#meetascientist

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By Stanley Chu, PhD

Academia is a nomadic path for many of us who are in the early stages of our career. You spend a few years in one place to get your bachelor’s degree, pick up your life and move to go to grad school, move again for your postdoc (and again for your second postdoc), and then move again for your first job. And each time you move you have to start over, from finding housing to finding new friends. Each time is arguably more difficult as the size of your cohort and colleagues (your natural friends) shrink and you become more specialized and unique in your field.

I began my Postdoc tenure at the Montclare Lab in October of 2019. I had moved to New York City from my home in Atlanta. In the first few months, I did my best to find and furnish an apartment, make friends and explore New York City all on a postdoc budget. I spent my first Christmas in New York City alone, deciding that I could not afford to fly back home for the holidays. Instead, I kept myself busy writing a review paper.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic. On that same day, the Montclare Labs shutdown it’s operations and we began to work from home for the next four months. Since we are mainly a wet lab, we had trouble finding any productivity at home, not to mention that most of us are in tiny New York City apartments that don’t have suitable working conditions.

I, like so many others who are starting new chapters of their lives, have faced other challenges. Starting a postdoc during a pandemic has significantly delayed my training. While I was lucky enough to have attended my own graduation, I feel a sadness for those graduates who were unable to have an in-person graduation and for those newly minted PhDs who could not be hooded by their own advisors. I have sympathy for anybody, myself included, who moved to a new city, unable to make new friends who can help support each other through this pandemic.

Alara Tuncer Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop. 

Perhaps I was three, maybe four, sitting in a tub, soaking in bath water. The first memory I have of my existence is one where I am sitting surrounded in bubbly splendor, holding tiny little tubes filled with color. My already large eyes grow in the reflection of the glass bottles as I hold them closer, observing the color and viscosity changes as the contents drip, drop, drip, drop. I remember it so well; the photographic evidence taken by my parents has likely helped. I’ll spare you the sight of seeing baby me—in my birthday suit. Feeling like something between a magician and a cook, it was then that I realized—sitting and mixing little hotel shampoo bottles—that I was going to become a scientist. Now that I’ve lived enough to have strong and informed opinions, I hate people thinking of science as magic. All I want is to write about how science—completely un-magical—can solve all our problems and shape the world we live in for the better.

A few months ago when President Trump was asked about climate change after the California wild-fires he stated comfortably: “It’ll start getting cooler, you just watch.” The corresponding officer responded, “I wish science would agree with you” to which Trump replied, “I don’t think science knows, actually.” The group of experts laughed, tittering nervously. What can you do when the President of the United States—one of the few people in the world who has the power to dramatically alleviate the world’s climate change problems—doesn’t trust science? The urgency of the situation has become crystal clear, even Pope Francis gave a TED talk, calling for action on climate change.

 I’m not an environmental scientist, nor am I an expert in geology nor climate change research. However, by virtue of scientific training, I have seen firsthand the rigour of the scientific process and can trust in its findings. I can say that I’m a biochemist and biologist having studied biochemistry as an undergrad and in pursuing a master's in biology. But you don’t need to believe in science to feel something about the dark auburn skies that collapsed over the west coast just a few months ago. Still—when I close my eyes—I can’t forget the images I saw as I scrolled down my Instagram feed, California choking in orange soot. And unless you blame the deceptive nature of photos on Instagram, you must be feeling similarly.  

 Amongst the disparities by which we are surrounded, there is one in particular that damages us all. That is scientific illiteracy. When science can be the solution to our contemporary problems, our lack of trust and misunderstanding of the subject makes us deficient in solving our most prominent concerns. We dismiss it because we don’t understand it. Or we belittle it, labeling it as ‘magic’ because we need to simplify the complexities of our reality. 

 In the era of technology, there are so many voices, loud and quiet. They echo, they leave victims behind in the form of scorched trees, species on the verge of extinction, and loved ones lost to coronavirus. Despite these costs, this loud and ringing noise of the world never grows silent. It’s hard to step back and separate what is right from what is wrong. And we find excitement—and surprisingly—comfort in believing in conspiracies. Coronavirus is a Chinese attack. No, it’s a hoax. Climate change is a lie. Teenagers play with fire all the time, they must be the reason for the California wild-fires. So what, who cares if Polar Bears go extinct? And so, during times of global crisis, science often becomes an afterthought, second to emotion and rhetoric.

According to Jon Miller, a professor of Investigative Studies at Michigan State University, 70 percent of Americans do not comprehend the science section of the New York Times, Science Times. Is this because we’ve made science look so difficult? Or is it because people are naturally disinterested? This is a problem that impacts our society and policy making. So, why do I write, when nobody seems to be listening? Because amongst all the opinions and the loud noises, there is always one constant that pushes ahead—science. 

 Science has been the explanation for everything since the beginning of time and it will be the explanation until the end of time. The apple will always hit whoever is sitting under the tree. And all of our “good” and “bad” behaviors will have psychological and psychiatric explanations. And despite their bad rap, vaccinations will continue to have the life-saving potential to prevent disease. 

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok. We’re running out of time.

  They’ve repurposed the clock installed on a building looming over Union Square in New York City, to remind us of the time remaining to act on climate change before it becomes an irreversible burden. Sadly, that’s all it is. A reminder. And unfortunately, climate change will continue so long as we remain distracted by louder voices. 

Despite being the natural reality of our existence, science will only have an impact if we extend the conversation to the general public and politicians. So, let’s write, read, and advocate for science!

Edited by Eliza Neidhart

By Priya Katyal

After months and months of performing arduous experiments and data analysis, the time finally comes when you turn a disorganized pile of results to something orderly and beautiful. You sort and group results and put together all your scientific discoveries, piece by piece. And after multiple writing sessions that includes writing, rewriting, revising and writing again (and again!!), you get a full draft of manuscript ready. As you read through the draft, you feel pretty darn proud of yourself. This is it, the time is now to submit the final version to your PI.

Your PI reviews the draft with a critical eye and sends you a collection of edits. As you go through the comments, you start to feel that:

“Oh, how did I miss this?, and that too”, “did I send the wrong version?”

You too realize that there were some key concepts that you thought you explained, only to find that important pieces of explanation were missing; in next round of edits you realize that you forgot to refer a critical article, next you observe examples of redundancy.  As weeks pass by, you come across new literature article that needs to be included in your manuscript. As you are going through multiple rounds of edits, you start creating new names for your doc. The nomenclature includes various adjectives, short phrases and even time of the day as you are continuously editing the draft. A personal favorite of mine was “2018mmdd_manuscript_430am_livingroom_coffee3_HereWeGoAgain”.  After endless rounds of edits, you finally chop off the jargon and replace it with “FINAL” and the manuscript is ready to be sent out to the journal. (Chances are you’re still only just beginning…)

[Picture credit: PHDCOMICS]

After weeks/months of waiting, you will receive reviewers’ feedback. If you are lucky your manuscript will be accepted ‘as is’ (congratulations, this is one of the biggest accomplishments and I suggest you immediately buy a lottery ticket!!!). However, most of the times the finish line is within your sight but still further away. You may feel writing/editing fatigue but soon you will realize that editing will rather raise the standard of your work. You persevere and make all of the revisions suggested-strengthening your own work. You go through few more rounds of edits with your colleagues/PI (perhaps at this point you would have developed a thick skin). You submit your FINAL, FINAL draft and hope for acceptance. When your manuscript is accepted, you will be very relieved and exhilarated. But wait, there’s more!

As you continuously refresh the google search of your name to see your manuscript online, you will realize that it is not over yet!! You still have to proofread!! This is one of the important steps as you read the ‘FINAL, FINAL, FINAL” version of your manuscript. While the reviewers seem to have pointed out everything, there are bound to be some minor typos that leak through. Once you submit your edits, no further changes are allowed to be made so you need to read absolutely EVERYTHING. And voilà, your work has been published- yay it’s party time!!

By Joe Thomas

Academia or industry? This is a question that every grad student is asked at some point regarding their career plans.  As tenured academic positions become incredibly difficult for the bulk of life science graduates to obtain, industry is an attractive alternative that provides a wealth of different opportunities. These jobs are an obvious choice to apply the skills accumulated over the course of a PhD, but there are even more opportunities available outside of the traditional academia/industry dichotomy for those looking for something a little different. PhD scientists are trained to be highly technical leaders, a skillset that is in high demand in many defense/military positions. The Department of Defense (DoD) is always looking to recruit highly specialized researchers to work on projects of national importance. These roles allow researchers to be involved in cutting edge work that has a direct, near-term impact while serving your country.

Since starting graduate school, I have had an interest in working for/with the military as a researcher but was never able to interact with anyone who had direct knowledge of how to break into the field. Scholarships such as the NDSEG are widely publicized and allow graduate students to work on topics of national importance, but I was looking for something more involved with day-to-day military operations. A chance Google search revealed that the Navy uses numerous internship programs as pipelines for new hires. I applied for an NREIP internship and was fortunate enough to be selected to spend the summer at a Navy lab. NREIP internships are available to undergraduates and graduate students alike and involve working alongside a Navy mentor for 10 weeks to get a glimpse of how the DoD does science. My internship has me working with the Naval Medical Research Unit garrisoned at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio. I am working in their Environmental Health Effects Laboratory which is in charge of investigating the effects of chemical exposures on military personnel. I have been tasked with developing a high-throughput analytical chemistry workflow that will allow the Navy to rapidly screen many different environmental exposures to assess how service members may be at risk. This new procedure will directly support and inform the military during their operations to help keep soldiers, sailors, and airmen safe and effective. During my time here, I have interacted with many Navy officers as well as civilian employees who work together in a tightly coordinated team to achieve their mission. The unit has researchers from many diverse backgrounds including biochemistry, physiology, physics, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and psychology. Since the team is incredibly multidisciplinary, scientists are able to step outside of their comfort zone and gain experience in different fields if they choose. In this way researchers can build their resumes to move up within the organization or to transition into other scientific specialities.

Opportunities exist for those looking to serve in and out of uniform. The Navy recruits life science PhD graduates as officers to act as biochemists, microbiologists, and aerospace physiologists. In these roles they use their scientific knowledge to complete a wide range of tasks such as conducting safety training, running drug testing labs, developing vaccines, teaching at the Naval Academy, performing humanitarian missions, and carrying out basic research. Aerospace physiologists for example leverage their knowledge of biology and the human body to act as aeromedical safety officers. In this role they are in charge of the safety and training of their aviation unit and even have the chance to become rated pilots. These officers typically spend little time conducting experiments at the lab bench, but the knowledge and scientific skills they have acquired during graduate school are still applied every day during operations where they have to identify and solve technical problems. When they do receive research assignments however, they can act as department heads responsible for writing grants and coordinating a large team that conducts relevant aerospace research. PhD’s are also hired as civilians to conduct and oversee research programs of interest to the DoD. In this role they act as PI’s who are responsible for writing grants and directing a research team, similar to a PI in academia. PhD level scientists can work in GS (government service) rated roles or as government contractors. Bachelor’s and master’s level scientists can also work as contractors to carry out the day-to-day lab work that supports their command. 

The career fields available in defense research are incredibly varied on both the civilian and military side. Scientists have control over their careers and still maintain plentiful opportunities to secure grant funding and journal publications. Work/life balance is also heavily emphasized which can be a huge benefit for anyone with commitments outside of the workplace. If you are shying away from a job in academia or industry but still want to conduct meaningful research, a DoD job might be a good fit for you!

By Ashwitha Lakshmi 

Here I am, sipping my coffee and staring out of my only real window to the outside world. It all does seem a bit too cinematic. And as a clockwork, I start to ponder on the endless rhetorical questions that we often ask ourselves. 

Isn’t it amusing how we are so caught up in the present (or future) that we lose track of how far we have come? A typical Indian twenty-something, in New York, living a life she still finds hard to believe. A student in a renowned University and an even amusing Laboratory. I get to do everything that I ever dreamt of, and more. Can life get any better?

I can see my reflection smiling away in the window and I think “Oh I know what comes next”. I’m pulled into a known reverie.

As cliche as it sounds, unlike most, I do not remember when or how I fell in love with science. But one memory does come to my mind. In 2007 I got to meet my grandparents after a long hiatus (isn’t that always the case?) but they were very ill and I felt utterly helpless. For a brief period of time, I wanted to become a doctor and help others who were sick. But to my dismay, I was made aware that even the doctors often felt helpless. 

And that is when a realisation hit me - the medical profession stands tall on the shoulders of thousands of scientist’s life work. And for doctors to function, we need scientists who lock themselves in labs for years together, if not decades. (More power to doctors, especially in tempestuous times like these, but we as scientists have a hugley pivotal role to play)

My first rendezvous with anything remotely “sci-fi” was when I met my uncle and aunt in their lab. Yes, they are scientists. My uncle was working on this curious project on Kala azar (also known as Visceral Leishmaniasis) which is the second largest parasite killer in the world, which I could hardly follow back then. But it did strengthen my resolve to become a scientist.

Even at the mere mention of a famous scientist’s name, I’d ask myself: What does it take to become a good scientist? And do I have what it takes? What makes me fit for this fascinating but immensely challenging life-career? 

“I am a good human first, meticulous next, then a team player. A contribution made in the spirit of humanitarianism - is what makes a good scientist” - I would pride myself into thinking. 

When I entered Grad school I was worried that I’d spend my entire life with Biology. Thankfully Biotech turned out to be an interdisciplinary field. (*Pheww) And like every grad student, there were times when I thought I had bitten more than I could chew. I would often wonder why I was made to study Engg mechanics and Engg drawing. And there were times when I felt out of place. Call it frustration or just wishful thinking, I even lured myself into thinking that I could become an actor instead. But life has weird ways, even a small mosquito can induce life changing decisions (intended cliff hanger).

As weird as it may sound, a sleepless (blame it on mosquitoes) night can actually change the course of your life. Weirdly, my research idea on mosquito proteins gave me an opportunity of a lifetime - to work in one of the most stellar labs in India - BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research center) where I worked in Radiation biology and health science department on Expression and purification of mosquitocidal binary toxin component BinB and its receptor protein Cqm1 using bacterial expression system project. For me, all this while science was just in the books or in the research papers. But for the first time, I could hold a protein in my hands (Of course immobilized in gel ;) ). The first time I could visualize a pure protein band - a huge one at that! 

All of these were baby steps to me in the field of scientific research and I couldn’t wait for more. 

My usual lab schedule was between 8 in the morning till 8 in the evening and I still yearned for more (and nope, I’m not bragging ;) ). Nobody could stop me from thinking about going back to the lab every day. On some days I couldn’t even sleep due to excitement. The next seven months went in a jiffy. And all the hard work culminated into a Research Publication. 

When I look back it was one of the greatest achievements of my life. From begrudgingly referring to research papers for class assignments, to writing and publishing my own research paper with “actual scientists”, it has been an exhilarating journey.

That’s when I knew I wanted to spend my life in scientific research. The new-found purpose of my life made me pursue a Masters degree in Biotechnology. And I remember being overjoyed to the extent of crying, when I was accepted into NYU. Once in post-grad, I worked as a Graduate teacher’s assistant for the first 6 months and then received an email from my advisor on an opening for graduate Research assistant in Montclare lab and after reading the work that was happening there on protein, I knew I had to apply. 

The first formal job interview of my life! The excitement was killing me but it helped me prepare for it. On the day of the interview I remember being scared out of my life but I gathered all my courage and reached for the interview where I met Stanley Chu (my mentor). He put me in ease with his demeanour and kind words. And the questions were pretty interesting too. Overall, I was happy with the way the interview turned out. (Fingers crossed)

I was in my class when I received an email saying I got the job and cried from happiness again (I cry a lot when I’m happy lol). Next thing I know I am on a video call with my whole family and friends, and was super excited to begin work at this lab. In hindsight, I could not have asked for a better mentor and was a bit too excited to learn alot from him.

Life has been kind to me with wonderful people - my parents, my elder sister Pavi, all my friends at high school and grad school. Yes, good people are often hard to come by, much harder to retain. But I am lucky in that sense because I have my people whom I can trust my life with. Oh the gratitude and compassion! I feel a new spring of warmth blossoming inside of me.