Visitor of the Week: Allan Kalungi

Meet Allan Kalungi! The Ugandan national is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Makerere University (Uganda) and the African Computational Genomics Group at MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. The postdoctoral researcher joined at us last month’s workshop on Schizophrenia & Related Disorders—his first course at CSHL.

Tell us about your research.
My research is focused on understanding the genetic, biological and environmental factors that underly major and complex psychiatric disorders like depression among African populations from Africa.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
The underrepresentation of Africans in global psychiatric genetics research compelled me to focus on this area. Psychiatric disorders are a growing problem in Africa yet we do not know any of the genes or biological pathways for any of these disorders among populations from Africa, despite recent advances in psychiatric genetics research where the genetic nature of several psychiatric disorder has been illuminated. There is an urgent need to include Africans in global psychiatric genetics research if they are to benefit from recent psychiatric genetics discoveries.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
Africa had generally been left out in psychiatric genetics research. The current global attention to increase the visibility of Africans in global psychiatric research is a big inspiration in my scientific journey. In 2017, I pioneered psychiatric genetics research in East Africa when I produced the first article in the field that reported the association of selected serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms with increased suicidal risk among Uganda adults living with HIV.

Allan hiding in a cactus “forest” somewhere in Cape Town.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I hope my work will contribute to the understanding of the biology that underlies various psychiatric disorders among populations from Africa. I also hope that my work will refine the global understanding of the biology behind these disorders with the inclusion of the highly diverse genetics data from Africa.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself as an independent researcher on the forefront of psychiatric genetics research in Africa.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I love being in an environment where things are not static and your thinking is under stimulation.

What drew you to apply to this course?
I am interested in understanding the nature of the comorbidity between depression and schizophrenia. My desire to understand the phenotypic and genetic nature of schizophrenia and its related disorders compelled me to apply to the course.

What is your key takeaway from the Course; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
It is crucial to understand mechanisms that link genetic variations to disease. I plan to investigate these as well in my genetics studies.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this course?
This is a great course where you will most likely catch up on recent, worldwide breakthroughs in all aspects of schizophrenia research; from Neuroscience approaches to Genetics/Epigenetics and Neuroimmunology.

Enjoying his last dinner of the course, and his first lobster!

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Course?
Meeting with top investigators in schizophrenia research like Robin Murray, Jeremy Hall, Anissa Abi-Dargham and James Walters among others. The most memorable moment was however the schizophrenia case presentation.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I like the serenity around CSHL. It is isolated with no neighborhoods and is surrounded by trees. I enjoyed the breeze from the ocean. The food was nice and I enjoyed the lobster for the first time in my life!

Allan received a scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to cover his course tuition. On behalf of Allan, thank you to HHMI for supporting and enabling our young scientists to attend a CSHL course where they expand their skills, knowledge, and network.

Thank you to Allan for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured scientists - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Images provided by Allan Kalungi

Visitor of the Week: María Jose Gomez Hughes

Meet María Jose Gomez Hughes who is affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). At the University of Texas, María Jose is a scientist associate in the Genomic Sequencing and Analysis Facility (GSAF) while she is a collaborator in Andrew J. Crawford’s lab in the Universidad de los Andes. The Colombian national is at CSHL this week attending her first meeting: The Biology of Genomes.  

Tell us about your research.
At the GSAF, I work with researchers through preparing NGS libraries and doing quality control of said libraries. And at the Crawford Lab, I use genomics to understand the conservation status of capybaras and frogs as well as study frog evolution and adaptation to environmental variables.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I have always found evolution fascinating and have been drawn to understand it, including the role conservation status plays in it. At the same time, I greatly enjoy being in the lab and helping other people.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I am inspired by all the great women and non-binary people in science, both by their work and by their resilience. I am also inspired by the world around me, by its beauty and intricacy. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself in the same place I am right now. I greatly enjoy my work and wouldn’t want to change it.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I enjoy solving problems and being able to feed my curiosity.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
I thought the Biology of Genomes to be a great place to learn about all the genomics research taking place all around the world.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
There is way more innovative research going on in genomics, both in wet and dry lab, than I previously thought. I plan to apply some of the things I learned in my research and see what new things I can find.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
I would advise them to take it slow. There are a lot of things going on and it can become a bit hectic so try to enjoy not only the meeting and the great science, but also all the natural surroundings.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
There are a lot of memorable things that happened during the meeting and it’s hard to choose one, but being able to engage with other researchers and discuss with them in person was definitely a great change.

Is this your first in-person meeting since the pandemic? If so, any thoughts you’d like to share?
Yes, it’s great to be able to talk to people about their research in person, in particular at the poster sessions. Having presented online before, I know how hard it can be so it’s great to have in-person meetings again; though online meetings are still great for accessibility and to engage with a broader audience.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
How beautiful it is around here. There’s so much nature going on in and around campus. I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

Thank you to Maria Jose for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Maria Jose Gomez Hughes

Visitor of the Week: Nico Wahl

Meet Nico Wahl of the Institute for Neuroscience in Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria). The German national is a PhD Student in Georg Dechant’s lab and is taking part in his first meeting at CSHL: Genome Organization & Nuclear Function; where he presented a poster entitled “SATB2 Organizes the 3D Genome Architecture of Cognition.”

Tell us about your research.
Our lab is interested in how the neuronal nucleus adapts and processes information for an entire lifetime. To get a deeper understanding into these processes we study a nuclear protein called SATB2 that binds to DNA and modulates its 3D structure to regulate important neuronal genes.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I was always intrigued by how we make the information in our genome accessible. Since all our cells have the same DNA we have to regulate these genes in a highly coordinated fashion. Our lab has the tools and model systems to answer parts of this fundamental question which helped me choose the project I am currently working in.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
Neuroscientists seem to struggle to explain how the experiences we gather during our life become encoded into the epigenome inside the neuronal nuclei of our brain. Here I find my inspiration to provide mechanisms on how these adaptive processes shape who we become.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
So far there are no studies about classical transcription factors that affect the 3D genome of neurons. We hope to provide data about the complex interplay between synaptic activity and nuclear proteins that shape the genome structure in the future.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I really like the entire process: from formulating a hypothesis to answering it by conducting the right experiments. The joy of studying something no one has ever described before is what excites me.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
The selection of speakers and organizers is excellent and provides a broad overview of the topics currently studied in the field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
There are always different viewpoints to how people perceive science. This meeting gives an opportunity to present your thoughts to a large audience and discuss the various viewpoints that will help generate new ideas and inspiration for future work.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
Time at the meeting is limited so engage with as many people as possible to discuss novel ideas.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
After the pandemic it is such a joy to talk with people face-to-face and engage in inspiring discussions. Meeting some of the leaders in the field and introducing them to my ideas was especially helpful.

How was your experienced presenting a poster at this meeting?
Presenting a poster varies each time because--depending on their scientific background--people look at your research from a different angle. It is always interesting to receive comments and notes from peers to implement into your work.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The surrounding at CSHL is really beautiful. The contrast of sitting in the audience listening to the newest science and leaving the auditorium to step directly into this green campus was a huge joy.

Thank you to Nico for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Nico Wahl

Visitor of the Week: Spyridon "Spiros" Chavlis

Meet Spyridon “Spiros” Chavlis of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (Greece). The postdoc is a member of Dr. Panayiota Poirazi’s lab within the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He is with us this week at the second iteration of the From Neuroscience to Artificially Intelligent Systems meeting, where he presented a poster entitled “Empowering artificial neural networks by adding biological dendrites.” This was the first time Spiros presented this specific project and he “received very constructive feedback, and [NAISys being] a focused conference allowed for discussions on [his] project with people [who share] the same scientific interests.”

Tell us about your research.
My research focuses on how neuronal dendrites affect the formation, storage, and retrieval of memories. To do so, I am using biophysical computational neuronal models, and I am also developing bio-inspired deep learning architectures.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
During the last few years, I developed neuronal models and networks of neurons in all levels of abstraction. However, deep learning was always fascinating to me, and thus I decided to follow this direction. I genuinely believe that neuroscience can help us understand and improve AI systems.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
Personally, I enjoy following challenging avenues and discovering new areas of interest. My supervisor Dr. Panayiota Poirazi inspired me to pursue a career in academia by sharing her passion for studying the brain and also allowing me to pursue my own research. In addition, the students I supervised throughout the years have encouraged me to continue what I do: try to unravel the mysteries of the brain.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I hope to help the field of AI to move forward and be accessible to everyone by reducing the high demand for computational power. Also, I would like my computational models to help us guide more targeted experiments and, in turn, help people with neurological diseases.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I cannot predict the future, and neither can my algorithms! But, I cannot imagine myself without doing research and teaching/supervising/mentoring young students as a volunteer lecturer at a local university in Heraklion, Crete .

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I always enjoyed learning new things and pushing myself. Being a researcher gives me the necessary space to be creative and pursue whatever idea I have. In addition, supervising young people in the lab is truly inspiring as I like seeing students develop critical thinking and pursuing their own research.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
The title of this meeting, From Neuroscience to Artificially Intelligent Systems (NAISys), is the main focus of my work--improving AI through neuroscience--so it was the best opportunity to learn about the current advances in the field from people who have inspired me through their scientific works, and receive feedback on my current project. In addition, visiting CSHL was always a dream of mine that happened thanks to financial support from CSHL Meetings & Courses.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The key takeaway are the feedback I received about my research and the new advances in the field. I have participated in many conferences; however, this was one of the most targeted meetings I have ever attended. I collected several useful insights to improve my model, and I cannot wait to start incorporating them.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
I would tell them to apply and submit an abstract. It was a fantastic experience, a very well-organized meeting, and an excellent opportunity to meet scientists with whom you share the same interests.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The most memorable moment was when I saw Prof. Andrew Barto give his talk. Meeting in-person one of my true inspirational researchers and learn so many new things from him has been a dream come true for me.

Is this your first in-person meeting since the pandemic?
NAISys was my first in-person meeting since the Covid-19 outbreak, and it solidified the importance of in-person meetings. Although the scientific community tried to fill the gap with virtual meetings that kept us in touch, in my opinion, the networking and non-science-related discussions during an in-person meeting are invaluable.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
I enjoyed the time spent at the campus during the breaks. I was able to walk around and take in fresh air, always having a fantastic view of the harbor.

Thank you to Spiros for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Spyridon Chavlis

Visitor of the Week: Edwin G. Peña-Martínez

Meet Edwin G. Peña-Martínez of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Río Piedras Campus. The third-year PhD Candidate at Dr. José A. Rodríguez-Martínez’s laboratory (The JARM Lab) is at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory participating in Systems Biology: Global Regulation of Gene Expression—his first meeting as a graduate student and his first in-person meeting since the pandemic. Edwin presented his first in-person poster titled ‘Elucidating the Molecular Mechanism of Non-Coding Variants in NKX2-5 Binding Sites on Congenital Heart Disease.’

Tell us about your research, and how you decided to focus on this area/project.
I work with cardiac transcription factors (TFs) involved in heart development. Specifically, I research the molecular mechanisms of regulatory variants in Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs). I got involved in this project after meeting my mentor, Dr. Jose A. Rodríguez-Martínez, in my first graduate course. I have always been fascinated by Molecular Biology, and this course got me interested in understanding protein-DNA interactions.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
I was inspired to become a scientist thanks to Dr. Elsie Rivera. I had no idea doing research was a career option until she approached me to work in her lab. It was working with Dr. Rivera that I discovered that I wanted to pursue a PhD.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
Five years from now I see myself finishing a post-doc and starting my career in academia. I wish to provide research opportunities while inspiring undergraduate students to pursue a career in STEM.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
What I love most about being a scientist is discovering something new in my field. In a way it’s like being the first to learn a secret, but one I am allowed to share.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
Being a scientist is a constant learning curve. Leading researchers in my field attend this meeting; as a result, CSHL Systems Biology is the best platform to learn the latest methods and discoveries in my field.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The best takeaway from this experience is the perspective and feedback I received from the countless researchers I met. This will allow me to approach my research with new methods and techniques that I previously did not consider.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
I would tell them to stop considering it and come to CSHL. I was extremely nervous and thought that I was not ready to participate. However, it was an amazing opportunity and I learned more than I could imagine. I can’t wait to come back for the next meeting!

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
Probably one of the most memorable experiences is meeting some the scientist I most admire. For example, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Polly Fordyce after reading most of her publications.

Is this your first in-person meeting since the pandemic? If so, any thoughts you’d like to share?
I started my PhD in the same year the pandemic started, and I have not been able to attend an in-person meeting. Participating in CSHL Systems Biology was exciting and fun. I’ve been missing this kind of networking experience.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
CSHL is such a welcoming and cozy place. It is by far one of the friendliest environments I have had the privilege of joining. Not to mention the place is beautiful.

Thank you to Edwin for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Edwin G. Peña-Martínez