Hooked on immunology

Professor Alan Baxter, Head of the Comparative Genomics Centre at James Cook University, will deliver the annual Australasian Society for Immunology (ASI) Postgraduate Lecture to inspire a new crop of immunologists to take on a career in science.

Early-career researchers will be taken on a journey through the seven stages of an academic career, from honours student to postdoctorate to lab leader, institute director and retirement, in Professor Alan Baxter’s postgraduate lecture at the Australasian Society for Immunology (ASI) conference.

With biomedical sciences graduates on the decrease, people like Baxter are a much-needed resource to motivate students and help them establish their goals.

Baxter’s career has not just entailed life at the bench as an immunology researcher. At the same time as running an internationally competitive research lab, he has delved into public outreach work with community organisations and charities, written a popular science book, given talks on the radio and taught students.

“I’ve explored the boundaries of the box in which a researcher lives,” Baxter admitted.

Currently about halfway through his professional life, Baxter thinks his audience may laugh when he tells them he’s 50 years old.

“Most people would think I am a long way past halfway,” he said. “But by the time you have done a PhD and training fellowship most people are in their 30s. Then by the time you’ve got your first NHMRC fellowship most people are in their mid- to late-40s.”

The overseas transfer

“Moving is usually a part of a career in science,” said Baxter, whose career path started in medicine at the University of Melbourne followed by a PhD in immunogenetics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

Making the career choice to move overseas is a relatively easy one given the strong international reputation Australia and New Zealand immunologists have. Although finding a suitable lab that supports the breadth of a person’s professional and cultural life can be challenging.

“It really is something people need to think through,” said Baxter, adding that he had good and bad postdoctoral experiences overseas.

“You may pick up new techniques or a new understanding so that when you come back to Australia you can make a great contribution to a lab and it’s easier for you to establish a niche. And for many people, it is probably their only chance in their life to explore another culture in a serious way.

“On the other hand, you can lose a lot of productivity. I think a fair few people who go overseas as a postdoc come back without having published anything as first or last author. And if you move somewhere that is culturally different or has a language difference you can lose a lot more than that.”

Am I suited to science?

Wondering whether a career in science is the right path is something most people go through early in their career.

For students contemplating this choice, Baxter’s advice is to go to a quiet, dimly lit room for half an hour or so and just sit.

“The question is do you sit and think or do you just sit there?” said Baxter, who believes the key to doing science is to be a habitual thinker. “If you’re the kind of person who, when sitting alone in a quiet room, there’s nothing going on upstairs, then maybe science isn’t for you.”

According to Baxter, feelings of self-doubt need to be understood in the context of key aspects of work as a scientist - the peer review process and the fundamental scepticism that scientists possess. He says they are integral to a career in science and, rather than undermining an individual’s self esteem, they can be used to improve performance.

“Peer review means that no matter how good you are there will be people questioning whether what you have shown really matters,” Baxter said.

“People worry and have self-doubt but the important point is that almost everybody has doubts - even the most productive or successful researchers in Australia have expressed doubts about their capabilities or getting their fellowships renewed.”

Strategic goals

A second theme Baxter will cover in his talk is about having strategic goals, such as developing a niche.

“Within immunology you need to develop a niche so that you can be recognised for work that is your area,” he said. “But your niche needs to be broad enough for general appeal so that the people who review your grant or paper, who work in a different niche, recognise that your work is of value.”

Getting funding for salaries and to support research work, and developing security in a research career are other goals Baxter says are key.

Once a person has made their way along the career path to the senior postdoc level, for example, decisions about whether to pursue a career as a research fellow or running a lab arise. This type of career is very much performance based and requires regular application for funding.

“It’s almost to be expected that sooner or later you will lose that funding stream regardless of performance,” said Baxter.

“There’s trade-offs,” he added. “If you run your own lab you have more freedom in a sense. For example, if I moved my lab, the people who work with me would need to decide whether to move too or find another boss.” Nevertheless, someone running a lab may find it more difficult to move because of the facilities they need and the expense involved in establishing these.

Baxter thinks that one of the most secure positions is to be second-in-command in a lab.

“Becoming invaluable begins early on in a postdoc where the secret to being employable is to be invaluable in a technical sense,” Baxter explained. “This then makes you highly competitive and can bring a measure of job security.”

Moving into an academic position that involves mixed duties (teaching and research) provides another way of finding job security. An academic career offers more security because the university provides a salary, which means research performance is not so critical to getting funding.

Outside the research box

Baxter is keen for early-career researchers to look outside of the lab and take advantage of the range of opportunities available to them in their working life.

“Some people think that all you do in biomedical research is biomedical research,” he said. “But aside from the mixed duties of an academic with teaching and research, there’s a wide range of opportunities supported by and sponsored by ASI and other organisations, including in some cases employers, that can enrich your life and are generally viewed favourably when applying for grants as well.”

Baxter cites broadcasting and writing books as well as travelling overseas and giving talks and teaching in the third world as examples of ways his working life has been enhanced.

***************************************************

The seven ages of science

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

Honours

At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.

PhD

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.

Junior Postdoc

And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.

Senior Postdoc

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.

Lab Head

And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

Centre/Institute Director

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

Emeritus Professor

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

After Jaques, Act II Scene VII, William Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

***************************************************

Professor Alan Baxter is Head of the Comparative Genomics Centre at James Cook University in Townsville. He studied medicine at Melbourne University and completed a PhD in immunogenetics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute under the supervision of Tom Mandel. He is known internationally for his contributions to the genetics of autoimmune disease, having established the Autoimmunity Research Group at the Centenary Institute where he worked for 10 years. He has published pioneering work on the genetics of gastritis and the role of NKT cells in autoimmunity, and made major contributions to our understanding of gene/environment interactions in autoimmune disease.  He has been a member of the Australasian Society for Immunology since 1994 and was president of the Society from 2006-2008.