Meet our Early Career Scientist Grant Winner Palanivel Kandasamy
It’s time to meet our next Early Career Scientist Grant winner!
Palanivel Kandasamy of the University of Bern, Switzerland, is the latest recipient of our monthly $500 grant awarded to a PhD or postdoc life scientist to help support their career.
Palanivel is a postdoctoral cancer researcher working in Professor Matthias Hediger’s lab at the Institute of Nephrology and Hypertension, Insel Hospital in Bern. He plans to use the grant to help fund a trip to the CNIO conference on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Cell Metabolism, which takes place in Madrid, Spain, from 24-26 October this year.
When we asked how he felt about receiving the grant, he told us:
I am very grateful to Hello Bio for offering me the Early Career Scientist Grant. This will help me to present our recent findings at the CNIO conference on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Cell Metabolism, which will take place in Madrid, Spain from 24-26 October 2022. This is an excellent opportunity to meet and discuss with experts from the worldwide field of cancer metabolism research. Palanivel Kandasamy, University of Bern, Switzerland, Hello Bio Early Career Scientist Grant winner
Congratulations Palanivel! First, can you tell us a bit more about what you're working on at the moment?
I am working on membrane transporters that are classified under the solute carrier (SLC) superfamily. SLCs are gatekeepers in the membranes of cells and organelles (e.g. mitochondria, lysosomes) and they are crucial for the transport of nutrients into and out of cells. In particular, I am engaged in determining the differentially expressed SLCs in colorectal cancer using patient specimens, cell lines and cancer tissue microarrays; and understanding the role of differentially expressed SLCs in metabolic reprogramming, cancer cell proliferation and drug resistance by using CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing, transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches.
What is it about your field of research that gets you most excited?
I am excited about the identification of cancer-subtype specific SLC alterations, which will help us to generate new insights into the development of precision medicine strategies for the treatment of colorectal cancers.
Which scientists working today do you most admire, and why?
I greatly admire scientists who share ideas and resources, and who encourage interdisciplinary research to find cures for cancer.
What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing life scientists and their work?
The major challenge for most of the scientists is that there is no adequate financial support for basic life science research. Furthermore, most of the early career research professionals are facing many difficulties due to temporary work contracts, lack of resources and underpaid research positions.
And finally… what are your favourite science quotes?
“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done”. – Robert A. Heinlein
“Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it”. – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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Thank you so much Palanivel! We hope you enjoy the CNIO conference in October.
Connect with Palanivel:
- Twitter: @PalanivelKanda1
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