Cultivating Community: The Budding Plant Biologists Lunch Series

I think everyone can agree that community is important. However, it’s not always something we think about as researchers. In the world of scientific research, community can provide access to others’ wisdom on how to take the next professional step, potential collaborators, impartial eyes to review grants, and friends around the world. But building a worldwide community takes time, so the best place to start is by building strong connections with those who are proximal to you. 

Across Duke, there are several labs focused on plant biology, yet there has not been a strong community of plant biologists at Duke. To build stronger ties across Duke and with the broader Triangle community of plant biologists, we developed a lunch series focused on career options with support from The Graduate School’s Professional Development Grant.  

Trainees had opportunities to talk to a variety of plant biology professionals over the lunches.  On the industry side, participants learned about founding your own start-up from the co-founder of Avalo (and former Donohue Lab postdoc) Mariano Alvarez, Ph.D.; roles at the large conglomerate BASF from John Withers, Ph.D. (a former He Lab Ph.D. student and Dong Lab postdoc) and Justin Jorge, Ph.D. (former Patek Lab Ph.D. student); and how a research role at a biotech company like Pairwise differs from academic research roles from Zoe Dubrow, Ph.D.  We also heard from Nabila Riaz, Ph.D., on how federal science policy advocacy works. 

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On the academic side, trainees got advice on pursuing careers in Europe from Drs. Matias Zurbriggen and Guido Grossman, establishing collaborations from Dr. Bob Schmitz, starting a lab as an assistant professor from Dr. Gözde Demirer, and research in an agricultural extension setting from  Dr. Rachel Vann. Through these conversations, trainees learned about different career options, how their colleagues think about planning for the next stage, and made new connections with established researchers. 

Having spent most of my career at private academic institutions with a focus on biomedical research, it was especially illuminating for me to hear about research in an agricultural extension setting from Rachel Vann. At NC State, Rachel leads the soybean extension program and is the platform director for extension, outreach, and engagement. She explained that across the country, state universities’ agricultural extension programs provide scientific expertise and support to each state’s farmers. 

Here in North Carolina, NC State Extension has offices in every county and offers a wide variety of outreach programming. It is a trusted resource that communicates the scientific advances from our state’s top universities to stakeholders across the state. I found it particularly exciting that such networks exist to disseminate scientific knowledge. When I typically hear about outreach efforts, they are local events, focused on educating kids, but with the extension system, there is a robust, trusted network to share relevant findings with actual stakeholders across the state. 

Rachel explained how the model for extension research differs from the federal grant model used at institutions like Duke, which I appreciated because it’s rare that someone sits you down and explains how research priorities are decided and how that research gets funded. State commodity boards help identify extension research priorities; these boards work with farmers to identify research priorities, and then funds research through checkoff programs that get money from crop sales. These research projects often have immediate translational impacts and have shorter timelines than the basic research grants that fund much of the work at Duke. Within two to three years, growers want reports on what works and what doesn’t.  This model helps ensure that researchers are working on farmers’ priorities and is an important complement to the basic biology that we do at Duke.  

Because this model relies on input from many parties (commodity boards, farmers, scientists, and extension agents), Rachel finds that being able to leverage everyone’s strengths and collaborate is incredibly important to successfully completing projects that work for farmers. The need for a collaborative attitude was a common refrain from all our speakers, but the importance in the extension setting is especially evident because of the different perspectives brought by farmers and scientists. 

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Rachel also emphasized the importance of building trust through clear communication. Her role involves meeting with farmers to better understand their challenges and to communicate the results of her studies to them. Because she has cultivated strong relationships with these stakeholders, she finds that they trust her findings, especially when she communicates in an approachable manner. As an example, she explained how she puts savings from her interventions into relatable terms, e.g., the money you’re saving by using a better pesticide will pay for a new tractor.  By focusing her messaging on the value that her services provide to farmers, Rachel finds that farmers are more likely to listen to what she has to say. 

I enjoyed learning about this research model because it places an emphasis on the stakeholder by addressing their research priorities and routinely communicating with them. While basic science is incredibly important, learning about the extension approach to research reminded me to consider alternative perspectives. Keeping both the translational and basic science perspectives in mind will help me develop my own research program as I move forward in my career. 

Learning about different research models from Rachel is just one example of the benefits that has come with building a strong community of plant biologists in the Triangle. Strong communities benefit all community members. They are diverse in their composition and include people from many backgrounds and at varying stages in life, like the one that we have endeavored to build through this program. I have learned a lot from this community and will do my best to share whatever wisdom I can provide. 

AUTHOR

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Tyler M. Lee

Ph.D. candidate, Cell and Molecular Biology

Tyler M. Lee is a third-year cell and molecular biology Ph.D. candidate in the He Lab. His research seeks to understand how fertilization impacts plant-microbe interactions, including the ability of plants to fight off pathogens. Outside the lab, he enjoys finding as many ways as possible to be active outdoors in nature and is proudly that one person you’ve seen cross-country skiing after a snowstorm in the South.