Getting across complex ideas can be difficult at the best of times. Summarizing a whole paper in just 90secs sounds impossible.
But we managed to boil down five years of work into just the key concepts to put into this video abstract of our latest Nature Communications paper, which looks at an immunotherapeutic for superbugs.
Hopefully, just like a movie trailer, it sparks an interest to then go on a read the paper. Have you considered a video abstract or graphical abstract for your paper?
Nope, I did not think I could pitch a baseball, let alone design and give a pitch to industry. I had done neither of these before, but now I was taking the plunge and entering the “So you think you can pitch?” 2020 competition held by Monash Biomedical Discovery Institute.
Pitching antimicrobials
Pitching an idea to industry was something I had read about, but never practised. It was something that I endeavoured I would one day do, and hoped more researchers would be doing. Why? Well, it would mean there is change coming for antibiotic development and perhaps the broken antibiotic pipeline is on the mend.
Our immunotherapeutics for superbugs, or any new antimicrobials have a huge uphill battle before reaching our pharmacy’s shelves. This is in part due to the lack of interest from Big Pharma to invest in this area, and is completely understandable when shareholders expect returns on their investments. The research, trials and licensing of new drugs is expensive, and new antibiotics yield less profit than drugs for cancer or chronic conditions. Patients take antibiotics for only a week or two, compared to years for chronic conditions. Plus antibiotics must be used judiciously to avoid overuse and resistance developing. Thus don’t go expecting huge sales either. We have come to expect antibiotics to be cheap, and readily available. We don’t value antibiotics as the life saving medicines that they are. Only 100 years ago ⅓ of deaths were due to simple infections. With discovery of antibiotics mortality has gone down and antibiotics have become a cornerstone of life saving modern medicine. But this is under threat with increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. We do face modern medicine being plunged back into the dark ages as we will get to the stage where there are no antibiotics to left on the pharmacy shelf that are fit for purpose. We are already there for some bacterial infections being resistant to all our antibiotics.
With the risks and lack of profits, why would any commercial developer invest in antibiotics? There are changes happening to lure back investors – market entry rewards, subscription models (think Netflix for antibiotics), public/private partnerships like CARB-X (the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) and GARDP (the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership). Hopefully with these and further changes pitching antimicrobials to investors will become a common event, and I can put the skills learned during the competition into practise.
I found myself in a Zoom meeting. Nothing unusual for Melbourne in 2020 with Covid19 outbreaks causing lockdowns that resulted in working from home more often than not. But this Zoom meeting was a little different, it brought together four early career researchers that had been selected as finalists in the BDI “So you think you can pitch competition?”. Joining us were four mentors who aimed to share their knowledge on pitching to industry. The finalists had been given written directions and came to the meeting with what we thought was a pitch of our science to a potential investor. Let’s just say we had a lot to learn. With our amazing mentors providing personal guidance over a few Zoom meetings, our talks turned into pitches. To see how our pitches changed from that first meeting to what was presented at the final Industry showcase was inspirational. A huge thank you to our pitch mentors for imparting their knowledge, it would not have been possible without you.
I learnt so much from developing my own pitch as well as observing the changes in the pitches of the other participants. It was these worked examples, personal feedback, and practised use of the skills from one Zoom meeting to the next that really changed, although challenged, our thinking.
Pitch Mentors:
Dr Andrew Ellisdon, Monash BDI
Mr Julian Vultaggio, Associate Commercialisation Manager at Monash Innovation
Mrs Sian Slade, Consultant Health Equity
Dr Tracey Brown, Global director of clinical operations for Telix
Pitch Finalists:
Dr Sri Ramarathinam
Dr Sarah Lockie
Dr Amlan Chakraborty
Dr Jennifer Payne
The Covid19 pandemic meant that the BDI Industry showcase event that was to be host to the “So you think you can pitch?” competition was moved online. Our talks were pre-recorded at Monash University’s MicroStudio. I found this more nerve racking than if I was giving the talk in person. The talk would live on for prosperity, recorded for all to see. The little hiccups, and mistakes would be recorded, as we only had two takes to get the pitch right. No going back and doing over to try and simulate a real-life event. So, it had to be good. Talking to the other finalists afterward revealed this to be a common feeling – in front of the camera was much more nerve racking than live on stage.
Our judges had a hard task of selecting a winner and a runner up from the four pitches filled with exciting science that is happening at the BDI.
Dr Cathy Drinkwater, Director of Project Management, BioCurate Pty Ltd
Dr Rob Crombie, Managing Director of Concept2Clinic Consulting
Dr Siro Perez, Life Sciences team of IP Group Australia
The audience also had their say with selecting the people’s choice winner on the night. Prize money was up for grabs thanks to the event sponsors of MTPConnect, Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, and Monash BDI. You can watch all 4 finalists pitches below.
Who do you think can pitch?
Dr Jennifer Payne’s pitch Fatal attractants: immunotherapeutics to prevent the next global health crisis’. Dr Payne took out first prize and the People’s Choice prize.
Dr Sri Ramarathinam’s pitch ‘Scan the barcode: Detecting and validating targets in cancer’. Dr Ramarathinam took out second place.
Dr Sarah Lockie’s pitch ‘Targeting hunger circuits in the brain to treat cancer cachexia?’
Dr Amlan Chakraborty’s pitch ‘SNDC – a new hope for fish out of water.’
Want to compete?
Are you at Monash BDI and want to improve your science communication and pitching skills? Find out more about this competition and enter by contacting Industry Engagement at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. When I competed this was run by the Director of Industry Engagement Associate Professor Sheena McGowan. Good luck!
A huge thank you to Monash BDI Industry engagement, the mentors, judges, finalists, and sponsors for making this event possible.
Want to follow in my footsteps? Learn more about this hikehere. I practise leave no trace principles. Please respect the environment and learn how to do the same on your next adventure here.
July… Winter in Melbourne brings short cold days… Covid-19 lockdown 2.0… No wonder the doom and gloom was starting to get to me. Lucky for me a short walk around the local Valley reserve in Mt Waverly brought some light back in, with the bush putting on a lovely little show. This reserve is a great oasis in the sea of houses – the beginnings of a creek, a wetland area, with some great moss, plenty of wildlife, and not many people. The short loop track, is an easy grade, with a little uneven ground on the woodland trail. I will have to come back with our greyhound April, as dogs are allowed on lead, and there are some great facilities. Already planning a picnic in the wonderful native grasslands on the next sunny Covid lock down free day.
The nodding greenhood, Pterostylis nutans, showing off its parrot beak-like flower
What I was surprised to find on my walk was a patch of nodding greenhood orchids, Pterostylis nutans. Also known as the parrot’s beak orchid, a perfect description of the 2.5cm long, ‘nodding’ flower. Orchids have an interesting relationship with microbes. Like all Orchidaceae family members, this greenhood would have had a very close relationship with a fungus during its infancy. Colonisation by a particular fungus can be a matter of life or death of orchids. Without a fungal association at germination, the orchid will have no energy to continue growing as unlike other seeds, the orchid has virtually no energy reserves, relying on the fungal symbiont to provide its nutrition. But even when grown, and can photosynthesises to produce its own energy, the majority of orchids are still reliant on their relationship with a fungus. These root associated fungi provide inorganic nutrition to the orchid – and orchids can supply carbon as “payment” in return for the fungal services. Many of the Australian orchid species are monogamous – having one specific fungal species associated with them. But some orchids, like the Nodding greenhood, often have some action on the side. Though P. nutans, the nodding greenhood partners up with Ceratobasidium spp there are often other fungal species associations as well. This was found back in 2007 by 3 Australian based scientists, through DNA extraction of the roots of P. nutans plants from across the east coast of Australia.
I stumbled on this park as I was delivering contact-free cake to celebrate a PhD student submitting their thesis. During Covid we have been celebrating the small things as well as the larger wins such as a thesis submission. Hoping to bring a taste of home to the celebration I tried my hand at the Lithuianian, Simtalapis. Paper-fine yeast dough, layered with butter (and more butter) wrapped around ground poppy seeds with sultanas. A test in patience and willpower – grinding 400g of poppy seeds is an afternoon effort when your grinder is a hand-cranked coffee grinder that fits 20g of poppy seeds at a time. Want to make your own Simtalapis? This is the recipe I followed, however I am still not sure where all the butter goes.
Celebrate the wins, and enjoy the small things!
Have you looked at the trunks of trees lately? The scars tell stories of the past or hold a city of creatures in the bark.
Kulin nation scarred tree: This red gum has a distinctive shaped scar, where the bark was removed to possibly construct a canoe. Moved from its original location in Glen Waverly, due to the expansion of Springvale Rd in 1965.
Have you looked around at your feet? Greenhood orchids nodding in a bed of moss.Have you inspected the bushes? What creatures do they hold? Hover fly dusted in pollen on the spirals of hakea flowers
Acacias bursting into bloom
Jenn masked up amongst the gums at Valley reserveThe tracks in Valley Reserve
What do neon lights and invisibility cloaks have in common? Well, they could just be the new way forward in the fight against superbugs.
This was the tag line for my FameLab talk (an International science communication competition) I had entered not imagining that I would make the Victorian finals. I had uploaded a 3-min video of my current post doc work and vowed it would not be seen by another soul. Yes, I am embarrassed to put myself in front of a camera, and up on stage in bright lights is scary. But communication is key.
Scientists need to be able to communicate effectively, not just amongst ourselves, but also with a general audience. Science communication training should be a part of every science degree. Why? Well, effectively communicated science means science thrives. This is because it builds support for science, it promotes the relevance to the wider community, and can even help encourage informed decision making. One excellent way to get better is to train and practise. Level up your science communication skills. That’s why I keep putting my hand up for science communication activities.
Jen Payne on stage at the Victorian Finals of FameLab 2019.
I find planning a talk makes you focus on finding simple, more succinct ways to get the essentials of the story across. Along with discovering ways to make abstract concepts a reality for my audience. It focusses my attention on Why does/should it matter to my audience? Why is it important? This is key not just for speaking to a general audience, but very helpful for any communication, e.g. that next grant application, conference talk, or even job interview.
Practising our science communication skills at the Famelab training session at hosted at the Melbourne Museum.
The FameLab experience combines training with practise. The finalist had a day of science communication training from the engaging Emma’s of comm-it. If you get a chance to attend one of their sessions, do yourself the favour and level up your skills. In our training we covered everything from developing a social media and media profile, stage presence, voice control, timing, and how to present to different audiences. The day flew by and in no time, we were being hooked up to microphones to be in front of our judges and audience at the Melbourne Museum.
The disappointing thing for me is that with my nerves I have no idea what the speakers before me said. However, if they are anything like the engaging, and entertaining 3 min performances that followed – you should definitely be part of the audience at the next FameLab near you. Though not the same as seeing the talk, here is what I squished into the 3-min time limit.
“Not long ago I had a UTI. Thinking it a fairly harmless infection I thought I would just drink more water and flush this bad boy.
Audience laughing. I hadn’t considered the need to pause here.
The next day, a trip to the doctor about the pain in my side revealed it had developed into a kidney infection and I started on antibiotics. Two days later I was in emergency with the infection now in my bloodstream, I had sepsis. 3 different antibiotics later and my infection was under control. The bacteria I had was resistant to the first antibiotics tried, but fortunately the other two managed to eradicate the intruder.
Fast forward 30 years and a similar infection could prove deadly – antibiotic resistant superbugs are predicted to kill 10 million per year by 2050. More than cancer.
Pause, and breathe. Let that fact sink in. The silence can be just as powerful as your words.
The cute super villain of my talk- A giant microbe toy of MRSA. If you need your own head here
Let me introduce you to one of these deadly superbugs, this is Staphylococcus aureus- also known as golden staph, or MRSA.
Brings out the MRSA that she has been trying to hide behind her back. Note to self: pick something that is easy to hide next time. Maybe giant sleeves to hide things in would be better.
Though he looks cute, he’s really a supervillain. What I find scary is that as he develops resistance to antibiotics, superbugs like this are also better at hiding and evading our body’s defences – our immune system. They basically have invisibility cloaks.
Shows off his little invisibility cloak. Should have considered the size of this, MRSA is so tiny the audience is not going to be able to see this.
Superbugs like this one are on the rise and their weight is causing the cornerstone of modern medicine to crumble. In part due to no new antibiotics reaching our pharmacy shelves in over 20 years.
Steps across to the other side of stage. My little bit of stage craft worked into the talk.
So, we need new drugs for these superbugs.
Our current antibiotics are basic annihilators – they find the bacteria and acting like a key specifically target a mechanism of the bacteria resulting in their death. But bacteria are constantly getting better at evading both the antibiotics and our immune system. They have changed the locks.
Stepping away from traditional antibiotics that just kill bacteria, I’m creating drugs that assist in getting our immune system back into the fight by uncloaking the superbugs and decorating them in lights.
Steps across to the other side of stage. My little bit of stagecraft worked into the talk.
And it works!
One of our new antibiotics works by stopping this invisibility cloak from forming. This cloak is a layer of proteins on the bacteria surface and by removing it we see the superbugs being found and cleared by our immune system first line responders – cells know as neutrophils.
Why won’t this invisibility cloak come off easily like it has when practising. Wrestles the cloak off the supervillain and stuffs it into her pocket.
Another way we are ensuring the bacteria is found by our immune system is by decorating them in neon lights – these lights are immune beacons that signal our immune system, ensuring these superbugs have nowhere to hide.
Wraps the “neon lights” around the MRSA. Disappointing I didn’t work out a way to make my eppies (1.5 mL tube) stuffed with neon paper actually light up.
So by stripping down and lighting up, we are tackling superbugs in a new way, and hopefully keeping our pharmacy shelves stocked for many years to come. “
Finished! Was that in the 3min time? Did I say what I was intending? They are firing questions at me, think brain, think.
Jennifer Payne explains how dirt contains a plethora of antibiotic compound producing bacteria and why soil can be thought of as a potential pharmaceutical gold mine.
The wanderings of a Hugh Rogers fellow through a Melbourne-Boston Sister-City association
Hike:
Location:
Distance:
Trail type:
Highlights:
Mount Moosilauke, via Gorge Brook Trail
White Mountains, NH, USA
13 km
There and back again, possible loop
Moose, stunning uninterrupted views of the white mountains,
Want to follow in my footsteps? Learn more about this hike here. I practise leave no trace principles. Please respect the environment and learn how to do the same on your next adventure here.
Jenn on the snow-covered Gorge Brook Trail on the way to the top of Mount Moosilauke.
“Do you have microspikes?” Oh no I thought, not this again. This micro has nothing to do with microbiology, and everything to do with ice.
Last time I was asked if I had microspikes it ended in a hike involving climbing up and down frozen waterfalls. Yes, that sounds cool, and it is. But when you have developed a fear of ice it takes a little getting used to. This fear has developed while walking around Boston, as I am never entirely sure when I am going to end up on my butt from stepping on black ice. I am considering these microspikes, metal spikes that strap on to your hiking boots, might be an excellent addition for my daily walking commute to Harvard.
Today these microspikes are for a hike up Mount Moosilauke in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
The trailhead is at the Dartmouth Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, a giant log cabin that welcomes anyone for something to eat or even to stay. No snacks for us here as the lodge is closed over winter. With this closure, the road in is also closed, adding a bit to your walk as you park offRavine Road. Not to worry you might see a moose along the quiet road. Unfortunately, all we came across of these “mythical’ creatures was poo and hoof prints.
The mythical moose foot prints
Once on the trail, you are surrounded by pine trees, a gentle bubbling creek and a gradual climb. You know you are close to the summit as the track steepens, the trees grow smaller, and glimmers of the surrounding mounts start to peek out through the trees.
The exposed ridge to the summit is dotted with large stone cairns marking the way. Thankful for the microspikes to safely traverse the tightly compacted snow and ice, we made it to the summit without being blown away. We couldn’t enjoy the stunning 360-degree views for long as it was blowing blustering gale-force winds. Conditions common for the Moosilauke peak and unsurprising as just a hop, skip, and jump away on the top of Mt Washington has recorded the second-highest wind speed measured anywhere in the world of 372 km/h.
Well worth the visit, the summit offers up stunning views in all directions. Being the western most of New Hampshire’s 48 peaks and the 10th highest, you have stunning vistas of the mountain ranges – on a clear day like ours we could see some of the Adirondack Mountains of New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont. But the best was the view to the west taking in Franconia Ridge.
We had considered doing this hike as a loop, circling back to the ravine lodge via the carriage trail, but with the wind howling up that side of the mountain, and being an exposed trail, we decided the more pleasant option would be back down the protected route we had taken up.
The wind blown ice castles on the summit of Mount Moosilauke.
It wasn’t just the stunning views that captured my attention on the summit. The natural ice sculptures created by the wind, looked like built structures, making me think of ice castles. But what is cool, is that even on a microscopic level these can be considered castles. The individual snowflake is an ice fortress built for a microbe. Bacteria and dust floating in the air act as nucleation sites for the formation of snowflakes.
A common snowflake inhabiting microbe is Pseudomonas syringae, a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria. Don’t worry, no need to stop catching snowflakes on your tongue, as P. syringae is not a superbug, instead it devastates our crops. It does have a superpower though – it can turn water into ice. This super power means that is a fantastic snowflake nucleator.
P. syringae produced its own ice castles through a protein on the bacterial surface – the outer cell membrane protein, inaZ. The surface of inaZ mimics ice, this mimicry of structure causes water molecules that come into contact with it to arrange themselves like an ice lattice. Water molecules that have been templated into this lattice formation become ice quicker. Thus, freezing at lower temperatures and becoming a snowflake quicker. It is this protein on P. syringae that means they are able to transform water vapor into ice at temperatures higher than cloud freezing, creating their snowflake ice castle.
The inaZ protein enables them to make more snowflakes than other ice nucleators – like dust or pollen. This has made them a key component of our man-made snowfields – P. syringae is used to make Snomax, a product that enhances snowmaking, perhaps even used at your local snow resort. This bacterial protein may be a helpful factor for the future of snow play in Australia with the ever-warming winters means less snow. This little microbe may just help ensure your next skiing adventure and even that next rain.
Mini city of fungi and lichen peeking out through the snow on Mt Moosilauke.
Want to start your own adventure in Boston? Apply for a Hugh Rodgers Fellowship! They are not just for scientists- these fellowships support education and the arts too.
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