Making the leap from postdoc to group leader is both exciting and terrifying. Episode 1 offers the postdoc perspective on this journey. Renaud and Jonathan talk with Florencia, Mayank and Ashley about the fears, anxieties, and uncertainties that come with this transition. They share their personal experiences, discuss common challenges, and offer insights on how to navigate this crucial career step with confidence.

Download the episode transcript.

Guests

	Dr Ashley Bourke is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Erin Schuman’s lab at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt. With a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Colorado Anschutz, their research focuses on how proteins are precisely delivered within neurons to support learning and memory. Passionate about mentoring, they advocate for personalized guidance and diversity in STEM, founding the WiSTEM group to support women in science.
	Dr Mayank Chugh is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Biology and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at William & Mary. A first-generation college graduate from India, his work explores developmental biology while integrating science, art, and social change. He is the founder of the ReForm Lab, promoting equity and inclusion in academia.
	Dr Florencia Fernandez-Chiappe is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Younger Lab at Boston University, where she studies mosquito olfactory circuits using electrophysiology. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires, researching how GABAergic circuits regulate sleep in Drosophila. She is a Pew Latin American Fellow and a BU Distinguished Fellow and is actively involved in science outreach and advocacy for early-career researchers.

What if constraints could fuel your lab instead of limiting it? In this episode, we dive into the realities—and opportunities—of building a lab in resource-constrained settings. 

Renaud and Jonathan talk to three inspiring scientists, Daniela Di Bella (Harvard, USA), Vatsala Thirumalai (National Centre for Biological Sciences, India), Sahba Besharati (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) to share how starting with less taught them to think bigger, act smarter, and stay true to their vision. From Argentina to India and South Africa, discover how determination and creativity can turn a restricted environment into a space for scientific excellence.

Download the episode transcript.

Guests

	Dr Sahba Besharati is a neuropsychologist and senior lecturer in cognitive neuroscience at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She co-founded and co-leads Wits NeuRL, a pioneering neuroscience research initiative rooted in the South African context. A C1-rated researcher by the South African NRF and a CIFAR Global Scholar, Dr. Besharati's interdisciplinary work explores self-consciousness, emotion, and social cognition across clinical and developmental populations. She actively promotes neuroscience capacity-building in Africa and serves on editorial boards for Communications Biology (Nature Group) and the APA’s Neuropsychology journal.
	Dr. Daniela Di Bella is a Research Associate at Harvard University's Department of Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology. Her research focuses on the transcriptional control of cellular identities in the cerebral cortex, combining developmental neuroscience, transcriptomics, and neurodevelopmental disorder studies. She brings extensive expertise in cortical and spinal cord development, high-throughput data analysis, and collaborative research, recognized notably by a Pew Latin American Fellowship and multiple publications, including in Nature. She will soon establish her independent laboratory at the Fundación Instituto Leloir in Argentina.
	Professor Vatsala Thirumalai leads the Neural Circuits and Development Laboratory at National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India. After earning her B.Tech in Biotechnology from Anna University and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Brandeis University, she completed postdoctoral fellowships at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the NIH. Her research focuses on the development and function of motor circuits using zebrafish models. She is a recipient of the prestigious Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Fellowship and actively teaches neuroscience at NCBS and national-level programs.