Meet our Early Career Scientist Grant Winner Carla Tous Mayol
We are pleased to introduce the latest winner of our Early Career Scientist Grant! Carla Tous Mayol is the recipient of our $500 grant awarded monthly to a PhD or postdoc life scientist to help support their career.
Carla is a first year PhD student working at the University of Paris, INSERM, in Ariel Lindner’s lab and she will use the grant to attend an in-person workshop held by Build-a-Cell in Caltech (USA).
When we asked how she felt about the award, she said:
So apparently… it happened! The grant is facilitating me to attend an in-person workshop, and it feels like these are my first baby steps as a young researcher into the field. Carla Tous Mayol, University of Paris, France, Hello Bio Early Career Scientist Grant winner
Congratulations Carla! First, can you tell us a bit more about what you're working on at the moment?
I am building compartments inside bacteria so they can do things for us, such as in energy (eg. fuel bioproduction), health (eg. novel antibiotics) and environmental remediation (eg. water detoxification). More accurately, this compartmentalization system is based on RNA repetitive sequences that undergo liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) forming synthetic organelles, thus providing an isolated environment within the cell.
What is it about your field of research that gets you most excited?
I love the fact that conducting fundamental research, building a solid bedrock, can lead to future applications. Things that I am not even able to conceive now!
Which scientists working today do you most admire, and why?
It’s not one or a few scientists, it’s a community (not large enough!) that shares my values of open, collaborative and interdisciplinary science that aims to bring equality, sustainability and knowledge to the present and future world.
What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing life scientists and their work?
In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges is to have everyone on the same page with scientific advances. How can we establish a meeting point between scientific discoveries, the general public, politicians, ethics, policy makers and so on?
On the other hand, we, life scientists, are carrying on our shoulders the weight of a changing world that urges sustainable solutions in health, energy, materials… and I believe that giving equal opportunities and resources is a fundamental starting point to overcome such challenges.
And finally… what’s your favourite science quote?
The legend says "all your clonings will work one day".
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Thank you so much Carla! We wish you all the best with the workshop and with your future research.
Connect with Carla:
- Twitter: @ctousm
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