Professor Daniel Llano is a neurologist at the Carle Neuroscience Institute and has been a faculty member in the MIP department since 2010. He obtained his BS, PhD, and MD at UIUC before moving to Massachusetts to pursue his clinical training at Harvard Medical School. He later became a post-doctoral research fellow and instructor at the University of Chicago focusing on cognitive and behavioral neurology. He became Associate Medical Director at Abbot Laboratories for a few years before returning to the U of I.
Since rejoining the MIP department and running his lab at the Beckman Institute, he has published highly impactful research articles and garnered many grants as an investigator, co-investigator, and mentor. Most recently he was awarded the prestigious President Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2019. We took this opportunity to learn more about Prof. Llano’s journey as a professor and a neurologist.
How did you first get interested in science?
Prof. Llano was a U of I student who was on his way to finishing up his undergraduate degree and applying for medical school. However, this all changed when he was selected for a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellowship and spent a summer in Prof. Tony Waldrop’s lab, a former physiology professor at U. of I. He came into the lab not knowing what to expect but the experience was transformative. He loved how the lab had a systematic approach such that one experiment and the results obtained could prove or negate the initial hypothesis. The rigorous scientific method and the reward of hard work are what propelled Prof. Llano into applying for the M.D./Ph.D. here at U. of I, a career path he had not previously considered.
How was your doctoral and postdoctoral experience?
He first joined the MIP department and worked in Prof. Victor Ramirez’s lab and later developed a strong passion for the thalamic auditory system. This stemmed from an advanced neurophysiology course taught by Prof. Albert Feng. The course was by far one of the most difficult courses Prof. Llano took during his graduate career. But when he was able to finally click with the material, it changed his scientific interest. He recalled Prof. Feng teaching the class about the intricacies of sound location and how bats use echolocation to catch their prey. This sealed his interest in the thalamic auditory system and he switched to Dr. Feng’s lab to study bats. His love for the basic sciences was so strong that he highly considered not doing anymore medical training after his graduate studies. But a meeting with a neurologist at Cornell University who was doing innovative neurophysiological research in the thalamus led him to pursue medical training after his graduate studies.
When did you decide to become a professor?
“The old joke goes, 'You have to hire an auditory physiologist to replace an auditory physiologist because it’s too expensive to move the sound chambers.'” Prof.Llano joked. Since auditory physiologists require specific instruments and soundproof chambers for their research, Prof. Llano was the ideal candidate to continue auditory research at U. of I as Dr. Feng was retiring. Apart from research, Prof. Llano enjoys teaching because it forces you to think of details and processes that you would not normally think of. This has helped him become a better scientist and a better neurologist. This has been reflected by the many teaching awards he obtained over the years during his time at Harvard Medical School and currently here at the U of I.
How did your earlier work lead to this new area of research? What is your latest scientific focus?
The main interest of Prof. Llano’s research group is to understand the organization of the auditory system. They are investigating top-down information, which refers to how one perceives things from their own cognition instead of receiving an external stimulus for their brain to process. They are using this approach to understand how auditory system process ambiguous or difficult-to-understand sounds. Their main tool is a multi-photon microscope in the Beckman Institute that allows them to image hundreds of cells of the auditory system with cellular level resolution in an awake behaving animal. By imaging the lower brain regions while the animals are engaged in a task and then by manipulating the auditory cortex allow the researchers to observe any alterations in the task performance and the response of the cells in the lower brain regions. They hope to understand how the auditory cortex communicates
with lower brain regions. Prof. Llano’s research group also collaborates with other groups on campus to study (i) how aging affects the auditory system through imaging the vasculature using Super Resolution Ultrasound Microscopy, (ii) how toxins that cause peripheral hearing loss affect the central auditory system, (iii) how aging impacts cognitive function and the benefit of exercise, and (iv) developing novel multi-photon imaging technologies.
What advice to you have for young scientists and trainees?
Prof. Llano recommends students to look carefully into whether they want to pursue an MD/PhD degree. He also wants everyone to recognize that one does not need both an MD and a PhD degree to do great science. He gave the example of Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Kandel who is an MD psychiatrist that studied learning and memory using sea slugs. For students pursing a PhD, Prof. Llano hopes they can understand that pursuing this graduate level degree is an emotional process as much as it is a scientific process. As research outcomes are often more negative than positive, one must love investigating the unknown, asking questions that they are passionate about, constantly thinking, and be part of advancing knowledge in their field.
Prof. Llano does acknowledge that there are challenges of being a faculty member that is not really appreciated before one becomes a faculty member. There are many on-the-job trainings, such as how to get the lab moving forward, how to keep things funded, how to keep students supported and motivated. However, this also gives room for growth, and allows one to constantly strive to become a better scientist and physician. “In the end, it is a matter of always being vigilant.”
How was it like hearing that you were selected for the PECASE award?
“Yeah, I didn’t think it was real.”
There were other people who knew before Prof. Llano did and he believed it was a mistake. It was not until he heard from his program officer that he said, “Yeah, I guess this is real.” He was happy to accept the award on behalf of the university and MIP and glad to serve as a representative of the U of I.
What do you most enjoy outside of the lab?
Prof. Llano tries to spend as much time with his family, “which is never enough.” He is a huge baseball fan (points to his White Sox shirt) and “a White Sox fanatic." He also played baseball when he was a kid and then coached for many years. He was described as “extremely demanding” by his players back in the day but he enjoyed every moment, rain or shine. Although the White Sox have not been performing well, he believes 2020 will be their time!
