Seminar by an Agriscience employee

Attended a seminar by a researcher working at a company that produces seeds and ag chemicals. Interesting! There seems to be an increasing interest by graduate students in a career in cooperations rather than academia. 

Strategies for job-hunting

Think how your career goals and interest fit together with who you are as an individual. The presenter is a “naturalist”, likes working with plants, so those were her selling point.

What makes you stand out of a stack of CVs?

Make a slide with photos and illustrations describing who you are. She had a photo of herself hugging a tree to say she is a naturalist.

Her mission: to make a crop better

Output traits = traits for consumers

Input traits = traits for farmers, traits of defence against pests etc.

E.g. Sunflower that has high omega-9 oleic acid.

Transgenic approach - introduce the genes of 4 proeins that produce DHA from malonyl-CoA.

e.g. Plenish high oleic soy. Good because it has high oleic (18:1) and low linolenic acid (18:3). Sold to food manufacturers.

Gene shuffling - make random mutations - test in yeast - select the favorable mutations.

CRISPR leaves no transgenes in final product - increased consumer acceptance (?)

How to discover novel herbicidal compounds - screen new molecules by plants, arabidopsis, leaf disk, or whole plant.

After glyphosate, no herbicide was commercialized over the past 25 years. It dominates the market now. Herbicide discovery is slowed down after glyphosate release.

  

Publishing in a cooperate environment 

Policy really depends on your supervisor. Some encourage publication and presentation at conferences. BUT they do not let you sit down and write papers, so you need to curve out your time for writing if you want to publish. Publication is not the primary goal as it is in academia.

Key learnings:

1.      Soft skills are just as important as technical skills. Communication, being a good team player, empathy.

2.      Desire and willingness to learn something new because what you do will change because you will have different projects and technologies always develop.

3.      Embrace changes - the company may be acquired or merge with another. Be flexible.

4.      Show leadership & get involved (clubs, committees, volunteer). Leadership at all levels (TA, organizing a workshop, seminar, graduate student association, project leadership)

5.      It’s never too early to start networking and maintain your networks. Update with them when you change jobs, published a paper etc. It’s awkward when you ask for a recommendation letter from your former adviser when you have not talked with them for 5 years.

6.      Learn how to write & tell a story - writing papers and grant applications is all about telling a story in an effective way.

7.      Find a mentor & be a mentor.