00:00:00:21 - 00:00:25:21 Unknown I think that being selected for something like this, it's like being told that what you are doing matters and you belong to this conversation. 00:00:25:23 - 00:00:59:04 Unknown Welcome to the latest episode of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast. My name is Bridget Sheehan, media relations specialist here at BBMRI-ERIC. You just heard from Carina Vieira, a PhD student in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Puerto. Carina has been selected to participate in the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an annual event in which around 600 promising young scientists and 75 Nobel laureates from across the globe meet for scientific exchange and dialogue. 00:00:59:06 - 00:01:28:16 Unknown For a young scientist attending the Lindau meeting as a once in a lifetime opportunity that can open doors to new collaborations and career opportunities. This year's meeting takes place from June 28th to July 3rd in Germany, with the theme of interdisciplinarity and science. BMA Eric is sponsoring Carina's participation in the meeting as part of our commitment to supporting emerging talent and ideas driving future scientific breakthroughs. 00:01:28:18 - 00:01:53:07 Unknown In this episode, Carina shares her scientific work, the challenges facing young researchers, and her advice for students considering a career in the life sciences. We begin by hearing what it means to be selected for the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting, and what Carina hopes to take away from the experience. Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is about perspective. 00:01:53:09 - 00:02:36:21 Unknown Because when you are doing a PhD, your role can be easily just that. And it's easy to forget about what it what matters in the big picture. So I want to see and and learn the scale of what science can be. When people are bold enough to to ask the right questions and, I think that I'm really excited about the conversations with the other, young researchers because some of the, the most useful things I learned came from these conversations because we share perspectives and they say to me, okay, I've done this, but I approach it completely different. 00:02:36:24 - 00:03:03:17 Unknown So I think that being selected for something like this, it's like being told that what you are doing matters and you belong to this conversation, and it gives something to your confidence that it's hard to get, elsewhere. So when you are in your career and you spend a lot of time doubting about yourself, this is really, good for you. 00:03:03:17 - 00:03:32:20 Unknown And of course, that being with scientists widely known in the world as Nobel Prizes is is a huge honor. Let's talk a little bit about your research. So your research focuses on the implementation of reusable microfluidic devices and CYP450 enzymes. So for listeners who don't have a background in chemistry, what problem are you trying to solve and why does it matter? 00:03:32:22 - 00:04:02:11 Unknown Okay, so let's think about when you take, a medication, your body has to process it. And, it does that with enzymes that are proteins that we have in our body. And one enzyme in particular, it's called CYP3A4, is responsible for processing half of our, of the drugs we take or even foods and some pollutants in, in the environment. 00:04:02:13 - 00:04:35:04 Unknown And the problem is that this process can be easily disrupted. So if you take concomitant medications, it's also disrupt by foods or even some supplements, because this enzyme metabolizes everything at the same time. And this can be really harmful when we are talking about people who take several medicines like elderly people. And we know these interactions exist, but the tools we have right now, are slow. 00:04:35:04 - 00:05:08:05 Unknown Are expensive and don't reflect what really happens in our body. So what I'm trying to build is a biosensor that incorporates these enzymes so we can measure these interactions, in a faster, more accessible and realistic way. And the goal is to construct a platform that could help us to predict before a patient, ever takes the pill, how the body will respond to to these compounds. 00:05:08:07 - 00:05:36:02 Unknown That would be very revolutionary. Yeah, it's it's exciting work. Biobanks. And research infrastructures such as BBMRI-ERIC. They provide invaluable biological samples and data for health research like yours. How important could access to these resources be for advancing your research? Well, as I told you, my research focus on the these on the development of these biosensors. 00:05:36:04 - 00:06:20:03 Unknown So I don't use biobanks directly, but the link to these infrastructures, it's a logical and forward thinking, from a scientific perspective, because the clinical relevance of biosensors, I'm developing depends on comprehending individual variability in drug metabolism, which requires access to, a range of well characterised human biological samples. Biobanks provide this kind of, of information. So in the future, it would be very helpful for us to collaborate with biobanks, to test my methods against actual human tissues or plasma samples. 00:06:20:05 - 00:06:44:08 Unknown And this would help us to characterise metabolic phenotyping in research projects associated with biobanks. So I'd like to take a step back from the science itself and learn a little bit more about your journey into research. Was there a particular moment or person that inspired you to pursue a research career, rather than a more traditional pharmaceutical career? 00:06:44:10 - 00:07:16:06 Unknown Yes. Well, I, I don't think there was only a moment, but, an accumulation of events, because I studied for five years, in pharmaceutical sciences. And the the big part of what I love to, to do was to understand that not only what the drug does in our body, but the molecular mechanism behind it, and why interacts with some proteins, why the activity is so different in, in different people. 00:07:16:08 - 00:07:47:12 Unknown So it's like you will have your own language to understand the body. So, during the faculty I joined the project where the students could be part of a research team and help in what was needed. So I was there for around four years, actually. And when I started to work as a pharmacist, I realized that the knowledge that I gained during my my faculty was, like, unused. 00:07:47:13 - 00:08:19:19 Unknown So, in spite of community pharmacy is a very, important work. Of course, I knew that I need to do something more. Because I was used to ask deep questions, and I was really excited about learning. And I see in research all of these. So it was like, a mixed feelings about everything. But, research for me was the only part that makes sense. 00:08:19:21 - 00:08:56:11 Unknown And you're at quite an advanced stage in your career now. What kinds of challenges do young researchers face at this stage of their career? Well, I think there is a combination of things. First of all, is the financial precarity because, research careers are built on short contracts or grants that cannot be, renewed every time. This is very competitive in a way that can be unhealthy sometimes, because you're not just trying to do good science. 00:08:56:13 - 00:09:27:01 Unknown You have to prove that your science, matters. And this pressure can can be very, unhealthy, and can take you through paths could not be the, the best ones. And this pressure can can easily go to your personal life, in ways that can be hard to set limits because sometimes researchers don't have office hours. And you have to learn to protect your personal life and switch off. 00:09:27:03 - 00:09:55:09 Unknown And. And then I think we have something related with self-confidence because because you start to wonder if what you are doing, it's about you personally and and it's not. It's only your work. And this imposter syndrome is a cliche, but it is real and you can think you are not, good enough. And I think young researchers suffer of this. 00:09:55:11 - 00:10:21:22 Unknown Okay. Yeah, that's an interesting point. So now that you've had all this experience, if a student listening today is considering a career, in chemistry or pharmaceutical sciences, what advice would you give them? Well, the first thing is to be curious, because the questions that you don't do will remain there. So you if you can't explain you, you will never know. 00:10:21:22 - 00:10:56:13 Unknown So you have to ask the questions. The ones that you feel that are obvious, the ones that you feel like stupid. The ones that can make you embarrassed. But there is a culture in academia that sometimes of performing certainly of not wanting to seem like you don't know something. And curiosity requires to admit you don't know, and you have to take, the courage to, to show that you are interesting, interested on on things. 00:10:56:15 - 00:11:21:12 Unknown The other thing is, is to don't be afraid of making mistakes, because in research, the errors are not the opposite of the progress. They are part of the progress. So some of the most useful results came from experiments that went wrong in some ways. And you have to to be able to sit with a failure and ask what 00:11:21:14 - 00:11:52:09 Unknown actually they are telling you because, sometimes the most underrated skill in science came from an error. The other thing is to to make connections with people, with ideas, with fields that are not, yours. Because science moves forward at boundaries between fields. And if you have more connections, you will be able to, to expand your network. 00:11:52:11 - 00:12:25:08 Unknown And, do the most interesting work. And finally, is to find good mentors, because a good mentorship is one of the things that makes the big difference in research careers. So I would say that people should be proactive about it. Look for a good mentor. And when you find it, you should nurture these relationships because the culture of of research actually changes for the better. 00:12:25:08 - 00:12:50:00 Unknown when you nurture good, relationships with your with your mentor. Thank you, Carina, for taking the time to share your research and reflections with us. We're proud to support Carina's participation in the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, and look forward to following her career. We wish her every success as she takes her place among the next generation of scientists at Lindau. 00:12:50:02 - 00:13:19:09 Unknown BBMRI-ERIC exists to represent and support the bio banking and biomolecular resources community. To learn more about how we work and read stories from our national nodes, visit the BBMRI-ERIC website bbmri-eric.eu and browse the news section. We also regularly share national node news from across the bio banking community via the BBMRI-ERIC newsletter. You can sign up for that on our website. 00:13:19:11 - 00:13:37:06 Unknown If you enjoyed this podcast, do share it with interested friends and colleagues and leave us a review on whichever platform you listen via. It helps us to reach new listeners. Watch out for our next podcast episode via our BBMRI-ERIC Socials on Blue Sky and LinkedIn. And thank you for listening.