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Adriana Bankston is a postdoc at the University of Louisville. Recently, she arranged for F1000 Outreach Director Kinga Hosszu to speak as part of a career seminar series. This is a longer version of an interview that was included in this month’s newsletter for F1000 Specialists.

 

Can you tell us a bit about the career seminar series at the University of Louisville?

The Career Research Advancement Focused Training (CRAFT) Seminar Series meets monthly during the academic year for a lunchtime session focusing on career development for postdoctoral fellows at the University of Louisville. This seminar series is intended to be a forum for postdoctoral fellows at the University of Louisville to present their own research, with the goal of obtaining feedback from colleagues, practicing for a job interview, or speaking at a conference. In addition, the seminar series features speakers from various fields in which postdocs may venture following their training at the University of Louisville. The seminar series started in April 2014, and is currently being attended by both postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. The seminar series is sponsored by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Louisville.

Did you get any useful feedback from the audience after Kinga’s talk about F1000?

Dr. Hosszu gave a talk entitled “Careers in Science Policy” at the University of Louisville on July 30, 2015. The portion of her presentation relating to F1000Workspace was very informative for the audience, as many people asked questions about it and were very interested in using it in the future. I believe this presentation made the audience more aware of F1000 and shed light onto how F1000Workspace can be useful for their current research purpose. In addition, her presentation about an editorial career path was very useful in terms of the factors to consider if one is interested in this career path, and pondered answers to questions like “Why did you leave research?” or “Why do you want this type of career?” The rest of her presentation about various types of science writing, as well as what it would be like to work in science outreach, gave people a good idea of what they can expect from these types of careers. One really important point I took away from her talk is that scientists interested in these careers need to start building their portfolio by participating in pertinent experiences at the local level, and gradually move up into the position they desire. The other important point and surprising fact I learned is that scientists already have all the skills necessary to succeed in these types of careers, and no additional experience is required.

Finally, can you tell us in 2 sentences what your research project is about?

My current postdoctoral work is focused on investigating the regulation of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) tyrosine phosphorylation by the endocytic pathway. My long-term goal is developing therapies to inhibit progression of muscle disease via regulating EGFR activity in skeletal muscle cells.