Author: Graduate School

4Cs Science Communication Writing Competition – Joint 3rd Place

by Eva Kane, PhD Student in the Institute of Clinical Sciences

It is 23rd January 1922. Toronto is cold, and so are you. You stop at a tavern, hoping to warm your numbed hands. You take a seat next to two men, introduce yourself and settle down to thaw.

One identifies himself as Dr Charles Best. “And my mentor, Dr Frederick Banting”.

“You catch us on quite an evening. We’ve just changed the course of history! Have you heard of the fatal disease, diabetes?”

You have but are not well-versed.

“Within the pancreas are clumps of cells that, under a microscope, look different. These are the islets of Langerhans,” says Dr Banting. “These islets secrete something important. Our diabetic patients have no islets, and therefore no such secretion. Consequently, they are unable to use the sugar from their diet. Their blood and urine are full of sugar that cannot be taken up by their organs for energy.”

“What is this secretion?” you ask.

“Well,” he grins. “We thought we would call it insulin.”

It transpires that earlier that day, Banting and Best had finally isolated and purified this secretion, insulin. They injected it into a 14-year-old boy at the behest of his father, as he was in a diabetic coma and seemed not long for this world.

“He woke up!” cries Best, “He’s cured!”

“Well”, says Banting, looking into his glass. “This is not quite curative. I anticipate he will require injections, every day, for the remainder of his life – no small undertaking.”

“Preferable to a death sentence, but a life sentence” you comment, as Best lifts from his seat in indignation.

“A daily injection versus a slow and certain death is surely a fair price to pay!”

Banting waves him away. “Let us cast our minds forward! Given the destruction of islets in these patients, I wonder whether replacement of the tissue may be the best avenue. Skin grafts have been reported successful. Perhaps one day we will be able to transplant the islets of Langerhans from one patient to the other.”

Best is subdued.

“Have you read Wilson’s thoughts on the stem cell?1”, Banting asks you.
You have not.

“See, each cell has a speciality…an identity, I suppose. A muscle cell does not look or behave the same as the cells of the blood or brain. However, when you are conceived, and are merely a few cells in your mother’s womb, there is no such specialisation. Those few cells become every cell in the body. That, the cell with the capacity to beget all others, is a stem cell. Had we the technology to harness it, I wonder whether we couldn’t make new islets for our patients!”

“Now,” exclaims Best. “That would be the ticket!”

***

It is 2006, and you are very old. Long retired from an illustrious career in science inspired by a conversation on a cold night in a warm tavern, you still peruse the scientific literature. A title catches your eye: “Production of pancreatic hormone-expressing endocrine cells from human embryonic stem cells”2.

You smile.

References

1. Wilson, E.B. (1896) The Cell in Development and Inheritance. Macmillan: New York
2. D’Amour et al. (2006) Production of pancreatic hormone-expressing endocrine cells from human embryonic stem cells. Nature Biotechnology 24:11(1392-1401)

4Cs Science Communication Writing Competition – Joint 3rd Place

by Imanol Duran, MSc Student, Department of Life Sciences

Quarantine Connection – Grandma Calling

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

GRANDMA (with internet connection)
GRANDSON (with a STEM degree)

ACT I. SCENE I.
Spain. Each in their quarantine homes, awaiting the bending of the COVID-19 curve.

Grandma: Wait… I can’t see you, son.
Grandson: Grandma, take the thumb off the screen (laughs). Yes, that’s it.
Grandma: So what are those interesting things your mom told me about, you know, the ones to help uncle John’s lung cancer? (Accommodates in grandpa’s armchair, looking at the screen with the chin a bit too high).
Grandson: They’re called senolytics, and are tiny molecules that target some specific cells in cancer.
Grandma: Smaller than the new virus?
Grandson: Yes, smaller, they’re proteins. Anyway, when cells get old (they become senescent) and cannot do their function correctly, they stop dividing and take a resting attitude.
Grandma: So… they’re in retirement.
Grandson: Yes, basically! But sometimes they go rogue and they start to multiply and contribute to tumour growth, acting in exactly the opposite way to the wellbeing of the tissue!
Grandma: They are like the other cancer cells then…
Grandson: Not necessarily, but they can contribute to the aggressiveness of the disease, and worsen the relapse if it happens.
Grandma: And what do senolytic ‘things’ have to do with this?
Grandson: (leans towards the computer in his bedroom, with excitement). Doing big screening with a lot of drugs, molecules that specifically target and destroy these rogue senescent cells, which can be coupled with mainstream therapies of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, and treat cancers from lung to liver. However, the development of these drugs and the process of their validation is quite complicated.
Grandma: You can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain.
Grandson: What?
Grandma: (laughs) You’re too young to know who Dolly Parton is. What I mean is that science, as all things in life take time. Back in the day we didn’t have apricots all year around you know? We had to wait, and work hard.
Grandson: You’re probably right.
Grandma: Of course I am! The presenter on the TV said that the virus trial would take more than a year even if they rush it, so I guess this will take even longer.
Grandson: The development of senolytics is quite recent, as well as the identification of cell targets that we can use to fight against them. Interestingly, some of these molecules have been used for years now, like some cardiac glycosides, used to treat other heart problems.
Besides, these drugs have shown, at least in mice, that they can rejuvenate tissues by killing senescent cells and even help you with your arthritis.
Grandma: Being old has its perk too.
Grandson: Unfortunately, coming up with functional and secure drugs to help with cancer treatments is still quite far; too far for many who need it now.
Grandma: Things take time son, you have plenty of it (stares with that gaze only age can provide) .

[Exeunt]

The End

PhD students are bringing science to your ears

Usually a medical tool used to check your ear canal, Otoscope is now also the name of a project led by PhD students at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS).

Learning how to surf the wave of podcast popularity, the students are producing interview-style episodes with the aim of discussing complex medical science topics in a way that is informative to other students who may not be familiar with biomedical jargon.

This activity, now sponsored by the Imperial Graduate School, is currently under preparation and the first episodes are expected to be released later this year.

Photo after the first recorded episode at The Pod, White City Place. From left to right: Macia Sureda Vives, Eren Akademir, Matt Newton, Dr. Richard Festenstein, Manos Stylianakis, Eliano  Santos
Second recorded episode at The Pod. From left to right: Saul Moore, Vassili Kusmartsev, Dr. Peter Sarkies, Radina Georgieva, Virinder Reen, Monica Della Rosa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recorded at The Pod in White City Place, the podcast is bringing together in the studio experts on different fields of biomedical research with PhD students to discuss topics such as precision medicine, ageing as a drug target or how genes affect behaviour. These topics are discussed with the aim of being informative to the bioscience-curious individual and of providing both the students and the public with tools to think critically about evidence and science.

Recording session at The Pod. From left to right: Macia Sureda Vives, Dr. Richard Festenstein, Eren Akademir, Manos Stilianakis

Organising the activity are PhD students at the LMS, while other students are taking part as guests to pitch their own research in the segment ‘Publication of the month’. ‘We thought this project would be a nice way to learn how to communicate science effectively, while networking and having fun at the same time. But also learning key skills that could help us with our post-PhD careers’, says Eliano dos Santos, the PhD student coordinating the project.

This science communication project is supported by the Grants, Engagement and Communications team at the LMS. And the voice of Dr Sophie Arthur, the Science Communication Officer at the MRC LMS and author of the award-winning blog Soph Talks Science, will guide you through each episode.

The first episode is expected to be released later this year, and from then on monthly talks will be available on the usual platforms. To receive the latest Otoscope updates, follow @MRC_LMS on Twitter and @mrc.lms on Instagram.

Two minutes with… Humera Ansari (Student Programme Leader – Research Communication Programme)

Two minutes with… Ester Anaya-Boig (Student Programme Leader – Professional Effectiveness Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Ester Anaya-Boig

Department: Centre for Environmental Policy

Introduce your research: I am studying what aspects of the built and the social environment influence in people’s cycling behaviour

Student Programme Leader: Professional Effectiveness Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

I had attended quite a few courses and a couple of retreats from the Graduate School and I had found them really useful. I found that the courses within the professional effectiveness programme were the ones that had made the bigger positive impact in my PhD life.

I thought I was motivated to review the programme in-depth, working with the team that created the courses and representing the views of my fellow students in order to contribute to how this programme is delivered.

Three things you’ve found interesting:

  • Knowing the contents of the courses in-depth and sometimes even do a bit of research about some specific aspect
  • Getting to know how the courses are created
  • Thinking about how to take into account the diversity of Imperial students that attend the courses.

Three things you’ve enjoyed most:

  • Providing feedback that is appreciated and recognised by the Grad School team
  • Working with a highly professional and knowledgeable team, that knows very well what they are doing!
  • Reading the feedback about the courses and extracting the highlights that I think can help make them better

What impact have you had on the programme?

Apart from the feedback evaluation, I have provided suggestions on the contents and on the structure of the course. Also I have provided notes on how it is delivered. Observing in one of the courses was really helpful and helped me provide feedback in detail.

What advice would you give to other students thinking of applying for the SPL role in future?

It’s a great opportunity to learn how the Graduate School creates their programmes, how they are delivered and also to train you in how to reach the diversity of the student population. You realise you can contribute with more than you thought and that your contributions are valued by the team.

Why do you think professional development training is important?

I have experienced how it has helped me and kept me grounded. It also provides you with resources available for whenever you need them, it’s like a safety net that you create by attending these courses. The professional development courses provide you the space and the tools to make you aware and reflect on how you do things and then be able to create change. Sometimes the courses can help you change your habits or introduce a new habit in your life.

Two minutes with… Katia Hougaard (Student Programme Leader – Master’s Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Katia Hougaard

Department: Life Sciences

Introduce your research: My PhD project focuses on the innate defence responses of plants against aphids, an economically important insect pest.

Student Programme Leader: The MasterClass workshop series with Dr Helal Ahmed

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

While a MRes student at Imperial, I benefited greatly from the free Master Class programme offered to all Masters students. Based on my very positive experience as a student in the classes, I wanted to give back to the programme that helped me learn a variety of transferable skills. In addition, I am interested in gaining experience of being in an educator role for postgraduate students since one of my career interests is higher education.

Three things you’ve found interesting: 

Analysing and implementing student feedback, discussing wording and visual appeal of slides with Dr. Ahmed, and designing my own slides are 3 interesting aspects of this role.

Overall, being in the teaching role has been a new perspective on the learning experience.

Three things you’ve enjoyed most:

I enjoy co-delivering workshops on public speaking and presentation skills with Dr. Ahmed. Through this activity, I’ve gained experience in managing and leading a large group of students.

I also enjoy the planning discussions with Dr. Ahmed and other members of the graduate school.

I’ve additionally enjoyed reaching out to fellow students to learn their opinions on past and current Graduate School courses.

What impact have you had on the programme?

My contributions have made the public speaking / presentation skills workshop more interactive and hopefully more entertaining. I am also working on arranging a focus group to learn what students wish to see from the programme in the future.

What advice would you give to other students thinking of applying for the SPL role in future?

I would highly encourage any postgraduate student who is interested in being an educator to apply for this role. I would advise to approach the role with an enthusiastic and cooperative attitude to get the most out of working with your supervisor.

Why do you think professional development training is important?

I feel it is extremely important for postgraduate students to develop their transferable professional skills for any career they choose after their education at Imperial. The free courses are a valuable addition to any postgraduate studies, and an opportunity to meet students from across disciplines at Imperial.

Two minutes with… Marie Rider (Student Programme Leader – GTA Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Marie Rider

Department: Physics

Introduce your research:  I work in the condensed matter theory group, and I study topological nanophotonics, where we’re working to understand how light interacts with topological materials at the nanoscale.

Student Programme Leader: Graduate Teaching Assistant Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

GTAs are a crucial bridge between students and academics. We can have a massive impact on the student experience and the GTA programme provides vital training on how to approach the role. We’re the next generation of academics, and the approach to teaching and learning we develop now will stay with us throughout our careers so I really wanted to be part of the professional skills programme teaching those skills.

Three things you’ve found interesting: 

  1. The way the GTA role is defined varies massively between faculties and departments, so it’s an interesting challenge to make the programme relevant and useful for GTAs across college.
  2. GTAs have really different experiences of teaching and there’s as much to learn from each other as from the programme leads.
  3. Co-leading sessions for the GTA programme is a lot different from teaching a STEM subject!

Three things you’ve enjoyed most:

  1. Working with SPLs from other faculties.  Under ordinary circumstances we might never had met!
  2. Getting the opportunity to co-lead some of the programme sessions. Peer-run sessions are really fun and very different to the usual teaching I get to do
  3. Working with the programme leader, Richard. He’s so passionate and informed about what he does, so it’s been great to learn from him

What impact have you had on the programme?

We’ve been collating information from all departments across college on how they define their GTA roles and what skills they want their GTAs to have, so that we can tailor the content of the programme courses better

What advice would you give to other students thinking of applying for the SPL role in future?

Do it! Find a programme you’re passionate about and jump in.

Why do you think professional development training is important?

Being a scientist or engineer is about much more than our technical skills. The things you learn in professional development training help you grow as an academic and as a person.

Two minutes with… Daryl Ma (Student Programme Leader – GTA Programme)

The Graduate School has appointed Student Programme Leaders in order to give doctoral students the opportunity to engage with our Professional Development Programme and shape its design and delivery.

In our new ‘Two Minutes with….’ series we will be introducing you to our current SPLs and finding out their thoughts so far on the role!

Name: Daryl Ma

Department: Electrical Engineering

Introduce your research: Designing monolithic wireless electrochemical sensors for biomedical applications for blood or sweat monitoring.

Student Programme Leader: Graduate Teaching Assistant Programme

Why did you choose to apply for this particular SPL role?

I enjoy GTA work as I find teaching quite fun. I felt that applying for this role allowed me to learn more about other aspects of teaching.

Three things you’ve found interesting: 

  1. Speaking to other departments in the engineering faculty on how they run their GTA programmes.
  2. Understanding the different roles played by various GTAs in different departments.
  3. Conducting lectures for the GTA program.

Three things you’ve enjoyed most:

  1. I liked how different departments had their various viewpoints on how GTA work should be like.
  2. Talking about more in-depth teaching techniques applied, which probably bordered the field of psychology.
  3. Speaking to fellow GTAs and learning from their experiences.

What impact have you had on the programme?

We’ve managed to make some changes to the GTA program across departments by simply comparing them and explaining to these departments what the college standards are.

What advice would you give to other students thinking of applying for the SPL role in future?

Do it, it’s fun!

Why do you think professional development training is important?

It provides you with the soft skills required to perform your required administrative roles in whichever field your career path takes you.

St. Mary’s Summer Party

St. Mary’s Campus does not really have a common room where students from different research groups get to know each other. Trying to break down the barrier, there was a Christmas party organised for all students working in the Medical School Building. Based on the huge success and numerous thank yous for organising this party, we decided to put together another party. A summer party this time, with the presence of the British summer drink of choice: Pimm’s with fresh fruit.

Besides Pimm’s, we provided prosecco, two kinds of beer, non-alcoholic bubbles and lots of water thanks to the Graduate School Cohort Building Fund, who sponsored this event. Because of the high temperatures, everything was kept cool with ice and people could enjoyed a cold beer, refreshing prosecco or the very popular Pimm’s. At 5 pm on Tuesday 22nd of May 2018, everything was ready to receive guests in the Committee room on the ground floor of the Medical Building at St. Mary’s Campus. Drinks were cold, some nibbles were on the tables and Bill Nye the Science Guy started explaining science on screen.

Within 5 minutes the first people showed up to start celebrating summer and looking for those people they talked to last time. Several people thanked us for organising even before they got their drinks. By starting at 5 pm, we managed to catch the people with families before they went home and we also got people that work late by having the party still going at 7 pm. People from the School of Public Health, Virology, Respiratory Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Paediatrics all showed up. Master students joined the party as well and could casually ask those questions about PhDs they did not want to ask in the lab.

At 8.30 pm it was time to start cleaning up and everyone that was still hanging around helped out by throwing out trash, collecting glasses and bottles, and cleaning the tables. Within 15 minutes, all signs of a party were gone. I’m already looking forward to the next one!

MetID workshop

By Erika Dorado and Kiana West, STRATiGRAD PhD programme, Department of Surgery and Cancer

A workshop focused on the identification of metabolites was organised by the STRATiGRAD PhD programme in collaboration with the Centre for Metabolomics and Bioanalysis (CEMBIO). The MetID workshop took place between 12th and 15th June 2018, in Madrid.

MetID workshop participants

The MetID workshop started with oral presentations given by PhD students from both Imperial and CEMBIO. The PhD students had the opportunity to present their research projects in seven minutes to an audience composed of recognised researchers in this field. We had the opportunity to practice our presentation skills and share our research experience by providing concise information about our PhD projects. On the second day, the workshop started with an introduction by the director of CEMBIO, Dr. Coral Barbas. During the second and third days we attended lectures given by researchers from CEMBIO about fragmentation rules and mechanisms (Dr. Ana Gradillas), data curation (Dr. Javier Ruperez), as well as theory-practical lectures about annotation on MS and MS/MS level (Dr. Joanna Godzien). In addition, Dr. Joram Posma from Imperial presented two lectures about statistical experimental design, bias and confounding, as well as MetaboNetworks and graph theory.

Dr. Coral Barbas from CEMBIO giving an introduction to the workshop

On the third day, after finishing the lectures, we attended an exhibition on extended reality space offered by the Telefonica foundation from Madrid. We had the opportunity to experience different realities such as augmented, mixed and virtual reality. After this interesting activity, we enjoyed some sightseeing in the centre of Madrid on our way to have dinner together. During these activities the students from both universities had the opportunity to do some valuable networking.

On the final day, we visited the laboratories at CEMBIO. Dr. Antonia Garcia gave us a tour and showed us all the equipment in their laboratories, including liquid chromatography and mass spectrometers. The final day was concluded with a contest about metabolite identification to allow the students to apply all the knowledge acquired during this MetID workshop. Groups composed of students from Imperial and CEMBIO were organised randomly by Dr. Godzien, each group had the great opportunity to apply what we had learned about annotation on MS and MS/MS level by identifying 12 different metabolites. This contest allowed us to apply our communication and team work skills. The group that won the contest was composed of Vincen Wu and Erika Dorado from Imperial and Cecilia Barbas from CEMBIO.

Visiting the laboratories at CEMBIO
Dr. Isabel Garcia from Imperial, Dr. Coral Barbas from CEMBIO, and the winners of the contest: Cecilia Barbas, Erika Dorado and Vincen Wu

We want to thank the Graduate School for providing generous funding jointly with the STRATiGRAD PhD programme to carry out this workshop. We want to thank Dr. Isabel Garcia (coordinator of the STRATiGRAD PhD programme), all PhD students and researchers from Imperial and CEMBIO for all their effort organising and participating in this workshop. This workshop not only encouraged critical and independent scientific discussion on metabolite identification, but also showed us the importance of networking and scientific collaboration at an international level.