ATG newsletter issue 5

ATG Newsletter Issue 05

April 2017

Welcome to another edition of the ATG Member Newsletter!

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SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

eginning with the plow, science has changed how we live and what we believe. By making life easier, science has given man the chance to pursue societal concerns such as ethics, aesthetics, education, and justice; to create cultures; and to improve human conditions. But it has also placed us in the unique position of being able to destroy ourselves.

- Donald P. Hearth

B

Director 1975-1985 NASA Langley Research Center

ATG NEWSLETTER

Issue 05 April, 2017 Contributors: Ana Rita Araujo, Catarina Seabra, Filipa Ferreira (Ed.), Helder F. Araujo, InĂŞs Tenente (Ed.), Joana Wilton, Maria De Sousa & Pedro Resende.

Cover: Fernando Augusto www.agtnewsletter.up.pt atgsnewsletter@gmail.com ATG - All Time GABBA The Alumni Association of the Graduate Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology University of Porto - Portugal www.atg.up.pt ATG - GABBA IPATIMUP Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n 4200-465 Porto Portugal geral@atg.up.pt

The legacy of science is immeasurable. It promoted highly dramatic changes in humankind, how we live, but as importantly how we think. The changes on how we think have been a long-term project‌ We can probably attribute its beginning to Hippocrates and Aristotle, over 2,000 years ago. A small group of people in society had made contributions that changed life: Round Earth. Gravity. Cells. Electricity.

Penicillin. DNA. Vaccines.

Scientists realized the importance of interacting with society and in the past 200 years created the Royal Academy of Sciences of England and afterwards of France, to consult the king in scientific matters. Since then slowly science has become closer and closer to society and many efforts are being made recently in science communication. It is a time for education, as it has always been. It is now in our hands to spread the scientific knowledge and give back to the society. We must keep changing the way we all think.

As always, our sincere thanks to all of our contributors! This issue would not be possible without their help.

Filipa Ferreira ***

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CONTENTS Message from the President of the Executive Board Pedro Resende 5 De Sousa et al.

Maria de Sousa & Helder F. Araujo 7 GABBA Meeting 20 City of Knowledge Part I. Knowlegde 22 Part II. Citizens 29 ATG News 33 GABBA & Society 35 #iamGABBA 40

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We hate to nag, but have you already become a member?

To become a member, all you need to do is pay the annual dues, fill out the membership form, and email us the payment confirmation along with the membership form. You may please find the form on the website.

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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

Pedro Resende

Dear GABBA community and ATG newsletter readers,

The theme chosen for this newsletter “Science and Society” could not be more appropriate. Strategies to educate citizens on the value of knowledge and the value of the scientific process need a serious agenda in order to counteract prevailing groups of people in society interested in doing the exact opposite, as discussed in more detail in this newsletter´s Maria de Sousa et al. section.

“...our program has always had its eyes on society.”

“At ATG we are deeply committed to continue and expand the merits of GABBA in its relationship with society, as explained in different parts of our by-laws.”

Thanks to the wise minds of the coordinators of GABBA, our program has always had its eyes on society. How many cities around the world have become familiarized with Portuguese science through GABBA students and GABBA alumni? How many high-quality symposiums with national and international speakers have been organized by GABBA students? How many PhD programs have distributed over 500 copies of a more than 250-page book filled with scientific lives?

At ATG we are deeply committed to continue and expand the merits of GABBA in its relationship with society, as explained in different parts of our by-laws.

The ATG newsletters are a great example of how ATGs can work together and spread scientific values across the GABBA community and across all other ATG newsletter readers. We have received many good feedback about them (thank you!) and we hope to engage more readers in the future.

Last year, we have launched our first Ciência Viva – ATG, GABBA Alumni Association awards. We succeeded in motivating 26 young students who participated in the Ciência Viva no Laboratório summer trainee programs to write a scientific report about their scientific experiments.

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“...we´ll finish our GABBA Welcome book, which is designed to be handed to firstyear students”

Past December, we had our II ATG annual meeting where we awarded the seven students, authors of the top three reports of the Ciência Viva – ATG, GABBA Alumni Association awards, and we heard Rosalia Vargas, director of Ciência Viva, talking about their experience at Pavilhão do Conhecimento in nurturing knowledge among our youngest.

This year we will also launch the Maria de Sousa Summer Research program. In this program, we will sponsor students at the University-level to do a research internship under the supervision of ATGs. The pilot program will happen in Porto. In following editions, we hope to expand it to other national institutions and even abroad.

Also this year, we´ll finish our GABBA Welcome book, which is designed to be handed to first-year students as they start their classes, and where different aspects of doing a PhD are discussed by many ATGs.

I would like to end by personally thanking and congratulating André Sousa, our former president, for everything he has done in the first years of ATG. It has been a great joy to see ATG growing in “your hands”.

An excellent (and sunny) summer to all of you.

***

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We know you are really busy with other impact factors, but your help would really have a major impact on ATG! ATG really needs your help! Send us an email when you are ready to help us, will you?

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DE SOUSA et al.

SCIENCE, IMPONDERABLE ELEMENT OF CITIZENSHIP

Maria de Sousa

This May 11

2017 the Minister of Science, Prof Manuel Heitor is organizing a meeting-memory-celebration of the 30 years of the ‘Jornadas da Ciência’ that took place exactly 30 years ago on the 11th of May of 1987. th

“...bird’s eye view of Portuguese science and scientists at the time.“

Those Jornadas were organized by Prof Mariano Gago as a call to all Portuguese scientists of the time, working abroad or in the country, from all areas of knowledge. It was his intention to have a bird’s eye view of Portuguese science and scientists at the time before taking the decisions that were going to change the course of Science and scientific activity in the country. I participated then organizing the session on the health sciences, and have been asked to participate this May.

Mariano Gago, Jornadas da Ciência, 1987

I borrowed my title from a meeting of the Equinox organized by Profs Sobrinho Simões and Mota Cardoso at the IPATIMUP, where Dr Mário Soares talked about: “The Knowledge of Citizenship” and I talked about: “The Citizenship of Knowledge”.

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I divided my 2017 talk in 5 sections that may be of some opportunity for your chosen theme of Science and Society.

I. What we already knew before 1987

II. The predictable

III. The unpredictable

IV. The astonishing

V. A strange burning of the improbable and the conse- quent duty

Post scriptum

I. What we already knew before 1987 “We knew that Science can only be practiced in Freedom.”

We knew that Science can only be practiced in Freedom.

Why?

Because the essence of Science is to question, to doubt established knowledge and the established power and to move on with tools as we never had before in History that can help us demonstrate the opportunity if not “the truth” of our proposition.

At this point, Science departs from Art because even if the most daring forms of Art can only be achieved in Freedom, they do not depend on demonstration of Proof as we do.

II. The predictable

It is predictable that in all generations even in a most adverse atmosphere, a few individuals affirm themselves with a significant scientific contribution against political or religious or institutional adversity or peer disbelief. Copernicus comes to mind, so does Darwin or, more recently Higgs.

“Corino de Andrade the discoverer of a disease that should be known as Andrade’s disease”

Portugal in the last 30 years is no exception. Exceptional people with singular personalities persevered in believing that they had something new or that they could build something new.

The examples I know better come from the Biomedical sciences and include names such as Corino de Andrade the discoverer of a disease that should be known as Andrade’s disease, currently known as Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy. I also include in this group Odete Santos Ferreira the woman whose conviction that blood samples from patients of African origin had 9

a virus different from the virus that came to be known as HIV-1, and did not give up until the lab of Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute in Paris helped her to identify a virus that came to be known as HIV-2. The paper demonstrating the existence of a second Immunodeficiency virus was published by the two groups in 1987 (1).

Audience view of ‘Jornadas da Ciência’,1987

The other determined personality is present in this meeting - Pato de Carvalho - and in addition to having contributed to the development of academic Biochemistry in Coimbra and in the country, contributed with his team to the creation of new institutional entities, the Centre for Neurosciences, known today as CNC and, through Carlos Faro, to the company Biocant located in Cantanhede. Finally proving that there is no limit of age to determination and contributing to scientific education in the most unexpected places in a country, he has created the Institute for Education and Citizenship whose headquarters is, of all places in Mamarrosa. “...several others had already made sure that the flame of a research atmosphere burnt in the Universities. ”

Finally, I want to honor Claudina Rodrigues Pousada, a survivor in the most literal sense of the word, who 30 years ago was one of the first academic researchers and teachers of Molecular Biology (2)

Of course the 30 years have seen many other exceptional individuals, as before that several others had already made sure that the flame of a research atmosphere burnt in the Universities.

But to me the unpredictable was yet to come.

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III. The unpredictable

What was to become unpredictable then?

Partly in response to the success of the response of scientists to the Jornadas, partly because of Mariano Gago’s own conviction and opportunity given by European funding to create a massive Program of individual Fellowships, the country was inundated with the opening of individual PhD Fellowships in all areas.

That may not seem unpredictable taking into account Gago’s conviction that the country was vastly deficient in postgraduate educated people, the unpredictable, in my view, was the response of younger people to that call. In scientifically more developed countries such as the UK and even the US, younger people were giving preference to careers in liberal professions, finance, banking, aware that scientific research was not as fruitful in terms of funding and salaries and financial stability as other professions.

“In Portugal the response in my view was overwhelming.”

Prof Maria de Sousa being interviewed at ‘Jornadas da Ciência’, 1987

In Portugal the response in my view was overwhelming.

Over hundreds of interviews of candidates to postgraduate fellowships, GABBA or no GABBA we were astonished to hear young people admit that did not quite know what scientific research was, but since childhood had hoped they would be able to do it! Unpredictable. But today I think every All Time GABBAs 11

(ATG) knows what I am talking about. Moreover, every ATG or GABBA student is the product of that great decision made 30 years ago.

“...every ATG or GABBA student is the product of that great decision made 30 years ago.”

“In spite of having been discoverers of different worlds centuries ago, I think the country did not know that we still had in ourselves that quality of falling in love with wanting to explore the unknown, to make new questions.”

In spite of having been discoverers of different worlds centuries ago, I think the country did not know that we still had in ourselves that quality of falling in love with wanting to explore the unknown, to make new questions. Traditionally we thought of ourselves as a country of poets. In reality, we have had two poets with great international projection: Camões and Pessoa.

I think the country for sure did not think of itself as a scientific country.

Indeed, there are people today that still remember that they did not quite know the word scientist or what a scientist did, 30 years ago.

You, ATGs today represent, in my view, the most unpredictable event in the History of science in Portugal. And one can easily name a number greater than two of Portuguese scientists that have made themselves acknowledged for their work internationally. Some, unpredictably, are ATGs!

With the initiative of creating a great number of individual PhD Fellowships in all areas of knowledge, we came to understand that the response was not exclusive of young men wanting to enter the new world of science. Such a desire applied equally to the entry of women in that world, to the point of today Portugal being top on the list of proportion of women doing science in a country in the world.

What does that really mean for people outside science?

I am not seeing a proud mother arriving at her work with a paper published in Nature about the eye of the Drosophila.

Nature: what is that?

Drosophila: who is that?

A fly?

What is the eye of a fly good for?

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“To come to be a great scientist and make a great discovery.

That will be the exception.”

“And if the most important result of a scientific or higher postgraduate education is to improve the quality of our citizenship?”

Will be asked in a country without a scientific tradition.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother on the other hand will have no difficulty in talking about what her son does and how it is worth millions.

The next pertinent question therefore is to all of us: what is the point of a higher education?

To come to be a great scientist and make a great discovery. That will be the exception. Most of us will make a contribution, yes, but coming years, new technologies may come to confirm it or not.

To come to the invention of a great product that we might come to sell successfully all over the world? That too will be the exception.

Thus, in an uneducated society one might ask: why put so much money in science if it may be good for nothing?

Ah! There comes another unpredictable.

And if the most important result of a scientific education should not be to see (as soccer or architecture), or to hear (as fado), areas where manifestly we have had great international recognition and Prizes?

“If the most significant contribution of a scientific education is the careful education of the Doubt, the power of questioning...”

And if the most important result of a scientific or higher postgraduate education is to improve the quality of our citizenship as Pato de Carvalho is doing beautifully with his Institute for Education and Citizenship and another determined woman with a first degree in philosophy, Rosalia Vargas has done with Ciência Viva.

If the most significant contribution of a scientific education is the careful education of the Doubt, the power of questioning, demanding a correct information, the respect for the opinion of adversaries, not to commit fraud, knowing that if committing it one will soon be discovered and excluded.

As every GABBA student and ATG will know whatever we do in science must be reproduced by others to gain reality. A good scientific education creates quietly citizens with great respect for life and for others, even knowing that when asked what is it for, we know it can also be for war, and the destruction of lives.

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“Knowledge in general is an imponderable engine of the economy that cannot be ignored for much longer.”

If a scientific education is so fundamental to citizenship, what we must do is persuade politicians that their countries will be more appreciated, even wealthier because they will have different more educated citizens. Even if the plumber looks the same. Or the piano tuner, or the taxi driver, they will all be better prepared to receive tourists, better educated. Knowledge in general is an imponderable engine of the economy that cannot be ignored for much longer.

I am struck by seeing the growing number of golf courses appearing in Portugal. But the golf player will not return if all he/she finds is 18 holes. They will seek museums. Restaurants.

Theatre. Monuments to visit. Museums are one of the best expressions of an imponderable value for a country. The country will need Information technicians yes. But it will need equally historians and researchers that will learn about the history of places, the nature of river beds, naturalists in general. Bee keepers. Bird watchers.

Intervention by Mário Soares, President of Portugal, 1987

IV.

The Astonishing

You might think that our robust group of young (and by now not so young…) investigators would have been slowly incorporated in the Portuguese Universities. But no. It seems astonishing but for reasons that may have to do with State Funding, or more darkly with an institutionalized silent nepotism, much of the University departments where you were students have not changed much in the same 30 years.

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This lament? Surprise? Takes me to a fantastic phrase from a Poem of Helia Correia (3): V. A estranha ardencia do Improvavel: the strange burning of the improbable

“De que armas disporemos, senão destas Que estão dentro do corpo: o pensamento.”

The strange burning of the improbable that should guide us as a duty for the next thirty years

I write first part of the poem in Portuguese because I find it very hard to translate Poetry. But I will conclude trying…

De que armas disporemos, senão destas Que estão dentro do corpo: o pensamento.

A ideia-...

Um início Um inicio de novos 30 e muitos mais anos Atrás dos quais virá a colecção dos feitos Que não se veem, que não se ouvem, Mas, que calados em cada um do cientista em nós Que em resposta ao desafio de 1987 provámos ser Transformarão Portugal Naquela estranha ardência do improvável. ~~~~ What other weapons do we have but these That are within the body: the mind The idea A beginning A beginning of new and many more 30 years That cannot be seen or heard Silent within the scientist that we proved to be In response to the May 1987 call In that strange burning of the Improbable.

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Prof Mariano Gago being interviewed by Paola di Paoli, President of the European Union of Science Journalists, 1987

References 1.

Clavel F, Mansinho K, Chamaret S, Guetard D, Favier V, Nina J, San

tos-Ferreira MO, Champalimaud JL, Montagnier L. Human immuno

deficiency virus type 2 infection associated with AIDS in West Africa. N

Engl J Med. 1987 May 7;316(19):1180-5.

2. www.dn.pt/tag/claudina-rodrigues-pousada.html 3.

Helia Correia. A Terceira Miseria. https://mjcantinho.com/2016/05/29/ a-terceira-miseria-de-helia-correia/

Fotographs Arquivo de Ciencia e Tecnologia http://act.fct.pt/acervodocumental/colecoes/

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IN A WORLD FULL OF VOICES, LET SCIENCE SPEAK LOUDER THAN OPINIONS AND ALTERNATIVE FACTS

Helder F. Araujo

“...scientific findings are more pertinent than opinions.”

“Science absolutely needs to be heard.”

“We need to educate people to turn their ears to science to learn about the scientific method and to acquire scientific skills such as critical thinking.”

The world’s chatter has never been louder. Virtually any-

where we stand, we can hear opinions and points of view being voiced by the most varied people. The opinions are so prolific that trying to ignore them would be a very effortful and, most likely, useless exercise; however, that does not mean that we need to give all existing opinions our full attention particularly when scientific findings are more pertinent than opinions.

History shows us that many areas of our lives have remained unchanged throughout the years; yet, books and journals have continually shed light on those same areas, offering us abundant reasons to change. While individuals still fight over their differences, biology has long demonstrated that the genetic material reads a clear message: we are more equal than we are different. While we still create walls to divide us based on our impressions of outgroup members, psychology has long shown that our perceptions and thoughts may be biased and untruthful.

Science absolutely needs to be heard. For that to happen, scientists may well need to speak louder, but that’s not enough.

We need to educate people to turn their ears towards what science has proven to be the case rather than what some people think is the case. We need to educate people to turn to science for something more than an immediate application of its knowledge. As Maria de Sousa often says, including in her “Meu Dito, Meu Escrito”, history has recurrently shown that scientific discoveries may not have a foreseeable application at the time they are made, but may eventually become essential to our future knowledge and technical developments. We need to educate people to turn their ears to science to learn about the scientific method and to acquire scientific skills such as critical thinking.

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What would change if science spoke louder? What would change, for example, in the way we raise our children if we stopped assuming that the biological capacity of bearing a child equals the capacity of being an adequate parent, and we started teaching parents scientific findings regarding child development and psychology? What would become of stereotypes and discrimination, if all children and young adults were trained in the scientific method? What would happen if political decisions in the most varied fields were informed by relevant scientific findings? “No country is too small or too poor to consider science.“

No country is too small or too poor to consider science.

Small countries, like Portugal, may not be able to conduct the most prolific scientific research in all areas, but they can always seek to be informed by scientific findings available to everyone in the world and they can always train their citizens to acquire scientific skills. ***

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ATG: a City of Knowledge.

Let’s take another look at a few of its citizens and some of its knowlegde published since our last issue!

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GABBA MEETING GABBA MEETINGS: MUCH MORE THAN DRESS REHEARSALS OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

Joana Wilton

“Every December, PhD students from all areas of Biology fearlessly present preliminary and unpublished data to each other in a gesture that would otherwise be seen as careless in our ever-increasing competitive industry.“

A

lthough past projects explored alternative GABBAergic communication mechanisms, both internally (the Facebook group springs to mind [1]) and with society (such as GABBAcast [2], a student-managed interview podcast), GABBA meetings are still the cornerstone of community interactions. Every December, PhD students from all areas of Biology fearlessly present preliminary and unpublished data to each other in a gesture that would otherwise be seen as careless in our ever-increasing competitive industry.

“Eloquence is in the assembly, not merely in the speaker” – William Pitt

“Rosalia Vargas, president of the Ciência Viva program, who emphasized the need for scientific literacy at all levels of society”

For two days, the community reconnects, encourages and continues to fulfill one of the program’s original goals – science communication – all the while keeping its quirky personality with the help of Ugly Christmas Sweater contests and a slight hazing rite of passage for freshmen during the social dinner.

Coming from the perspective of a soon-to-be second year PhD student, the past GABBA meeting was the first opportunity to be active in the community. With our year of modules, symposium organization and hand-wringing soul-searching firmly behind us, the Nineteenths presented their projects in posters to the community for critiquing, as all editions before them, and engage in peer science communication.

In-between graduate student presentations, the past edition also included a speech by Rosália Vargas, president of the Ciência Viva program, who emphasized the need for scientific literacy at all levels of society; in addition, we were privileged to watch the ATG-Ciência Viva internship award ceremony, getting to know secondary school students who excelled in working in national research labs. These two sections emphasized the openness of the GABBA community and consist in and of itself an exercise in science communication: if scientists mistakenly 20

underestimate both their importance as communicators and the interest of the general public for science, we all stand to lose in future generations.

Many hands make light work “...if scientists mistakenly underestimate both their importance as communicators and the interest of the general public for science, we all stand to lose in future generations.”

“GABBA is different, not only due to the scope of themes chosen by students, but in its longevity and relevance of both faculty and alumni to societal matters, especially in Portugal.”

The expectation for any PhD student is to perform lab work, go to conferences, publish and eventually defend their thesis and move on. GABBA is different, not only due to the scope of themes chosen by students, but in its longevity and relevance of both faculty and alumni to societal matters, especially in Portugal. If the trend continues, the soft skills we practice every day at the bench, and every year at the meeting, makes GABBAs ideal candidates for changing the paradigm of science communication everywhere.

Here’s to many more science communication events to look forward to in the GABBAsphere!

References: [1] GABBA Facebook group, accessible at https://www.facebook.com/ groups/GABBAPhDProgram/ [2] GABBAcast, created by Pedro Alves (GABBA 2nd) available at http:// gabbacast.podomatic.com/

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CITY OF KNOWLEDGE Part I. Knowledge Catarina Seabra & Ana Rita Araujo “...there are several articles that were published in prestigious high impact journals by our fellow GABBAs “

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n this edition of the ATG Newsletter, we are proud to share with the GABBA community the great accomplishments by the GABBA members since the past few months. Among the long list of publications, there are several articles that were published in prestigious high impact journals by our fellow GABBAs (original publications as first or last author) that we will highlight here:

GENETICS & GENE REGULATION

“The concept that certain aggregation-prone proteins can convert other endogenous proteins into drivers of aggregation and toxicity adds to the understanding of how cellular homeostasis can be deteriorated in protein misfolding diseases.”

Olga Sin (GABBA 13th) is a NWO Rubicon Postdoctoral Fellow at the RNA Biology Lab at the Max Planck Institute, Germany. Her latest publication in Molecular Cell focuses on understanding the cellular mechanisms regulating protein aggregation, using C. elegans as a model organism. Protein aggregation is associated with age-related neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and polyglutamine diseases. Their results suggest that polyglutamine can induce an aggregation-promoting activity of protein complex MOAG-2/LIR-3 in the cytosol. The concept that certain aggregation-prone proteins can convert other endogenous proteins into drivers of aggregation and toxicity adds to the understanding of how cellular homeostasis can be deteriorated in protein misfolding diseases.

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Sin, O., de Jong, T., Mata-Cabana, A., Kudron, M., Zaini, M. A., Aprile, F. A., … Nollen, E. A. A. (2017). Identification of an RNA Polymerase III Regulator Linked to Disease-Associated Protein Aggregation. Molecular Cell, 65(6), 1096–1108.e6.

Neto, J. L., Lee, J.-M., Afridi, A., Gillis, T., Guide, J. R., Dempsey, S., … Pinto, R. M. (2017). Genetic Contributors to Intergenerational CAG Repeat Instability in Huntington’s Disease Knock-In Mice.

Genetics, 205(2), 503–516.

Afreixo, V., Rodrigues, J. M. O. S., Bastos, C. A. C., Tavares, A. H. M. P., & Silva, R. M. (2017). Exceptional Symmetry by Genomic Word : A Statistical Analysis. Interdisciplinary Sciences, Computational Life Sciences, 9(1), 14–23.

IMMUNOLOGY & INFECTION

“Leukaemia cells that survive treatment were seen moving faster than those before treatment.”

Delfim Duarte (GABBA 17th) is a graduate student at Imperial College London, UK. His recent publication in Nature reveals that leukaemia cells were found randomly distributed throughout the mouse bone marrow and they were moving around speedily. Leukaemia cells that survive treatment were seen moving faster than those before treatment. The researchers suggest that the act of moving itself may help the cells to survive, possibly through short-lived interactions with other cell types. The team’s investigation into leukaemia cells’ behaviour also revealed that they actively attack bone cells, which are known to support healthy blood production. The researchers believe this insight could help scientists to develop treatments to safeguard production of healthy blood cells in leukaemia patients.

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Hawkins, E. D.*, Duarte, D.*, Akinduro, O., Khorshed, R. A., Passaro, D., Nowicka, M., … Lo Celso, C. (2016). T-cell acute leukaemia exhibits dynamic interactions with bone marrow microenvironments. Nature, 538(7626), 518–522.

Vale, P. F., & Jardine, M. D. (2017). Infection avoidance behavior: Viral exposure reduces the motivation to forage in female Drosophila melanogaster. Fly, 11(1), 3–9.

Rijo-Ferreira, F., Pinto-Neves, D., Barbosa-Morais, N. L., Takahashi, J. S. & Figueiredo, L. M. (2017). Trypanosoma brucei metabolism is under circadian control. Nat Microbiol 2, 17032 Raposo, R. A. S., de Mulder Rougvie, M., Paquin-Proulx, D., Brailey, P. M., Cabido, V. D., Zdinak, P. M., … Nixon, D. F. (2017).

IFITM1 targets HIV-1 latently infected cells for antibody-dependent cytolysis. JCI Insight, 2(1), e85811.

CELL BIOLOGY “Their team discovered, from a combination of fly genetics, live-imaging and modelling, a new biophysical mechanism that allowed mechanical forces to be sensed and transmitted from the dividing cell to its neighbours.”

Diana Pinheiro (GABBA 15th) is a member of the Polarity Division Morphogenesis Lab at the Curie Institute in France. Her publication in Nature expands the extensive work on cell division that has been performed to understand the properties of the dividing cells. Their team discovered, from a combination of fly genetics, live-imaging and modelling, a new biophysical mechanism that allowed mechanical forces to be sensed and transmitted from the dividing cell to its neighbours. This allowed epithelial tissues to maintain their required properties (cohesiveness, polarity) while being dynamic and actively proliferating.

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Pinheiro, D., Hannezo, E., Herszterg, S., Bosveld, F., Gaugue, I., Balakireva, M., … Bellaiche, Y. (2017). Transmission of cytokinesis forces via E-cadherin dilution and actomyosin flows. Nature, 545(7652).

“By combining live cell imaging and computational modeling, they showed that positive feedback is the molecular mechanism underlying the temporal insulation of mitosis”

Ana Rita Araújo (GABBA 17th) is a graduate student at the Quantitative Cell Biology Lab, Imperial College London, UK . Recently, Ana and the team published in Molecular Cell . Here they explored cell division that is characterized by a sequence of events by which a cell gives rise to two daughter cells. By combining live cell imaging and computational modeling, they showed that positive feedback is the molecular mechanism underlying the temporal insulation of mitosis and that positive feedback is important to keep mitosis short, constant, and temporally insulated and anticipate it might be a commonly used regulatory strategy to create modularity in other biological systems.

Araujo, A. R., Gelens, L., Sheriff, R. S. M., & Santos, S. D. M. (2016). Positive Feedback Keeps Duration of Mitosis Temporally Insulated from Upstream Cell-Cycle Events. Molecular Cell, 64(2), 362–375.

Resende LP, Truong ME, Gomez A, Jones DL. (2017). Intestinal stem cell ablation reveals differential requirements for survival in response to chemical challenge. Dev Biol. 1;424(1):10-17

Clara Correia-Melo (GABBA 13th) is a member of the Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, UK. She has shared with the community a straightforward protocol to generate mammalian cell populations with low to non-detectable levels of mitochondria, published in Nature Protocols. Traditional means of investigating mitochondrial importance in a given cellular 25

process have centered upon depletion of mtDNA through chemical or genetic means. Although these methods severely disrupt the mitochondrial electron transport chain, mtDNA-depleted cells still maintain mitochondria and many mitochondrial functions.

“Clara has shared with the community a straightforward protocol to generate mammalian cell populations with low to non-detectable levels of mitochondria.”

Correia-Melo, C., Ichim, G., Tait, S. W. G., & Passos, J. F. (2017).

Depletion of mitochondria in mammalian cells through enforced mitophagy. Nature Protocols, 12(1), 183–194.

Ruivo, M. T. G., Vera, I. M., Sales-Dias, J., Meireles, P., Gural, N., Bhatia, S. N., … Mancio-Silva, L. (2016). Host AMPK Is a Modulator of Plasmodium Liver Infection. Cell Reports, 16(10), 2539–2545.

Tavares, L., Correia, A., Santos, M. A., Relvas, J. B., & Pereira, P. S. (2017). dMyc is required in retinal progenitors to prevent JNK-mediated retinal glial activation. PLoS Genetics, 13(3), e1006647.

NEUROSCIENCES Torres, S., Camacho, M., Costa, P., Ribeiro, G., Santos, O., Vieira, F. M., … Oliveira-Maia, A. J. (2017). Psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Eating and Weight Disorders : EWD. Oliveira-Maia, A. J., Press, D., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2017). Modulation of motor cortex excitability predicts antidepressant response to prefrontal cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Brain Stimulation.

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Oliveira-Maia, A. J., Andrade, I., & Barahona-Correa, J. B. (2016).

Case of coeliac disease presenting in the psychiatry ward. BMJ Case Reports.

NANOMEDICINE Barbosa, J. P., Neves, A. R., Silva, A. M., Barbosa, M. A., Reis, M. S., & Santos, S. G. (2016). Nanostructured lipid carriers loaded with resveratrol modulate human dendritic cells. International Journal of Nanomedicine, 11, 3501–3516.

Cunha, C., Almeida, C. R., Almeida, M. I., Silva, A. M., Molinos, M., Lamas, S., … Barbosa, M. A. (2017). Systemic Delivery of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells for In Situ Intervertebral Disc Regeneration. Stem Cells Translational Medicine, 6(3), 1029–1039.

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY Ochoa, D., Jonikas, M., Lawrence, R. T., El Debs, B., Selkrig, J., Typas, A., … Beltrao, P. (2016). An atlas of human kinase regulation. Molecular Systems Biology, 12(12), 888.

Hernandez-Armenta, C., Ochoa, D., Goncalves, E., Saez-Rodriguez, J., & Beltrao, P. (2017). Benchmarking substrate-based kinase activity inference using phosphoproteomic data. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England).

CANCER RESEARCH Tenente, I. M., Hayes, M. N., Ignatius, M. S., McCarthy, K., Yohe, M., Sindiri, S., … Langenau, D. M. (2017). Myogenic regulatory transcription factors regulate growth in rhabdomyosarcoma. eLife, 6.

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Lacerda, C. F., Cruvinel-Carloni, A., de Oliveira, A. T. T., Scapulatempo-Neto, C., Lopez, R. V. M., Crema, E., … Reis, R. M. (2017).

Mutational profile of TP53 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma associated with chagasic megaesophagus. Diseases of the Esophagus : Official Journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus, 30(4), 1–9.

Martinho, O., Silva-Oliveira, R., Cury, F. P., Barbosa, A. M., Granja, S., Evangelista, A. F., … Reis, R. M. (2017). HER Family Receptors are Important Theranostic Biomarkers for Cervical Cancer: Blocking Glucose Metabolism Enhances the Therapeutic Effect of HER Inhibitors. Theranostics, 7(3), 717–732.

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CITY OF KNOWLEDGE Part II. Citizens Filipa Ferreira CATARINA RAMOS GABBA 6th edition, class 2002 Head of Science Communication at Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown

MILAN LISBON 2002 2017

“During my PhD, I learned a lot about the scientific process, how to ask the right questions, how to organize ideas, how to digest complex data..”

What did you study during your PhD and what were the most useful skills you gained during this period?

In a very short version, I studied the role of huntingtin, a protein that is mutated in Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that affects primary the striatum.

During my PhD, I learned a lot about the scientific process, how to ask the right questions, how to organize ideas, how to digest complex data, how to find what is important from huge amounts of publications, to optimize experimental set ups, to organize results. At the same time, without really noticing, I developed a lot of other skills, some of which the “so-called soft skills”, like communication, writing, being a team player. It was an intense period, I think I became a bit more critical about things in general. At the end of the day it was a very rewarding phase of my life.

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While you were training as a postdoc you also got a master’s degree in Science communication. What did you consider when deciding you were going to change direction?

“I had just published a cool paper and got a grant so things were actually going pretty well with my postdoc but I was not comfortable with what I had ahead of me.”

“It’s a great challenge, you have to be creative, each public has its differences.”

“... asking for science to be open, to be accessible and that can only be achieved with some channels between science and society. “

While doing my postdoc, I started thinking about… what’s next? I think this is common to everyone. When I decided to apply to the Science Communication Master’s I had just published a cool paper and got a grant so things were actually going pretty well with my postdoc but I was not comfortable with what I had ahead of me. I think I was not seeing myself as a PI and when I realized this I started looking for alternatives. I knew I wanted to be close to science, close to scientists but not actually doing it. I must say that when I started the Master’s classes I thought I was not going to be able to attend all, because I was also doing my postdoc, but in the end, I only missed one or maybe two classes.

I was totally engaged and enthusiastic about the science communication world and soon I understood that this could be the transition I was looking for.

How is it like to be promoting a connection between science and society? What kinds of projects are you developing?

It’s a great challenge, you have to be creative, each public has its differences. You have to define your aim, depending on who you are targeting and then come up with an approach and evaluate its impact. The process is not that different from the scientific one.

In the office that I coordinate we have a wide range of projects: from internal communication, help with communication between peers (other scientists and scientific institutions) and also external communication. These external communications have a variety of target audiences, such as public events, programmes for schools, workshops for children and families, among others.

Science communication has been more prominent in recent years. How do you think it is impacting science?

I think more and more scientists, research institutions, funding agencies and policy makers are recognizing the need and asking for science to be open, to be accessible and that can only be achieved with some channels between science and society.

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I think science communication is an obvious element of this equation.

In what way did the GABBA PhD affect your career?

It was a great programme.

It challenged me to explore.

It was also a perfect “place” to meet amazing people, talented scientists.

It gave me time to grow, to learn. That is absolutely priceless.

“It (GABBA) gave me time to grow, to learn. That is absolutely priceless.”

Favorite Sunday activity: Go to the park with my 2 year old twins.

Dream vacation: Only one destination? Maybe Palau?

Favorite non-Portuguese cuisine: Japanese Sport: Swimming TV show that you binge watched recently: I don’t watch much TV these days (see 1st answer) How do you commute? Mostly car Android or iOS: iOS

“Go to the park with my 2 year old twins.”

Pipet tip box usage method (in order, the ones in same area or random): Depends on the days…

Friday night drink: Good red wine is a good option (at least to start the night!)

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It would be great to count with your help for the next newsletter If you are willing to help, just write us an email. We will take all the help & ideas you may have.

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ATG NEWS Filipa Ferreira

RECENT GRADUATES Ines Tenente, GABBA 14th. Thesis: “The role of Myogenic Regulatory Factors in Rhabdomyosarcoma: insights from zebrafish and beyond”. Mentor: David M. Langenau - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. Defense date: 09-16-2016. Ines is now an Associate Consultant at Decision Resources Consulting Group.

Diana Pinheiro, GABBA 15th. Thesis: “Mechanotransduction during epithelial cell division”. Mentor: Yohanns Bellaiche – Institut Curie, Paris, France. Defense date: 09-19-2016.

Milene Costa da Silva, GABBA 14th. Thesis: “The role of iron metabolism in cancer and in the polarization of tumour-associated macrophages”. Mentors: Martina Muckenthaler (UniversitätsKlinikum Heidelberg) & Adelheid Cerwenka (DKFZ, Heidelberg). Defense date: 10-17-2016.

Joao Dias, GABBA 13th. Thesis: “Investigating lysine methylation of RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain”. Mentor: Ana Pombo Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. Defense date: 12-14-2016.

Ines Sa Pereira, GABBA 15th. Thesis: “Developmental response of the cerebrovasculature to inflammation”. Mentor: Daniel Anthony – University of Oxford, UK. Defense date: 02-03-2017.

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MORE ATG NEWS

Maria de Sousa was awarded the University of Lisbon Award,

being “one of the first Portuguese women internationally recognized by her scientific discoveries� said the Jury.

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GABBA & SOCIETY GABBA - THE NURTURING GROUND FOR “CITIZENS OF KNOWLEDGE”

Inês Tenente Article 6th 4. For the attribution of the doctoral degree in Basic and Applied Biology, it is necessary that the candidate demonstrates: (…) f) Capacity to communicate and collaborate with his or her peers inside and outside the Doctoral Program, including the remaining academic community and the society in general g) Competencies for, in a society based in knowledge, promote and contribute to the technological progress and socio-cultural of the country.

In Regulamento Programa Doutoral em áreas da Biologia Básica e Aplicada (GABBA) I. The unpredictable is predictable in the GABBA Program.

Through these last years of active and inspiring mentoring and the “careful education of the Doubt”(In De Sousa et al. section of this edition), we, GABBA students and Alumni stand in the shoulders of giants with a mission. It is not only a mission in our hearts, but is something that has been at the heart of GABBA from the beginning: to be educated and to educate; to contribute; to have ideas and execute them; to present them to others; to discuss and participate actively; to collaborate; to communicate; to learn from each other; to grow; to make; to give.

At GABBA, since our interview, we are asked questions about ourselves and about the world, we are asked to communicate. “What is the scientific question that you are passionate about?”, “What have you researched on in the past?”, “What do you think will be the contribution of your work to the scientific community, etc.?” In my edition (GABBA 14th), we went on to ask “What makes us human?”at the GABBA annual symposium. And many other symposia of high quality taught students the necessary skills to plan, to collaborate, and to execute ideas.

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The ability to ask and be asked questions is at the basis of any scientist and GABBA student or allumn. As is the ability to collaborate. Something that is often forgotten in an ever competitive field of publish or perish, but which in my opinion is a recipe for success.

The Capacity to Communicate and Collaborate is also front and centre at the Program’s By Laws, at that is not just a coincidence.

II. “The most important result of a scientific or higher degree education is to improve the quality of our citizenship”(In De Sousa et al. section of this edition)

At the end of my doctoral studies, I was ever so inspired by this sense of mission to give back. To acknowledge that we were indeed the lucky ones, standing in shoulders of international, and national giants; that the unpredictable was indeed possible and to permanently search for a place in that mission.

“The Society of Knowledge demands several things from us: truth; tolerance from and to others; humility because time and new technologies might prove us wrong in the future; and pride for being the first to have seen the truth or fought for the truth.” from Maria de Sousa at the event ’Women in Science’, Ciência Viva (Lisbon, March 8th, 2015)

I am sure I am not the only one who goes through such soul-searching moments. At least not in GABBA, as examples of true embodiment of such mission are evident in many more than the recent examples below. GABBA students and All Time Gabba scientists or scientists in society (i.e. not actively serving as scientific researchers but carrying the scientific knowledge and skills into another pursuit of their own) are truly embracing this mission. Some founded non-profit organizations, or discussion circles… some have made an impact through entrepreneurship, or through writing, or through their work as science communicators, or marching in the March(es) for Science around the world, or through patient advocacy, or most importantly, through their daily ethical conduct as citizens of knowledge.

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To all these researchers, science and medical communicators, executives, professors, technical specialists and medical doctors from the GABBA community, let science continue to guide you in your path to impact change around you.

Ana Luisa Neves, GABBA 16th “Impacting Public Health” Ana Luisa is a medical doctor and PhD student at Imperial College London. While pursuing her research in microbial metabolites on insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, she has also recently spearheaded a series of communication initiatives about the NHS system to the emigrant Portuguese community in the UK (1,2). Additionally, she has won the 2nd prize in Imperial College’s flagship women entrepreneurship programme Althea-Imperial for her prototype finger prick test that brings prenatal care to pregnant women living in isolated areas (3).

Olga Sin, GABBA 13th “Using legos to communicate complex ideas” Olga recently obtained her PhD from GABBA. Her research at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing, Groningen, Netherlands focused on neurodegenerative diseases and the theme was part of her Famelab presentation (4). “Using legos, she demonstrated how proteins in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia are changing and sticking together “like gum”. In this way, the function of the brain is restricted, which leads to the characteristic forgetfulness. The specialist for cerebral diseases explained the problem in a vivid manner and with an appropriate joke.” (free tr., Neue Westphalian) (5). Olga was also recently awarded a prestigious NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) grant and is pursuing her post-doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Muünster, Germany.

Diogo Trigo, GABBA 12th “Exposing inner circle concerns to the broad society” Diogo has concluded his PhD in 2013 in the field of neuroinflammation. He is now a post-doctoral researcher at Kings College, London, UK, researching neurite morphology and regeneration mechanisms. His article on Público P3 “A competição na publicação científica” (6) is an example of how we can all contribute 37

and raise awareness to issues pertaining scientific production and ethics to the broad society. Here is a quote from his article, in portuguese: “Quanto maior o impacto de um artigo, maior o escrutínio a que está sujeito, não apenas por motivos altruístas mas, também, para auto-preservação: além de sabotarem o conhecimento científico, artigos fraudulentos “acolchoam” os currículos dos seus autores, colocando-os em situações de vantagem imerecida em candidaturas a bolsas ou posições académicas.”

Pedro Resende, GABBA 11th “Critically thinking and discussing health policies in Portugal” Pedro is a post-doctoral researcher at i3S, Porto where he focuses his research on the relationship between aneuploidy and tumour development. After having finished his PhD studies in 2013, he moved back from California to Porto, as an example of the many scientists (in Portugal and abroad) who prove that the “brain drain” is not more than a myth and that free movement is part of a process of growth (nurtured by GABBA). A Portuguese scientist abroad is still a (Portuguese) scientist who can contribute to our “society of knowledge”.

Pedro has always been involved with the GABBA community throughout his studies and was recently elected President of the ATG association. But in addition to the initiatives set out by ATG (discussed in pg. 5), Pedro has also been involved in other initiatives, such as the Health Parliament Portugal (HPP) (7). As a member of the HPP, Pedro has been involved in several discussions about structural themes underlying the Portuguese healthcare system.

Pedro Moura Alves, GABBA 8th “Education and Culture at the basis of societal impact” Pedro obtained his PhD in 2010 in the field of immunology. He is now a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Research Institute in Berlin, Germany, where he is uncovering the basis of immune responses to Mtb infection. Alongside his research activities, Pedro was one of the co-founders of ASPPA (8), an independent non-profit organisation that represents, promotes and defends interests of post-graduates in Germany. ASPPA has organised multiple events in Germany and abroad and rapidly established itself as a partner to multiple political, cultural and social organisations such as the portuguese presidency and embassy, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Global Portuguese Scientists network.

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Pedro has himself been involved with the Native Scientist project (9) (promoting Portuguese science and language in german schools) and is a co-founder of the ASPPA partner JAZZ’aqui (10), a project for promoting and divulging Portuguese Jazz in Portugal and abroad.

References (1) http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2017-02-18-Folheto-em-portugues-ajuda-emigrantes-em-Londres-no-acesso-aos-servicos-de-saude (2) http://www.noticiasemportugues.co.uk/file/download/523 (3) http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/medicine/departmentofsurgeryandcancer/newssummary/news_27-3-2017-12-8-1 (4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLJg02h75_M (5) http://www.nw.de/lokal/bielefeld/mitte/mitte/21730166_Witzigste-Wissenschaflter-Bielefelds-kommen-im-FameLab-zusammen.html (6) http://p3.publico.pt/actualidade/ciencia/22911/competicao-na-divulgacao-cientifica (7) http://healthparliament.pt/ (8) wwww.asppa.de (9) https://www.nativescientist.com (10) http://jazzaqui.com

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Are you a #iamgabba?

As you may have noticed, we have increased our presence in social media, but there is still a lot to be done.

Follow us on twitter (@alumnigabba) and follow our #iamgabba #gabbafbchallenge on our Facebook Group (https://www. facebook.com/groups/GABBAPhDProgram) - where a chain of GABBA students and Alumni share their thoughts for a week. See what ATG is about at https://www.facebook.com/atg.up.pt/.

We have also introduced some changes in our Facebook Group and Page policies. While the ATG Facebook Page is for sharing our news with the broad community, the GABBA Program Facebook Group is a free space to publish relevant content within the GABBA community (students, alumni, professors and collaborators).

Do you want to work with us on improving the ATG website platform?

Do you want to become a social media engagement coordinator? Let us know!

Thank you to all who took on the #iamgabba challenge and those who followed us and retweeted on Twitter! Here are some examples of our social media activity over the last few months.

Let’s keep our community active and continue to learn from each other, even at distance!

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You reached the end of the fifth issue of the ATG member newsletter.

Will you help us prepare the next issue?

You can contribute with material for the existing sections or create new ones. Together, we will make this newsletter grow!

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ATG - All Time GABBA The Alumni Association of the Graduate Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology University of Porto - Portugal