I have known Dhirendra Simanshu (DS) since, 2002. The only thing I remember from our interaction was his greetings with an evergreen warm smile. After several years, when I met him at MSKCC NYC he did not change a bit. He greeted me with that same warmth. He was the first alumni from IISc, who readily came forward to share his experience of academic job hunting. ClubSciWri presents his full interview wherein he talks about how young postdocs should go about academic transitions. It is a great post and a personal favorite of mine.- Ananda Ghosh (AG)
AG: Tell us about yourself
DKS: I am a structural biologist by training, graduated from IISc in the year 2006. Did my postdoc at MSKCC (2007-2014). Currently working as a Structural Biology team lead in the RAS Initiative program at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (NCI). My major goal here is to provide atomic details of KRAS-effector complexes for structure-based drug design.
You can find more info here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhirendra-simanshu-1426a52
AG: Tell us about your experience at IISC and what motivated you to science
DKS: During my B. Sc (Hons) in Biotechnology at St. Columba’s college, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, I studied for the first time many interesting subjects such as Recombinant DNA Technology, Immunology, biophysics, animal/plant/environmental biotechnology. I then decided to do M Sc. in Biotech and got admission in JNU, New Delhi. During my MSc, I got first hand experience of laboratory research and that motivated me to do a PhD.
After my IISc entrance exam, I was asked to join Prof. MRN Murthy’s lab at MBU, IISc for my PhD. I didn’t know him and didn’t have much idea about the technique (X-ray crystallography) used in his lab. He suggested me to come and attend a big biophysics meeting organized by MBU a couple of days before admission and see if the lab and the area excited me for PhD work. As he suggested, I arrived at IISc 3-4 days before my admission date and spent time in his lab and attended the talks. After meeting Murthy, I knew I was at the right place. For the next five years, I enjoyed working everyday in the lab mainly due to Murthy and excellent atmosphere created in the lab by my labmates. The training, mentorship and day-to-day advice I received from him have influenced my life in a big way. IISc experience got more memorable with life across the road in Gymkhana either on Friday’s movie night or playing cricket for 5 years (didn’t miss a single BICS cup match for MBU in 5 years time and MBU won the cup four times in a row).
AG: How did you choose the postdoc lab?
DKS: As a postdoc, my plan was to expand/improve my training, work on cutting-edge research and publish high-impact papers. I short-listed a long list (~20) of labs which I felt would fall under this category and then I sent this list to many lab seniors for feedback (to see if they knew anything about these PIs, lab atmosphere and for any suggestions they had). This helped me prioritize the labs in my list. I then went ahead and wrote to them very personalized letters as emails along with my CV including detailed list of publications. Most of the PIs replied (some of them after a gentle reminder) in negative as either they didn’t have space, funding or probably I was not good enough for their labs. One of the labs in my list was Prof. Dinshaw Patel’s lab at MSKCC. I wrote to him as well and received an instant reply and the day he got my reference letters from my mentors, he offered me a position.
AG: Tell us briefly about your experience during postdoc.
DKS: Initial postdoc phase was better as pressure was mainly on moving forward with the research projects. As years passed, I had to start thinking about transitioning to the next stage. Although I was open to both academic and industrial career, I wanted to try academia first. Most of the research projects in my postdoc lab were very competitive so we had pressure all the time to get the results soon and avoid being scooped by any competitors. Also there is always self-pressure to publish big so that transition into academic research becomes less difficult. During the last two years as a postdoc, I spent a large portion of my time on writing research plans, grant proposals, applications etc. and that added additional uncertainty and pressure during that time.
AG: Tell us what was the most difficult aspect of postdoc?
DKS: Maintaining a work-life balance. At times, it was very difficult to keep up the pace of research work, fulfill expectations of postdoc mentor and fulfill responsibilities as a parent at home. Planning, prioritization and better time management in these times were helpful.
AG: What do you think about mentorship and is it important for successful transition to academia?
DKS: Transitioning from postdoc to academia is getting tough with each passing day due to the simple fact that there are way too many very good postdocs compared to the number of faculty positions available in academic institutions. Mentorship plays a big role in the transition process but one need not lose hope if they do not receive strong support from mentor. Based on my experiences, I felt that the following factors play an important role in transitioning from postdoc to academic position:
- Impressive publications (high-impact journals)
- Research area/field
- Research Plan
- Funding: Transition grant/Fellowship
- Postdoctoral mentor reputation in that area
- Reference letter from Postdoctoral mentor
- Reputation of PhD mentor in training and in that given research area
- Reference letter from PhD mentor
- Ability to give impressive talks (excite people from different research backgrounds)
- Personality and interpersonal interaction
- Excitement, enthusiasm and persistence for that position
I feel strong publications, funding (grant/fellowship) and strong support from postdoc mentor are top three factors in transitioning from postdoc to academic career.
AG: How did you go with the job search? Did you plan your job search?
DKS: I started applying seriously during the last two years of my postdoc. I took advice from my seniors who had been in this stage recently and that was very helpful. I tried my best for academic positions both in US and in India. I interviewed at more than fourteen institutions in India during three different India trips. Indian institutions have gotten better in recent times with the application process but there is still scope for a lot of improvement. I also attended two YIMs (one in Boston and one in India) and that helped me network with people from different institutions. I felt I had a good chance based on most of the factors I described above. In the end, most of the institutes where I really wanted to join did not offer me an academic position citing one or other reason at the final stage of the application process. Unfortunately, I could not join the two institutions that offered me faculty positions in India due to some professional and personal reasons. My application for a faculty position at MBU, IISc was turned down at the fourth and final stage citing that I was an ex-MBU student and the dept. was not keen on hiring any more of their own students. I see some rationale for doing this but as someone said to me – if IISc likes to take best students in the country then they should also hire the best faculty, irrespective of whether they are their own students or from other institutes. I am mentioning this here as this will hold true for most of the folks who are part of this group. In the end, I failed to convince people from top institutions in India that I was good enough (even with a Wellcome-DBT intermediate fellowship in my hand) for a faculty position in their institute. My initial job search experience in US was also disappointing mainly due to the lack of any transition grant/fellowship. In early 2014, I received positive response from Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research (run by Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. for NCI). After a phone interview, I attended the on-site interview and provided them with the reference letters. They offered a Structural Biology Team Lead (Senior Scientist) position to me and I joined in October 2014.
AG: What was your experience during interview?
DKS: In most of the academic institutions, you are analyzed for everything you say, ask or do as you go through the various stages of application process. A lot of discussion happens about your postdoc work, your research plan, funding plans, your infrastructural requirement, research work done by other faculty members at that institution and spouse job prospects if they happen to be in the same area. It is important to read and know about the work of other people whom you will be meeting. It is also helpful to explore common areas of research where there is any future prospect of collaboration. Also, during one-to-one interactions, it is very important to explain a clear research plan and backup strategies, if plan A doesn’t work out.
AG: What suggestions do you have for future PhDs who will hit the academic job market?
DKS: I truly believe that pursuing a PhD in biomedical research is not a great career option until and unless you are passionate and excited about it and aware of the struggles that you may have to face in the coming years. My first suggestion for future PhDs/postdocs would be to keep all career paths open as in this current job market no one can guarantee an academic position in India/USA. In reply to question #6, I have listed various factors that I feel are important for transitioning from postdoc to academic position. My suggestion is one should start working towards it as soon as you have one good publication from your postdoc lab. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of funding for an academic position in the current scenario, esp. in USA. It is extremely important for a PhD or a new postdoc to find out various fellowships/funding options that they are eligible for. They need to apply for those as and when they reach their timelines. Also, it is important to attend grant-writing seminars if arranged by your institution.
AG: What has been your happiest moment after you started your own lab?
DKS: In the last one year, I have received amazing support from my heads here as they all want me to succeed. Since I do not have to write any grants or teach, I focus all my energy on research projects. I now have much better work-life balance and much higher job satisfaction and joy as and when we make a significant progress in our projects. Though it is very difficult to define any one such moment, I suppose the first novel structure that I solved as an independent researcher gave me a lot of happiness and satisfaction.
Job opportunities at Frederick National Lab:
The Frederick National Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated (Leidos Biomedical Research, Incl.) facility devoted exclusively to biomedical research and development. It conducts basic, translational, and preclinical research and development in cancer and AIDS. NCI started RAS initiative program at FNLCR in 2013 and I joined an year later. Unlike typical NCI labs, where PIs have the freedom to carry out any cancer related independent research, we have mandate to only perform research that is directly or indirectly related to RAS-driven cancers.
FNLCR is a big institution (more than 1800 employees) and has regular job postings for many positions related to biomedical research that may be suitable for some of you working in that area. I would suggest keeping an eye on these postings and apply as and when any suitable positions appear. Since FNLCR is operated by Leidos Biomedical Research for NCI, most of the ads are posted by Leidos.
http://jobs.leidos.com/ListJobs/All/search/JobTitle/(NCI)/
About DKS: In Dr. Simanshu’s words, “I grew up in Jharkhand (then Bihar) and did B. Sc. (Hons) in Biotechnology from St. Columba’s College, Hazaribag followed by Masters’ in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India. As a part of my Masters’ curriculum, I carried out a research project in the final two semesters, during which I was hooked onto research and started a journey that continues till date. I carried out my doctoral work with Prof. MRN Murthy at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. My work provided detailed structural and functional insights into three propionate metabolic enzymes and showed how they bind to substrates and catalyze enzymatic reactions. For my doctoral work, I received a Young Scientist medal from Indian National Science Academy. The training that I received during my PhD laid a strong foundation in crystallography, enabling me to tackle more challenging problems in structural biology. I subsequently joined the laboratory of Prof. Dinshaw Patel at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York as a postdoctoral fellow. My work there focused on gaining structural and mechanistic insights into the process of non-vesicular transfer of signaling lipids, small-RNA mediated gene regulation and bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems. During fall of 2014, I joined the RAS initiative at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (operated by Leidos Biomedical Research for NCI) where I am establishing a structural biology research program focused exclusively on KRAS, its oncogenic mutants, and their complexes with various effectors/interactors/partner proteins.”
email: dhirendra.simanshu@fnlcr.nih.gov
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