Career

For eight years now, Dr. Christiane Nolte has been the Women’s Representative at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). She is especially committed to increasing career opportunities, raising the profile of female scientists, and improving work-family balance.

Power imbalances and dependencies make it difficult to discuss lab conflicts. This is especially the case for PhD students. At the Max Delbrück Center, Matthias Selbach serves as their ombudsman. His advice is to seek help early on. This interview kicks off our “We at the MDC” series.

Amani Said about her unusual career path and her involvement in ScienceMatters, a publishing platform based on the principles of Open Science.

An interview with MDC alumnus Chris Froehlich, who is currently working as a postdoc at Columbia University in New York City.

A doctorate is a key milestone for everyone who wants to embark on an academic career. Numerous postdoctoral researchers – such as Tobias Opialla, who is still unsure about his next steps, or Marina Kolesnichenko, who wants to develop a career in science – are also working in the MDC laboratories. Both are taking up the opportunities provided by the MDC to guide their decision-making.

“Ideally as a postdoc you should aim to publish as last as well as first author and gather experience writing grants,” says Professor Yves Muller, formerly researcher at the MDC. The crystallographer emphasises that postdocs wanting to become group leads need to enjoy independence and be ready to follow their own ideas.

Dr Irene Coin applies chemical knowledge to biological problems, revealing structural information about proteins. At the MDC Alumni Talks and Career Pathways lecture series she spoke about her work and described how human elements can be the secret to the best scientific relationships.

Microbiologist and biochemist Prof. Emanuelle Charpentier gave the Elena Timoféeff-Ressovsky Lecture at the MDC, presenting her famous discovery, the CRISPR-Cas system. This molecular tool can accurately process genetic material is used by researchers worldwide.

MDC Alumna Sonya Dumanis came to one of the MDC's Career Talks to discuss and reflect on her experiences at the MDC, in and outside research.