Alicia’s Journey From Academia to Industry–with Creativity and Compassion
Alicia M Purkey, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist at Recursion
Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
B.A. in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Alicia, and I use she/her pronouns. I grew up in Colorado and spent most of my academic training there, doing undergrad at CU Boulder, then grad school at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. I stayed in Colorado until my postdoc, so the mountains have always been a big part of my life.
I’m currently based in Utah, where I’ve been living for about three years. I work as a Senior Scientist at Recursion, a biotech company building massive maps of biology using machine learning.
Outside of work, I love spending time with my family, and I'm a proud pet parent to a corgi named Rofl and two cats, Nili and Nox.
Part 1. Career in Science
What is your main role in the company?
I’ve been working as a Senior Scientist on the neuroscience team at Recursion for about a year. My focus is on a partnership with Roche and Genentech, helping build our "Neuro Map"—a large-scale effort to uncover new neurobiology to be used as drug targets to treat neurological disease.
Recursion uses AI to create maps of biological systems, making it possible to draw meaningful inferences from huge datasets—things that would take years using traditional methods. We’re essentially knocking out every gene in the genome and observing the effects using something called phenomics, which employs high-content imaging techniques like Cell Painting. If we knock out Gene A and it looks similar to knocking out Gene B, we can start to build connections between genes, diseases, and potential treatments.
My work centers on onboarding neural cell types using iPSC-derived models, working at the intersection of wet lab experiments and large-scale data analysis.
What do you enjoy most about your current work?
At the day-to-day level, it still feels like any other lab position, where I get to think deeply about science and design experiments. But the scale is mind-blowing. We use 1536-well plates, each holding just 10-15 microliters. That’s over a thousand experiments per plate. I got started in wet lab work during undergrad by volunteering in a cancer biology lab using 96-well plates, so working at this scale now feels surreal. I’m doing what I love—just with way more data and a bigger impact.
And for me personally, I find the proximity to my family very healing. During my postdoc, I moved away from family to North Carolina, right before COVID hit. I felt isolated, because there’s not the same built-in community you have during undergrad or grad school. Joining Recursion was a great choice where I can still go home to Colorado, be closer to family, and still do science at an incredible scale.
What are some challenges you faced when transitioning from academia to industry?
Adjusting to the speed and scale has definitely been challenging. In academia, you’re trained to dig deep into a single question—follow every thread, check every box. But in industry, sometimes you have to move fast and make decisions with incomplete information. Or sometimes you pursue a compound or hypothesis, and it just doesn’t pan out. You have to be okay with that. It’s a different kind of rigor: you're balancing science with timelines, risk, and impact on patients.
Also, communication changes. In academia, you share every detail, like writing a paper. In industry, you have to distill your work into one paragraph, or even one sentence. You have to read the room: when to nerd out and when to keep it high-level, otherwise people might zone out and no one gets what they need.
What steps did you take to get here? Did you always plan to work in industry?
My first introduction to research came in college, when I took a biology class and realized I could actually do science in a lab. I felt drawn to that work and thought, “I want to do this—and I can do this—for a living.” That experience led me to grad school, where I developed my critical thinking skills: how to ask meaningful questions, analyze data, and think broadly about science. I came to appreciate how even a small experiment, like adding a drug to a cell, could lead to deeper questions about biological pathways, disease mechanisms, and human health.
Initially, I did not plan to go to industry at all—I was 100% academia-bound. I wanted to run my own lab and spent years thinking that was the only “real” science path. Back then, I didn’t even know being a scientist in industry was a job I could have. But here I am now, and I absolutely love working in the industry!
Do you have any advice for people who are considering joining the industry?
To start with, there’s a misconception that science in industry is less creative or less rigorous, but I’ve done some of the most impactful, fast-moving, and intellectually satisfying science here at Recursion.
Also, you don’t need a PhD to get started in industry. I’ve seen some people assume that a postdoc is necessary to land an industry role, but that’s not always the case. When I joined Recursion after my postdoc, I was actually hired at the same level as someone fresh out of grad school, because they had such unique training and experience. That really shifted my perspective.
There are plenty of entry-level roles, like research associate or technician, where you can grow into the work. Companies are often open to training people who are genuinely curious and eager to learn. If you're willing to jump in and build skills on the job, there are great opportunities. That said, industry moves fast, and it can be challenging to carve out time to intentionally build certain skills while juggling day-to-day responsibilities. You have to be okay with learning on the go and sometimes progressing a bit more slowly in specific areas.
With the current job market and all the uncertainty, it’s important to look for what best serves you at the moment. Sometimes that means taking the first job you can to survive—and that’s okay. Give yourself grace. You might not be able to prioritize everything at once, but if you keep your long-term goals in mind, you’ll still get there. You can continue developing critical thinking and growing your skills, even if the path isn’t perfect.
How can I prepare for a career in industry before and/or during grad school?
It never hurts to get industry experience early on. One great way is through internships—even a short one can give you a clearer picture of what industry work looks like. Even entry-level roles in industry are a great way to get started. Some people land full-time positions after just a summer internship.
If you’re applying to grad programs, ask whether students are allowed or encouraged to intern at nearby companies. Reach out to current students and program alumni to see if anyone has gone into industry. Ask them what kind of support they got from their PI or department. Some programs are very supportive, while others are more focused on academia, so it’s important to ask upfront.
This is more of an advice for exploring grad programs, but don’t be afraid to ask about lifestyle too—do students have time for things outside the lab? Do they take breaks? These can be telling signs of whether a program aligns with your values. For example, if students are in the lab 24/7, that could be a sign that the program might not be a good choice for people who want work-life balance.
How can I get more wet lab experience that could help me apply to grad school or industry jobs?
When I was starting out, I cold-emailed labs at local universities, looked at job postings, and even volunteered my time just to get a foot in the door. I once got a nannying job where a family member happened to be a PI—I asked about opportunities in their lab, and that led to my first real research experience. It eventually turned into a full-time role for over a year before I went to grad school. That experience was so valuable not just for the skills I learned, but also for confirming that I actually wanted to do this kind of work long-term.
If you’re looking for hands-on experience, try volunteering a few half-days a week if you can. Labs, especially academic ones, often welcome help. And if volunteering isn’t feasible, look for entry-level technician or research associate jobs. There are lots of roles out there, and companies often prefer to train people who don’t come in with “bad habits” from other labs. Look for roles involving tissue culture, stem cell work, or core facilities, both in academia and industry.
Ultimately, even basic lab experience can help you build confidence and figure out if this path is right for you.
While pursuing your passion for research, did you experience any challenges or setbacks? How did you overcome them?
The first time I applied to graduate school, I didn’t get any interviews. I didn’t have any wet lab experience, and I knew that would work against me, but it still was crushing. I got the experience, and when I applied the next year, I got interviews for almost all the programs I applied to. I think having that self-awareness and always knowing that I could get better helped me overcome and showed programs I was dedicated.
What skills or characteristics do you think are important as a researcher?
Curiosity is number one. That feeling of “I have to know this” is what gets you through tough experiments and long nights.
Also: resilience. Biology is messy. Experiments fail. Contamination happens. Sometimes you’re three years into a PhD and have to start over. It’s hard, but you learn not to take failure personally. You reset and try again.
What is your ultimate end-goal of science and research?
Ultimately, I want to help people live long, healthy lives—especially those affected by neurological disorders. My own family has been touched by neurodegenerative disease, so this work is personal.
It means the world to think that something I helped discover could one day make a difference for a patient or their family.
What are your next steps or career plans?
I’m interested in two paths. One is leadership—stepping into more strategic roles where I help shape the direction of our programs. The other is staying connected to the bench, designing experiments, and digging into data.
In the short term, I’m still very much in love with lab work. I want to continue building experiments that feed into our drug discovery pipeline. Being part of the Neuro Map is incredibly exciting—we’re building something that could transform how we treat brain diseases.
Part 2: Life Goals and Values
Is there anything new you're currently learning or trying?
Gardening! I finally have space to garden, and I’m still very new to it (only a few years). It's so satisfying to grow something yourself and be able to eat it.
What is your most important value in life?
Above all else, I value relationships. I’d say that's true throughout all parts of my life. There are a few things we can do in life alone, and so building strong and lasting relationships brings me such joy.
Do you have any short-term or long-term personal goals in life?
My short-term goal is to read more fun books. I love to read, so I’m trying to get back into reading this year! There are a few amazing local bookstores that I love supporting. I think this is also just a more long-term goal of making more time for myself and doing things that help me reset.
What is one thing that you know now that you wished you knew when you were younger?
That it’s okay to let go. I used to think perseverance meant pushing through at all costs. But sometimes, the best use of your time and energy is to stop, reassess, and move on. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed—it means you’re growing.
Interview date: 4/21/2025