Lilianna Solnica-Krezel was born in Cieplice-Sląskie, a small village in the mountains in the southwestern part of Poland, but grew up in Sandomierz, Poland, at a time when the country was still under the communist regime. Despite some limitations due to the political situation, Solnica-Krezel had a happy and normal childhood: she enjoyed reading and spending time on her grandparents’ farm during the summers. Her older brother’s interest in medicine (he became a doctor) fostered an interest in science, and an excellent free educational system provided many opportunities including biology projects in high school.

Solnica-Krezel attended Warsaw University for a master’s degree in molecular biology, specifically studying developmental genetics and working on changes in chromatin structure during gene expression; she attended the University during the Polish Solidarity Movement. In the summer of 1985, she took a predoctoral fellowship in Thomas Schreckenbach’s laboratory at the Max-Planck-Institute in Martinsried, Germany, and analyzed gene expression during sporulation in P. polycephalum; then she became a research associate in the laboratory of Professor Kazimierz Toczko at Warsaw University, working on the characterization of nuclear HMG proteins from P. polycephalum. Wanting to receive her doctorate, and after hearing about the University of Wisconsin from a friend who matriculated there, Solnica-Krezel accepted an offer from the university to undertake her doctoral studies in the laboratory of William Dove. Her graduate work continued in the area of genetics, though this time focusing on changes in composition and organization of microtubular structures during the amoebal-plasmodial development in P. polycephalum. Solnica-Krezel then moved on to Wolfgang Driever’s laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital for a postdoctoral fellowship, where she researched zebrafish embryo mutagenesis and cytoskeletal structure and gained insight into Driever’s laboratory management style and his grant-writing process. She then accepted a position at Vanderbilt University, where her husband, a structural biologist, also accepted a faculty position.

Solnica-Krezel discusses the process of starting up her laboratory, as well as her research on patterning, morphogenesis, and mutant screening in zebrafish. She also describes various aspects of her life as a principal investigator, including her role in the lab, her administrative duties, teaching responsibilities, travel commitments, and the process of writing journal articles and grants. She discusses broader issues related to the science community: the national scientific agenda, the privatization of scientific research, competition and collaboration, and the role of scientists in educating the public about science. Solnica-Krezel’s speaks about the gender and ethnic makeup of her own lab and notes the gender imbalance in her department. She also comments on the environment science provides for women, as well as underrepresented groups. She concludes the interview by discussing the impact the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences has had on her career.