ATG Newsletter Issue 08
November 2018
Welcome to another edition of the ATG Member Newsletter
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ATG Newsletter Issue 08 November 2018 Contributors: Ana Rita Araújo Ana Luísa Neves André Faustino André Lindo Bárbara Borda D’Água Bebiana Moura Catarina Seabra Filipa Ferreira Inês Tenente Joana Wilton José Silva Luís Filipe Cunha Mafalda Azevedo Maria De Sousa Maria Inês Marreiros Mariana Campos Marta Madureira Pedro Resende Rosa Barreira da Silva Sílvia Castro Yael Costa
Academia is the alternative career Filipa Ferreira Editor-in-Chief
When we start a Ph.D. most of us envision ourselves doing research in an academic setting as we saw our professors during undergrad do. This is usually a decision one takes after having spent some time in a lab as part of an inspiring internship. However, perhaps not many graduate students know the current statistics of career prospects when they apply for a Ph.D. program. They should. We should be informed, know the rules of the game we are about to play. Perhaps, even knowing the stats one would still make the same decision. In most cases that would be a good decision since a Ph.D. project is more than just the research aspect. By being informed one could start preparing for where their Ph.D. could take her/him. There are many career options for
Cover: Mariana Campos
those of us that took the adventure of doing a Ph.D. that go quite beyond the bench, either in an academic or industry
Editors: Filipa Ferreira Joana Wilton Mafalda Azevedo Marta Madureira
setting. It can take you across fields, to positions in Finance, Consulting or Data Science. We reached out to members of our GABBA community to probe what were some of the career paths chosen. Do not panic. There are options. If you are unfamiliar with
ATG - All Time GABBA The Alumni Association of the Graduate Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology University of Porto - Portugal
what these options we hope this newsletter can serve as a starting point to be informed. After all, academia is the alternative career.
www.atg.up.pt
i3S, R. Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
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Contents Message from the President of the Executive Board Pedro Resende 5 De Sousa et al. Maria de Sousa 7 Academia is the Alternative Career 9 City of Knowledge Part I. Knowledge Ana Rita AraĂşjo & Catarina Seabra 50 Part II. Citizens Joana Wilton & Marta Madureira 56 ATG News Mafalda Azevedo 64 Mina Bissell Award 2017: Maria de Sousa Filipa Ferreira 65 GABBA Symposium 2018 Maria InĂŞs Marreiros & Marta Madureira 67 Closing Remarks Maria de Sousa 71
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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 find the form on the ATG website: www.atg.up.pt
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Message from the President of the Executive Board Pedro Resende
Dear ATGs and friends, A Ph.D. is, in essence, a training performed in a full-academic matrix, or at least this is true for the vast majority of cases in Life Sciences. Thus, it is easy to understand that not staying in academia is perceived as a career change. However, some studies show that in the majority of countries, a percentage of only 1-5% of postdocs find an independent position and stay in academia. It seems wise to consider multiple career options during and after your Ph.D.. The good news is that during a Ph.D. one should develop competences that can be applied in multiple jobs that do not fit the classical academic expectations. “First, to congratulate Professora Fátima Carneiro for being recognized as the most influential pathologist of 2018”
In this newsletter, we wanted to share with you some examples of ATGs that are working on currently designated as “alternative careers” either in a fulltime regime or in a part-time or pro-bono manner. We hope that by reading these examples some of you find cues or inspiration for your next challenge. Three final notes. First, to congratulate Professora Fátima Carneiro for being recognized as the most influential pathologist of 2018. Our coordinators do make us proud! Second, to highlight the recently announced Nobel in Physiology or Medicine to James Allison and Tasuku Honjo. The conceptual approach of designing a cancer therapy using the Immune system is a celebration of interdisciplinarity – something that should be embedded in all ATGs as it is a core value of the program.
“… only 1-5% of postdocs find an independent position and stay in academia. It seems wise to consider multiple career options”
Third, to invite you all to register and come to our annual meeting in December, Catarina already sent the invites, check your e-mail box. It would be great to see many ATGs gathering together as we did last year. Best regards, Pedro *** 5
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. Maria de Sousa
Dear ATG newsletter, This will be my shortest contribution ever.
“Remember there are no answers without questions. There is no doing without wanting to.”
“... I have come to the conclusion that two main nonacademic fields are missing desperately in Portugal: Science Journalism that you call science communication and Politics.”
From my emerita distance I have come to the conclusion that two main nonacademic fields are missing desperately in Portugal: Science Journalism that you call science communication and Politics.
Science Journalism is virtually nonexistent in Portugal. Those of you who are in New York or in Boston will know how the New York Times or the Boston Globe do it. I do not know too much about the west coast papers, but I am sure will be the same. The importance of knowing that on Tuesdays, the New York Times will have a Science Times section cannot be emphasized enough, I continue to receive it here and there it is being Tuesday. To become a good Science Journalist you might have to do a post-graduation in Journalism or try to work for a while in a newspaper. Or not. Or become capable of transmitting the Joy of Science in other forms of communication. In my emerita status I am also seeing more TV than ever and I am amazed how the soccer world makes itself present EVERY DAY, just with some guys pushing a ball, or some coach saying always the same: our objective is to win and when they did not win, how proud I am of my players even if we did not make it to the goal. EVERY DAY. Not just on Tuesdays! All Press conferences with lots of supporting stuff at the back. Antena 1 now has a thing called 90 seconds of Science, supported by Novartis, ITQB and Universidade Nova: 90 secs! Do think about it. It needs thinking and careful planning and careful attacking a society where Ciência Viva has that intention, but it appears more like presenting Science through entertainment than the 7
serious thing that, as you all know, contributing to the opening of roads of questioning and finding answers really is.
Politics, It is amazing how the Government, our MPs, our Parliament practically has no scientists or people who realize what Science and a scientific education, such as you have acquired in GABBA and your postdoc times, are. I checked the other day and there may be some from the Social Sciences and one archeologist, in Bloco de Esquerda.
“It is amazing how the Government, our MPs, our Parliament practically has no scientists or people who realize what Science and a scientific education”
Yet, number may not be the greatest need as one Minister (independent) practically alone changed the course of Science in the country, José Mariano Gago. There being one does have a problem because people die. You must create a school such as GABBA has done. OK, How and When? Whenever you decide that you want not just to transform yourselves as we prepared you to, but that you will want to transform a country. You need partners I am sure you will find them in the new School of Business and Economy (SBE). Remember there are no answers without questions. There is no doing without wanting to.
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Academia is the Alternative Career The statistics are clear, most Ph.D.s will pursue a different line of work than the academic research. We looked into our GABBA community to find out what were the paths that our Ph.D.s took.
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Science Communication
Mariana Campos GABBA 13th edition, Class of 2009
Membership and Public Engagement Manager What are your day-to-day duties/responsibilities? Oh, well, where to start. My job is mostly office-based, a lot of writing (mostly emails!) with
plenty
of
internal
and
external
meetings. I am responsible for keeping our members up to date and engaged: that means I decide on the calendar of activities we will do, the format they will take and organise them. These events tend to be workshops, conferences or webinars. I usually have someone else to help me with the admin side of it. I do a similar thing for Public Engagement - deciding on what we (me!) want to do and getting it up and running. Last year I did assemblies in schools, I organised visits to labs for our patients, I run a project with patients to understand what kind of language, images, and metaphors, facilitate the understanding of genome editing. My role is incredibly varied. I also work closely with our comms team “I run a project with patients to understand what kind of language, images, metaphors, facilitate the understanding of genome editing.�
to decide what and how are we talking about our work and our members' work on our website and social media. I am responsible for signing off any comms we produce, playing particular attention to our branding. I have developed two strategies in the last year, run satisfaction surveys, several national and European projects. Drop me 11
a line if you want to know more!
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? Definitely the ability to work under pressure and to multitask; being eager to learn new skills (don't ask me how I am in charge of our branding!) and managing relationships/people when you start line managing someone. I have to highlight that I work for a small charity, “... the ability to work under pressure and to multitask; being eager to learn new skills (...) and managing relationships/people when you start line managing someone.�
so this might not apply anywhere else! We always try to get the most out of very little resource.
What do you like most about it? I love the independence I have, how varied my role is and how I can take it where I want it to be - the perks of a small charity!
What do you like the least about it? I end up having to do other people's jobs at times and have tasks thrown at me because I am a safe pair of hands. Again, probably a constraint of the charity sector rather than anything else.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? The people and the relaxed atmosphere of my lab. Lunches all together. My colleagues are amazing but I doubt they will ever be my friends. This might be because everyone is English, with their own school friends in the UK and their families.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? It will not be easy, it is competitive but, if it really is what you want (is it?) keep trying!
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“I have developed two strategies in the last year, run satisfaction surveys, several national and European projects. Drop me a line if you want to know more!�
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Industry Rosa Barreira da Silva GABBA 10th edition, Class of 2006
Post Doc (PD) What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? A PD in Genentech is expected to conduct discovery research. There are no duties related to pipeline development nor regulatory affairs. Besides
my
lab
projects,
I
integrated the PD committee in Genentech,
and
therefore
I
volunteer for extra duties related to the
PD
program
such
as
organization of scientific off-sites, seminar series, networking events and identification of career development opportunities.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? “One aspect that is lacking is the presence of a more heterogeneous group of Scientists (e.g. Master students, Ph.D. students, Postdocs). In my department almost everyone has a Ph.D..�
The skills necessary to integrate the PD program in Genentech are mainly motivation and passion to develop original research.
What do you like most about it? The PD program in Genentech offers multiple opportunities to develop cutting edge research and to integrate a community that is dedicated to scientific discovery and development. There is an (almost) unlimited amount of resources to conduct experiments and many opportunities to collaborate. Genentech has several research 14
groups dedicated to different phases of drug development, and the postdocs are positioned at the very first one (discovery research). It is very rewarding and unique to watch how a scientific discovery is matured into something (a drug) that can help the human being.
What do you like the least about it? Doing a PD in industry can be a little isolating, as if you ingress into a project that is of direct interest of the company, you may not be able “There is an (almost) unlimited amount of resources to conduct experiments and many opportunities to collaborate”
to present it, or get feedback from the exterior scientific community. In Genentech, we have a committee that evaluates each PD research project to minimize overlap with pipeline projects, and to ensure fast publication without legal delays.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? Genentech provides me with all the great aspects academia does (e.g. invited speaker seminars; participation in conferences, career development opportunities and a strong PD community). One aspect that is lacking is the presence of a more heterogeneous group of Scientists (e.g. Master students, Ph.D. students, Postdocs). In my department almost everyone has a Ph.D.. There are, nevertheless, opportunities to mentor interns and therefore this important aspect of career development is also available.
“A PD in Genentech is expected to conduct discovery research. There are no duties related to pipeline development nor regulatory affairs.”
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? Scientist careers in the industry can be very different, depending on the organization you integrate in. When applying, make sure you get a feeling of the company ‘culture’ and talk to the people you would become peer with. Due to secrecy, the majority of the job descriptions are short and with vague words related to expectations. Also, there may be fast changes in priorities and experimental plans so you need to be flexible, rather than protective, about a project.
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Finance André Lindo GABBA 14th edition, Class of 2010
P&C Products Controller at Swiss Re, Zürich What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? The main task of my job is to provide quarterly
financial
reports
on
the
performance of the Property and Casualty (P&C) reinsurance business units (actuals vs Plan). These reports show the company’s financial different
figures
and
accounting
forecasts,
using
methodologies
depending on the stakeholders (e.g, US GAAP for external reporting; Market consistent valuations for internal reporting). On a daily basis, I support the P&C business units worldwide across all the Lines of Business (e.g. Aviation, Casualty Asia, Property LatAm, etc.) by providing them with financial analysis of different portfolios, regions, clients, types of business, etc.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? “in case you don’t have them already then do some online courses (Coursera, edX, MIT OpenCourseWare, etc.) and obtain the course certificates.”
The opportunity provided by the GABBA program to do my Ph.D. research at one of the top universities, ETH Zürich, definitely helped getting the job. Although my initial studies (BSc and MEng) were in Engineering, at the end of my Ph.D. I did a few online courses on data analytics. In finance, Excel needs to become your best friend but that’s not enough. Being able to handle large datasets (big data) and code a little bit, are essential skills that you need in order to get the job. Finance or accounting skills are not required for entry level 17
positions, but you need a basic understanding about finance and about the insurance business. In my case, these came from regularly reading financial news, doing a bit of research and from doing some investments.
What do you like most about it? What attracted me to the insurance industry in the first place was the fact that it encompasses both daily life aspects as well as the whole range of industries and products. Believe me, there’s insurance for everything! It can be for covering populations from natural catastrophe hazards, covering a company’s data from cyber attacks, or simply something that involves our daily lives such as health insurance or car insurance. In this job, I get first hand information on the company’s performance and it’s quite amazing to see how the business develops in such a big firm with a global reach. As an example, the HIM hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Maria) had a huge and immediate impact on the company’s cash flow because the affected regions needed urgent claims payouts in order to help the populations.
What do you like the least about it? Being in the finance department, you get a good overview of the “In finance, Excel needs to become your best friend but that’s not enough. Being able to handle large datasets (big data) and code a little bit, are essential skills”
company’s business. The downside is that you’re not close enough to the business units to get a deeper understanding of the business. The other obvious downside is that in this position/department I’m not able to use any of my scientific background. Other than that, the workflow
is
oriented
mostly
towards
the
same
quarterly
reports/processes, which can be a bit monotonous sometimes!
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? What I miss the most is the thrill of the unknown: doing research! I guess that, especially in big companies, the scope of each job/position becomes very limited unless you’re involved in special projects or in the research department.
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What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? My advice is to talk to someone who works on the field already or even in the company where you’re applying to. Try to find the skills that might be relevant for the job (and that are sometimes not mentioned in the job ads), and in case you don’t have them already then do some online courses (Coursera, edX, MIT OpenCourseWare, etc.) and obtain the course certificates.
“The main task of my job is to provide quarterly financial reports on the performance of the Property and Casualty (P&C) reinsurance business units (actuals vs Plan).”
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Life Science Consulting InĂŞs Tenente GABBA 14th edition, Class of 2010
Associate
Consultant,
Decision
Resources
Group
Consulting
What
are
your
duties/responsibilities? My day-to-day is spent juggling two or more projects at a time, working in project teams to deliver work to support our pharmaceutical, medtech and other life sciences clients' decisionmaking. As an Associate Consultant, I conduct primary qualitative and quantitative research as well as desk-based secondary research, analyze and develop powerpoint reports and presentations, attend conference and in-person calls/meetings with team members or interact with clients, which can include some travel for face-to-face workshops or ad boards. Recently, I have also been managing projects and teams in this process.
Over the past 1.5
years, I have worked in projects focused on medicines and in vitro diagnostics
across
Oncology,
Alzheimer's
Disease,
diabetes,
respiratory diseases and rare disease indications for more than 5 top “ You have to be flexible and humble and understand that a Ph.D. title only gets you so far - you need to take a step back, "learn the ropes" and grow in your new role!�
pharmaceutical companies. I have worked mostly in questions related to pricing and market access, commercial and strategic planning, organizational and process optimization and new opportunity assessments. Happy to share more about what I do, should you have a specific interest!
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Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? I wish I had the answer to this question. Sometimes getting a job is a combination of opportunity, luck and building the right connections. “Network with people in the companies you wish to apply for. Understand the culture, the organization, the job requirements, and the types of problems they deal with.”
In consulting (as in most fields), companies are looking for independent, self-driven and motivated individuals, critical and logical thinkers, avid life-long learners, who have demonstrated that throughout their lives. For consulting, the selection process involves personal interview(s), individual and/or group case study(ies) and technical skill-demonstrating exercise(s). In life science consulting, demonstrating a keen interest and overall knowledge of the types of problems healthcare/life sciences companies face today is key. For my
day-to-day
work,
time
management,
emotional
intelligence/communication, performance under stress, and attention to detail are also critical "soft skills".
What do you like most about it? I enjoy the fast-paced environment and exposure to many different problems and areas of the life sciences/healthcare industry. In 1.5 years, I have never felt bored or stalled, there are always opportunities for growth with the next project. Also, I enjoy working as part of a team!
What do you like the least about it? Coming from academia, I sometimes miss being more in control of “I conduct primary qualitative and quantitative research as well as desk-based secondary research, analyze and develop powerpoint reports and presentations, attend conference and in person calls/meetings with team members or to interact with clients, and can include some travel for face-to-face workshops or ad boards”
my own time, but that is something I just need to be aware of and advocate for myself! We come from being seen as "experts" (in a particular research field and question) to "beginners". You have to be flexible and humble and understand that a Ph.D. title only gets you so far - you need to take a step back, "learn the ropes" and grow in your new role!
How did you find information about non-academic careers and yours in particular? In Boston, there were many opportunities for exposure. A students' and
postdoc association, 22
women
in
bio
social
events and
presentations, and a course on healthcare commercialization and innovation opened the doors for me. Taking the decision to run from the lab to that course was life-changing!
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? I miss attending scientific talks! A lot! I compensate by being an avid Twitter and Linkedin follower, listening to podcasts, and coming to the GABBA meeting, but not having access to publications (give me that password!) is sometimes frustrating.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? Network with people in the companies you wish to apply for. “My day to day is spent juggling two or more projects at a time, working in project teams to deliver work to support our pharmaceutical, medtech and other life sciences clients' decision-making.�
Understand the culture, the organization, the job requirements, and the types of problems they deal with. Also, take a focused effort to start exploring what you would like to do early on, in parallel with your day-to-day activities. Don't hesitate to reach out to me and other GABBA alumni members. Be bold and schedule coffee break catch ups with people - you will be surprised by the positive responses!
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Policy Advisor Pedro Resende GABBA 11th edition, Class of 2007
Deputy or Policy advisor (Health Parliament Portugal) / External Consultant on Innovation in Health (Ministry of Health, Portugal)
What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? During
the
Health
Parliament
Portugal
initiative
(www.healthparliament.pt),
the
selected participants were divided between groups of approximately 10 people and challenged to design recommendations on the respective “I can give an advice that is an obvious one but never hurts to reinforce its importance – to meet as many people as possible that actively work in this field and start building your network.”
group’s theme in the form of a policy report. My group’s theme was “Economy of Knowledge” and during 6 months we discussed what could be done to maximize the impact of knowledge generated in the area of Health in the Economy. We met with many stakeholders and KOL [key opinion leaders] in the Health sector, we made several visits to different institutions that are involved in the long and sinuous process that goes from the generation of knowledge until its impact in the Economy. We had many online and face-to-face working sessions within our group and we had 6 plenary sessions where our work progress was presented and discussed with all the other groups, mentors and guests.
At the end of the Health Parliament initiative, our group´s final 25
proposal was well-regarded by the Ministry of Health and some of us were invited to continue our work as External Consultants of the Ministry of Health on the areas of Innovation, aiming to find a political context on which our proposal could be implemented. Additionally, our feedback is also requested on other present-time matters dealing with Innovation in Health. We have meetings approximately once a month in the Ministry, where we discuss the specific agenda for that day and almost always come back with “homework” to do.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? At the core, you must have very good civic values, they should be the driving force if you want to work on public policies. Then, you obviously need a good knowledge of how the Health sector operates and the social and economic challenges that it faces, you need to be comfortable in working in a non-static matrix environment, and finally you need good team-working and communication skills. “...the rewarding feeling that, if successful, our work will have an immediate impact on national policies and improve the quality of life of millions of people.”
What do you like the most about it? I would highlight two aspects. The first is the rewarding feeling that, if successful, our work will have an immediate impact on national policies and improve the quality of life of millions of people. The second is the refreshing and humbling exercise of working with people
with
many
different
educational
backgrounds
and
professional expertise.
What do you like the least about it? For someone that does not identify himself with any political party, the denialism that some policy makers and KOL present - blinded by their political parties deep-rooted views and following a religion-like behavior constantly reject strong evidence-based proposals.
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What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? I did not “transition” to this field, as I am doing this in a 100% pro bono/part-time manner, therefore I don´t think I can give much advice on this matter. I can give an advice that is an obvious one but never hurts to reinforce its importance – to meet as many people as possible that actively work in this field and start building your network. “...during 6 months we discussed what could be done to maximize the impact of knowledge generated in the area of Health in the Economy.”
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Entrepreneurship André Faustino GABBA 4th edition, Class of 2000
CEO of LHPT, a small pharma company from Biocant Park in Cantanhede What are your day-to-day duties/responsibilities? At LHPT we are changing the administration route of one drug. To do this we need to make some pharmaceutical
and
clinical
developments.
As
these
developments
evolve,
my
responsibilities
change
from
defining how these developments “The most important asset that you have is being trustworthy. You have to gain trust from others so they can hire you to run the business they are investing in.”
are done, who is doing them and how do we fund them to is the funding enough, are the stakeholders satisfied with what is being done, are the regulators happy with the results and with whom will I close the partnership deals to sell the new product.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? You really don’t need a Ph.D. to get this job. The Ph.D. gets you some tools that you can use to get many jobs. In this particular job, I use what I’ve learned in my Ph.D. to make good literature research (including patent search), to understand what is necessary to design the experiments and to present the data in order to prove to you and others that what you are saying is right. The most important asset that you have is being trustworthy. You have to gain trust from others so they can hire you to run the business 29
they are investing in. And GABBA is a good introduction to people since it is a program that is respected and that is run by people who are trustworthy so we have a small advantage.
What do you like the most about it? “Working in clinical trials means you can have positive results for 8 years, fail on the last trial and your impact on real life is 0.”
I can make my own schedule (which doesn’t mean you work fewer hours (usually the opposite).
What do you like the least about it? The time it takes until you are able to have an answer. Working in clinical trials means you can have positive results for 8 years, fail on the last trial and your impact on real life is 0.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? I miss the discussions about the basics of science.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? My two pieces of advice are quite broad. First, consider your Ph.D. as something that expanded your work capabilities and your knowledge about yourself and not as something “...my responsibilities change from defining how these developments are done, who is doing them and how do we fund them to is the funding enough, are the stakeholders satisfied with what is being done, are the regulators happy with the results and with whom will I close the partnership deals to sell the new product.”
that limited your area of expertise. My Ph.D. was in RNA processing and I’ve never worked with RNA since I left my Ph.D.’s lab. Second, be trustworthy. That doesn’t mean you don’t make things interesting and appealing. But make sure that at the end of the day, you are happy with what you are saying and that no one can say that the project didn’t work out as planned because you mislead them and hid some risks from them. This is a small world and if someone is about to hire you they will talk to your previous boss, investor, supervisor, co-worker. Make sure that they will say that you are trustworthy.
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Ana Luísa Neves GABBA 16th edition, Class of 2012
CEO of momoby What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? I have a full-time position as researcher (Research Fellow in Clinical Analytics and Patient Safety (NIHR PSTRC), Institute for Global
Health
Innovation,
Imperial
College London. And I am also CEO of momoby, a startup that aims to bring prenatal care to women
living
in
isolated
areas
in
developing countries. We are currently developing a finger prick test that allows for the early identification of diseases with known impact on pregnancy, leading to a timely treatment and better health outcomes for both mothers and babies. This idea was sitting on the back of my mind for many years, inspired by previous experiences working as a volunteer MD in developing countries. My time as a GABBA Fellow and Ph.D. student at Imperial was just the right moment to make it happen. As a Research Fellow, my main responsibilities include teaching at the MSc of Health Policy, supervising Ph.D. and MSc students, and carrying on my own research. At IGHI, we are interested in the cocreation and diffusion of healthcare innovation to tackle global challenges, and particularly in the role of big data analytics and new “As CEO of a start-up, things never get boring - and every day is a roller-coaster!”
technologies to provide better and safer care. We partner with lowand middle-income countries in several projects. In that sense, I was quite lucky to work in a place that understands and shares the same global vision that we have at momoby. 31
As CEO of a start-up, things never get boring - and every day is a roller-coaster! Most of the duties are shared between myself and my co-founder,
Andrea,
and
include
the
development
and
implementation of fundraising and marketing strategies, working side-by-side with our tech partner in product development, and linking with NGOs and local organisations to reach our target markets. There is also a lot of networking and pitching involved and just random talks with as many people as possible to improve our idea.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? I don't think you need a Ph.D. to enter the start-up world, but a Ph.D. definitely gives you a lot of transferable skills that turn out to be really useful: resilience, adaptability, teamwork and negotiation. “As one of our mentors once said, failure is just the process through which your idea becomes the best version of itself.�
What do you like the most about it? Working on something that you strongly believe in and the hope that you can do your bit to make things better. I also fancy the learning process a lot: we came across (and ended up doing) so many tasks that we knew nothing about, just to realise that there is a lot of science behind it (i.e. fundraising, market research).
What do you like the least about it? The unpredictability. Knowing that it is a high-risk venture: we are tackling low-income markets, and often restricting our fundraising options to angel investors.
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If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? Fortunately, I didn't have to give up on academic science. So far, I think there are actually very interesting synergies between my academic and start-up 'lives': academia has given us contacts, funding, and traction - and, most importantly, gave us many random and informal talks with bright people that helped us to improve our idea.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? Don't be too afraid of failure. As one of our mentors once said, failure is just the process through which your idea becomes the best version of itself. (And even if the idea fails, you always learn something, and “This idea was sitting on the back of my mind for many years, inspired by previous experiences working as a volunteer MD in developing countries. My time as a GABBA Fellow and Ph.D. student at Imperial was just the right moment to make it happen.�
eventually, *you* become a best version of yourself).
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Science and tech manager 34
Sílvia Castro GABBA 5th edition, Class of 2001 {initially Sílvia was a GABBA pioneer in Science Communication}
Executive Director, Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal)
What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? The Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program is a strategic partnership from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) between Portuguese Universities and the Carnegie Mellon University. My main responsibility as executive director is to ensure the correct implementation of the Program’s strategic objectives, namely in the areas of postgraduate education, research and innovation. In order to do that I’m constantly promoting the interaction
with
various stakeholders including
industrial
and
academic partners, FCT, the Carnegie Mellon University and researchers, faculty and students on the American and Portuguese “... I took some courses offered through the graduate school, in science communication and business and they were really useful.”
campus.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? You need to be focused, be able to prioritise tasks and balance several things on your plate at the same time - skills that I have further developed during my Ph.D. Moreover, I’m in contact with different 35
people throughout the day, researchers in Portugal and at Carnegie Mellon, Portuguese and international students, entrepreneurs, CEO’s of affiliated industry partners, government representatives, and so on. I have to be able to convey the Program’s message to a variety of audiences, and good interpersonal skills are essential for the job, my background in science communication is also very useful nowadays. “I’m in contact with different people throughout the day, researchers in Portugal and at Carnegie Mellon, Portuguese and international students, entrepreneurs, CEO’s of affiliated industry partners, government representatives, and so on”
What do you like most about it? I enjoy the diversity of tasks that comes with the job, meeting people from different academic backgrounds and being able to navigate through the Portuguese and American research and post-graduate systems. Above all, I’m always learning! For instances, I started working with the CMU Portugal Program this year which focuses on Information and communication technologies (ICT), so I’m learning a lot about robotics, artificial intelligence, data processing and so on.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? I miss the time at the bench, precise work with tools such as the ones used during microinjections or cell transplantations.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? If you are thinking into a transition to any other field, look around for opportunities to gain experience while doing your Ph.D.. While I was doing my Ph.D. at University College London, UCL, I took some courses “I enjoy the diversity of tasks that comes with the job, meeting people from different academic backgrounds and being able to navigate through the Portuguese and American research and post-graduate systems.”
offered
through
the
graduate
school,
in
science
communication and business and they were really useful. Besides giving you an opportunity to assess if this new area is really for you, it would also provide you with an opportunity to build your CV a little on this area.
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Bebiana Moura GABBA 12th edition, Class of 2008
Science and Technology Manager What
are
your
day-to-day
duties/responsibilities? As a science and technology manager, my responsibilities encompass both pre-
and
post-award
support.
Specifically, I help faculty and staff in identifying
funding
opportunities
aligned with their research topics and then assist them during proposal preparation and submission, making sure deadlines are met and instructions from funding organizations are followed. I also represent faculty at different events and try to identify and setup strategic partnerships. After approval, I am responsible for running the projects on a day-today basis, which includes: planning and monitoring projects, “There is an unbelievable amount of unnecessary bureaucracy associated with both grant application and project management. The bureaucracy in European science funding is cumbersome and even simple things as application instructions can be hundreds of pages.�
producing required documents and deliverables, liaising between different stakeholders ensuring project progression, organizing events and even managing communication.
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? Good communication skills are essential. The majority of my time is spent communicating with people, either internally within university or with external project partners and funding organizations. Communication must at all times be precise and effective and target 37
all different stakeholders. But communicating is much more than listening and talking to people, it is about being there, available to provide answers when required, it is about understanding what the needs of all the stakeholders are and managing their expectations. It is something you really perfect by doing…
“... I help faculty and staff in identifying funding opportunities aligned with their research topics and then assist them during proposal preparation…”
What do you like most about it? It is a continuous challenge. I have to juggle between different funding agencies, different topics of research, and different types of projects. One day I might be working on a grant proposal in cardiovascular disease, and at the same time I might be organizing a citizen engagement project targeting the elderly population. It never gets boring, you are always multitasking, and you learn a lot. Also, while working in academia I focused on my specific research field, nowadays I actually need to know at least a bit about each one of the research subjects from the different faculty members and be ready to discuss them at matchmaking events to find potential partners for projects. I feel like I actually know more about science now, even if in a general way than when I was doing research.
What do you like the least about it? Definitely the bureaucracy. There is an unbelievable amount of unnecessary bureaucracy associated with both grant application and project management. The bureaucracy in European science funding is cumbersome and even simple things as application instructions can be hundreds of pages.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? I guess in my case I haven't quite left academic science. I work within 38
a University, with PIs trying to find and secure funding for their research. For me, somehow down the road I stopped having fun doing the practical work inside a lab and that is why I left but I sure still miss pursuing a scientific question, brainstorming about possibilities, interpreting results and thinking about next experiments. “It is a continuous challenge. I have to juggle between different funding agencies, different topics of research, and different types of projects.”
Nowadays, I still do a lot of puzzle solving but of a different kind.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? Prepare your future! We all know that becoming a PI is getting harder and harder and not all postdocs will have that chance. So my word of advice is: start planning ahead and while still working in academia, try to invest some time for professional development. Go to workshops on project management, do science writing courses, go to job fairs and talk to people, do something that will set you apart from the other candidates. For prospective employers hearing that throughout your Ph.D./postdoc you have managed projects and people is not enough, she/he will hear the same from dozens of other candidates who have done exactly the same. The fact that you have shown interest and actually tried to enrich your CV will make you stand out.
“So my word of advice is: start planning ahead and while still working in academia, try to invest some time for professional development. Go to workshops on project management, do science writing courses, go to job fairs and talk to people, do something that will set you apart from the other candidates.”
Trust me it will help you make the transition… And my second advice is put yourself out there and try to network as much as possible. It is much more likely that an employer will hire you if someone has put a good word for you or if you know him/her beforehand than if you are just one more CV in a huge stack.
39
40
Software Developer LuĂs Filipe Cunha GABBA 2nd edition, Class of 1997
Senior Machine Learning Software Engineer What are your day-to-day duties/responsibilities? A Machine Learning Software Engineer is a mix of a data scientist
and
a
software
engineer, and my daily routine looks like a combination of both. I build software for training and deploying mathematical models at scale, as well as developing some of the models that the business (a bank) uses. Most of my days are spent writing computer code, researching a new problem, or in planning meetings with my teammates. Occasionally, I participate in conferences. “Both the software engineering and data science fields are very fast paced, with new developments coming out almost on a daily basis. It requires constant study, on top of the daily work, to stay current with new tools, methods, and best practices.�
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? Both software engineering and data science skills (math, traditional statistics, and machine learning) are essential. Some people enter this field with a background either in computer programming or data science and grow into the other on the job.
What do you like most about it? It is a very creative job and a lot of fun. Every day is different and with 41
new challenges, and there’s a fair amount of research involved. I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues on a daily basis. It is very flexible, both in terms of work schedule and location. It is also very “A Machine Learning Software Engineer is a mix of a data scientist and a software engineer, and my daily routine looks like a combination of both.”
rewarding to see other people using something that I’ve built.
What do you like the least about it? Both the software engineering and data science fields are very fast paced, with new developments coming out almost on a daily basis. It requires constant study, on top of the daily work, to stay current with new tools, methods, and best practices. It can be exhausting!
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? A lot of what I enjoyed about academic science is still part of my current job, such as researching the unknown and creative freedom. I mostly miss being current with advances in the biomedical field.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? First and foremost, learn computer programming. There's a lot of online
resources
for
self-directed
learning,
but
also
coding
bootcamps for more traditional classroom teaching environment. “I build software for training and deploying mathematical models at scale, as well as developing some of the models that the business (a bank) uses.”
Depending on the domain of choice, varying levels of math and statistics will be required. It is crucial to show potential employers that one has the required skills, which can be in the form of a portfolio of working software or prototypes, contributions to open source software projects, and/or a blog about the field of interest. In the US, the insight data science fellows program is a good option.
42
43
Clinical Research Associate Bárbara Borda d'Água GABBA 11th edition, Class of 2007
Clinical research associate (CRA) - or Clinical site manager - at PRA Health Sciences
What are your day-to-day duties/responsibilities? Ensuring that clinical trials are run according
to
the
applicable
regulations followed by a certain country and that patient safety is the only one priority of everyone involved in a clinical trial. I need to teach medical doctors, nurses and hospital staff the treatment protocols of new drugs not yet approved in the market and then “I get to be the only person in the country seeing what a certain drug is doing to a certain patient. No one else apart from the doctor/nurse and CRA (and auditors of course) sees the patient data as it is being gathered, as we do!”
ensure that all patient rights and well-being are kept during the studies. I ensure the patient data is collected as intended and accordingly and that any misconduct is reported per guidelines. I also support the hospital staff in ensuring they have all they need to run clinical trials from start-up until close out of a trial: help to gather necessary approvals prior to the start of a study, train them from the beginning and on an ongoing basis on the study protocol, provide them with support to access, store and administer the drug being tested, ensure they have all the required medical equipment, ensure they have access to all platforms being used to generate and store data, etc.
44
Besides having a Ph.D., what skills do you need to get that job? You don’t need a Ph.D. to become a CRA, but it definitely helps you’re much more prepared to look at a study protocol and teach it to experts in the respective fields; you develop critical thinking and “... you’ll need a lot of people skills - you spend your days meeting doctors, nurses, data managers, phlebotomists, lab technicians, pathologists, etc. you need to be extremely comfortable with face to face interactions, e-mailing and speaking on the phone… ”
an eye for detail; you develop time management and planning skills that are essential to juggle different study protocols that are being tested at different stages, different hospitals and by different teams. You know where to set your priorities and how to work to reach goals.
What do you like the most about it? I get to be the only person in the country seeing what a certain drug is doing to a certain patient. No one else apart from the doctor/nurse and CRA (and auditors of course) sees the patient data as it is being gathered, as we do! That’s a privilege and a huge responsibility. You’re the one that is there first hand learning the outcome of a new drug for a certain disease.
What do you like the least about it? Travelling! We are responsible for protocols that are conducted across the country ... the bigger the country where you work, the more you travel. I’m a CRA in the UK - I cover England, Ireland and Scotland on my day-to-day job.
If anything, what do you miss the most about academic science? The freedom of pursuing your scientific question through a pathway that you designed and perfected. When working as a CRA you’re bound to ethically approved study protocols that someone else 45
designed and perfected in time, and to a huge list of internationally accepted guidelines.
What advice would you give to someone looking to transition to your field? Think in advance about all aspects of the transition: - you’ll become a part of a team where you do have to really work as a piece of a bigger puzzle. You do need to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of working as a team and how much that affects your work. Things won’t be under your control. - you’ll need a lot of people skills - you spend your days meeting doctors, nurses, data managers, phlebotomists, lab technicians, pathologists, etc. you need to be extremely comfortable with face to face interactions, e-mailing “I need to teach medical doctors, nurses and hospital staff the treatment protocols of new drugs not yet approved in the market and then ensure that all patient rights and well-being are kept during the studies.”
and speaking on the phone; - willing to travel; - think about the impact your work will have - it will no longer be on cells or animal models but on real people suffering from a concrete disease. Sometimes this can be overwhelming and stressful. So, think if you would enjoy that!
46
Embracing Alternative Careers Additional Resources
If
you are considering a career outside academia or you are
interested in finding out more about the options available nowadays, here follows a comprehensive list of literature you can read on the subject. It can feel overwhelming to know where to start but we hope this issue will help your current and future decision making processes.
CAREER EXPLORATION/TRANSITIONS BOOK
AUTHOR(S)
(Guide to) Nontraditional Careers in
Karen Young Kreeger
Science "So What Are You Going To Do With
Susan Basalla and Maggie
That?" - A Guide to Career-Changing
Debelius
for M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s What Color is Your Parachute? - A
Richard M Bolles
Practical Manual for Job-Hunters & Career-Changers (2014 Ed.) Working Identity - Unconventional
Herminia Ibarra
Strategies for Reinventing Your Career Moving On - Managing Career
Burroughs Wellcome
Transitions
Fund
The Pathfinder - How to Choose or
Nicholas Lore
Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success
47
Career Trends - Exploring Careers
Science/AAAS Custom
Beyond the Bench
Publishing Office
Higher Ed: Soup To Nuts - An
BOOKLET Vitae
Exclusive Booklet on Academic Career Development Career Options for Biomedical
Kaaren Janssen and
Scientists Edited
Richard Sever
List adapted from suggestions from the GradCareer Office at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
If you can’t find any of these resources or you prefer something a little more personalised and catered to you, we highly recommend the online tool below, provided by Science Careers. You will be able to search for scientific career paths with a prediction of which ones best fit your skills and interests and you can explore career possibilities and set strategic goals for the coming year. http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/
***
48
ATG: A City of Knowledge. Let’s take another look at a few of our citizens and some of their knowledge published since our last issue!
49
Part I. Knowledge Catarina Seabra & Ana Rita Araújo
In this edition of the ATG Newsletter, we are proud to share with this community the great scientific contributions of the GABBA students and alumni, since the last newsletter. Among the list of publications, there are several articles that were published in prestigious high impact journals (original publications as first or last author) that we will highlight here.
Cell Biology and Disease
Pedro Resende, an alumnus from the 11th GABBA edition is currently a Postdoctoral fellow and Co-PI at the Cell Division & Genomic Stability Lab at i3S, Porto, where he explores stem cell biology and oncobiology. As a result, he has recently contributed to a paper published in the Journal of Cell Biology where their findings highlight the importance of understanding the behavior of different stem cell populations to aneuploidy and how they “... [Resende’s publication highlights] the importance of understanding the behavior of different stem cell populations to aneuploidy and how they can act as reservoirs for genomic alterations that can lead to tissue pathologies”
can act as reservoirs for genomic alterations that can lead to tissue pathologies.
Resende, L. P., Monteiro, A., Bras, R., Lopes, T., & Sunkel, C. E. (2018).
Aneuploidy in intestinal stem cells promotes gut dysplasia in Drosophila. The Journal of Cell Biology.
50
Wang, S., Idrissi, F.-Z., Hermansson, M., Grippa, A., Ejsing, C. S., & Carvalho, P. (2018). Seipin and the membrane-shaping protein Pex30 cooperate in
organelle
budding
from
the
endoplasmic
reticulum.
Nature
Communications, 9(1), 2939.
“... [de Paola’s lab] focuses on the regulation of neural network connectivity and function in the neocortex.”
Neurosciences
Raquel Real, from the 17th GABBA edition is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London. She is working with group leader Vincenzo de Paola, in a lab that focuses on the regulation of neural network connectivity and function in the neocortex. Raquel is first author on a paper published in Science, that demonstrates the potential of in vivo imaging in human tissue grafts for patient-specific modelling of cortical development, physiology, and pathogenesis.
“...[Real’s publication] demonstrates the potential of in vivo imaging in human tissue grafts for patient-specific modelling of cortical development, physiology, and pathogenesis.”
Real, R., Peter, M., Trabalza, A., Khan, S., Smith, M. A., Dopp, J., … De Paola,
V. (2018). In vivo modeling of human neuron dynamics and Down syndrome. Science (New York, N.Y.). Senova, S., Cotovio, G., Pascual-Leone, A., & Oliveira-Maia, A. J. (2018). Durability of antidepressant response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain Stimulation. Barahona-Correa, J. B., Velosa, A., Chainho, A., Lopes, R., & Oliveira-Maia, A. J. (2018). Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treatment of
51
“The group’s main focus is the study of sexchromosome biology and evolution.”
Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 12, 27. Castro-Rodrigues, P., Camacho, M., Almeida, S., Marinho, M., Soares, C., Barahona-Correa, J. B., & Oliveira-Maia, A. J. (2018). Criterion Validity of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Second Edition for Diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 431.
Genetics and Gene Expression
Beatriz Viçoso, an alumnus from the 7th GABBA edition is currently Group Leader at the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria. The “... Viçoso’s team combined comparative genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to obtain a complete overview of the evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of Schistosoma parasites.”
“[Oliveira’s] work focuses on bioinformatics data analysis, in particular microarray and Next Generation Sequencing.”
group’s main focus is the study of sex-chromosome biology and evolution. In their most recent publication, Viçoso’s team combined comparative genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to obtain a complete overview of the evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of Schistosoma parasites.
Picard, M. A. L., Cosseau, C., Ferre, S., Quack, T., Grevelding, C. G., Coute, Y., & Vicoso, B. (2018). Evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of schistosome parasites. eLife, 7. Pires de Miranda, M., Quendera, A. P., McVey, C. E., Kaye, K. M., & Simas, J.
P. (2018). In Vivo Persistence of Chimeric Virus after Substitution of the Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus LANA DNA Binding Domain with That of Murid Herpesvirus 4. Journal of Virology, 92(21).
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Cancer Research
Patrícia Oliveira, from the 10th GABBA edition is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Expression Regulation in Cancer Group (ERiC, Ipatimup), Porto. Her work focuses on bioinformatics data analysis, in particular microarray and Next Generation Sequencing. As last author, Patrícia contributed to a publication that explored the transcriptomic differences between Epstein Barr Virus and microsatellite unstable gastric “Patrícia contributed to a publication that explored the transcriptomic differences between Epstein Barr Virus and microsatellite unstable gastric cancer, and the expression of current gastric cancer immunotherapy targets.”
cancer, and the expression of current gastric cancer immunotherapy targets.
Gullo, I., Carvalho, J., Martins, D., Lemos, D., Monteiro, A. R., Ferreira, M., … Oliveira, P. (2018). The Transcriptomic Landscape of Gastric Cancer:
Insights into Epstein-Barr Virus Infected and Microsatellite Unstable Tumors. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(7). Leal, L. F., Evangelista, A. F., de Paula, F. E., Caravina Almeida, G., Carloni, A. C., Saggioro, F., … Reis, R. M. (2018). Reproducibility of the NanoString 22-gene molecular subgroup assay for improved prognostic prediction of medulloblastoma. Neuropathology : Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology, 38(5), 475–483. Silva, V. A. O., Rosa, M. N., Tansini, A., Oliveira, R. J. S., Martinho, O., Lima, J. P., … Reis, R. M. (2018). In vitro screening of cytotoxic activity of euphol from Euphorbia tirucalli on a
large panel of human cancer-
derived cell lines. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 16(2), 557–
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566. Silva, V. A. O., Alves, A. L. V, Rosa, M. N., Silva, L. R. V, Melendez, M. E., Cury, F. P., … Reis, R. M. (2018). Hexane partition from Annona crassiflora Mart. promotes cytotoxity and apoptosis on human cervical cancer cell lines. Investigational New Drugs. Ribeiro, D., Melao, A., van Boxtel, R., Santos, C. I., Silva, A., Silva, M. C., … Barata, J. T. (2018). STAT5 is essential for IL-7-mediated viability,
growth, and proliferation of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Blood Advances, 2(17), 2199–2213.
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55
Part II. Citizens Joana Wilton Marta Madureira Yael Costa, Ph.D. GABBA 3rd edition, class 1999 Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate, Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
What
did you study during your Ph.D. and what were the
most useful skills you gained during this period for the next “… The most useful skills I gained during my Ph.D. was critical and creative thinking (...) [to] interpret data and define what experiments are truly informative in either mine or others' work …”
steps? During my Ph.D. I characterised novel genes involved in meiosis. When I joined the lab I worked together with a post-doc that was starting a screen using microarrays to characterise the transcriptome of male gametes in the sequential stages of spermatogenesis. When we concluded the screen, I chose a dozen genes to attempt to validate their expression pattern and from those I selected the three most promising ones to
characterise. Two turned out to be components of the synaptonemal complex (the zipper that keeps the homologous chromosomes together 56
during recombination) and the other one appeared to be involved in the silencing of unsynapsed chromating during meiosis. The most useful skills I gained during my Ph.D. was critical and creative thinking. By critical thinking I mean the ability to see data in a critical way, i.e. interpret data and define what experiments are truly informative in either mine or others' work. By creative thinking I mean creating new solutions to answer new (and sometimes old) questions. Answering a question can sometimes be quite a complicated undertaking and is only possible if one can devise new hypotheses to test. For that you need to be creative.
As a member of the GABBA 3rd edition, how has the program influenced your career? The program has broadened my horizons at a point I was looking at the different paths I could take within academia (which research field I liked best). Ph.D. programs were an innovative way to prepare Ph.D. candidates for Ph.D. studies. Many of us started in the GABBA program ill-prepared to carry out scientific research due to the old-fashioned curricula taught in first degrees and GABBA prepared us for what we were going to face in a scientific environment. It also gave us the opportunity to apply to top laboratories, including labs abroad, in which to undertake our Ph.D. “Whilst the environment was OK in the lab I was in, there was a lot of bullying in the other two labs and by the end of my first post-doc I felt like I wanted a change and did consider a career change.�
studies.
If you could go back in time to just after you finished your Ph.D., would you ever consider a career outside academia? At the time I finished my Ph.D. I was really keen to continuing in academia. I had a great run of papers and had lots of ideas for my postdoc. Unfortunately, the department I moved to (made up of three labs) wasn't what I thought it would be. Whilst the environment was OK in the lab I was in, there was a lot of bullying in the other two labs and by the end of my first post-doc I felt like I wanted a change and did consider a career change. At that time my husband [JosĂŠ Silva, see interview on page 60] was becoming a PI in Cambridge and we decided that the skills I could bring to the lab would become great assets for it and it turned out to be a 57
great and successful partnership over the years which could not have happened anywhere else.
Can the GABBA program provide the necessary tools and information to work outside academia just as well as inside? The GABBA program is an incredible opportunity for a student who wants to take on an academic path. Unfortunately, academic research is anything but easy, and many of the students will feel disenchanted with the academic world and seek alternative careers. However, the tools and information regarding a careers change should be the responsibility of the institution where the student has undertaken their Ph.D. studies rather “Make a list of what you enjoy in academia and what you don't. Do the same for all the nonacademic roles you would consider. Which way do the scales tip?”
than the GABBA program. Many Universities have Careers Services and more are starting these and advantage should be taken of them.
What advice would you give to GABBAs who are facing the ultimate question in their scientific careers: “to academia or not to academia”? "Knowledge is power". First get as much information regarding alternative careers as you possibly can. Talk to people who have nonacademic careers. How do they like them? Do they feel fulfilled? What do they see as pros and cons of their career choice? Make a list of what you enjoy in academia and what you don't. Do the same for all the nonacademic roles you would consider. Which way do the scales tip? Do any of them look like a better fit for you than academia? Some people will tell you that once you have left academia, you can't come back. That is not true. There are PIs that have done it in their careers and they returned to become successful academic scientists. But the people faced with this decision are the only ones that can judge what is a good fit for them. Above all, don't be fearful that you can fail and regret your choice. Be brave. You'll sooner regret something you haven't done than something you did do.
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Favorite Sunday activity: Going for picnics in the great Summer days and having play dates with my daughter's friends from nursery and their parents. Ah! And of course, catching up on sleep, says the sleep deprived mummy.
Dream vacation: Always the next one. Next year we are planning to return to Chile to see the solar eclipse.
Favorite non-Portuguese cuisine: Latin American. TV show that you binge watched recently: I rarely watch telly these days, but I
“Some people will tell you that once you have left academia, you can't come back. That is not true. There are PIs that have done it in their careers and they returned to become successful academic scientists.”
have watched all programs of each yearly new BBC series "Who do you think you are?", a series that follows B-list celebrities who discover their family roots. I have always been interested in genealogy and more so recently when I started to dig deeper into my mother's side of the family in Brazil and found that they have deep roots there since the fifteen hundreds. Fascinating!
How do you commute? I walk 20 minutes to work. It could be a seven-minute cycle ride... but I don't know how to.
Favourite Holiday: Since my daughter was born two years ago, Christmas has become a very special holiday for me. I love setting up the Christmas decorations and the Advent Calendar for her and hearing the Carols in town. Cambridge is a wonderful place at Christmas time.
Alternative career (if it couldn’t be science): either photography, writing or making comic strips (I love making strips out of pics of my daughter).
Pipet tip box usage method (in order, the ones in same area or random): Mostly in order, although sometimes I like to shake things up a bit and make drawings as I'm using the tips (stars, diamonds, crosses inside squares...). It is always annoying when you are a couple of tips away from finishing a shape and you have completed your pipetting. Friday night drink: At this stage of life when I feel kaput after sending sweet pea to bed, probably a warm glass of milk before going up myself...
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José Silva, Ph.D. PI, Biology of induced pluripotency Lab, Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom GABBA 2nd edition, class of 1997
What did you study during your Ph.D.? “During the past decade, the success of my team has given me the freedom and necessary resources to research what I am most passionate about, which maintains the motivation to keep living here with my family.”
I chose the United Kingdom for the experimental part of my Ph.D. I went to London to work in a scientific field I fell in love with during a class taught by Professor Domingos Henrique during the modules - Xchromosome inactivation.
What were your next steps after the Ph.D.? The Ph.D. ended up going well and I then moved for convenience to Edinburgh, since my partner, Yael Costa, also a GABBA alumna, was there completing her Ph.D. Edinburgh is not only the most beautiful city of the UK, but also an excellent choice for scientific research. While there I took up a new research line for my postdoc - reprogramming - that was almost non-existent at the time. This work also went well and I was lucky enough that this became an in-demand topic everywhere, which gave me the opportunity to establish my own lab. 60
What challenges and highlights did you find during the implementation of your research group? I was geographically confined to the UK for personal reasons - we had just bought a home and due to the financial crisis of 2007 onwards, moving would have been ruinous. Fortunately, I had an offer from University of “While there [Edinburgh] I took up a new research line for my postdoc reprogramming - that was almost non-existent at the time. This work also went well and I was lucky enough that this became an in-demand topic everywhere, which gave me the opportunity to establish my own lab.”
Cambridge and since then I have established a research team here. During the past 10 years I have had the privilege of supervising several excellent students, among which two Portuguese Ph.D. students (one of which is Elsa Sousa, also GABBA [editor’s note: 17th edition]). During the past decade, the success of my team has given me the freedom and necessary resources to research what I am most passionate about, which maintains the motivation to keep living here with my family.
What are the highlights of the Cambridge, where you are currently based? Cambridge is a fantastic city: a small, albeit cosmopolitan and with plenty to see and do. It is very well connected for traveling and only a 50 minute journey away from London, which in my opinion is a great city to be a tourist but not a good place in which to live. University of Cambridge also has an incomparable scientific tradition and is always included in the first 3 spots of world ranking.
Your career has been based in the UK, one of the top 3 countries chosen by GABBA students. How did this choice influence you as a scientist? Were you affected by Brexit at an institutional and/or professional level during the project? I have lived in the UK for 20 years now, already. I did not expect to stay so long and until the Brexit referendum I had never thought of it… However, I have to admit that Brexit made me feel uncomfortable and this made me apply for British citizenship. Brexit will certainly make the UK a less attractive country for EU workers: among many upcoming changes, 61
people will need a working visa to come and work in the UK and they will always be at a disadvantage in job applications. Scientific tradition in the UK is long-lived and the country undoubtedly offers career opportunities. However, nothing is ever easy. You need to work a lot and be very passionate for what you do to overcome the many challenges brought about by the scientific career.
Favorite Sunday activity: Spend the day with my family. Dream vacation: Chile. Favorite non-Portuguese cuisine: Japanese. Sport: Football. Love watching our national team..
“Scientific tradition in the UK is long-lived and the country undoubtedly offers career opportunities. However, nothing is ever easy. You need to work a lot and be very passionate for what you do to overcome the many challenges brought about by the scientific career.”
TV show that you binge watched recently: Stopped watching TV 4 years ago. How do you commute? Walk. Android or iOS: Android. Pipet tip box usage method (in order, the ones in same area or random): Don’t pipet anymore :) Friday night drink: Water for the past 15 years
José & Yael’s family, 2018
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The Biology of induced pluripotency Lab
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It would be great to count with your help for the next ATG 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 RECENT GRADUATES
Mafalda Azevedo
Mariana Fontes, GABBA 14th Thesis: Post-transcriptional gene regulation during synaptic plasticity Mentor: Dr. Kelsey Martin, MD, Ph.D. (University of California, Los Angeles). Defense date: 24-09-2018.
Pedro Miranda, GABBA 14th Thesis: Can the gut microbiota modulate the behavior of the host? Mentor: Premysl Bercik, MD (McMaster University, Canada). Defense date: 24-09-2018.
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MINA BISSELL AWARD
The courage to Question Filipa Ferreira
Last October, Maria de Sousa’s contribution to science was recognized once again. The Mina J. Bissell Award is intended to distinguish personalities who have contributed to the advancement of science. The award is given every three years to a scientist who, like Dr. Mina Bissell, has a devoted, successful, lifetime research career that has transformed our perception of a topic.
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GABBA SYMPOSIUM 2018
Flights of Imagination Maria Inês Marreiros Marta Madureira
Admittedly, every year it gets more and more difficult to come up with original ideas for the theme of the GABBA symposium, since all the students from previous editions have done so incredibly well. After a lot of brainstorming sessions, we came across a video for the program “Algorithms for Innovation”, by Professor Mario Capecchi (Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 2007) on the concept of flights of imagination and we were instantly inspired. “Science is interesting because it entails almost two opposite skills. One is flights of imagination: you have to think about things that don’t exist and why they don’t exist. That kind of mentality allows you to jump to areas where the solutions aren’t clear and they look impossible; but you simply have to extend yourself into them and then make it possible. On the other hand, you have to work extremely diligently and pay attention to details. A successful scientist has to have both.” -Mario Capecchi, Algorithms for Innovation
As Mario Capecchi said, science thrives on these moments where researchers make the leap from impossible to reality. While scientific method is key to determine an objective and provide a standardized approach to perform experiments, imagination is crucial to prompt new questions and unveil breakthrough interpretations of new or unexpected findings. Bearing this in mind, in our “Flights of imagination” symposium we aimed to showcase projects on which researchers had to make use of imagination to push knowledge forward. First order of business was to contact Mario Capecchi himself to attend our Symposium as a keynote speaker, knowing it would be a long shot for the Nobel laureate to accept our invitation. However, a few weeks later and much to our surprise and absolute joy, Mario Capecchi accepted our invitation. At which point most of the details of the Symposium were well underway – including the day of the symposium when unfortunately, Mario Capecchi would not be able to attend! Nevertheless, we did not give up and that is why this year the GABBA symposium was divided in two sessions of talks by researchers who had “flight of imagination” moments through their careers. 67
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PART I - July 17th Zachary Mainen, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
The first talk of the Symposium was about how the brain changes its mind and makes decisions. Mainen discussed the role of the neuromodulator serotonin in behaviour and cortical function. Triantafyllos Chavakis, Technical University of Dresden, Germany
The scientific focus of the Chavakis group is at the crossroads of immunology, inflammation, vascular medicine and metabolism. Chavakis talk was about the immunometabolic crosstalk in trained immunity and how leukocytes are recruited and activated. Andrea Brand, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK
This talk focused on the development of the nervous system, particularly reactivation of neural stem cells in vivo, and how this mechanism could potentially be manipulated. Andrea Brand developed the GAL4 system during her postdoc at Harvard and more recently the TaDa technique at Cambridge. PART II - July 25th Maria Mota, Institute of Molecular Medicine (iMM), Lisbon, Portugal
Maria Mota’s group was the first to focus on understanding the host factors that contribute to the establishment of a malaria infection and to pathology. During her talk Maria Mota made an overview of the projects that have been done throughout the years in her lab, focusing mainly on a recent work that shows that malaria parasites can sense variations in host nutritional status and actively adapt to it by adjusting their replicative rate, dictating ultimately the outcome of infection. Marina Elez, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Marina Elez spearheaded the development of a novel method to follow mutation dynamics in single cells and track their fitness effects. It combines the use of a genetic tool to investigate mutations, with live cell imaging of E. coli, and a new microfluidic platform and allows the analysis of the response of a biological system to external perturbations, under controlled conditions. Mario Capecchi, University of Utah, USA
The last talk of the Symposium focused on the role of microglia and showed how a defective brain’s immune system can be linked to OCD-like behaviours, using mice models. Mario Capecchi developed the knockout technique, which is used widely in research and led to a Nobel Prize medal. 69
“The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little longer. Takes the same amount of effort to work on big questions or little questions, so why not work on big questions.” Hopefully these sessions inspired everyone who attended the symposium as well as the readers of this issue. The 21st GABBA Edition considers “Flights of imagination” to be essential to scientific breakthrough, but just as Prof Maria de Sousa said in her speech at the Symposium, what counts in science is the landing. So now we have successfully concluded our first year of the GABBA Program, we are ready for takeoff! Please fasten your seat belts, it’s time to fly higher and most importantly, have a safe landing! For more information about the GABBA Symposium 2018 “Flights of Imagination” please check our website at https://gabbasymposium2018.wordpress.com/.
Image: GABBA 21st Edition students, Professor António Amorim, Professor Maria de Sousa, Prof Mario Capecchi, Dr Maria Mota and Dr. Marina Elez at the second part of Symposium “Flights of Imagination”. Porto 70
GABBA SYMPOSIUM 2018
Flights of Imagination Concluding Remarks
Maria de Sousa
The Importance of the other The closing words have two purposes: 1. To thank the students for organizing such an interesting Symposium on Flights of imagination. Thank the invited speakers for transforming it in such an inspiring occasion. Thank you. But this is also the moment of departure for the students for their “I explained at the beginning separate Ph.D. projects, a kind of farewell. of this Symposium that the 2. The second purpose is thus to bring some words to this occasion landing moment is the that the students may remember one day. An Improbable moment that counts in the challenge. I will try, however. collective enterprise of Science. But between flying I first thought that I would simply quote one phrase from Obama’s recent and landing there is a hard speech on the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela. He said: path...” “Every generation has the power to remake the world”
“... pay great attention to the literature that is appearing from all kinds of distant places, (...) the other far in space that may contain something of great significance for your work.”
Obama did not specify which world he had in mind. From his position and his biography he might have meant the whole world. In your cases with your flights of imagination you may just aspire to remake a little bit the world of knowledge, finding answers to your questions at the moment of landing. I explained at the beginning of this Symposium that the landing moment is the moment that counts in the collective enterprise of Science. But between flying and landing there is a hard path, at times tedious, of repeating experiments to make sure the results are reproducible, of having experiments that do not work, machines that break down at the moment you most expected them to work, etc. But throughout there is one other thing that I would like you to remember that I will call the Importance of the other. I will divide it in three parts. The importance of the other far, the importance of the other near, the importance of the other different.
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The other far
You have to pay great attention to the literature that is appearing from all kinds of distant places, China, Australia, North Carolina, New York, Boston, etc the other far in space that may contain something of great significance for your work. I will give the example of what happened to us, in this small unknown corner of the scientific world, where studies of “We were excited in part because the usual traffic of patients with hemochromatosis had shown that patients with lower things from bench to bed had numbers of CD8 cells had a more severe expression of iron overload been reversed and something (Reimão et al. 1991), The moment we saw Oliver Smithies and Beverly we had observed in patients Koller’s paper on the inactivation the ß2-microglobulin locus in mouse was now confirmed in mice, embryonic stem cells by homologous recombination (Koller and from bed to bench.” Smithies, 1989) mice deficient in MHC class I expression and therefore with no CD 8 cells (Koller et al.,1990) we tried to get hold of tissues from those mice to look for evidence of iron overload particularly in the liver. And there it was. Koller and Smithies are an example of the others far in space. We were enormously excited in the corroboration of the finding in patients, but came to be pretty isolated in that excitement. We were excited in part because the usual traffic of things from bench to bed had been reversed and something we had observed in patients was now confirmed in mice, from bed to bench. We had great difficulty in publishing and eventually the work was published in 1994 in a modest Journal of Immunology, Immunology letters (de Sousa et al.,1994). So be prepared for having great difficulty in publishing if your result is incomprehensible to most of your peers. It only made sense to us that a lymphocyte deficiency could relate to spontaneous iron overload because it fitted the flight of imagination, saying that the immune system could have a function in the surveillance of iron toxicity published in 1978. We had to wait for the work of several other distant others, now far in time. The discovery of the gene for hemochromatosis designated hfe to “From your flight of imagination, you may have be of an immunological class, a MHC class I like gene in 1996 (Feder et not only to be aware of what al.,1996) ß2 microglobulin knockout mice increasing the degree of the others are doing in distant iron overload of mice now with the mutant hfe. Levy, Montross and spaces like Smithies in North Andrews in 2000 (levy et al., 2000), several other pieces of work showing Carolina, but also wait for the importance of the absence of lymphocytes on iron overload (Miranda other things being discovered et al., 2006) until the most recent piece of work published in 2016 from distant in time that may or Graça Porto’s Lab demonstrating that lymphocytes actually bind and take may not substantiate your in non transferrin bound iron (Pinto et al., 2016). From your flight of unusual thoughts and imagination, you may have not only to be aware of what others are doing results.” in distant spaces like Smithies in North Carolina, but also wait for other 72
things being discovered distant in time that may or may not substantiate your unusual thoughts and results. All these are others far. In space and time. The other one near
“The other one near may be next door. For that you must know what is going on in the near surroundings of your own lab, next door, in the same corridor, on the floor above or below.”
The other one near may be next door. For that you must know what is going on in the near surroundings of your own lab, next door, in the same corridor, on the floor above or below. The best and most generous acknowledgement of the importance of the other one near that I found, is in one of the Nobel lectures of 2007. Says the Nobel laureate : I was experimenting with the use of extremely small glass needles to inject DNA directly into nuclei of living cells. In the laboratory adjacent to ours, Dr. Larry Okun, a neuroscientist, was recording intracellular electrical potentials in cultured neurons from chick dorsal root ganglia. Acknowledging the importance of the contribution of Larry Okun to the success of his work Mario Capecchi has his picture in the Nobel Lecture. The other different
The example of the importance of the other different comes from the History of aviation, curiously from a question arising from landing when it became obvious that planes would have to land at night. It was presumed that pilots would know what to do. They did not. It was an engineer, a Mr Calvert that actually came up with a system of lights that were subsequently called Leading Lights that permitted the planes to have lights guiding their approach. When you fly today you can still see what I am talking about and what owe to the other different every time you land at night.
“To conclude, leading lights seems a beautiful metaphor Leading Lights to say goodbye. May your coming scientific lives become To conclude, leading lights seems a beautiful metaphor to say goodbye. leading lights to others, far, May your coming scientific lives become leading lights to others, far, near or different.” near or different. Farewell.
July 18th 2018
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References
1. De Sousa, M., Reimão R, Lacerda R, Hugo P, Kaufmann SH, Porto G. Iron overload in beta 2-microglobulin-deficient mice. Immunol Lett. 1994 ;39(2):105-11. 2. Feder JN1, Gnirke A, Thomas W, Tsuchihashi Z, Ruddy DA, Basava A, Dormishian F, Domingo R Jr, Ellis MC, Fullan A, Hinton LM, Jones NL, Kimmel BE, Kronmal GS, Lauer P, Lee VK, Loeb DB, Mapa FA, McClelland E, Meyer NC, Mintier GA, Moeller N, Moore T, Morikang E, Prass CE, Quintana L, Starnes SM, Schatzman RC, Brunke KJ, Drayna DT, Risch NJ, Bacon BR, Wolff RK. A novel MHC class I-like gene is mutated in patients with hereditary haemochromatosis. Nat Genet. 1996 Aug;13(4):399-408. 3. Koller BH1, Smithies O. Inactivating the beta 2-microglobulin locus in mouse embryonic stem cells by homologous recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Nov;86(22):8932-5. 4. Koller, BH, Marrack, P, Kappler, J and smithies, o Normal development of mice deficient in ß2 M, MHC Class I I Proteins and CD8+ T cells. Science , 248, 1227-1230 5. Levy JE1, Montross LK, Andrews NC. Genes that modify the hemochromatosis phenotype in mice. J Clin Invest. 2000 May;105(9):120916. 6. Miranda CJ1, Makui H, Andrews NC, Santos MM. Contributions of beta2microglobulin-dependent molecules and lymphocytes to iron regulation: insights from HfeRag1(-/-) and beta2mRag1(-/-) double knock-out mice. Blood. 2004 Apr 1;103(7):2847-9. Epub 2003 Dec 4. 7. Pinto,JP, Arezes, J, Dias, V, Oliveira S,Vieira I, costa , M, Vos, M, Carlsson A, Rikers Y, Rangel, M and Porto G. Physiological Implications of NTBI uptake by T Lymphocytes.Frontiers in Pharmacology February 2016 8. Reimão R, Porto G, de Sousa M. . Stability of CD4/CD8 ratios in man: new correlation between CD4/CD8 profiles and iron overload in idiopathic haemochromatosis patients.C R Acad Sci III. 1991;313(11):481-7.
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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
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