bengaluru, a city of 14 million and the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. His paternal grandfather, a soil chemist and microbiologist with the state’s agricultural department, “played a crucial role” in nurturing his grandson’s interest in science.
“He taught me how to graft trees when I was five years old,” said Garge, 31. “We always had experiments going in our home and in the yard. He showed me how you can adjust the composition of your compost based on the seasons and the types of biowaste you use. He also taught me how to climb coconut trees. That was fun.”
In addition to climbing trees, Garge found fun in music. Early on, his focus was heavy metal; he noted that, at the time, he “just wanted to make a lot of loud noise.” However, his musical tastes evolved into playing rock, funk, and other progressive genres.
Garge’s engagement with music continued through his undergraduate studies at the Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bengaluru. When not in the classroom, he spent considerable time as a research assistant at Bugworks, a biotech start-up, and the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in Biotechnology.
“I was contemplating becoming a fulltime musician at the end of college,” he said. “After undergrad, I was left at a crossroads. But there were – and still are – too many interesting questions and exciting advances going on in biology that I decided to pursue a career in biomedical research.”
Garge applied to graduate schools to pursue a Ph.D. and was accepted into the Biochemistry program at the University of Texas at Austin. The doctorate, he said, was an attractive option because he “could keep doing research, keep taking classes, and be getting paid for it.”
He also met an important mentor and advisor for his Ph.D.: Dr. Edward Marcotte.
“The range of research threads and diverse projects that Edward’s lab pursued exposed me to a completely new ways of thinking and approaching research questions,” Garge said. “And his infectious energy and excitement seeing new results from the lab meant that I couldn’t imagine being mentored by anyone else.”
Garge and Dr. Jay Shendure: 'Riddhiman has done a remarkable job of initiating new collaborations between labs in order to enable him to pursue his scientific interests.'
At UT, he also became aware of the UW’s Shendure through scientific literature. He had the opportunity to invite Shendure to speak at a student-led seminar series.
“Jay and I got connected and started talking,” Garge said. “There was a significant overlap of our interests, and I became excited about the possibility of us working together in the future.”
That future was realized in 2021, only weeks after Garge completed his Ph.D.in Biochemistry. He was accepted as a research fellow at the UW Center for Multiplex Assessment of Phenotype in the Department of Genome Sciences. The Center is one of 13 in the United States funded by the National Institutes of Health to advance the study of – and to share technologies assessing – the impact of genetic variants. Shendure is a principal investigator.
"Riddhiman has done a remarkable job of initiating new collaborations between labs in order to enable him to pursue his scientific interests, including but not limited, to the interface of stem cell biology, genomics, and proteomics," said Shendure, who along with Starita, oversees Garge’s work as a postdoctoral researcher at the UW Brotman Baty Institute.
Garge believes the structure of the two PIs’ labs offers young scientists incomparable freedom to explore answers to provocative scientific questions.
“Jay and Lea have built an amazing foundation for anyone coming in to ask bold questions,” he said. “And over time you realize researchers have opportunities to answer those bold questions.”
Starita said she is impressed with Garge’s intellectual depth and scientific curiosity. “Riddhiman is a deep thinker and exceedingly thoughtful about experimental directions,” she said. “His careful analyses set a great example for others in the lab. He is also an excellent mentor to more junior students and technicians.”
It is clear Garge is committed to a lifetime of pursuing primarily scientific, but also musical directions.
“These two careers may often share similar struggles, but science and music keep me balanced. Too much of one thing is not healthy,” he said.
