Val
They/Them | He/Him
I am nonbinary transmasc and bi and I am a PhD student.//
I’m an origin of life researcher. My quest to become a scientist began in high school when I went as a exchange student to the US, where I took a college-level biology class which made me fall in love with the subject and solidified my decision to dedicate myself to the field. During my Bachelor studies, I had two mandatory courses, “Medical Biology” and “Ecology and Evolution”. Although my initial goal was studying cancer biology, having grown up in Russia where it is culturally and economically preferable to have a diploma in the applied field such as medicine or engineering, the mandatory ecology module changed my mind. I realized I wanted to be an evolutionary ecologist, and I wanted to stay in academia.
During my Master’s studies I met my supervisor who introduced me to the origin of life research. When she introduced her research, she posed a question: “What are microbial genomes hiding from us?”, and it fascinated me. My Master’s thesis consisted of using comparative genomics to elucidate the evolution of succinate dehydrogenases in prokaryotes. My PhD project consists of looking into evolution of tetrapyrroles (with a focus on protoheme) in prokaryotes, and answering the burning and controversial question:”Were hemes present in the last universal common ancestor?”
Conducting research in the origin of life, an interdisciplinary field tightly linked to philosophical and existential questions, makes me feel that my work has a special purpose. Doing fundamental research is not always valued in our economy-driven society but it nonetheless holds deep meaning for humanity, as it fulfills our thirst for knowledge. I could not ask for a better professional calling.
Being trans in Austrian academia is an interesting experience because, although in some ways this country is progressive, the academia is lagging behind. I’m the first openly trans person in our department, and it’s a bit of a trailblazer position but everyone has been very accepting so far, and made me feel welcome to be myself, and do science comfortably without hiding behind a mask.