Oral history interview with Martyn D. Goulding

2023-01-10T15:34:07-05:00

Martyn D. Goulding was born in 1958 in Auckland, New Zealand; the eldest of five siblings. His father was a blue-collar worker, originally from the Fiji Islands, who would later open his own plumbing manufacturing company. Goulding's mother suffered from increasing disabilities caused by polio during her childhood, and she worked several jobs intermittently. His family attended church regularly, as his maternal grandfather was a church minister; an experience which he credits as one of his most positive influences. Through high school and other influences Goulding came to appreciate science and medicine and decided to apply to medical school. Goulding attended Auckland University Medical School with the original intention of earning an MD degree. His first laboratory experience with Raymond K. Ralph, however, gave him a newfound interest in research and he decided to switch to a PhD program. Goulding stayed on in Ralph's lab studying the role of cyclic AMP in tumor cell growth regulation for which he earned a Bachelor of Science degree; he then did research on c-fos and other oncogenes to earn a PhD He also met and married his wife, Yolanda Leenders, during his time at Auckland University. In 1988 Goulding began as a postdoctoral fellow in Peter Gruss's lab at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, in Göttingen, Germany. During his time in Gruss's Lab, Goulding focused his research on PAX genes and their role in notochord development. He then spent some time in England, where he was a senior research fellow at Guy's Hospital, and spent five months doing research at the University of Nottingham. In 1992 Goulding was appointed Adjunct Professor of Biology at the University of California, San Diego and was also appointed Assistant Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California. His current research concentrates on spinal chord interneurons and the genes and transcription factors which during development are crucial to the appropriate growth and function of these interneurons. Throughout his oral history Goulding emphasizes that the goal of any true researcher should be to seek the truth, and cautions against financially motivated research. He has received the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences Grant, which he discusses in the oral history.