This week’s PhDetails is with Swati Mahapatra! Swati completed her Bachelors in Biochemistry, Genetics and Biotechnology at Bangalore University (Bangalore, India) in 2013. Following this she pursued her Masters in Biochemistry at University of Hyderabad (UoH, Hyderabad, India) with Dr. Bramanandam Manavathi. During this time, she was also trained as a summer intern in the lab of Dr. Suvendra Nath Bhattacharyya in Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB, Kolkata, India) as a part of Summer Research Fellowship Programme of Indian Academy of Science (IAS). In 2016, Swati moved to UK to start her PhD with Dr. Emma Denham in University of Warwick, where she is supported by the Chancellor's International Scholarship. Swati is broadly interested in studying small non-coding RNAs and RNA-binding proteins and currently in the 3rd year of her PhD. You can also find her on twitter @mhptr_s!
Let’s start off talking about completely unscientific stuff: What is your favourite band/musical artist pre 1980?
Pink Floyd.
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
I love Maroon 5 and Coldplay equally! Sorry, can’t pick one!
Favourite movies?
I would pick Shutter Island and The Notebook.
Where do you study and who is/are your supervisors?
I am pursuing my PhD with University of Warwick (Coventry, UK) where I am enrolled with two supervisors – Dr Chrystala Constantinidou and Dr Tauqeer Alam. However, currently I am based at University of Bath (Bath, UK) as a Visiting Postgraduate Research Scholar to continue my project with my supervisor Dr Emma Denham who used to be at Warwick.
What year of your PhD are you in?
3rd year.
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
I am funded by Chancellor's International Scholarship from University of Warwick with 3.5 years of funding. For my research, I have been sponsored by Emma’s and Chrystala’s research grants from BBSRC and Noreen Murray Research Development Award.
Do you have any publications?
I do not have any research publication so far. But I have small essay published in Science as one of the “TopOnlineEssays” in Science(AAAS) Magazine’s NextGenVOICES survey (2014) check it out HERE
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
Yes. I did my masters in Biochemistry from University of Hyderabad (Hyderabad, India). The M.Sc course focused mostly on hardcore biochemistry, biophysics, enzymology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology and with a few elective subjects.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
No, I have no fieldwork as a part of my PhD. However, as an undergrad I could spent some time in Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte’s lab (NCBS, Bangalore, India) as a student trainee. My best experience with respect to fieldwork was to help the lab members with the housekeeping of the butterfly greenhouse. It was really a great experience because of Dr. Kunte’s enthusiastic, encouraging and welcoming personality which made my first contact with research fulfilling, aspiring and fun.
What are the best and worst bits about your labwork?
My best experiences in the lab has been to run pull-down assays and western blots! I find making western blots satisfying and exciting at the same time! Lately, I have also been enjoying data analysis with some bioinformatic tools.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I applied for 4-5 Indian PhDs and a few international PhDs. I was always interested in RNA biology, molecular biology, genetics and epigenetics. Therefore, I was looking for projects where I could learn more of advanced molecular biology techniques and bioinformatic tools in universities/institutes which could also provide with wide exposure to good seminars, conferences and collaborations.
My first interaction with science in research as a summer intern in IICB (Kolkata, India) during masters.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
Haha! Luckily, I never had to deal with a poor equipment. Touchwood!
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
Apply for a PhD only if you are really passionate about that field. PhD is a long journey, so choosing something that excites you on a daily basis is the key. Get in touch with the tentative supervisors explaining them why you are interested in doing a PhD with them. Also, know a bit more about your supervisor(s), funding systems and the institutes to avoid unnecessary disappointments later. Never compromise on a position if it doesn’t satisfy you with what you are looking for.
How often do you meet with your supervisors?
How often do you meet with your supervisors?
Pretty much everyday. However, we also have weekly meetings to discuss anything pending or important.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
Approachable, inspiring, respectful and understanding, excellent management and communication skills, helpful and open minded.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
Micro-managers, disrespectful, intimidating, narrow-minded, unsupportive and the opposites of the rest of all the desirable traits.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
Studying RNA-protein interactions in Bacillus subtilis.
An evening in Denham lab (University of Warwick) in my 1st year of PhD.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
I learnt a bit of coding in R! That is something really cool and makes me happy and satisfied about!
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
I think my lowest point last year was to deal with unexpectedly long failures in two cloning projects! I spent ~8 months in troubleshooting the issues.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
I idolised Dr Krishnaveni Mishra while doing my Masters in University of Hyderabad (Hyderabad, India). Being in her lectures was quite inspiring!
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
I would like to meet Prof. David Bartel and Prof. Elizabeth Blackburn.
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
I have always been inspired by scientists who were/are engaged in basic research, hence my inspirations are many! The fact that they were extremely passionate about uncovering the mysteries of life - be it through biology, physics or maths has always inspired me.
Do you have a favourite paper?
Not yet. Though, I have enjoyed reading the paper “Global Mapping of Small RNA-Target Interactions in Bacteria”.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
The East Midlands Proteomic Workshop held in Lincoln University (Lincolnshire, UK) last year (Oct 2018). The conference brought together various research projects with advanced proteomic studies. This was hugely relevant to my research where I have been engaged in studying proteomics of my model system.
What hours do you typically work?
I am trying to set up a new routine of 9-6:30. But it’s really flexible. Earlier I used to be in and around between 10 – 7.
How do you avoid procrastinating?
How do you avoid procrastinating?
By reminding myself about my limited time remaining in my PhD and in the UK!
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
I love research and think all scientists are cool. The fact that I have the opportunity to be with cool people on a daily basis and hopefully become one of those and be able to uncover the hows and the whys of life motivates me.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
I love watching shows and movies, talking to my family and friends or going out with them and cooking in my spare time.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
Speed up my data analysis haha!
What would be your dream job?
Having my own research team some day and working towards understanding the roles of non-coding RNAs in some model organism.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Pursuing/completing post-doctoral training.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Optimistic.
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
Increased physical fitness and developing a creative hobby more seriously!
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
Hardware - ThermoFisher Scientific Orbitrap LC-MS/MS, Software - R
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
I would like to be a part of EMBL one day.
Do you have a favourite organism?
Not yet, but I would like to work with either Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Danio rerio as they are one of the most well characterised eukaryotic model organisms with loads of established databases and comparably easy culturing and genetic manipulations techniques.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience?
Yes, definitely! In the Microbiology and Infection Unit (MIU, Warwick) we have weekly internal seminars within the unit, there are bi-weekly seminars between Biomedical Divisional of Warwick Medical School (WMS) and School of Life Sciences (SLS) with either internal or external speakers and a few other social events that has let me know more about different people engaged in diverse research.
A social outing with the MIU.
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be?
I would definitely want to have more casual interactions between the PhD students in the WMS and SLS on a regular basis to make friends outside labs or perhaps have sincere journal clubs.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it? (In the field of prokaryotic RNA-biology, we still do not have a known global post-transcriptional regulator such as an RNA-binding protein which holds the small non-coding RNA (sRNA)-target interactions. Proteins studied previously in other organisms do not behave similarly even in the Gram-positive model organism. Therefore, it will be both exciting and interesting to investigate such novel proteins or mechanisms which maintain the sRNA-target interactions within the cells. Studies pertaining to this could be quite complex and expensive! I wouldn’t necessarily say that people are not involved in such research, but it’s just that research in general takes time and we are still waiting for mysteries to be uncovered!
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