Melina Schuh\u2019s approach to science has been described as \u201cfearless\u201d. But dig beneath this steely description of this year\u2019s John Kendrew Award winner and you find a story of outstanding research, fast-track career progression, and innovative outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn both my diploma and PhD, I tried something high-risk, high-gain and it paid off,\u201d explains Schuh, an alumna whose group has made several important findings in the field of fertilisable eggs in mammals. \u201cUnderstanding more about oocyte maturation could have important implications for human health, as errors during this process can lead to problems such as miscarriages, birth defects, and infertility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While carrying out her PhD in the Ellenberg group at EMBL Heidelberg, Schuh immediately hit the ground running, and using confocal microscopy established new ways of directly imaging meiosis in mammalian cells. \u201cThis was an ambitious project because these cells are very sensitive and meiosis in oocytes is a very long process \u2013 but the collaborative working environment at EMBL was hugely motivating,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After receiving her doctorate, Schuh achieved something rarely heard of in today\u2019s academic world: she was offered a group leader position at the Medical Research Council\u2019s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), despite having no formal postdoctoral training. \u201cWhat distinguished Melina was her independence so early in her career,\u201d says Jan Ellenberg, proudly reflecting on the achievements of his mentee. \u201cFrom the start, Melina showed courageous and strategic decision making, and in many respects her PhD was like a postdoctoral training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her stunning images of polar body extrusion have graced the covers of several top journals, but Schuh has also been involved in projects that go far beyond the bench. One example is an acclaimed collaboration with artist Rob Kesseler as part of a travelling exhibition that aimed to explore mitosis, called Lens on Life<\/em>. \u201cThere are many shades of research, and through this project we were able to devise creative and inspiring ways of explaining how this fundamental life process is applicable in everyone\u2019s lives,\u201d she says. \u201cArtists and scientists have a lot to learn from one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the beginning of next year, Schuh will move on to the next stage of an already remarkable career, as a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in G\u00f6ttingen, where ambitious projects in science and beyond will remain at the heart of her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is important to go for projects you are enthusiastic about,\u201d she adds. \u201cRecently, we led the first study of meiosis in live human oocytes, which has opened up a new and exciting field of research. By continuing to do fundamental biological research on the human system, we hope to contribute to the understanding of this fascinating field, and ultimately also to healthcare and society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Julia Franke<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" High risk, high gain Melina Schuh\u2019s approach to science has been described as \u201cfearless\u201d. But dig beneath this steely description of this year\u2019s John Kendrew Award winner and you find a story of outstanding research, fast-track career progression, and innovative outreach. \u201cIn both my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-15320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/schuh_ov.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15440,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15320\/revisions\/15440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15320"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=15320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}