"Golden ticket to bright future in science"

Annika Nichols grew up in Tasmania and studied genetics and neuroscience at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and at Uppsala University. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Hilliard Lab at the Queensland Brain Institute to study the molecular mechanisms of axonal degeneration in C. elegans. In 2013, Annika joined the group of Manuel Zimmer at the IMP via the Vienna BioCenter PhD Programme. In our interview, Annika reflects on her experience as a PhD student at the IMP. 

Annika, for your Bachelor's degree, you worked with Arabidopsis. When did you first come in contact with C. elegans and neurobiology and what fascinated you?

For my Honours degree - an Australian, research-intensive, post-graduate degree similar to a Masters - I joined the lab of Massimo Hilliard after fortuitously meeting him at a research project fair. I was attracted to the lab by the intelligence and drive of its members. The eventual 2.5 years I spent in Massimo’s lab have had a huge impact on my initial scientific development and I still regard those lab mates as an extended family. In Massimo’s lab I worked on how nerve cells degenerate using the 1mm long nematode worm C. elegans.

The worm - as we C. elegans researchers fondly refer to it - is a wonderful model to work with as it is tractable and quick. Meaning that you can come up with new hypotheses and very quickly test them. I appreciate its sleek biology where its anatomy, especially its nervous system, is so stereotyped and streamlined. However, this apparent simplicity belies the underlying complexity. I find it astonishing that with only 302 nerve cells the worm can do many of the behaviours that we do - move around, find the best food, avoid adverse conditions, and sleep. The question of how the nervous system of C. elegans can switch between wake and sleep became the burning question of my PhD.

During your undergraduate years, you spent a semester in Uppsala. How important is traveling and widening your horizon to you?

You have now successfully published your results and you are about to obtain your PhD. What were the most challenging phases during your doctoral studies?

My PhD has been about learning how to better manage myself: how I think, how I react to stress, how I communicate with people, how I plan my time, and what limits and priorities I set. It’s easy to be overwhelmed, especially at the start when you’re trying to work out how to do so many new things and to live up to your own expectations. It’s hard when you’re at the edge of knowledge and your ignorance is staring at you. To combat these feelings and to learn the skills I needed, I relied on the support of people around me, my friends and family, my colleagues and most of all my supervisor Manuel. Manuel was always excited to see and discuss results and plans, his enthusiasm and wealth of experience were a huge help for me. Some of my highest highs have been in the lab and having people share the excitement of a new idea or result is the most fulfilling part for me. In all, my PhD has been a challenging but immensely rewarding time.

How did the years spent in the Zimmer lab at the IMP influence or shape you as a researcher?

I’ve grown in confidence, competence and direction since I’ve joined the Zimmers. Manuel gave me the space but also the pushes necessary to drive the project and my development to where it needed to go. There’s a great working environment in the lab where thoughts, experience and reagents are shared generously. This is especially evident in our notoriously long lab meetings or practice talks where every detail is thoroughly weighed, discussed and assessed. These feedback sessions provided me with invaluable unseen ideas and details that I could incorporate into my project and talks. While we each have our own independent and compelling projects, I believe that part of this sense of shared achievement comes from Manuel’s strong vision for the lab’s overall direction. I am excited to see where everyone’s project will go, and to see what the lab will be doing in ten years. It’s a privilege to work alongside such intelligent, hardworking and fun people, and I know I’ll carry their positive influences long into my future.

Now you have been selected to receive the prestigious Weintraub Graduate Student Award. What does this distinction mean to you?

I’m extremely honoured to be awarded this prestigious prize. It’s a wonderful recognition of my hard work, but also of the supportive community I’ve had around me. I’m looking forward to sharing my research and discussing with the other awardees and researchers at the Fred Hutch in Seattle.

First published in March 2018.

Further Reading

News Item: Weintraub Award 2018 for Annika Nichols
News Item: How brains surrender to sleep (on Annika's "Science" paper)