Inspiring women in science, part IV

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard was born in Germany in 1942. She and Eric Wieschaus identified many of the genes that control the embryonic development of Drosophila. The figure above is of a wildtype fruitfly embryo, and those homozygous for mutations in Krüppel, hunchback, and knirps, from “Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophila”, Nature, 1980; 287:795-801. She is also associated with the discovery of Toll, which led to the identification of toll-like receptors. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 for her discoveries into how complex multicellular organisms develop from single cells. The quote below is from her 2006 book, “Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development”.

Clearly, biology is the most interesting of the sciences.

Inspiring women in science, part III

Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Australia in 1948. She and Carol Greider discovered telomerase. Telomerase is an enzyme that loss of important DNA from chromosome ends by adding extra bits of DNA to the end of strands, and plays a role in aging and cancer. The figure above is DNA from a telomerase enzyme reaction, from “Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts”, published in Cell, 1985; 43:405–413. She received the Nobel Prize in 2009. When questioned about the large number of women working on telomeres, she replied that “it’s fairly close to the biological ratio of men and women. It’s all the other fields that are aberrant.”

Inspiring women in science, part II

Lise Meitner was born in Austria in 1879. She and Otto Hahn discovered the first long-lived isotope of protactinium and articulated how the nucleus of an atom could be split into smaller parts in their paper “Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New Type of Nuclear Reaction” published in Nature in 1939. The figure above illustrates fission fragments in an uranium-lined ionization chamber connected to an oscillograph. The large pulses were caused by ionization bursts of fast moving nuclei from uranium bombarded by neutrons. Element 109, meitnerium, is named in her honour.

To me, this quote counters the argument that theologists often direct to athiests - that to not believe in the supernatural is to live in a world that is flat and dull. No! Far from it! To pull away the curtains of silly supernatural explanations is to allow yourself to peak at reality, a truth that is far more awe-inspiring and magestic then anything that could have been invented by primitive desert-dwellers. 

Inspiring women in science, part I

Rather than directly address the ridiculous sexist comments by Tim Hunt, I thought I would post a series of quotes by inspiring female scientists. These quotes adorn my office, and were a gift from my wife - who is an inspiring scientist herself.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was born in France in 1947. She was part of the team that discovered and identified HIV as the cause of AIDS in 1983. The figure above is of viruses budding from lymphocytes, from “Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)”, Science, 1983; 868-871. She also identified important factors contributing to mother-to-child transmission of HIV. She received the Nobel Prize in 2008.

To me this quote encapsulates the inspiring nature of science. When you look around yourself, science is everything that has transformed life from being nasty, brutish and short, to one where many of us have love, luxury and peace. This transformation can be extended to everyone if only we use science and evidence-based decision-making.

Pathway to a PhD

From my son's colouring-in book:

Relocate your lab to Belgium?

If you've ever thought of relocating your lab to Belgium, there is rarely a better deal than tenure plus up to €7.5 million in funding over five years. The Odysseus grants are opening!

New VIB group leader position available

The VIB is starting up a new group leader position in Hasselt University focused on autoimmunity research. The position will come with a €1.4 million start-up grant. Interested? Apply here.

I can see my future...

Five years as a junior faculty member

In 2010, after one year as a junior faculty member, I wrote up that year in numbers, and in 2012, at three years as junior faculty, I wrote this. The last two years have been different, mostly due to having a small baby to look after (fewer conferences), but also due to a shift in the lab as it became established (less grant writing, more research paper writing). Now I have finished five years as junior faculty, so I can be quantitative about my entire tenure-track period:

265: the number of grants I have reviewed for various foundations
119: the number of articles I have reviewed for different journals

85: the number of grants submitted (27 project grants, 33 fellowship applications and 17 grants as collaborator)
        31: grants accepted (15 project grants, 11 fellowships and 5 grants as collaborator)
        46: grants rejected (12 project grants, 22 fellowships and 12 as collaborator)
        5: grants pending (tenure application and 4 fellowships)
€5.7 million: euros given to the lab in project grants
€4.1 million: euros spent in research

46: invited talks
19: conferences
8: lectures

97: article submissions and resubmissions
        53: articles published or in press (31 primary papers, 15 reviews, 6 book chapters)
3: number of edited volumes

22: number of lab members
      12: PhD projects ongoing
       1: Masters projects ongoing
       19: number of full-time researchers in the lab 
(34: number of ex-lab members)

0: still the number of days I've spent doing experiments

So what is an average month for me? Well, I'll typically submit one grant, with nearly a 50% acceptance rate. I'll submit 1-2 papers, and have one accepted. I spend a fair bit of time reviewing - 4 grants and 2 papers per month, not counting favours for friends. I'll go give an invited talk or attend an international conference. My lab will spend ~€70,000 each month (not counting fellowships), and one new person will start or an old person will leave.

Next week I find out whether this is enough to get tenure at the University of Leuven.

Being a post-doc means...

...you love science more than an income.