(Pharmaceutical Chemistry BSc, 2018; Clinical Drug Development MSc, 2019)
Queen Mary has made me realise that no matter your socioeconomic background, all students are equally exposed to all kinds of opportunities. No matter your background, origin or socioeconomic status, every person can achieve their goals in life.
Tell us about your journey before coming to Queen Mary. My family originates from a former Portuguese colony in India (Fudam, DIU). My grandfather first immigrated to Mozambique, but due to war, was forced to begin a new life in Lisbon with the whole family, where I was born. After completing my primary education my parents made a life-changing decision to move to London when I was 10 years old. But things didn’t go as smoothly as I had initially thought after moving to London. Unable to speak the native language meant that the most basic day to day life became a big challenge. As a result, in school, I was underachieving in all subjects (including my favourite subjects: maths and science). This was very demotivating, and I lost all self-confidence since I’d always been one of the top students in Lisbon. However, my parents kept assuring me that I could overcome these challenges by studying harder. As I slowly overcame the language barrier, I began to progress in my education and this boosted my self-confidence again.
One reason why I wanted to pursue a PhD with Queen Mary was seeing how PhD students from our lab had progressed to have very successful careers in different fields. For example, both Dr Joaquin Botta, currently at Sosei Heptares, and Dr Julia Appelhans, a Business Development Manager at Ximbio, are former PhD students from the William Harvey Research Institute and their inspiring journeys have greatly influenced me.
Initially, I didn’t consider pursuing higher education (due to the language barrier) but different factors later motivated me to take on this challenge. One factor was the endless support from my parents, who themselves had never been to or seen a university in the past. They strongly believed that education was the key to success from their own life experiences. Another factor was one of my first role models and close family friend, Sonia Parames, the first female I ever saw pursuing higher education whilst growing up. I was greatly influenced by her success as a pharmacist and though her, I got to see how further education was the key to gain such achievements and has the power to change lives for the better.
Why did you choose to study BSc Pharmaceutical Chemistry and then MSc Clinical Drug Development?
I always looked forward to my science lessons in high school, particularly the days we did biology or chemistry-based topics in class, as I found these subjects fascinating. When it came to completing the compulsory two-week work experience, I decided I wanted to spend these two weeks in a pharmacy setting. After being declined by three of our local pharmacies, finally, the fourth was happy to take me on. I was thrilled and excited about this experience away from a classroom setting.
Before completing this work experience, I had different thoughts on what a pharmacist might do daily, but upon seeing first-hand what role a pharmacist plays, I quickly diverted away from the thought of doing a pharmacy degree. I mostly saw the pharmacist preparing and dispensing medications and I didn’t see myself enjoying this career pathway in the future.
Therefore, I began exploring other careers within the pharmaceutical field, and other BSc courses that were available to study in London. This is when I came across BSc Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the contents being taught in this degree seemed very diverse to me, including chemistry, physics, and the option to spend a year in industry. I made this degree and Queen Mary the first choice in my UCAS application.
Once I approached the end of my BSc degree, I had a clearer idea of which field of science appealed the most to me - Drug Discovery/Development. But I was still looking to build my knowledge in this field further, hence why I decided to pursue an MSc in Clinical Drug Development. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this course covered all the key steps in drug development in great depth, from discovery to quality check and the marketing of a drug. I was very happy with both the BSc and MSc courses as they gave me invaluable insights into the career I wanted to pursue.
Which modules did you most enjoy and was there anything that you found surprising in your studies? The modules I most enjoyed in my BSc were the Year 2/3 pharmaceutical chemistry modules taught by the very inspirational lecturers Dr Lesley Howell and Dr Giorgio Chianello. When it came to picking my dissertation topic, I was sure I wanted to complete this key part of my BSc around the topic I most enjoyed – drug development. I was extremely happy to have been selected for my first chosen title under the supervision of Dr Lesley Howell, who had made our lectures enjoyable with her great passion for the subject, interactivity with students during lectures, and exceptional teaching skills. It was during my last BSc year that I was surprised to learn that not only do our lectures teach but, in most cases, they conduct their lab space/work/research alongside their teaching. Even more surprisingly, students like me could potentially join them and do work experience during the summer holidays. After my very close friend, Amandeep Gill, shared this information with me, I asked Dr Lesley Howell if I could do some work experience and without hesitation, she was happy to take me on to do some analysis for a project she was working towards. I was again surprised to see how short yet very useful experiences could greatly enhance my CV. I enjoyed almost all my MSc modules but after learning about the key aspects of drug development such as toxicology and data management, I was able to filter down the area that excited me - Drug Discovery and Pre-Clinical Research and Development.
My current research revolves around G Protein-coupled Receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of cell surface proteins with over 800 members in humans. These are an important class of receptors as they’re considered to be great targets in drug development.
Queen Mary prides itself on ‘opening the doors of opportunity’ for all students. Based on your own background and experience, is there a particular message you would like to share with prospective and current students?
Having grown up in a working-class family and a community that, in some respects, still features gender bias, I thought I’d have limited options and opportunities, whether it be because of my socioeconomic status, my origin or simply because of the initial language barrier I faced.
But Queen Mary and my parents destroyed this misconception. I am very thankful to my parents who’ve always had the mindset that both sons and daughters should be given the right to follow their dreams without any pressure of any kind. Queen Mary has made me realise that no matter your socioeconomic background, all students are equally exposed to all kinds of opportunities. I would love to emphasise that no matter your background, origin or socioeconomic status, every person can achieve their goals in life. Hard work and passion are all that’s needed!
You are currently undertaking your PhD at the William Harvey Research Institute. What or who inspired you to continue your journey with us?
I initially thought ‘I’ll finish my A-levels then find a job’, which quickly changed to ‘I’ll finish my BSc then apply for jobs, and then ‘I’ll complete my MSc then find a job’. But this changed again when I met Dr Peter J McCormick who was the first person to have mentioned the word ‘PhD’ to me – which I didn’t fully understand the meaning of back then. It was during my MSc research project which was completed under the supervision of Dr Peter J McCormick and his lab, that I got to meet PhD students and understand their work.
Despite loving the type of research we did in the lab during my MSc, I had some initial doubts about whether I’d fit into this challenging environment, and how I’d financially manage to do a PhD. However, it was the support from Dr Peter J McCormick, and his belief that I had the potential to take on this challenging journey, that made me believe I could undertake a PhD.
Another reason why I wanted to pursue further education with Queen Mary, was seeing how PhD students from our lab had progressed to have very successful careers in different fields. Dr Joaquin Botta, currently at Sosei Heptares, and Dr Julia Appelhans, a Business Development Manager at Ximbio, are former PhD students from the William Harvey Research Institute and their inspiring journeys have greatly influenced me.
What is the focus of your current research and how did you decide upon this particular area of study?My current research revolves around G Protein-coupled Receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of cell surface proteins with over 800 members in humans. These are an important class of receptors as they’re considered to be great targets in drug development, since approximately 30% of all drugs currently on the market target GPCRs. But discovery of drugs that target GPCRs has been hampered to some extent, one main reason being the high degree of sequence homology (i.e. have similar structures) within subfamilies of these receptors. This poses a major challenge in developing an adequate drug that selectively only targets one GPCR to treat a specific disease condition. In my current research, not only do I study GPCRs, but I focus on characterising other key players, such as accessory proteins that impact GPCR activity, and may in turn help ease the current challenge in achieving drug selectivity. I first learnt about this class of receptors during my BSc literature-based dissertation project; I then later got the opportunity to conduct in vitro research around one of these GPCRs whilst completing my MSc. Therefore, since I’d developed some understanding of GPCRs and their great potential as therapeutic targets, I wanted to conduct my PhD research on this topic.
How do you hope to use your research beyond your PhD?My research focuses on characterising the role of GPCR accessory proteins and understanding the molecular mechanism by which they modulate the activity of the following GPCRs:
Last year, we successfully published some of our research findings, where we uncovered a unique molecular switch in the human brain (MC4) that causes one to feel full, emphasising how this switch may help develop improved anti-obesity drugs. Therefore, I hope the findings of my PhD research can give insights into other routes of achieving selectivity (hence avoiding unwanted side effects) by exploring the role of GPCR accessory proteins.
What are your short-term and long-term career aspirations once you finish your degree?
My short-term goal is to publish the key findings we’ve discovered during my PhD, as well as complete my industrial placement which forms a key part of the MRC DTP studentship I’ve been awarded. My long-term career aspiration is to keep exploring the different ways I can continue to contribute to research which is a fundamental part of drug development and novel therapeutics.
Queen Mary has and continues to contribute to shaping the person I am today. My journey here has not only given me extraordinary opportunities but has also given me life-long friends.
What has been special about your Queen Mary journey so far? Queen Mary has and continues to contribute to shaping the person I am today. My journey here has not only given me extraordinary opportunities but has also given me life-long friends.I have many memories that come to my mind when I look back at my journey so far, but one memorable moment was when I received an invitation from Dr Lesley Howell to speak at a conference she was organising which aimed to showcase what chemistry in higher education is like. I was delighted to be a part of this event where I got to share my experiences during my BSc. But more importantly, when I was later approached by students and their teachers and told my talk was very inspiring, this was a very proud moment for me. My studies, but especially my PhD journey at Queen Mary, have played a massive role in helping me grow as a person both personally and professionally. Working and sharing lab space with a diverse group of people, from professors to undergraduate students, has been a unique setting where I got to learn that it’s best to express and not repress.
Finally, what do you do in your spare time? I love spending time with my family, whether it be travelling together around the world and visiting new cities and countries, or simply going for a stroll around our local area. Normally people assume I am a native-born citizen of the UK and are surprised to find out that I didn’t speak any English in my early childhood, and also about my origin and ability to speak four languages fluently. I also like surprising people in this way!
If you would like to get in touch with(Name) or engage him in your work, please contact the Alumni Engagement team at alumni@qmul.ac.uk.