Research, marriage link singular duo

They've been married for 34 years, so it's clear that Jon and Christine Seidman know how to work together. But as co-directors of the Seidman Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, with offices just five feet apart, people always ask them the same question: how do you work together?

"It's a different relationship when you work and live all day with the same person," says Christine, who goes by Kricket.

"The good news is that you always get two opinions," Jon adds, before she can finish her sentence.

"The bad news," Kricket counters, giving Jon a mischievous smile, "is you always get two opinions."

That mix of opinions - and mix of specialties - has made the Seidmans a formidable research duo. He's got the Ph.D. in genetics; she's the MD in cardiology. Scientifically, they complement each other in their research to understand the causes of hereditary heart diseases.

In June, they complemented each other in a different way when they donned their finest evening wear and walked up the steps of the Institut de France in Paris to receive the 2007 Grand Prix de la Fondation Lefoulon-Delalande in honor of their work.

For all the symmetry in their relationship, their initial pairing was quite accidental. They were both students in the same undergraduate biology class at Harvard University, he a junior and she a freshman. Their paths didn't cross until the class divided into groups and had to come up with a research project. Kricket's group worked the hardest on their proposal, she remembers; they were the only ones the professor turned down.

"So I got sent to Jon's group, went bitterly over, and fell in love," Kricket said as she smiled at her husband. "Though I don't know why. A date consisted of going to the movies and leaving three-quarters of the way through so he could go back to the lab."

They married during her junior year at Harvard and moved to Madison so that he could do postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin while she finished her studies there (a special provision Harvard allows for married couples). From there it was off to Washington D.C.; she attended medical school at George Washington University while he worked at the National Institute of Health.

In 1981, they made their way to Boston, where she did her cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital while he began work in the genetics department at Harvard Medical School.

While they always made the effort to be employed in the same city, it had never occurred to them that they could be employed in the same office. Then, in the mid-80s, Kricket read an article about a molecule that's expressed in the heart and impacts blood pressure, and it occurred to them that this was a good chance to combine their research talents. Plus, it made life a little more convenient.

"When you have kids," Jon says, "it works out when you have someone who can go to the lab and do something while the other watches the children."

"It's a bit like going to the refrigerator," Kricket added. "It's always, 'Honey, while you're there, can you. . .' "

In recent years, much of their research has focused on a hereditary genetic mutation that leads to a gradual thickening of the heart wall. Known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the thickening is often to blame when a world-class athlete suddenly drops dead.

"We're hoping to be able to understand the biology so that we can find the genetic mutation and intervene," Kricket said.

"To do that, we need to understand the signals that are causing it," Jon adds. "You can't figure out how to fix something until you can pinpoint the problem."

"It's like 'Click and Clack' on NPR," Kricket says, referring to the radio show "Car Talk." "You have to tell them the problem before they can tell you how to fix it."

"Yeah, we're like 'Click and Clack,' " Jon says as he looks at Kricket and smiles.

And then, like Click and Clack, they both start laughing.

Fact sheet

Hometown: Jon was raised in Norwalk, Conn., but went to high school in Ghana; Kricket grew up in Westbury, N.Y.; they live in Milton now.

Education: Jon, 57, graduated from Harvard in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry, and received a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin in 1975; Christine, 55, graduated from Harvard in 1973, and received her M.D. from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 1978.

Family: Married 34 years; daughter, Nika, 25, is in her third year at Harvard Medical School; son, Seth, 21, is a senior at Brown; Gregor, 14, is a student at Milton Academy.

On their writings: "I write the first technical draft," Jon says. "Then she turns it into something people might want to read."

Hobbies: They enjoy sailing in Maine.