Transcriber: Ann Marie Choram Reviewer: Arwa Mohamed
Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope?
At every turn, you will see a new perspective of exactly the same image,
and the more you look, the more you will see.
Good afternoon, I’m Silvia Affo. I’m a researcher, a woman, and also a mother.
and this is how my kids thinks I am: probably a transgenic Pikachu,
or maybe just a woman with strange things in her head.
I investigate tumors and tumor microenvironment.
Well, as you may know, tumors are not only composed by tumor cells,
but they also include other cells, such as: the famous immune cells,
endothelial cells, and also, the less known but, my favorite one,
Cancer associated fibroblast.
Well, tumor cells are the protagonist there. They are the VIP.
Well, they are like the VIC- the very important cells. Right?
We know everything about them.
We know how they look like. We know how they behave like.
But what we don’t know is that to be influent, tumor cells need followers,
and supporters because
they need to expand into growth
and will not be able.
Then with my research, I am at investigating the tumor
and tumor micro Environ micro environment complexity
and to turn the v- these vulnerabilities into new opportunity for therapy. Wow.
I believe that intuitions and great discoveries never happen by pure casuality
And they are not the result of..
casualty or accidental discoveries.
I believe that they are the result of much more complex process
which includes, curiosity, dedication, passion, and even failure.
As Louis Pasteur said in 1854, I think,
is that, “In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.”
In science, for me, it- it is very clear.
It means:
that you have to be a master in your field.
You have to know everything about your discipline.
to have the chance to embrace challenges as opportunities,
or you will not even notice them.
Well, I am a curious person,
and since
I got to know that stupid question do not really exist in science,
I start to ask even more questions
and
what has moved me during this journey in science is- is the curiosity.
What I like to think: my love for science started when,
when I was around 12 years old,
and , our science teacher
brought us to a laboratory,
the science- which for me was already amazing,
and there, we did a great chemical reaction that day.
Don’t try it at home. It’s very dangerous. Okay?
So we burned aluminum in presence of oxygen,
and that thing gave rise to a sparking flame.
Really! You can find in Google, but don’t try.
And
and I believe that that was the big bang for my passion, for my love for science.
And there,
I’m a little romantic too, so I believe that this light
is the light that has accompanied me during my journey in science.
Well, this is not a food, wine, taste, gourmet adventure,
but it's about my scientific journey.
As you may guess, I’m Italian, and, I studied biology in Parma,
a nice city in northern Italy, not quite famous for the great science,
but for the great cheese. Right?
I quickly moved to Barcelona
for my PhD studies, where I joined the University of Barcelona
in the Medicine Department,
and there I started to investigate the inflammation and fibrosis
in alcoholic hepatitis.
Quite funny, right, in Barcelona?
And then curious to know more about the intersection of liver tumors
of liver fibrosis, with liver tumors.
And also in my late 20s. Curious to know more about the city that never sleeps?
I decided to move to New York City,
where I joined Columbia University for my postdoctoral studies.
Well, I, at that time, I was sure I was in the great place and ready to do..
ready to do great things. And even if I had any doubt, those would be gone,
just walking through the campus
in Fort Washington Street in Washington Heights, northern Manhattan,
where the medical Columbia’s campus is located, You can find this advertised.
Amazing things are happening here.
And well, some amazing thing really happened there.
I gave birth to my two kids at that hospital on the left,
and, we also received an amazing bill for that, but this is another story.
So, when you join Columbia University,
you really feel that there is a lot of expectation on you, from yourself,
your family, the society, because you are there to make the difference,
the difference in your research, in your career, and maybe even in your life.
Well, I did work well during the first three years, were- was amazing.
I enjoyed the city, I enjoyed the- I acquired new technical skills.
I was happy. New York City is an amazing city, cultural,
vibrant, and also scientifically.
But I realized that my research was not going in the right direction,
was not so smoothly at I would have liked and I find myself stucked.
At that time, my emotional roller coaster started. Anxiety. Frustration. Anger.
Worry. Fear about the present. Incertitude about the future.
Disappointment and impatience. Impatience for those amazing things
that were not happening there.
At that time, I was only able to see two ways: fail- success or failure
and I was stuck in the wrong one. No doubt.
But I was not alone there.
There was an entire community, the postdoctorale fellow community,
suffering the same experiences.
And, I’m quite an optimist person.
And I started to motivate them to don’t quit, to don’t give up,
to believe in themselves, to try to change these challenges into opportunities
for their life, for their careers.
And I was talking to them, but I was also talking to myself.
I realized that that connection time was also the first time in my life
that I stopped, and I thought for the first time about priorities,
about work and life balance, about myself not only as a researcher,
but also as a woman. And why not a possible mother?
That time was (laughter) sorry.
The time was the time of, think about things that were happening in my life
and that time would have never happened and come if I would have embraced
the successful way right away. Right?
When people are successful, we tend to focus on their success
and not about the failure, the mistakes,
the struggles. And why?
I don’t know.
As the good millennial I am.
Um...
I was in Twitter a few weeks ago and I found a tweet quite interesting one.
It was about an experienced researcher sharing- complaining about
scientists sharing only their successful experiences. Publications. New funding.
And not really sharing the day-to-day life: failures, rejections
and why? I had to look at why- why this was happening
And I believe that failure is bad for our ego.
Our ego doesn't like failure,
but we don’t have to let our ego to be on charge,
or we will not be able to see other people perspectives
and to embrace challenges as opportunities.
When I realized that the failure path was indeed a learning process,
is when I start to move again and step by step, I converted the,
I won’t do it, into, I will try to do it. Okay. How do I do it?
Up to, I can do it. And I did it.
This is quite how I embraced the failure process, as part- is- as the quickest way
to go and reach the success.
Well, it is- it is when I embraced the failure without fear
that I felt that I was on the right path.
Well, it still took kind of three years to get rid of New York City,
But you know what, that paper, that publication that seemed endless.
It was published and it was great, and it is- it was followed by several other
publications.
I did travel with my families, the fourth of us through two continents,
during a pandemic,
and I obtained new funding
to found my new research and my new research line in Europe.
Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope?
Looking at tumors, it’s a lot like looking through a kaleidoscope.
At every turn, it will give you a new perspective of exactly the same picture.
And the more you look, the more you will understand and learn.
This is how I started my interview front of the European Research Council
last summer.
And this is also the reason why I’m here today, I guess.
And I had eight minutes to present my research in front of experts in the field,
looking for out-breaking science. I had to look what was out-breaking.
I mean, it was clear to me what I was doing, why I was doing.
I had- the scientific objective was in my head, was amazing.
I want to orchestrate all this chaos in tumors and microenvironment
and redirect them towards a therapeutically favorable phenotype.
That sounds good? Okay, I think it sounds good.
And- but I couldn’t find a way to communicate the relevance of my work.
I knew that my work was important,
but I knew that it will not make the difference.
I will not find a cure for cancer, most likely. And I was struggling.
One day I was walking in Barcelona, Eixample, looking for .. no,
just walking work. I was not looking for anything actually.
And I stopped by a toy shop, and I saw a kaleidoscope.
I enter, I took the kaleidoscope and I saw it.
That was the vision of my research.
I realized in that precise moment, turning the kaleidoscope that my research.
Oh, there was an animation. Sorry, we lost it.
But my research is only one part of the biggest picture,
and it didn’t need to be the entire picture. It was fine. It was good.
It was such a relief, honestly. I understood that
If I do great things with my research, I will help other fields to progress.
It’s not, everything about me.
Precision medicine has done giant steps forward in the last years.
We cannot cure cancer- cancer yet,
but we can cure specific cancer harboring specific mutations,
which means in the day-to-day life saving lives and improving patient’s lifestyle.
Which is amazing. And this is thanks to failure and mistakes.
I cannot predict or tell you where the future of cancer research will go,
because it’s very quick, unpredictable, and this is also fascinating to me.
But what I know is that the field is moving quick
because of the intersections of different disciplines,
because of the different perspectives of different people.
And every day, thanks to all these, we are generating new hypotheses.
We are doing new mistakes, new failures,
and all these opening to new opportunity and hope for therapy.
Now I have a question for you. Can you guess?
Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope?
(applause)