Alex Toker: Fostering Curiosity and Building Community

On any given weekend during his middle school years living in London, Alex Toker could likely be found roaming the halls of the Natural History Museum. It was both near his home and free, prompting frequent solo trips to look at the dinosaurs, rocks, and giant whale skeleton suspended in midair. His fascination with the life sciences that became apparent from these excursions was echoed in school, as the subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics seemed to come naturally to him. 

Having officially “caught the science bug,” Alex attended Kings College London, where he earned a degree in biology and biochemistry, and then the National Institute for Medical Research for a PhD in protein chemistry and biochemistry. It was at this point when he fell in love with biochemistry and cell biology, deciding that he would make it his career. To reach this goal, the logical next step was to pursue a postdoc, and in particular one in the United States, as that “was really the only path to success,” according to his academic mentors at the time. Having moved around a lot as a child, the thought of leaving the UK to start a career in a completely new place, yet still just across the Atlantic from his supportive family, was a welcome challenge for Dr. Toker. And, as it turned out, the decision to do so was “easily the best decision I have made in my entire scientific career.” 

As a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Lewis Cantley, then at Tufts University Medical School and subsequently at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard, Alex states that he had an “extraordinary” experience. Not only did his scientific work contribute to uncovering the intricacies of growth pathway signaling through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and its substrates, including AKT, but the Cantley lab was full of excitement for discovery and camaraderie in making those discoveries. His fascination for the details of biology, driven by the same innate curiosity of his teenage self exploring the museums of London, found a home among his labmates. Alex’s postdoctoral experience made clear to him the importance of the people behind the science–the power of a strong community, a positive lab culture, and the impact of a good mentor. With this in mind, Alex began to build his personal and professional community in Boston.

Even with the positive experiences of his postdoc motivating his next steps, starting a new lab still had its challenges. At the time, the field of PI3K signaling was highly competitive, prompting Alex’s initial decision to pivot away from the AKT-focused work of his postdoc to another signaling pathway. However, this did not last long, as he soon returned to working on AKT (which is what his lab continues to study today). It was a “lesson I learned…do not worry about who your competitors are or what they are doing, follow your gut instinct, follow the science that you love and want to do, that is really the only approach that works.” 

Another lesson learned from the early stages of setting up a new lab was how to be a successful mentor, a role that Alex continues to prioritize. Alex was fortunate to have a great mentor in Dr. Cantley, which he used as an example in his own lab. Finding a mentorship style that worked for the diverse range of trainees with different backgrounds and experiences that joined the lab proved to be a learning process, involving the acknowledgment of mistakes and a commitment to continually adapting and improving. In his view, effective mentorship results in a lab culture where students and postdocs feel welcome, challenged, and excited about the science. He seeks to foster collaboration and an environment for trainees to establish relationships that create a network of support beyond their time in the lab.

Upon setting the foundation for his lab at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Dr. Toker eventually decided to accept an offer to move his lab to Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC, where his lab is currently. If the best decision he made for his career was to pursue a postdoc with Dr. Cantley, the second best was his decision to move to Harvard. This is largely due to the sheer density of cancer researchers, covering an enormous depth and breadth of science. Being part of the Harvard cancer research community has allowed him to continue to pursue and expand his lab’s research on the myriad roles of AKT in modulating cellular proliferation and metabolism, and how these understandings translate therapeutically in the setting of cancer. 

As Alex states, Harvard “is not only a great place to do science, it is a great and unique environment to train the next generation of scientists.” In line with the responsibility and privilege to train the next generation, Alex is involved in graduate education through the PhD program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences and the Landry Cancer Biology Consortium (LCBC). The vast Harvard network is an amazing opportunity, but simultaneously a challenge to navigate. Communities such as LCBC offer a space for researchers with common scientific interests and expertise within the field to unite, providing a collective “ecosystem within an ecosystem” for trainees. Further, Alex believes that scientific research should be communicated and disseminated fairly and rigorously. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC), a journal owned by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

Alex’s commitment to mentorship, involvement in graduate education, and focus on creating a positive lab environment all point to his deep care for the people in his communities. This includes his lab: “we have made many important discoveries that have moved the needle and the field forward, but it is the people who have made those discoveries that I am most proud of.” It also includes his family. Of his four children and wife he states, “they are the reason that I do everything that I do.” The importance and motivation for his work were brought to the forefront when Alex lost his mother to ovarian cancer three years ago. “It brings home the reality of the terrible disease that is cancer…that continues to give me the energy, responsibility, and privilege of doing what we do as a community of cancer biologists.”

When asked what he was most surprised by throughout his career thus far, Alex reflects, “after almost 40 years of doing science, from my first hands on [experience] as an undergraduate...to now being a professor at Harvard having run a lab for over 25 years and having trained countless trainees, I think the biggest surprise is how much I still love it and I would not want to do anything else, not even close.”