Selina Khan is originally from Denmark where she studied biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen. During my research project for my Msc., I did not think much about if I wanted to do a PhD, that plan developed somewhat later, but I did know that I wanted to do something in basic science. During the last two years of my study, I collected interesting job-advertisements from the newspaper to see which kind of jobs I liked.
After I graduated, I called the labs that had published interesting job offers to see if they had a position for me. That’s how I got my first job. For a while I worked for a German company in collaboration with the Danish Cancer Society, where I worked as a research scientist on the development of a vaccine against liver cancer.
When the head of this company got seriously ill , the people working for the company were advised to look around for a different job. It was at that point I started to think about doing a PhD. At a convention of the ’Danish PCDI’ I saw an advertisement for a PhD position in Switzerland. I applied and was fortunate that I could go there and do my PhD.
Since it is not common in Switzerland to stay in the same lab after you’ve finished your PhD, I started writing letters to labs in the Netherlands and in Sweden that worked within my area of interest.
I had the idea that I would like to stay some more years abroad before returning to Denmark. Although I very much enjoyed my 3 ½ years in Switzerland, both on a work and on private basis, I found the Swiss a bit too reserved for the kind of social interaction I am used to in Denmark, therefore I was very happy that I was offered a position at the LUMC and today I still work in that lab, now as a senior postdoc, on immunotherapy against cancer. Sometimes people say that you must change subjects a couple of times during your career, but I like to specialise and get the opportunity to really get into the matter.
One of the best things about my job is the close collaboration I have with other departments, in particular with the chemistry department. A downside of being a more senior postdoc is that I get to spend less time in the lab and more time supervising and managing other people. I think that I still develop good ideas sitting in front of my computer, but I have the feeling that maybe I would have gotten some ideas more easily or quicker if I would have been working in the lab, when you are more ‘in the middle of everything’. Moving between labs and particular countries is very exciting but can also be somewhat exhausting from a personal point of view. So as I really like it here in the Netherlands I would try and settle down here for a while.
Do’s and don’t’s
What I did not learn during my studies, but which is very important is to learn to plan ahead; not only your research project but also your own career. If you know what you want to do, why not call a lab to see if they have a position available? Usually it takes quite some time between their decision to hire someone and the publication of the advertisement. If you call them you could be the first to know about the available position.
Something I would advise you not to do, is to cook microwave popcorn while doing experiments: During my PhD, I was working late one night and I got pretty hungry. In the department kitchen I found some microwave popcorn, so I put it on and went back to the lab. After a few minutes the hallway was full of smoke. I ran over to find the microwave on fire! Fortunately, it was winter, so I could just throw the microwave out of the window into the snow. I tried to get rid of the smoky burning smell by letting the windows open for the entire weekend, but of course it was the first thing my boss noticed on Monday morning. He offered me to pay for pizza, if I would promise never to burn down his lab again.
Choices, decisions…
My best decision during my career was to move to abroad, the possibilities in Denmark at least in the field that I am interested in was at that time rather limited.
I always knew I wanted to work in academia, even before I decided to do a PhD and in ten years time, I think I will be still working in academia. I do not necessarily want to become a professor, I would prefer to have my own small group within a larger department, so I can do the research I like but don’t have to spent too much time on departmental politics and I’d like to do some teaching on the side..
I know people always say it is impossible for all postdocs to stay in academia, but because both of my postdoc positions were for 4 years each I have never really worried over this. I did attend some job fairs, but the companies there could not really sparkle my interest. I know that there are many opportunities outside academia, but I’m just not really interested in these at the moment.
How to go further in science
People often say that I am very proactive about my career development, probably because I know what I want. The most important thing I learned during my PhD is to think independently. My supervisor always stimulated this by making me analyse and think about my results before I could discuss them with him.
I would like to develop my management skills some more. In my previous jobs I have not learned how to work in a team, which is important if you want to have your own research group.
Future of science
Because it is pretty hard to get money for research, collaborations between industry and academia are very important. A nice example of industry-academia partnerships is the TIPharma consortium. Although a downside of these collaborations is that almost all of the research is focussed on products or other ways to get the research applied, there’s very little place for basic science.
A good way to get the general public more interested in science are things like the ‘open dagen’ they have here at the LUMC, with easy to understand but still very interesting laymen-lectures. Also, I was at a conference once and I got a book on immunology that was written for laymen which was actually very nice to read. Books like these could also be a good way to get the general public interested and might be very useful to explain science and biology to children.
