Rui Simões is 28 years old, has a degree in Biochemistry and a Masters in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine. The entire academic path was takenat the University of Coimbra.
Research area: Neurosciences
The interview
1. What was your dream profession as a child?
When I was young, I dreamed of having several professions, including scientist.
2. What was your academic background and how important was it for your present / future?
I've always been a very curious person, so choosing a scientific field has always made sense to me. So, I graduated in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra. In the last year, we had a project chair in which we went to a research group of our choice to follow everyday life in a laboratory. In my case, I went to the Diabetes and Obesity Complications group, where I had my first contacts with scientific life. After finishing my graduation, I entered the master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. There, I had a greater contact with the Neuroscience area, where I ended up developing my thesis in the Cell Signaling and Disease Metabolism group, where I studied the role of mitochondria in a model of Alzheimer's disease. After the thesis, the obvious future (at least for me) was to go for a PhD.. Currently, I am in my last year of PhD in the group MitoXT - Mitochondrial Toxicology and Experimental Therapeutics. My academic career and the people I met were very important to confirm my curiosity and critical spirit.
3. If you could go back, what would change in your career and academic life?
I think I would do training in non-scientific areas, such as management or entrepreneurship. This knowledge is increasingly important as a complete curriculum for anyone in the scientific fields
4. Briefly, what does your research work consist of, and why did you choose this area?
My research work consists of studying mitochondrial metabolism and neuronal dynamic profiles in physiological and pathological conditions using biological-based machine learning approaches. The mitochondrial dynamics and metabolism of this organelle have always been subjects that fascinated me.
Mitochondria is an organelle of extreme importance for cells, being involved in the most varied cellular processes, from energy production, calcium storage, production of reactive oxygen species and activation of programmed cell death processes. In addition, it is a highly dynamic organelle that undergoes a cycle of fusion, fission, degradation and biogenesis.
Also, and especially in polarized cells, such as neurons, mitochondria is also transported from the cell body to the ends of these cells and vice versa. Changes in the metabolism and normal functioning of these organisms are known to be highly damaging to neurons, often leading to neurodegeneration and neuronal death.
Thus, the characterization and prevention of these changes, before reaching a point of no return, can be the answer to diagnose and prevent the worsening of neurodegeneration. It will allow premature therapeutic intervention to prevent cell death, a phenomena thatoccurs in neurodegenerative diseases. To understand the causes and consequences of neurodegeneration and how to assess the interference between different measures, conventional statistical analysis is often insufficient. My goal is also to use unsupervised machine learning tools.
5. In your opinion, what is the most stimulating thing in research VS the biggest challenges/ difficulties in research? Did you ever imagine being where you are?
I think the most exciting thing is the constant search for answers to various scientific questions. Also, teamwork and the possibility of collaborating with national, but mainly international, institutions are also very stimulating.
Regarding the biggest challenges, today this job is a very fickle "job", which depends on donations to survive not providing financial and personal stability. In addition, I think another challenge will be to find better ways/ approaches to explain scientific work to society in general.
6. What advice would you give to people who are thinking about going to study Biotechnology (or another area of science), to those who are studying, and to recent graduates?
I think, that the best advice I can give you is to follow what you really like to do and what makes you happy to do it. Doing something upset or unsure is the biggest mistake they can make. As one thing is certain, it will be difficult and it often seems easier to give up. But when you really like what you do, everything is worth it. As the poet already said: "Be everything in everything. Put as much as you are, at least you do", so we need work, and work a lot….
Thank you, Rui Simões, for your testimony!
We wish you the most successful in your research area!
@making.biotech.easy
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