Young researchers present on the global stage (Part 6)
In this sixth edition of the researcher series, three rising stars, competing for Sparrho’s Early Career Researcher Prize, tell us about their research and why they chose to become scientists.
Yi Yang
Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Georgia, USA
#anaerobic #dechlorination
Yi Yang will be presenting at 2nd Global Soil Biodiversity Conference, Nanjing, China in October 2017.
How would you introduce your research to a non-expert? Halogenated organic compounds have been widely used in different areas of modern societies, such as cleaning of machinery, manufacturing, and agrochemical production (e.g., pesticides). Widespread usage and uncontrolled disposal of halogenated hydrocarbons pose substantial environmental and human health concerns. I am investigating a group of specialized bacteria (i.e., organohalide respiring bacteria), which can utilize and degrade naturally occurring and anthropogenic halogenated organic compounds.
How has your research field already contributed to the world? In basic science perspective, microorganisms are critical agents to mediate elements cycling in the global scale. However, we have very limited knowledge of how microorganisms contribute to halogen cycles, and how halogen cycles affect other element cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles). In applied/engineering perspective, our studies on organohalide respiring bacteria have been beneficial for bio-remediating and cleaning up numerous halogenated compounds (e.g., tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene) at contaminated sites.
“I am dedicated to discovering and understanding what is unknown about earth and environments with an open mind.”
Why are you a scientist and what are most excited about? I am dedicated to discovering and understanding what is unknown about earth and environments with an open mind. I will be very excited about more deep understanding about organohalide respiring microorganisms’ role in halogen cycling in the natural environments (e.g., marine, terrestrial).
What advice would you give to younger students regarding attending a conference? To introduce my work at conferences will bring the under-estimated and under-studied ecological roles of organohalide respiring microorganisms to the attention of a broader scientific community, and encourage more through interdisciplinary studies on these specialized microorganisms and their relationship to naturally-occurring halogenated organic compounds.
- Bring a pen and write down the ideas/keywords/questions
- Talk to other scientists
- Ask questions but not every question
- Be critical, be bold and be open-minded.
Read more about Yi Yang’s research here.
Caitlin Stewart
Postdoctoral Researcher at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, USA
#RNA #analysis #plasma #cancer
Caitlin will be presenting at 10th international symposium on circulating nucleic acids in plasma and serum (CNAPS), Montpellier, France in September 2017.
How would you introduce your research to a non-expert? All cells release DNA into your bloodstream during normal cell-turnover processes, we call this cell-free DNA. Since cell-free DNA is released from all cells throughout the body, we can using highly sensitive technologies to look at DNA released from tumour cells to determine the gene mutations present in the cancer — even from metastatic sites or tumours that are hard to biopsy, such as in the brain. Our team works to understand more about cell-free DNA (How is it produced? What does it do? How can we best detect tumour DNA?) and designs assays to identify mutations within patients to improve their clinical outcome by matching them to chemotherapy drugs or enrolling them in clinical trials.
How has your research field already contributed to the world? Research into cell-free DNA has already started transforming diagnostics! It’s used most in prenatal testing at the moment, to detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities non-invasively, but there’s so much potential for this to be useful in other contexts. Research into tests for viral infections, sepsis and pre-symptomatic cancer has already begun and I think it will change the face of diagnostics. So far the FDA has only approved tests using cell-free DNA to determine if cancer patients can get EGFR inhibitor drugs, but I think there will be many more of these types of tests in the future!
Why are you a scientist and what are most excited about? Both of my parents are actually scientists so I grew up often visiting labs and hearing about the exciting things people were working on. They didn’t pressure me into becoming a scientist, but it quickly became my favourite subject in school and was something I always knew I wanted to pursue. I became fascinated by genetics and how DNA works at high school and decided to pursue this track at university, eventually choosing to focus my research on development and cancer.
“I love being a scientist because I am pushing the boundaries of what we know and getting the chance to learn everyday.”
I studied RNA and changes in the transcriptome during my PhD and it’s still an area I’m fascinated with, so I’m most excited about the possibility of studying cell-free RNA! RNA is much more easily degraded, so it’s harder to work with, but being able to examine cell-free RNA would give us so much more information about tumours. We could measure changes in gene expression or fusion genes unique to the tumour and use this information to further understand the underlying processes or to recommend treatments. This is what I’m hoping to discuss with others in the field at the upcoming conference in Montpellier, France.
What advice would you give to younger students regarding attending a conference? Presenting your work at a conference is an excellent opportunity to share your knowledge and experiences with others in the field (good or bad!) and a great time to meet others to form collaborations, extend your network and find your next job. Most of my friends who are also postdocs got their positions through networking at conferences. It’s also a great opportunity to work on your presentation skills.
“Don’t be afraid to go up and talk to people, especially if you have questions about their research or would like to know more about their lab. “
Most people are really approachable and happy to chat! Poster sessions are usually great opportunities for this, since there’s often wine and beer provided and everyone will be milling around. Also, make the most of it and attend as much as you can — including sessions outside your own speciality, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information you’ve taken in, give yourself a break, leave, and come back refreshed for the next set of talks. If you’ve come with others from your lab, maybe split up who attends which talks and compare notes at the end. It can be exhausting!
Read more about Caitlin’s research here.
Taweewat Somboonpanyakul
PhD Student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
#galaxy #cluster #xray #survey
Taweewat will be presenting at 231st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), Washington DC, USA in January 2018.
How would you introduce your research to a non-expert? My research is in the field of extragalactic astrophysics with the study of objects outside our own Milky Way. Specifically, I am interested in studying how an active central black hole at the center of the galaxy cluster, which is extremely small in size, affects the galaxy cluster as a whole. To study this problem, I used telescopes to find new galaxy clusters with different central properties and compared them to each other to see how they are similar and/or different.
How has your research field already contributed to the world? Studying astrophysics will help humans understand the evolution of these celestial objects in the universe, which in turn helps us to comprehend the extend of our existence and answers big questions like “Who are we?” and “Where do we come from?”. Additional benefits from studying astrophysics is inventing new technology. To study these objects, humans need to create many different technology, including radio dishes and CCD, which also help advancing our civilization.
“ Studying astrophysics will help humans understand evolution [of the universe]… and answer big question like “Who are we?” and “Where do we come from?” “
Why are you a scientist and what are most excited about? I am a scientist because the more I learn about something, the more I realize how much I don’t know, and I want to be the one to figure out some part of those unknowns.
“Being able to ask your own questions and try to figure out answers in your own way are great part of being a scientist.”
The next generation of telescope, including James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), will revolutionize astrophysics. We can look much further with JWST to see the ‘first’ stars and galaxies while WFIRST will help us study the whole sky without wasting time taking data from different telescopes.
What advice would you give to younger students regarding attending a conference? The first benefit of presenting your work at the conference is to allow others to aware of your work and also expose yourself to the community, which could lead to a great discussion about the topic that you are interested in or even a new collaboration with people who work on a similar field. Another benefit is a chance to practice your presentation. Being a good scientist also means being a good communicator, and giving a presentation at conferences is a good practice before giving a thesis defence or a job talk. Lastly, going to conferences also helps you to understand your research field better by listening to what others are working on now.
“Being a good scientist also means being a good communicator, and giving a presentation at conferences is a good practice before giving a thesis defence or a job talk”
If you have a chance to attend a conference, you should definitely take it and try to go to many talks even the one that outside of your field. Even though most of the talks will not directly related to what you are working on, it is a good opportunity to learn something news outside of your field. It is often easier and more accessible to learn about the new works through the presentation than reading their paper. In addition, walking through the poster session is also a great way to learn about different topics and have a better chance to interact with researchers of those works.
Read more about Taweewat’s research here.
The above applicants are finalists in Sparrho’s Early Career Researcher Prize that awards £500 to early career scientists who is presenting their work at an academic conference. To apply, follow this link to the 5-minute application form and use the Sparrho platform to share your research. Applications close at the end of each month and reviewed on a rolling basis.
