教授简介:

Jörn Coers, PhD,Assistant Professor
Program: Molecular Genetics & microbiology
field of research:interferon (IFN)-stimulated host defense mechanisms against intracellular bacterial pathogens such asChlamydia trachomatis and Legionella pneumophila.
Introductory page: http://mgm.duke.edu/faculty/coers/index.htm

 

编者:康东,Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, PHD

 

DCSSA: You have been in the field of bacteria field for a fairly long time. Could you tell me which part of it do you feel very attractive so that you chose bacterial pathogenesis as your research subject?

 

Professor: I never really wanted to study bacteria at first. Actually, I wanted to study neurobiology. At the time, there was a master exchange program in Germany at the University of Konstanz in which you can go to the New York State University at Stony Brook. I managed to get in this competitive program which allowed me to do my first year of Ph.D. there in New York. I asked people there what they were good for, and they said that they have really good people working on bacterial pathogenesis and that was how I first decided to go into the field. It is only for a year so I joined the lab led by Craig Roy in bacteria pathogenesis. I felt attractive to the field as soon as I started my work because it really combines a lot of different things which is fascinating- how the bacteria works, of course, but also how the host cells work. And it all comes to the cool co-evolution- for example, how bacteria evade immune-response and live in the host cells and how host cells respond to the infection of microbes. So basically, you study biology, bacteriology, immunology and evolution. So it really combines all fields which is very exciting.

 

DCSSA: You first publication was in 1999 in Nature Cell Biology, demonstrating that the secretion system of legionella was very crucial to evade host response. And then you moved on to Yale University for another year. How did this kind of interdisciplinary education benefit you?

 

Professor: That was a unique situation. When I was in Germany, I got the chance to go to New York State University for a year and I had a great time there. I guess I was lucky because people sometimes cannot believe that I got so much data in only one year, especially when I was not that experienced. After my first year, Craig Roy got an offer from Yale University and offered to cover my expense for another year. So I just came to Yale. It is very unusual case but I think we should have more of this kind of programs which fostered exchanges from different universities. For my case, I think it is chance and luck. I published two papers there, one being on Nature Cell Biology, as I said I was very lucky there.

 

DCSSA: it worked out for you as you first came to US from Germany, and then from NY state to Yale.

 

Professor: It is good have to continuity though. Although I was officially affiliated to Konstanz in Germany, for 2 and ½ years I stayed at the same lab.

 

DCSSA: After you finished your master’s degree, you went back to Germany and switched your topic on cytokines and blood cells- precursor of platelets, megakaryocyte. Could you tell me the reason you changed your topic?

 

Professor: It was a hard decision. Craig Roy this time suggested that I apply for the Ph.D. degree at Yale, and I considered it. There were a couple of reasons. I was spoiled at the time, because I already had two papers. I really liked what I was doing at the time, but I really liked to branch out and got exposed to other things. And I was sure at the time that I wanted to do mouse genetics. I thought in vivo would be very important for any research whatever I ended up doing. So I wanted to do research using mouse genetics and in vivo model and address a simple but interesting question. The question I was interested in when I browsed through the literature was how cytokines regulates the fate of cells. And there were at the time two opposing hypotheses in which one was that cytokines instruct the cells to undergo certain cell fate decisions. The other hypothesis was that cytokines permitted the certain cells which can survive, this is called permissive model. The lab I joined just published some seminal papers before I came in. I have to say that I did not contribute much to this question, though. I ended up building a mouse model of pre-leukemia disease, which is very rewarding because now we build a mouse model for human disease to study. I still like to use mouse in vivo model in my own lab to recapitulate what is happening in human bodies. So those were the two reasons I changed my subject: A, I want to study mouse genetics; B, I want to address a simple question- which was more difficult than I expected.

 

DCSSA: So, when you came back later in your field of bacterial pathogenesis, you definitely felt much more confident because now you have much hands-on in vivo experience.

 

Professor: that is right.

 

DCSSA: in your Ph.D. life, you moved back to Germany and again you were affiliated to two universities?

 

Professor: No, the thing is that- my lab moved again, from Germany to Switzerland. These things happen. My PI at the time got an offer from Switzerland which he could not pass on- a chair position, so after 2 and ½ half years, we moved to Switzerland and I got my Ph.D. degree in Switzerland not in Germany.

 

DCSSA: does the relocation of the labs happen a lot in Switzerland and Germany? Because I thought lab should always be in the same place.

Professor: No, it was just me. It was just good luck and bad luck depending on how you look at it. But generally I agree with you, that relocation of a lab is usually disruptive because it should always be in the same place, especially when the lab has moved recently. When I joined the lab in Germany, I didn’t expect they would move again because It has already moved from Switzerland. It was disruptive and basically added 1 year to my Ph.D. graduation. But you know these things happen, and you have to deal with this kind of obstacles. You can never completely avoid such things.

 

DCSSA: So was moving around your most difficult moment? Or you have other moments that you feel very difficult?

 

Professor: So the labs underwent a lot of changes. First, there was big turn-over in people, and PI decided to move to a new field of stem cells–because then it became clear that cytokines give permissive signals for cells to grow. So the question became what the cytokines are to determine certain progenitor cells to became neutrophils or thrombocytes or other cells. We jumped into the field and dabbling in it but it really didn’t work because we didn’t have the expertise. So at the time a number of new graduate student and post-docs worked on the project. So my first two years of Ph.D. was very successful and I came across 2 years when nothing worked. It was not due to my lack of effort, but it was just that we didn’t have the correct approach to the problems and I was extremely frustrated. I had to deal with this, not to get discouraged. And later I decided that I pick up another project, and that was the deciding moment. This kind of experience in the long run is very important, because it taught me to be much more humble, and make me think about my research strategy. So as now I am setting my own lab, I am also thinking of direct research which will be fruitful, I hope.

 

DCSSA: and could you tell me your most successful moment?

 

Professor: simply when things worked out. Especially in the case of transgenic mice. We made a transgenic mouse and found out that it expressed the gene. But more gratifying is that it showed a complicated phenotype which we could not explain in the beginning but we made up a hypothesis and test it and the result was the same as we suspected. So that was the most gratifying moment.

 

DCSSA: In your opinion, as you progress from a graduate student to a post-doc and to an assistant professor here at Duke, what kind of properties did you obtain at each step of your career?

 

Professor: that is a great question. First, you acquire your technical skills. They are all important, but you can compress time to graduation to a much shorter time if it is only for techniques. And another thing is thinking and problem-solving. That is something at least for me requires a lot of efforts and failure to figure out the right approach. The last thing I think is how I can integrate my academic to my real life, how I deal with obstacles and failures. And also How I deal with conflicts with other people in the lab. A lab is very social place where you get fascinated about science and you may spend 12-14 hours a day at certain times. It is a very integral part of your life, and I think the important part is that even if something doesn’t go well, you are not completely crushed. So dealing with frustration is something that some naturally have and others have to acquire. And PIs I have been worked with—I have had 4 different PIs and I all learned different things from each of them. If you think about science it is very interesting in that all different kinds of character types can be very successful. So you meet different people and they have something that you can learn from.

 

DCSSA: And when you applied to duke for a faculty position, what kind of properties do you think make Duke hire you instead of other post-docs?

 

Professor: another excellent question! You should ask the hiring committee. Now that I paid more attention to people who came into my office, I began to understand their standards. Everybody that has been provided with a job interview must have very strong CV; otherwise you won’t get invited. And a strong recommendation letter from your PI is also absolutely very critical. So what the people are looking for is: A, the research and subject, of course, of the person is proposing to do. This is very important, because people want to find out if your research is interesting and fundable. Is it some research that can get you an NIH funding? And then they also look at you in person. Is this person going to be a good colleague? Is he willing to collaborate, share resources? Is he someone I want to do my project with and have some input when I ask him to view my grant proposal or something else. So there are the criteria, when it comes down to the interview, (here for two days), everything is important. But Giving a job talk is very important, because here you have to explain science, which is an important factor, and present your future of your work. And then every single meeting counts because people want to see the interviewees they are about to hire. Is he a person you want to interact for many years actually? So people put a lot of thoughts into that. As to the reason why I was picked other than others, I don’t know. (laugh) I assume that I fulfilled some of these criteria.

 

DCSSA: As your lab is expanding, and if a Chinese applicant wants to join your lab, what kind of properties are you looking for in the applicants apart from the language abilities? Sometimes Chinese students cannot speak very good English.

 

Professor: you are definitely raising a good point. Actually many Chinese students have limitations on English, and we don’t have a chance to meet them in person, because in that case it will be way too expensive to have them fly all over the world. So for these reasons, the criteria might come to the test scores, recommendation letters and experience in the lab. The criteria for international students are way more demanding than the American students. For American students we actually have the chance to bring them to Duke to interview them and judge them and evaluate them right here. Obviously you have to have good test scores, you have to get strong recommendation letters and you should to have lab experience and we will have a Skype interview and make sure the video works. And be prepared. It is not necessarily easy to get into. As an international student, it is actually very hard to get in.

 

DCSSA: and for the future students that are in your lab, what kind of expectations do you have towards them when they are done with their Ph.D. under your mentoring for 4 or 5 years?

Professor: So in the old days, Ph.D. students are often trained for work in academia. And in these days it is not true anymore; students often also consider and go for jobs in industry. Or even jobs in policy and so forth. The reason for being a Ph.D. student if you are not going to stay in academia is to acquire certain skill sets: your ability to understand and communicate in science; and your ability to be a critical thinker; and make people understand what the truth is instead of what you believe. I think after going through my lab, I want them at the end of the day can call themselves scientists, and get good publication which will be reflected on the job market and make them easier to look for a job. So I hope my students to have a successful career they choose to do even if they don’t go to academia.

 

DCSSA: you actually have indirectly answered some of my next question.  There is a saying that only 5-10 percent of current Ph.D. students can make it to the level of assistant professors and all the others go into the industry.

Professor: things may change 10 years from now because you might have that preferred option because science can move into the direction where certain things can only be accomplished in industry projects. And also as you know, industry also pays better—that is not something that is insignificant. So whatever you want to be.

 

DCSSA: in your case, have you ever considered another option other than being a professor?

 

Professor: I tried to consider that. I think it is a healthy exercise to always think something else. But actually once I got hooked, when I was doing experiment all day long in Craig Roy’s lab, I felt like I always want to do this. And I always want to work under the framework of independence, which means that at least in some levels you can pursue anything you find is interesting. And also you have to persuade others to give money on this. But still it is still something you can only get in academic settings not other settings. And I also want to do research which cuts down paperwork compared to a patent lawyer. I always want to do research and I always want to have independence. And at most time, it means that I want to do academic research.

 

DCSSA: So those are the two reasons that make you make this career decision.

 

Professor: That is correct, but what you want is not necessarily what you get. As I told you for as long as 2 years I don’t have any result. As an alternative plan to make sure that your life doesn’t end if you don’t this particular job. I think I am very fortunate to get what I wanted. And sometimes when I write too much grants I will always remind myself of how fortunate I am.

 

DCSSA: How do you like your life as a professor? Apart from the fact you have to manage your lab, there are a lot of annoying things, for example the grant proposals?

Professor: it is a work of progress, I guess. You are never trained properly for this job. Throughout these years as a post-doc, you are most trained as a scientist. You are trained like a scientist and plan experiment accordingly and write papers. At some degree, you are already trained to write grants so forth, if you have a mentor who helped you and trained you. But you are never trained to run an enterprise, which is basically this is a small business. And you can learning something through your mistakes. So I guese I just I try to be organized. I only have certain time of a day, so it is very important to do management. And I also always think for the people who are in my labs, what is beneficial for them, because I always think that I can only be successful if my lab is successful and keep the people in my lab happy. So time management and prioritizing are two very important for me to be a professor. And I think having a good communication with my people in the lab is also very important.

 

DCSSA: As you mention, time management is very important. As far as I am concerned, there are some labs which set up very strict time rules, for example you have to be in the lab from 9 to 9. And for others many people just come in 9 and leave at 5. So did you ever experience something like that in your Ph.D?

 

Professor: I think I never experienced strict rules. They all expect you to be in core hours. That makes sense, because you know the facilities are only open during the core time and you can communicate with other people in the lab and all the meetings and seminars are. So you should definitely be there for core hours. But you know if anyone is excited about science, he will spend a lot of time in the lab. But you cannot force people. But trust me every PI knows exactly what is going on in your project and if you are excited about the project, who is committed and who is not. If I have to push somebody to do their work they should be doing, then I think it is already a problem either because he is frustrated or he does not like doing science. So if it is in the early Ph.D., he may as well consider something else. I think science is really something you must have a calling for and you will find yourself being excited. And you will find yourself spending a lot of time doing research.

 

DCSSA: Working as a professor also is not a Nine-five job. How do you adjust your work with your family?

 

Professor: So I come in every day from 9 to 6 and after 6 I leave with my wife and pick up my daughter from daycare. After dinner, I will do a lot of work in front of the computer, sending e-mails, because nowadays a lot of my work is not experiment. And I also do certain amount of work at weekends. Actually that is almost routine—I always do some work every weekend. And I do think it is important to keep the balance; I do play soccer. I think it is good to have some physical exercise to keep you healthy. So it is important to keep it balance; work hard but keep balance.

 

DCSSA: As my last question, this lab has just started, and 5 or 10 years from now, what kind of lab do you want your lab would be? is it better it is a post-doc lab or small graduate student lab?

 

Professor: it all depends on the funding now. I can tell you what kind of lab I would like to have 5 or 10 years from now. I like my lab size to the size of a soccer team:  11 players. I think it would be good mix for most team to post-docs and Ph.D. students with equal numbers and technicians. That would be ideal. We are having right now two undergrad in my lab; I think it is important to train the next generation of scientist early and chance to get some experience and see if this is something they like to do. And I would even bring in some high school students. It is always fun to see the students coming in; even if it is the post-docs who train students.