The Genomics Institute’s (GI) Where Do Our Graduates Go is a series that features our former graduate students from the GI. Let’s catch up with Dr. Fiddes!
(Photo of Dr. Ian Fiddes)
Interview by Krizia Chambers
Where are you now? What role do you hold?
I work at 10x Genomics as a Senior Manager of Computational Biology. I work primarily on the Xenium In-Situ platform. My team is responsible for the content on the Xenium platform, including gene panels, custom gene panels, and custom probe design.
What did you work on as a graduate student?
My thesis work revolved around three main themes – genome structure, comparative genomics, and genome annotation. This involved both developing tools and methods and then applying those to scientific problems.
I developed comparative annotation software, which I applied to a wide range of species, including laboratory mouse strains, great apes, and high-quality human assemblies.
I also worked on developing methods for analyzing complex regions of the human genome, particularly a region of chromosome 1 implicated in brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. This project introduced me to 10x and single-cell technologies, which is part of how I made the transition to industry.
What is one thing you learned as a graduate student?
Collaboration is an essential component of good science. Working with multiple external groups with varied backgrounds and interests is a great way to both get yourself out there and expose yourself to different methods and systems. Working on a range of projects hedges your bets in terms of what succeeds and what does not. This kind of varied work is very important to success in an industry setting where you will work with many cross-functional groups.