Ruiheng (Raymond) Hon

What does receiving this award/scholarship mean to you personally? 

I’m grateful for the support, and grateful to be connected to the Galileo community – both scientists and folks who understand the importance of funding science. 

What inspired you to pursue your field of study? Was there a defining moment that shaped your goals or direction? 

After working some time in a preclinical lab I realized that for many diseases, lack of basic knowledge prevents progress in developing treatments, and that there were still many big unknowns in biology. That’s why I joined MCB: to go after fundamental, basic biology questions. 

What kind of impact do you hope to leave in your field?

I’m interested in systems biology and principles of signaling and genetic networks. Secondarily, I’m interested in the evolution of those networks and in comparing the networks and network parts of interesting understudied organisms and well-studied models.