Teaching and Mentoring

Teaching philosophy

Teaching, to me, is not simply the transfer of information. It is the cultivation of curiosity, scientific independence, and critical thinking. My teaching philosophy is guided by three principles: conceptual clarity, quantitative reasoning, and application-driven learning. I encourage students to understand why biological processes occur, how experiments are designed to study them, and how data can be interpreted to build scientific knowledge.

I view biology as an integrative and increasingly quantitative discipline, drawing from chemistry, physics, mathematics, computation and medicine. My goal as an educator is to help students develop a systems-level understanding of biology rather than relying on rote learning.

Learning through data and experimentation

A central feature of my teaching is the use of real experimental examples. When teaching topics such as neurophysiology, cell signaling, immune responses, microscopy, or flow cytometry, I encourage students to interpret experimental results, identify appropriate controls, evaluate limitations, and propose follow-up experiments. I emphasize asking why and how rather than focusing only on factual recall.

I also use active learning methods such as guided discussions, data interpretation exercises, problem-based learning and formative feedback.

Quantitative and computational biology in teaching

Modern biology is data-rich. High-throughput sequencing, imaging, flow cytometry and computational analysis have transformed how biological questions are asked and answered. I therefore believe quantitative literacy should be introduced early and made accessible to life science students.

In my teaching and mentoring, I introduce students to basic principles of statistics, data visualization, image analysis, and computational thinking — using accessible tools such as spreadsheets, ImageJ, R, or Python. My aim is to reduce intimidation around quantitative methods and help students see computation as a natural extension of biological reasoning.

Mentorship and scientific development

In addition to formal teaching, I have mentored Master's students, PhD students, research trainees and junior scientists during my doctoral, postdoctoral and industry appointments — supporting them in experimental planning, data analysis, transcriptomic interpretation, scientific writing, manuscript preparation, reproducible workflows and presentation of research findings.

I strive to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment where students feel comfortable asking questions, challenging ideas, and learning from mistakes.

Industry-informed teaching

My experience in pharmaceutical research and biotechnology has strongly shaped my teaching interests. I frequently use examples from pharmacology, drug discovery, translational medicine, bioinformatics, RNA-seq analysis and disease biology to show how foundational concepts are applied in real biomedical problems.

Vision as an educator

My long-term teaching vision is to help build a strong foundation in quantitative, systems-level, research-led biology education. I want students to learn biology not only as a body of knowledge, but as a way of thinking.