Newlyweds Become Medical Researchers To Find Cure For Wife’s Disease

Love may be able to conquer all, but having a Ph.D in biology certainly helps in this case.

Just after she married the love of her life five years ago, Sonia Vallabh received a dire prognosis from her doctors about their future together: Sonia had a severe genetic mutation known as genetic prion disease.

The illness has no known cure and given the severity of the condition, the newlywed was told she would only be able to live with her husband Eric Minikel for another twenty years or so.

Taking matters into their own hands, Erin and Sonia decided that if no one else was going to find a cure, they would have to do it themselves.

After taking night classes in biology, the duo quit their jobs when they were accepted into the Ph.D program at Harvard.

The two are now researchers at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working side by side toward a cure and a longer future together.