Meet our Early Career Scientist Grant Winner Daina Pamedytytė
We’re delighted to introduce another of our Early Career Scientist Grant winners! Each month we award a $500 grant to one lucky life scientist to support their career, and our latest winner is Daina Pamedytytė.
Daina is a final year PhD student working with Urtė Neniškytė at Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. Daina will use the grant to help fund her attendance at the 11th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience 2023 in Granada, Spain on 9th-13th September 2023 where she will present her poster “RT-qPCR-based assay to measure the integrity of mRNA in synaptosomal RNA samples from mouse and human brain tissue”.
When we asked Daina how she felt about receiving the award, she told us:
I found out that I’d received this award at the end of a very hard day so it was very uplifting. In the research world where results take a lot of time, any kind of appreciation or recognition is vastly helpful. This grant definitely boosted my motivation and gave me the feeling of security that I will have all the funds I need to participate in the IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience 2023. Daina Pamedytyte, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania, Hello Bio Early Career Scientist Grant winner
Congratulations Daina! First, can you tell us a bit more about what you're working on at the moment?
I am currently trying to finish my PhD. During these studies I implemented a recently developed method to extract enriched excitatory synaptic population which allowed studying their local transcriptome during development. To check the quality of synaptic RNA samples I also developed a RT-qPCR based method to measure mRNA integrity. Moreover, with my colleagues we developed a very sensitive Phosphatidylserine biosensor that works well for labelling it in vitro, in vivo as well as ex vivo.
What is it about your field of research that gets you most excited?
Connecting neurodevelopmental disorders to biochemical processes.
Which scientists working today do you most admire, and why?
My colleagues, my fellow PhD students mostly because their hard work that I see every day keeps me going and motivates me to do better. They are a constant support - offering advice, helping, and making coffee when needed!
What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing life scientists and their work?
Competition would be the first thing that comes to mind. There are many great scientists and many great labs but grants are limited. So there is always that insecurity of the future that depends on whether you will get that funding for research, salary or for various events and conferences. Being good at grant writing is often more valuable than being brilliant in research. The lack of stability and academic pressure for constant results is stressful and makes many young scientists consider leaving for industry jobs with better pay. Because competition for academic positions is fierce - there is simply no need to offer higher salaries to attract candidates.
And finally… what’s your favourite science quote?
I don’t think I have a favourite science quote but one of my favourite quotes in general is by psychologist Jordan B. Peterson – “The better ambitions have to do with the development of character and ability, rather than status and power. Status you can lose. You carry character with you wherever you go.”
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Thank you so much Daina! We wish you the very best of luck with your poster presentation at IBRO 2023!
Connect with Daina & the Urte Neniskyte lab:
- ResearchGate: Daina Pamedytytė
- Twitter: @DainaPamedytyte
- Twitter: @uneniskytelab
- Lab website: The Laboratory of Dr Urtė Neniškytė
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