getting started in research kate markey mbbs, phd advanced trainee haematology – pah senior...
TRANSCRIPT
Getting Started in Research
Kate Markey MBBS, PhDAdvanced Trainee Haematology – PAH
Senior Research Officer – BMT Laboratory, QIMR
“Recently our department of medicine grand rounds was on the subject of asthma. It began with a clinical vignette about a child with asthma, lasting three minutes, and, was followed by 47 more of intracellular cascades. The talk was like many others this year, and the speaker, who was introduced as a physician scientist, lived up to the part.”
Vinay Prasad, Internal Medicine Physician, Northwestern University, ChicagoVia http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/06/clinician-researchers-meet-physician-scientists.html
3 broad categories of clinician-researcher
1. Full-time clinical with (mainly clinical) research as a sideline/part of clinical practice
2. Dual trained (MBBS + PhD or equivalent)– Part-time in both clinical practice and research
3. Full-time research, with clinical training– Clinical training in the background, may or may
not be related to eventual research work
My pathway
Pre-med Med school Resident Med reg Haem Adv training reg Consultant
PhD ….
I am here
B. Eng
• Tech development• Stem cell culture• PCR techniques• Microfluidics
• Basic medical science• Pre-clinical (animal models)• Immunology• Transplant biology• Ag presentation and inflammatory cytokines• Flow cytometry!
• Clinical/translational projects• Back to tech development• ?Big data• ?More maths• ?Clinical trials• ?Public health
Post-doc years
McGill University, Montreal
• R.J “Gus” Wiles
• Dr Richard Leask
UQ – Chemical Engineering
• Dr Frances Harding
• Professor Lars Nielsen
• “Blood factory”– Embryonic stem cells RBC and neutrophils
QIMR
Dr Kelli MacDonald Professor Geoff Hill
Early PhD years (in parallel with 1st and 2nd year MBBS)
• BMT is used as curative therapy for haematological malignancy
• Curative due to GVL effects
• Post-transplant mortality– Leukaemic relapse– Infection– Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
Skin GITLiver
Morris and Hill; Br J Haematol, 2007
1.
2.
3.
GVL
Lots of questions, needed new skills to answer them!
Early PhD years (in parallel with 1st and 2nd year MBBS)
• RelB in donor DC in GVHD
• SOCS3 in myeloid cells after transplant
• Recipient iNKT cells
• Donor and recipient plasmacytoid DC in GVHD
• Role of lymphotoxin in GVHD/GVL
• Does membrane transfer of recipient MHC to donor DC have a functional role in antigen presentation?
RelB in GVHD
• Was the basis of my PhD project proposal• Useful for getting scholarship…• Didn’t quite work out according to plan…
The practicalities….
• To be honest – I skipped some lectures.
• All the time I wasn’t required to be anywhere else lab.
• Holidays lab.
• End of first year elective BMT ward/lab.
Full-time PhD years (between 2nd and 3rd year MBBS)
• Still going with Lymphotoxin
• Donor DC (and other APC) in antigen presentation after allo BMT– This was the “who”
• Reconstituting donor DC function and post-transplant immunity– This was the “why/how”
Published March 2009
Part-time research again (3rd and 4th year MBBS)
• Reconstituting donor DC function and post-transplant immunity– This was the “why/how”
• Membrane transfer… still ticking along.
• Lymphotoxin work nearly done…
Submitted to Blood January 2009, Eventually (finally) published January 2010
More part-time research
• In parallel with intern year etc. • On NHMRC Clinical Training Fellowship
– Technically 0.5 FTE research + 1.0 FTE clinical.
• A few blocks of LWOP, including 6 months in PGY3.
Blood, June 2012
The logistics..?
• Much like during med school
• In the lab whenever I could be. – Nights were good, meant lab time! – Junior jobs with ½ days and mid week days off
Did I mention that project that had been ticking along since the beginning….?
2214
Ch01 CFSE TEa LFA-1 Phalloidin CD11c
7 µm
2214
Ch01 CFSE TEa LFA-1 Phalloidin CD11c
7 µm
Opportunities
In Press, Accepted March 2015
Advice
• Choose to work on a problem that you think is interesting and important– You might end up working on it for a very long time!
• Do your research– Talk to people in the lab/s (or clinical units) you think you’d like to
work in.– Who will teach you stuff? Won’t be the big professor (usually).
• Understand that you’re getting research training– Takes time commitment – Can be pretty inefficient at times (but that’s okay). – Changes the way you think
• The rewards of research don’t come without time commitment
• It’s very different to the clinical environment. – More flexible, less hierarchical – No pager….
• If I were to start now… – Commit some time (holidays, LWOP, be creative)
– Consider formalising early (RHD)
– Funding opportunities are around (be creative)
Acknowledgements
Rachel Kuns
BMT Lab, QIMR Berghofer