Careers Outside Academia: What’s the Reality?

Andrew Bean is a professor in the department to neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston The research in his laboratory is directed at understanding molecular mechanisms of vesicular trafficking and protein sorting. This fundamental process underlies synaptic transmission, which is critical for all brain processes and contributes to functions as basic as the development of neuronal architecture and learning/memory formation. Additionally, the mechanisms responsible for vesicular trafficking are also involved in viral (e.g., HIV) budding, and some types of cancer underscoring the essential nature of this process.