Welcome to the Abcam blog

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What sparked your passion for science?

I have always admired inventors coming up with a light bulb or more recent the incredibly useful Orbitrap. I would have also loved to become an alchemist or a sorcerer - but learned that the necessary skills are rare and then chose the pedestrian way. For me science is an integral part of our lives - it is just a response to our inherent curiosity. Experimental research as a profession takes it to a completely new level - it is a privilege. Every day is to try to make things better, easier and - yeah - make things possible. It is amazing when you see that some discovery makes it into mainstream technology many, many years later. Being part of the process that tries to get a little step further is what drives me every day.

What exciting research projects have been going on in your lab?

At the moment we are grappling with haploid stem cells. The discovery of these cells could bring a number of interesting applications and has raised new questions as well. It is one of those things that hadn't been thoroughly anticipated and there is an acute lack of theoretical footing. Experiments at the moment are really like trying things out - some work, others don't - and we do not really understand why. This research fits somewhat the overreaching topic in the lab, of trying to understand how the expression of the genome is regulated during development. The genome contains a very large amount of information that is interpreted by processes in the cell nucleus and it does it beautifully. Should scientist ever get behind the mechanisms that regulate organ development, it cannot be anticipated what applications could arise.

How did you first connect with Abcam and come to chair this conference?

Initially, Anne Wiblin from Abcam wrote an email asking if I had any interest in helping organize a conference on Epigenetics and Stem Cells. At first I was perplexed, why would Abcam be interested in these topics? My group had just moved from Vienna to Cambridge and at the same time from Epigenetics into Stem Cell biology - could people at Abcam know about this? Second, I had no idea how to organize a conference - to be completely honest if anybody had slight doubts about the nature of scientific conferences it could be me. This was a really interesting opportunity!

What were your motivations to organize this conference?

It seemed the right time for this meeting. The topic of the conference covered a research area with many recent breakthroughs and there was a long list of potential speakers. The prospect of drawing on Abcam's expertise and experience with organizing a successful conference series also helped to keep the panic over the organisational aspects in check.

What makes this meeting different from other stem cell meetings?

I think the selection of speakers. There is a good mix with a couple of highly talented younger people speaking that all have made fundamental discoveries. These will almost assuredly bring in new and fresh ideas - maybe controversial aspects. This is a great prospect for discussion.

The meeting is about the interface between Epigenetics and Stem Cells - what will the contact of these two fields bring about?

I expect that this meeting will test the boundaries of the current understanding and facilitate open discussion of concepts. It will possibly be more dynamic than meetings that confine more to established research areas. Seeing how much we can make sense of at the moment and generalize will be interesting. Trying to consolidate recent findings can be useful for identifying aspects where future research will need to and can advance.