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Asked by zoed to Danielle on 9 Nov 2021. This question was also asked by katieE.
Question: How did you know this job was meant for you?
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Danielle Nader answered on 9 Nov 2021:
Some microbes (fungi, bacteria, viruses) can be found everywhere and on everyone. They live in our skin, hair, lungs, intestine, but also in soil, volcanoes, ocean, and even in space! I knew I wanted to be a microbiologist because I am so interested in how these little microscopic organisms that we don’t even see or think about, can affect us SO much! Look at COVID19, for example. All this chaos caused by one little virus!
Microbiology is a very diverse field, so if you are interested in topics like infection, human health, drug treatments, then this could be a job to look into!
Comments
Rea commented on :
I only knew one thing coming out of high school, that I think science is cool and I love it. I have moved from chemistry and physics, to computational chemistry. And in all these disciplines, there is one thing in common, solving problems and finding answers to challenging science questions. As I grew older, I also started thinking about what my life purpose is and what difference do I want to make in the world. I don’t think it matters so much what field I found myself in, as long as I enjoy it and solve problems that plagues our society and our humanity.
So I know that my field is meant for me (for now) because I get to solve problems and addess problems we have in our communities, and I enjoy doing it.
Pawel commented on :
When I was very young (4-8 years) I wanted to be a chef (still like cooking as it is very creative process) or an archeologist (Indiana type, of course, I still love history and museums). From age maybe 10-12 I started to be interested in electronics and electrical circuits. It was fascinating to me how remote press of a switch can control something somewhere in the house. My close uncle was an electrician, that could have some impact on my choice of a career as he taught me how to solder and connect simple circuits. What fascinated me in all of the above careers (chef, archeologist and electronics engineer) is that they are creative, problem solving career paths. It is extremely uplifting to creating something out of disjointed parts – vegetables and ingredients to cook a dish, to piece together a history puzzle or create an electronic circuit. I think you will always find that good, passionate engineers and scientists are part artists – they appreciate a creative process.
Justine commented on :
I always love Science, all of them, in particular physics, but I was good at biology and I was very interested in Neuroscience, so I went to study Biology at the University. In my university in France, during the first year of bachelor in biology, you have lectures in every kind of biology (biochemistry, physiology, geology, microbiology, vegetal biology, …). All of that just confirm my interest in Neuroscience, in particular in cognitive science. I doubt throughout my studies (What do I want to do? Do I want to do a master? Do I want to do a PhD studentship?), but now, I know that I was meant to be here.
Ohood commented on :
In my experience, you don’t know where the path would take you but as long as you aim and do your best you will end up where it is meant to be for you.
I started as general Sciences when I wanted to study medicine (Medicine is not meant for me, but little I know back then). I tried to transfer to medicine and even though I got 100% in some courses and my GPA would’ve allowed me to transfer I needed up in Medical Laboratory; when I graduated Genetics was an interest but I wanted to consult people, share knowledge and help them prevent diseased so There was a new role advertised in Therapeutic Clinical Nutrition in Academia/Research so I applied and nailed it, At that time my specialisation was mainly (microbiology and genetics) but I was looking at specialising in Nutrition and genetic in my Graduate degree, again little I know that when I started my PhD researchers discovered the connection between microbes and food and I started to look at interaction between genetic x food x microbes. Some told me that I am dreaming, but more research came out proved it, and the last piece of work I did in my PhD was examining the effect of microbes fermentation of lactose using genetic variants responsible for lactose digestion.
Do what you enjoy in science with some focus, directions, and know that science is always evolving and also your interests in science … There is always new discoveries that might be of an interest to you. Neither Nutrigenomics or Microbiome and nutrition were largely studied and of focus to many scientist when I started my undergraduate degree.