Duygu Özpolat had a problem. She was 8 years old and sewing a dress for one of her dolls. She loved sewing—but she’d already decided to become a scientist. She turned to her mother for advice.
“I…asked her if I can be a tailor and a scientist at the same time when I grow up,” says Özpolat.
Now a Hibbitt Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Özpolat has stuck with science. She studies regeneration in invertebrates and how it could be applied to human wound and disease treatment.