Priyamedha Sengupta, Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre of Research on Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), Spain, and Junior Member IS-MPMI Board of Directors
Happy Birthday, Liebe Maus!
After Falling Walls, the opportunity for outreach arrived again in 2021, when we slowly and cautiously moved back to normalcy after the COVID pandemic. Around the first week of February, doctoral researcher Pia Saake and I received an email from Cordula Joergens from the CEPLAS office. CEPLAS, or Cluster of Excellence in Plant Sciences, binds together four different institutions (UoC, HHU, MPIPZ, and FZJ) and is a symbol of harmony between Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany, amid all the beer, football, and carnival rivalry.
Cordula mentioned that a celebratory event was taking place all over Germany to congratulate the WDR Maus on its 50th anniversary and asked whether we wanted to participate as CEPLAS representatives. Later, I spoke with Petra Bracht (also from CEPLAS), who explained to me about "Die sending mit der Maus," an educational animated program in which an orange mouse, purple elephant, and yellow duck teach young children about science, culture, and more. I jumped at the offer, because how often do you get to congratulate a cartoon mouse?
In the video, Pia spoke of how watching the show as a child inspired her to become a scientist, while I explained how at CEPLAS we generate plants for sustainable agriculture under changing environmental conditions. Although we had to maintain strict protocols for social distancing and wearing masks, I enjoyed the whole video-shooting process, particularly saying “genüngend Nahrungsmittel" (i.e., “enough food") as part of the pitch drafted by Petra. Please follow the link to catch glimpses of the day. A shoutout to both Cordula and Petra, not only for the opportunity, but for believing that I could successfully deliver a pitch in German! Post WDR Maus, my outreach associations with CEPLAS grew stronger.
Thinking Outside the (Soap)box
On the last Friday of every month, all CEPLAS members gather for an afternoon of scientific seminars in either Cologne or Düsseldorf (occasionally Jülich, Germany). During one such CEPLAS Friday meeting (moved to an online format due to the COVID pandemic), we were informed about the upcoming Soapbox Science event. Scientists are accustomed to giving seminars via slide shows to a seated audience in a lecture hall. Soapbox Science does away with everything I mentioned in the previous sentence. Donning white lab coats, speakers stand over wooden Soapboxes in a crowded marketplace ushering in regular passersby with the phrase, "Would you like to hear some science?" More importantly, the purpose of Soapbox Science is to increase the visibility of women and nonbinary scientists.
Eventually, I applied to the Soapbox Science Rhineland 2021 event and was selected few months later for the pitch "Frontline Workers: How Microbes Protect Plants." Before the event, there was an online meet up between the Soapbox speakers and the organizers. The organizing committee explained about the structure of the program, which has some semblance to poster presentations at academic conferences. Although, each speaker would have 1 hour on the soapbox, the pitches should be a short and crisp 10–15 minutes to allow for more audience interaction. To ensure a constant influx of people, each speaker has a volunteer assigned to them. It was fun to become familiar with other Soapbox participants, which included two other CEPLAS members—Alisandra Denton and Adélaïde Raguin. Another familiar face in the speaker's list was that of Harshita Kaul from CECAD, Cologne, who made an amazing performance at Science Slam 2020 (just before the COVID lockdown) about the importance of brown fat in mice and ending with a social message about body shaming. During the online meeting, we gave each other feedback on our pitches and brainstormed ideas to engage visitors. Finally, the session ended on a high note, when the organizers said that a dinner would be organized after the event at L'osteria (Cologne). Having been double vaccinated against COVID, I looked forward to Soapbox Science.
My pitch on August 21, 2021, in Rudolfplatz, one of the busy market areas in Cologne, started off with my showing pictures of moldy strawberries and building up the concept that "plants can get sick too." To keep audiences engaged, I organized a tic-tac-toe match between two groups of people—the plants versus the pathogens. The pathogens had an advantage to start the game, because in nature they greatly outnumber the plants. If the plants won, no disease would take place (Hurrah!). The resistance (R) genes of the plant recognized the pathogen effectors or sensed a possible invasion and triggered a cell death response to restrict the pathogen. If the pathogens won, then they evolved their effector repertoire to evade being identified by the host and could cause disease. Finally, if a draw took place, it meant that the plant had evolved to modify its receptors to catch the pathogen in the act and was ready for battle. The inspiration behind the plant-pathogen tic tac toe was an article from the group of Prof. Sophien Kamoun, describing plants and microbes as engaged in an evolutionary game of tic-tac-toe. Thank you Prof. Kamoun for helping me to get Saturday shoppers with ice-cream cones interested about plant immunity and pathogenic virulence. I ended the pitch with a handmade placard (using my crude arts and crafts skills) to depict how beneficial microbes can play a role in "farm to fork" transition by helping the plant to combat diseases.
From holding up placards to drawing in audiences at my Soapbox corner, CEPLAS doctoral researcher Mary Ngigi very enthusiastically assisted in my pitch as a volunteer. Petra Bracht and Claudia Balan from CEPLAS were an amazing support team from the get-go. They arranged to record introductory videos of Alisandra, Adélaïde, and myself at the botanical garden of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. In the video, we explained our respective motivations for participating in Soapbox Science. CEPLAS also arranged for the three of us to provide a joint statement on the importance of the visibility of women in STEM. Please read on to find out more about it, as well as a summary of Soapbox Science 2021.
Standing on the Soapbox was quite an experience, and I ended up spending over an hour speaking to a multitude of people—from colleagues and friends to absolute strangers carrying grocery bags. After the event, I returned to my regular life focusing on lab work, conferences, and meetings with my academic advisors. Moreover, as I was in the end of the third year of my Ph.D. program, I planned to concentrate completely on the academic aspect and not so much on the outreach. Nevertheless, my Sci-Comm journey was far from over.
A Pint to Remember
Our lab manager (now group leader) Johana Misas-Villamil recommended Pint of Science in one of our weekly lab meetings. Essentially, the Pint of Science festival takes place over three days in May across different countries and gives a stage to scientists to deliver talks in bars and pubs. Special thanks to Anna Euteneur (also one of the organizers of Soapbox Science) and Jonas Goergens for helping to modify my lecture for a relaxed evening of science. My talk on May 10, 2022, at Stapel Bar (Cologne) consisted of how plants and microbes have been associated for millions of years, and it is only recently that we have begun to tap into the potential of microbial communities in plant health and protection. I will never forget the jubilant clapping from the crowd when I said, "Having lived in Germany for 4 years, mein Deutsch ist gar nicht so schlecht" (i.e., "is not too bad"). Finally, I was amazed at the questions that continued after my talk at 10 p.m. in the evening, which only goes to show that plant-microbe interactions ist gar nich so schlecht.
One of the other highlights of that evening was Enric Bertran's talk, which introduced the concept of plant blindness—that is, how oblivious we can get about the mere existence of plants. Enric's telenovela inspired presentation about flower development generated a lot of laughs, and I believe the pitch was a masterclass in how to convey a complicated topic with ease. My colleagues Philipp Katzy and Laura Merx also were part of the Pint of Science 2022 event; please follow the link to find out more about their contributions, thanks to none other than CEPLAS.
The IS-MPMI Connect
Shortly after Pint of Science, I participated in the IS-MPMI Early Career Showcase (ECR) in June 2022. Although it was an online academic conference, what set it apart was that the speakers were largely graduate students and postdocs. We had a training session before the main event that included guidelines for how to make our talks accessible to everyone (e.g., making color-blind–friendly figures). I also remember the moderators asking us to send an audio clip of our names to introduce us with the correct pronunciation at the conference (a small yet important gesture!). Finally, the two-day virtual event took place with participants from all over the world. I was happy to present my Ph.D. research to such a wide audience (nearly 100) in the IS-MPMI community and to engage in the Q and A session. A cherry on top for the showcase was the discussion session on fellowship opportunities in academia conducted by Patricia Baldrich after the speaker presentations. One month after the ECR showcase, I joined the IS-MPMI Board of Directors as a junior member, which happens to be a significant point in my career. I believe being involved in outreach encouraged me to explore opportunities beyond research and become a voice for early career scientists.
CEPLAS Planter's Punch
My final outreach activity as a Ph.D. student at the University of Cologne was through the CEPLAS Planter's Punch. Every month, one CEPLAS member explains their research in the form of articles, videos, or podcasts for dissemination to the public. There have been some amazing contributions over the years from several graduate students and postdocs.
Valuable input from Petra Bracht and Céline Hönl helped me assemble my own CEPLAS Planter's Punch, "The Social Network: How Microbes Protect Plants." A few months after the publication, I went over to the CEPLAS office to collect a customized coffee mug as a present for the Planter's Punch. As I talked with Petra and Cordula, I mentioned that I was offered a postdoctoral position in Barcelona and would be joining in March 2023. To which Petra remarked, "So, you would be leaving CEPLAS then?" I had been preparing myself for the upcoming thesis defense and not yet for my departure from Cologne—a city which has given me so much academically and beyond. Therefore, with a slight tug in my heart, I replied "Yes" to Petra and bid adieu to CEPLAS, but not to outreach.
