In her lab, Claire Deo develops fluorescent molecules that enable scientists to observe dynamic biological phenomena occurring at extremely small scales. Before joining EMBL Heidelberg, she worked at \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure Paris-Saclay and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US, where she designed novel biosensors to visualise calcium fluctuations in cells. Here, she shares insights into the research of her new group at EMBL and tells us what allows her to occasionally free her mind from science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m a synthetic chemist by training and have worked mainly in synthetic chemistry labs. During my postdoctoral training, I transitioned a little into the fields of biology and biochemistry. These experiences inspired me to use chemistry to design and engineer useful tools for biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our main focus initially will be on fluorescence microscopy, which is a very powerful tool for visualising biological phenomena. There is still a lack of robust molecular tools that are able to visualise highly dynamic events. Our goal is to design molecules that can respond to such demands. Fluorophores have been studied for more than a century, so there exists a lot of knowledge on how their structure affect their function. We start from existing fluorophores and try to improve their properties and design new functionalities. We then test their properties, go back to further improve them, and finally implement them in biological systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re currently developing molecules that can be applied in super-resolution microscopy. This requires the ability to turn them on and off in response to light. We design this property at the molecular level and combine it with approaches to label specific features in cells. These molecules can then be applied in biological systems to visualise processes that cannot be seen using conventional microscopy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EMBL is a perfect environment to do this type of research. When you develop tools for biologists, it\u2019s ideal to be surrounded by the biologists who are going to be using those tools. I think that places like EMBL, in which tool builders and tool users have an extremely high degree of daily interaction, can really push the science forward. There\u2019s nothing more satisfying then developing something that can enable someone else\u2019s science. Conversely, seeing our tools applied can help us to improve the molecules further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For doing synthetic chemistry, some background knowledge in chemistry is certainly necessary. But, more than technical expertise, I\u2019m looking for people who are really interested in the science and who are highly motivated. I believe that if you\u2019re passionate about what you do, you can learn anything. It\u2019s very important to me that people are self-driven and really enjoy doing science. Apart from that, it\u2019s helpful to have a certain level of resilience in science, because you\u2019re certainly going to face failure and criticism. Being able to move forward and build on this is an important skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While going through the different steps of training and being a postdoc, I think you have to keep an open mind about the science that\u2019s going on around you. I haven\u2019t always done that, and I regret it a little bit today. It\u2019s easy to get extremely focused on your own specific project. You lose sight of the bigger picture and get comfortable doing something that you\u2019re familiar with. But I think it\u2019s important to also take risks and try something new that you don\u2019t know much about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a few activities that allow me to have some mental space outside science. I enjoy running and try to run two or three times a week. As a side hobby, I do watercolour painting. This helps me to clear my head by doing something else. But I\u2019ve actually found that developing creativity in manual, artistic activities promotes creativity in science, too. Both sides complement each other very well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New group leader at EMBL Heidelberg employs synthetic chemistry to develop novel tools for biology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":18471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17593,2],"tags":[1020,1012,43,1021,295],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-18470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-perspectives","category-science","tag-deo","tag-fluorescence-microscopy","tag-heidelberg","tag-synthetic-chemistry","tag-welcome"],"acf":{"article_intro":"
New group leader at EMBL Heidelberg employs synthetic chemistry to develop novel tools for biology<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Research in the Deo group","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/research\/units\/cbb\/deo\/index.html"},{"link_description":"Research at EMBL Heidelberg","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/research\/index.php"}],"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"\n