2023-07-11 12:00:06
A year ago, the biggest dream of the Peruvian biologist Daniel Zegarra Ruiz was to have his own laboratory, to be the boss. After beating almost 500 scientists who were also applying for the same position, today he got it. Starting in October of this year, he will be in charge of the Zegarra-Ruiz laboratory in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia, in the United States.
at a major university in the United States. This extraordinary journey -as he calls it- began in the classrooms of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) where he studied biology and together with his mentor Dr. José Luis Aguilar Olano- discovered his interest in immunology, his line of research.
He finished his undergraduate degree, did his Ph.D. at Yale University, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and from October he will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia.
In an interview with the Andean Agency Via Zoom, Daniel Zegarra Ruiz tells how difficult and competitive it was to fulfill one of the greatest desires of every researcher, to have his own laboratory and lead it. This means that he will be able to form his work team, decide his own investigations and obtain more financing.
Remember it started last year applying to 25 universities -23 in the United States and two in Switzerland- of which only four offers were received, including the University of Virginia.
“Different universities in the United States open their calls worldwide between August and December, and one competes for a place where between 200 and 500 top researchers present themselves. The first filter is the interview by Zoom and you have 15 minutes to convince them that you are the ideal candidate for that position and if they consider you, you will go to a group of 30 selected ones”, details Zegarra Ruiz.
What follows is the personal interview and for that, recalls the Peruvian researcher, they took him to the university for regarding three days. “It was very intense, my day started at 8 in the morning and ended at 8 at night, you meet with the professors of the department to which you apply, you present your research on a blackboard for two hours or more, you talk with the students and finally there is only one candidate left”, he explains.
Empowering your research
In this new position, the Peruvian scientist will be able to continue his line of research that focuses on the bacteria in the intestine (intestinal microbiota), see how they interact with immune cells and how this will modulate the course of autoimmune diseases, mainly lupus. .
“Patients from the United States will be analyzed versus patients from Peru, especially with Peruvian patients there is no informationso it’s a pool new that is going to be established and we are going to start collaborating with different rheumatologists in Peru to be able to obtain these samples from the patients and also with rheumatologists in the United States to be able to compare these different populations and see which treatments are the best and how it can be improved their quality of life,” he says.
The good thing regarding having your own laboratory, adds Zegarra Ruiz, is that you decide what to investigate. “Although I am going to start with lupus, as a main autoimmune disease, later if science allows it I can get different types of funding to investigate other types of diseases or perhaps study cancer in the future,” she says.
About 2 million dollars It is the research fund that Daniel Zegarra will receive to do science during the first five years. That includes buying equipment, hiring professionals, maintenance, etc. Quite apart from his salary, which ranges from 120 to 150 thousand dollars a year.
“We are talking regarding the fact that on average the university invests two million in you, that is why the selection process is so rigorous, because they are not going to give those millions to someone who has not achieved anything in three or five years,” he points out.
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encourage more talent
As a lab leader, Daniel Zegarra will also have the opportunity to recruit more Peruvian and Latin American scientific talent. Without a doubt, it is one of his short-term goals.
“It is an opportunity to be able to hire Peruvians who are doing science. All my calls will be open for any candidate from anywhere in the world to apply, but I am going to put a little more emphasis on Peru and Latin America. I know that a person with a bachelor’s degree and who is in a laboratory for a long time has all the skills to help me, ”she says.
It also highlights that more and more Peruvians are doing their post doctorate at different universities in the United States. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in 3 or 5 years the number of Peruvians and some trying to apply for a position as head of a laboratory is much more significant,” he comments.
Undoubtedly, one of the people who helped and encouraged Daniel Zegarra throughout this process was his wife Fátima B. Saldana Morales, a prominent Peruvian biologist, who has been an administrative postdoctoral fellow at New York University Langone Health.
She and her 2-year-old will also accompany him on this new adventure. Starting in October, Fátima will be deputy director of Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Virginia. “All of this led me to make the decision to join this university,” says Zegarra.
Both created the YouTube channel: Between my House and the Laba very original way of telling your child regarding your work and what you do every day, but at the same time share your knowledge, experiences and recommendations to young people who are also pursuing careers related to science.
He advises them to always look for opportunities, and not just stay with what the university gives them. “Now there are more and more opportunities, if you are in the first years of university, study English, start reading articles and contact the Latino professors in foreign universities, perhaps most will not be able to answer you but there will be some who will It will help,” he concludes.
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