Van Andel Institute’s Post

This was so much fun to do, and it wasn't even planned! In fact, it started as an interview where one of the questions to prepare was: "what tip would you give to new PhD students?" Obviously as a PhD student one of the major goals is to become and independent researcher and publish papers, go to conferences, network, etc etc. The evening before the interview I silently sat down in my desk chair, staring into space and thinking: what has really made a difference in the past four year that I didn't expect would be important. What would I have wanted to know upfront? I came up with an entire list to the video crew and we decided last minute to make an extra video of the 5 most important things to know. Check them out here:

Nazish Jeffery, Ph.D., a 2021 graduate of our Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program, has charted her career path at the intersection of science and policy. She bridges the gap between scientific research, policy formulation, and implementation, drawing on her experiences to address challenges within the scientific community and advocate for policies that promote innovation and support the scientific ecosystem. Hear more about her role as Bioeconomy Policy Manager at the Federation of American Scientists. #Meliora #URAlumni

Here's more evidence of changing post-PhD career paths, this time for graduates of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. More recent cohorts were less likely to go into PI roles, and more likely to go into other academic roles, industry research, non-research, and even non-science roles. While in this particular example the majority of graduates stayed in academia, it's a pretty reasonable assumption that academia will be the minority outcome for EMBL graduates soon. Junyan Lu, Britta Velten, Bernd Klaus, Mauricio Ramm, Wolfgang Huber, Rachel Coulthard-Graf (2023) Meta-Research: The changing career paths of PhDs and postdocs trained at EMBL eLife 12:e78706

Prepare to navigate and surmount the hurdles inherent in competitive arenas. Rejections can test your self-perception and determination. Nazish Jeffery, Ph.D. is a 2021 graduate of our Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program. Her experiences of facing challenges along her journey stress the need for resilience, flexibility, and the readiness to seize new opportunities when they present themselves. Check out our full interview in the latest episode of The Next Step: https://urmc.info/1to #CareerTIps #SciencePolicy

My Caltech Center for Science, Society, and Public Policy Co-Director, Frederick Eberhardt, recently talked to John Marken (biology postdoc at Caltech) and Richard Murray (professor at Caltech) about our Center's workshop on the "Pathways Towards the Safe and Effective Deployment of Engineered Microbial Technologies." The workshop was amazing, bringing together people from industry, the policy and regulatory community, and academia. Here is a short video conversation between Frederick, John, and Richard summarizing the workshop, why we hosted it, and what we learned. Teaser - more videos and a report with policy recommendations from the workshop will soon be available!

It is always hard to illuminate and showcase #bias 👻 Here, the Emulate, Inc.'s users and non users survey clearly shows that when you do not use OoC technology, you don't think it is more relevant than in vivo (97% of non users think it is less or similarily predictive than in vivo). The more scientists use the OoC technology, the more their think it is the way forward, in multiple areas of biomedical research ✅

🎉 Congratulations to Prof. Jacques Côté on the recent publication "Guiding the HBO1 complex function through the JADE subunit" in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology! 📚🔬 Explore the article here: https://rdcu.be/dAt5F

{🇳🇱➡️🇦🇹} 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐃𝐂1 – 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐫ö𝐝𝐞𝐫 – 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐳, 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚! Mahlzeit, Graz!  I recently jumped on a train that took me from my home university in Groningen all the way to the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz in Austria, where I will stay for the next three months as part of my first secondment. Still adapting to the drastic change in topology compared to the Netherlands, I joined the team of Prof. Karl Gruber and my DC colleague Nikita Pal to crystallize, solve, and study the structure of our novel #NNzymes.    Studying the structure-function relationship of these #biocatalysts using state-of-the-art #bioinformatics methods will help us understand their mechanisms and enable us to perform more targeted experiments going forward. This cooperation between structural and experimental biologists is just one of the many valuable synergies in our diverse and interdisciplinary BiodeCCodiNNg Doctoral Network.    Wish us luck!    - Simon Schröder #secondment #BiodeCCodiNNg #MSCA #horizoneurope #biocatalysis #structuralbiology #crystallography 

Delighted to share our latest publication in Nature Communications, where we've unraveled the intricate interactions between DREB2A and Med25-ACID, shedding light on plant stress response mechanisms. This research, combining structural biology with functional assays, paves the way for understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms governing plant stress response transcription factors. A big thanks to our team and collaborators for making this possible. #StructuralBiology This paper marks the culmination of the projects I worked on during my PhD, representing a key milestone in my academic journey. Watch the recap and read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/duhqwnBg

🚀 Exciting Advances in Microcrystallography! 🚀 We are thrilled to announce the publication of our latest review article, highlighting significant advancements in micro-crystallization and in vivo crystallography discussed at the 26th IUCr Congress in Melbourne. This comprehensive review sheds light on innovative methodologies and collaborative efforts that are reshaping the field of structural biology. 🔬 Abstract: A series of events underscoring the significant advancements in micro-crystallization and in vivo crystallography were held during the 26th IUCr Congress in Melbourne, positioning microcrystallography as a pivotal field within structural biology. Through collaborative discussions and the sharing of innovative methodologies, these sessions outlined frontier approaches in macromolecular crystallography. This review provides an overview of this rapidly moving field in light of the rich dialogues and forward-thinking proposals explored during the congress workshop and microsymposium. These advances in microcrystallography shed light on the potential to reshape current research paradigms and enhance our comprehension of biological mechanisms at the molecular scale. 🔗 Read the full article here: DOI: 10.1107/S205225252400513X Don't miss out on the cutting-edge discussions and discoveries that are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in structural biology!