Abigail Hall is a PhD student studying Staphylococcus aureus in the lab of Vinai Thomas, PhD, associate professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology. She recently earned a one-year predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. Let’s talk to her about how she earned this award and what receiving such a fellowship means to her young career.
How did you get this fellowship and what advice would you give to someone looking for or applying for one?
Staphylococcus aureus is one of our strengths at UNMC, we have a lot of staph aureus labs here. Within path-micro, infectious diseases, we have multiple labs, a great community, a very collaborative environment. Working in staph aureus, you are able to get feedback from all of these different people. It’s a fantastic environment to learn and grow in. … Many students have come through and over time many mentors and PIs have gotten a feel for what type of fellowships exist for students. They are very familiar with the American Heart Association and all the grants and fellowships people within our department have applied to and received. So, the community brought this award to my attention. And they not only could bring this award to my attention, but there were also multiple people I could talk to and say, Hey, what makes a good application? There was a lot of support within my department.
How much do you think receiving an award like this is “the science” and your project, vs. putting together an application or “grantsmanship”?
Something that’s important to keep in mind every single stage of your career, every grant you are applying for is different. You need to tailor your applications to specific types of awards. That is a skill, and it’s a skill that PhD students have not yet developed. There are a lot of skills that we are developing. Writing. On paper, how to fill out a grant. Writing about your science. This is a skill you continue to develop and improve the rest of your science career.
Learning to tailor a grant specifically or a fellowship application specifically to whichever funding source you are applying to. One of benefits of working in this department, specifically when it comes to the American Heart Association, is my PI already is aware of what the AHA looks for in an application. I had guidance from him, and he has guidance from other people.
People might wonder, I study bacteria, and I got an award from American Heart Association. But endocarditis is a major concern for the American Heart Association. I wouldn’t have necessarily known to apply but that is something where support from my department and my PI is invaluable.
How did the fellowship help you do the work you wanted to do or pursue your goals? What did it mean to you that you had your own funding?
Something important to remember about predoctoral fellowships is that most of the time these are training grants. This is fantastic, it’s going toward my training, paying my salary, allowing me to travel and do other things. Basically, this is funding allowing me to be here and learn. Every dollar I brought in is another dollar our lab can use for other things. It’s very satisfying to sort of be able to give back and contribute to the training environment. And I was able to travel to a conference in Barcelona over the summer. Collaborate with people around the world. An absolutely fantastic experience. I was talking to people and able to say, “I’ve read your papers!”
And it is a tangible measurable outcome of success. I mean, I know I love my research. But now this large organization is saying I am doing something right.
Can you tell us about your research in the most lay terms possible, and how did you go down this path of study?
I like to say my research looks like immunology, then you look closer and it is metabolism, you look even closer, and you get into chemistry.
One of the reasons Staphylococcus aureus is a problem is it is very resistant to oxidative stress – the white blood cells that kill bacteria. Oxidative stress part of your immune system. Normally, a white blood cell eats the bacteria – kill it with fire! But staph aureus is resistant to this process. It survives, is able to escape the immune system and get out and get away. My research is to figure out how staph is able to do this (probably thanks to a protein regulator called Spx). … It was supposed to be a small side project. But I got some unexpected results and that drove the rest of my project.
Anything else you’d like PhD students to know about applying for fellowships or training grants?
When it comes to PhD students vs. postdocs, vs. professors the grants you are applying for at every level are different from each other. For predoctoral awards you are not only applying with your science but applying with your mentor … your mentor is being evaluated along with you. They really need to be roped in early; they are a major determinant of your success. My mentor, Dr. Vinai Thomas, has taught me that you need to have good science and good scientific writing. And a good application outside of that. You cannot sacrifice one for the other in any direction. Each are equally important.