Women in science symposium

Abstract

A women in science symposium was held at the combined 20th International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) Congress, 45th Annual Brazilian Biophysical Society (SBBf) Meeting and 50th Annual Brazilian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBq) Meeting. There were five excellent speakers from prominent scientist from around the globe that included Frances Separovic (University of Melbourne, Australia), Pimchai Chaiyen (Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand), Lauren Arendse (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Milagros Medina (University of Zaragoza, Spain) and Carla Mattos (Northeastern University, USA). Each speaker was asked to reflect on their career and challenges they overcome to attain professional success. What followed was a fascinating and thought-provoking exposé on the careers of these five incredibly talented and strong women.

This session created a forum to discuss the challenges women face pursuing a career in science. This was, in part, motivated by the recent movie “Picture-a-Scientist” that powerfully explores the barriers women and minorities face in science “…ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights.” (www.pictureascientist.com). The session was organised by Maria Cristina Nonato (University of São Paulo, Brazil) and David Crossman (University of Auckland, New Zealand), and featured five prominent women scientists who provided an insight to their career paths in biophysics (Fig. 1). The speakers were Frances Separovic (University of Melbourne, Australia), Pimchai Chaiyen (Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand), Lauren Arendse (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Milagros Medina (University of Zaragoza, Spain) and Carla Mattos (Northeastern University, USA). The speakers and participants were provided with a viewing of the movie “Picture a Scientist” as the stimulus for the session (funded by IUPAB). What followed was a fascinating and thought-provoking exposé on the careers of these five incredibly talented and strong women. These scientists had a diverse range of backgrounds and career paths from all over the globe that provide inspiration for all up-and-coming biophysicists. A couple of key points: (1) although the world has come a long way, people (of all genders) are generally blinded to the gender biases that exist; (2) this is a societal problem that needs everyone to help find solutions, and we would particularly encourage male colleagues to engage to find pathways forward. The hope is to create a world where people with scientific talent can be encouraged and nurtured no matter their background.

Fig. 1.

Photos of speakers and organisers of women in science symposium. Top row: Frances Separovic (University of Melbourne, Australia), Pimchai Chaiyen (Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand), Lauren Arendse (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Milagros Medina (University of Zaragoza, Spain). Bottom row: Carla Mattos (Northeastern University, USA), Maria Cristina Nonato (University of São Paulo, Brazil) and David Crossman (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Dr Frances Separovic has a PhD in physics (University of New South Wales, Australia) and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Chemistry and Deputy Director of the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on using solid-state NMR spectroscopy to elucidate the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins and peptides. Frances has studied a range of membrane-active peptides in phospholipid membranes (Sani and Separovic 2016) and, more recently, in bacteria (Sani et al. 2019) as the conformation of these peptides is dependent on the environment.

Dr Pimchai Chaiyen has a PhD in biological chemistry (University of Michigan). She is Professor and Dean of the School of Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand. Her lab is interested in understanding and engineering enzyme catalysts and developing them for clean and green industry. For example, her lab has developed a chemo-enzymatic cascade that can detoxify the nitro- and halogenated phenol environmental toxins into valuable chemicals as well as provide a highly sensitive detection assay (Watthaisong et al. 2019).

Dr Lauren Arendse has a PhD in medical biochemistry (University of Cape Town). She is an early career researcher based at the Drug Discovery and Development centre (H3D) at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She was recently awarded a prestigious Future Leaders—African Independent Research (FLAIR) fellowship. Her work involves structure-based drug design that utilises her expertise in recombinant protein production, enzyme assay development and structural biology. Her current research focuses on targeting Plasmodium kinases for malaria drug discovery as described in her recent review article (Arendse et al. 2021). This article highlights the progress made in this area, together with the opportunities and challenges associated with developing kinase inhibitors for malaria.

Dr Milagros Medina has a PhD in biochemistry (University of Zaragoza). She is Full Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Deputy Director at the Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her research seeks to understand the structure–function relationship in metabolic processes mediated by redox proteins. In particular, her interest focus on understanding the versatility of flavoenzymes as efficient and sophisticated molecular tools that use molecular recognition to regulate cellular processes. To this end, she combines biochemical and biophysical tools with the use of computational methods. Among others, she is investigating the flavoenzyme known as apoptosis-inducing factor that supports OXPHOS biogenesis and programmed cell death, with missense mutations producing neurodegenerative phenotypes. In the last years, she has contributed to identify: (i) a portion of this enzyme contributing to its stability at the intermembrane mitochondrial space; (ii) NADH-redox-linked conformational changes coursing with strong NAD⁺ binding and protein dimerisation, while producing a negative impact in overall protein stability and (iii) loss of functionality in pathogenic variants due to distortion of the active site architecture. These features can be found in the following publication (Villanueva et al. 2019).

Dr Carla Mattos has a PhD in chemistry (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and is a professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Her lab investigates the mechanisms that control the recognition, assembly and function of macromolecular complexes, with a particular focus on the structural biology of Ras GTPases. Her research uses a combination of experimental and computational biophysical methods that include X-ray crystallography, small angle X-ray scattering, NMR and molecular dynamics simulations. For example, her group recently showed that one of the Ras binding partners promotes Ras dimerisation, suggesting a novel platform for synchronised Ras signal amplification in the cell (Packer et al. 2021).

Dr Maria Cristina Nonato has a PhD in applied physics (Physics Institute at São Carlos-University of São Paulo). She is Professor in the Department of Biomolecular Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP), University of São Paulo. Her research is focused on structural biology applied to drug discovery with special emphasis in protein crystallography, enzyme kinetics, biophysical and biochemical characterisation of protein targets and ligand screening by both in silico and in vitro techniques. For example, her group solved the crystal structure of class I fumarate hydratase from the tropical parasite Leishmania major and identified a unique protein fold that could be targeted by anti-leishmaniases therapies (Feliciano et al. 2016). Cristy is also a disseminator of science, giving speeches to highlight the important role of women in science.

Dr David Crossman has a PhD in biological sciences (University of Auckland). He is a Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellow, Department of Physiology, University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research looks at the nanoscale remodelling of the macromolecular complexes that control calcium signalling in the failing heart. For example, using super-resolution microscopy he was able to document increased deposition of collagen with the transverse tubules in the failing human heart, a structure critical to calcium-initiated contraction (Crossman et al. 2017).

In upcoming issues of Biophysical Reviews, we plan to publish articles on the careers of the speakers to inspire the next generation of biophysicists.

Declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.