Interview with SDB GetHIRED! Graduate Yuki Shindo

11/21/2025

For young scientists pursuing faculty positions in academia, entering and navigating the job market can be daunting as a solo enterprise. Luckily, programs like the Society for Developmental Biology’s GetHIRED! seek to bridge the gap between postdoctoral fellows (postdocs) and the faculty positions they dream of by building community support networks and giving generous feedback on participants’ application packages.

I spoke with Yuki Shindo, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas and recent GetHIRED! graduate, to learn about his experiences in the program and on the academic job market. Shindo completed his doctorate in Cell Biology and Biophysics at Osaka University in 2016, before joining Amanda Amodeo’s lab at Dartmouth University as a postdoc. During his time at Dartmouth, Shindo began using the early Drosophila embryo as a model system to probe cell and nuclear behaviors in vivo, and he continues to utilize the power of the fly model in his young lab group at the University of Texas at Dallas. Shindo said, “Right now, the lab is 70% Drosophila and 30% tissue culture and biochemistry, but the [lab’s] main focus is nuclear-cytoplasmic transport.” When asked what he finds most interesting about nuclear transport, Shindo chuckled, before continuing; “honestly, I don't necessarily have to study nuclear transport. I'm interested in biological organization broadly. So, how molecules assemble together to give rise to higher order molecular machines, and how molecular machines work together to [generate] higher order functions in cells and tissues.”

Atypically, Shindo never imagined himself as a lifelong academic until his early postdoc years, and he said he regrets not thinking about the job search process sooner. During his first application cycle, Shindo tried to tackle his preparation alone—this was in the hectic fourth year of his postdoc, and right around when the COVID pandemic was temporarily shutting many institutions down. He recalled, “the job market was broadly closed for the moment, so the first cycle was really, just really hard.”

After an unsuccessful try his first year, Shindo decided he needed some help in preparing for his second application cycle. This prompted him to join the very first GetHIRED! cohort. Shindo says his participation in the program was vital in better preparing him for the academic job market, and in eventually landing his faculty position. Despite there being very little information about what was then a brand-new program, he is now very glad to have taken the leap. When asked about strengths of the program, Shindo lit up and said “Honestly, all elements were extremely helpful, especially the elements about storytelling. So, how you pitch your work, how to tell the story of yourself, your training, your research and things like that … was extremely helpful. It completely changed the way I [thought] about organizing my application package.”

Though other members of his GetHIRED! cohort work at the organism-level as opposed to cell-level like him, Shindo said the peer support he received in the program was another highlight. “I still have their contact information,” he said of his cohort, “so I'm sure that I would reach out to them if I needed someone who can help my research [through] collaboration.” As one of the very few postdocs at his institution at the time, and as the first member of his lab group vying for an academic career, Shindo also stressed the importance of the community-building baked into GetHIRED!. He recalled feeling inspired when others in his cohort landed faculty positions that year and cites that inspiration as an integral part of keeping his motivation up into his final application cycle. Speaking broadly about his takeaways from the program, Shindo practically glowed with gratitude. “I really appreciate that SDB launched this program. I can say that I am one of the biggest fans of the program, and I’m really glad I participated. Every time I meet with someone who's going to the job market, I always recommend GetHIRED! So please continue this course!”

Shindo’s story is a great example of why community-centered career progression programs like GetHIRED! are so important in securing the future of academic science. Without the feedback and connections afforded to him by the program, Shindo could have easily taken his expertise and enthusiasm elsewhere. The next generation of investigators are here and ready to change the world for the better, if only they are given the right tools to thrive—thanks to GetHIRED!, academic research will continue to generate and inspire new advances with people like Yuki Shindo at the helm.

Last Updated 11/21/2025