Perspective
Cite This: J. Chem. Inf. Model. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX pubs.acs.org/jcim
From Brazil to Germany: Challenges and Advantages
Ariane Nunes-Alves*,†,‡
†
Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Schloß-Wolfsbrunnenweg 35, 69118 Heidelberg, Germany
‡
Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg (ZMBH), Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
ABSTRACT: Moving to a new country, with a different
culture and a new environment, is not an easy decision. In this
perspective, I present some reasons that made me, a Brazilian
computational biochemist, move abroad to do postdoctoral
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research and some of the challenges I faced before and after
moving.
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A fter a fruitful period of learning computational bio-
chemistry and publishing, I finished my Ph.D. at the end
of 2017 and exchanged the Brazilian summer for the German
winter. Why would someone exchange beautiful sunny days in
Brazil for cold and cloudy days in Germany? You will see I had
good reasons for this.
I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. When I was in
high school, there were many stories about the sequencing of
the human genome and how this information had the potential
to cure diseases. Such news inspired me to pursue a bachelor’s
degree in biology at the University of São Paulo. In the end, I
did not enjoy genetics very much, but I was fascinated by
biochemistry and also started working with Linux and C
programming. This led me to do a Master’s degree and a Ph.D.
in biochemistry at the same university, working with
computational methods under the supervision of Prof. Dr.
Guilherme Menegon Arantes. During my Ph.D. studies, I was
also a visiting researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, under
the supervision of Prof. Dr. Daniel Zuckerman. During my
Master’s degree and Ph.D. studies, I developed methods for
predicting binding affinities using protein ensembles1 and for
studying forced protein unfolding coupled to bond dissocia-
tion.2 I also studied pathways for ligand unbinding from T4
lysozyme.3 This last work drew my attention to ligand−protein
binding kinetics, which has been my major research interest so
far.
During my time as a graduate student, I saw interesting work
in computational chemistry being developed in Brazil,4 like the
free docking tool DockThor,5,6 methods for accelerated
quantum chemistry calculations using GPUs,7 and for
simulating DNA oligonucleotides using adaptive resolution.8
The first crossroads of my transition happened in the final
years of my Ph.D. studies, when I started thinking about the
next steps of my career. I talked to former graduate colleagues
about the possibilities. Most of them had moved on to
postdoctoral research in Brazil or abroad, some of them went
to the pharmaceutical industry to work as science liaisons or
researchers,9,10 and some became elementary or high-school
teachers in science or science-related disciplines. Often times
© XXXX American Chemical Society
colleagues on the postdoctoral path were stressed about not
having a stable job and the uncertainty of getting a position as
a principal investigator (PI) in the future. People who had left
academia missed the freedom of thinking and defining goals,
but they were happy with a regular work schedule and a stable
job.
A career as a PI looked like a good fit to me. Although I did
not like the lack of stability of the temporary postdoctoral
positions one needs to get there, I enjoyed teaching and
problem solving. It was fulfilling to think that, as a scientist, I
was adding a tiny little drop to the huge ocean of knowledge.
Therefore, I decided to do postdoctoral research to publish
more papers and get more experience in teaching and advising
students.
The second crossroads was to decide where to do
postdoctoral research. Many reasons led me to do postdoctoral
research abroad. The first was that this would allow me to gain
a further understanding of my main area of interest, binding
kinetics. This topic was getting a lot of attention in the final
years of my Ph.D. studies due to the increasing evidence of the
relationship between drug residence time, the time a drug
spends bound to a protein, and in vivo efficacy.11,12 Another
reason was that a research stay abroad is valued by hiring
committees in Brazil and would be a good opportunity to
increase my professional network, learn new computational
methods, and see things from a different perspective.
Moreover, my experience as a visiting researcher in the United
States during my Ph.D. studies showed me that I was able to
adapt to a life abroad.
My plan was to apply for positions in the United States and
Europe, where there are usually better funding resources for
research. I anticipated that one of the major challenges would
be the interviews for landing a position. I knew flight costs for
Special Issue: Molecular Simulation in Latin America: Coming of
Age
Received: September 10, 2019
A DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00764
J. Chem. Inf. Model. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
an in-person interview would be expensive and that most
interviews would happen by video conference. Since human
interactions through video conferences are very limited, I
feared it might be hard for a PI to decide whether I would be a
good fit for her or his group. Moreover, it would also be hard
for me to decide whether the laboratory environment would be
a good match for me.
I made a list of laboratories to which I was going to apply for
a postdoctoral position and planned to go to a couple of
international scientific meetings in the last two years of my
Ph.D. studies to meet the PIs of these laboratories. This would
alleviate the problem with video conference interviews. I tried
to meet not only the PIs but also current or former Ph.D.
students and postdoctoral researchers to get a better idea of
the PI’s working style and laboratory environment. Talking to
graduate students was surprisingly useful. No one spoke
negatively about her or his own laboratory, but sometimes
their body language while replying to my questions made it
very clear that some places were not so friendly. Another piece
of advice I received was to contact the PI in advance and invite
her or him for a coffee or volunteer to give an informal talk to
her or his laboratory, in case the laboratory happened to be
close to one of the conferences I was going to attend. I never
had the courage to do this because I thought of PIs as very
busy people who would not have time to spend with Ph.D.
students. Now that I am more experienced, I know that most
PIs, despite being busy, would be happy to discuss their results
and hear about new ideas.
I started sending applications 10 months before my defense.
In most cases I sent unsolicited e-mails to PIs, and I also
applied to positions advertised on the Internet.13 I wrote
proposals to get independent funding for my postdoctoral
research too. I had some video conference interviews in the
United States and in Germany, and they usually went fine.
I got to the second round of selection of a postdoctoral
funding I applied to in Germany, and the interviews were
conducted in person, with the travel expenses covered by the
research cluster offering the funding. I visited the laboratory of
Prof. Dr. Rebecca Wade at the Heidelberg Institute for
Theoretical Studies for a week, and I could see that her
laboratory would be a very good match for me. Later, I was
awarded the postdoctoral funding, and I am currently working
in her laboratory.
I started my postdoctoral position in January 2018, after
which I faced new challenges. I am still not fully adjusted to the
German winter, which usually gets much colder than winters in
Brazil. I did not speak any German when I arrived, which is not
a problem in the laboratory, but basic tasks, like organizing an
Internet connection, can be a hurdle. I counted on the help
and kindness of my German laboratory mates to work it out.
Something that made my life easier was the company and
support of my husband, who left his job in Brazil to come with
me to Germany.
My expectations have so far been fulfilled. I have been
studying drug binding kinetics from a different perspective. I
am currently using methods such as Brownian dynamics and
molecular dynamics simulations to see how the motion of
small drug-like molecules is affected by macromolecular
crowding, the usual condition inside cells,14 characterized by
a high concentration of macromolecules such as proteins and
lipids. My professional network is growing. There were also
some personal benefits: I am more flexible, have learned the
basics of German, and have managed to travel to nearby places
B DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00764
Perspective
to experience different cultures. Moreover, my laboratory is
very multicultural, with people from different parts of the
world, which has increased my cultural sensitivity.
My final advice to make one’s experience abroad smooth is
to choose the PI for your postdoctoral research or Ph.D.
studies carefully. Do you need someone who will micromanage
your tasks or someone who will give you time and space to
work on your own ideas? Do you feel comfortable in asking for
help, not only in professional, but also personal matters, like
visa problems? And after you get your position, I repeat the
advice from a previous perspective:9 ask questions and learn
from your colleagues. Computational chemistry is a multi-
disciplinary area of research, and research groups usually have
people with different backgrounds like biology, chemistry, or
physics. Do not feel badly if you do not know something; the
fact is that no one knows everything.
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: ariane.nunes-alves@h-its.org.
ORCID
Ariane Nunes-Alves: 0000-0002-5488-4732
Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
́ Dr. Neil Bruce, Dr. Kira
I would like to thank Javier Diaz,
Armacost, Dr. Bruno Chausse, and Dr. Csaba Daday for review
of this manuscript. I also thank the Coordenação de
́ Superior (Capes, process
Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel
number 88881.162167/2017-01) and the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation, which support my work through a
Capes-Humboldt fellowship, and the Klaus Tschira Founda-
tion for financial support.
■
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C DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00764
J. Chem. Inf. Model. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX