Congratulations on presenting at the American Society for Matrix Biology Biennial meeting 2021. What was the most important part of your preparation?
The most important part of the preparation was to practice the talk. I did a trial session of the talk with my supervisor, Professor Geir Christensen. First, we worked on getting the story right for the presentation. Then, we agreed on what to explain on each slide. His advice for me to give a good talk was two things: Know your audience and communicate with them. So, to learn about communication, I listened to the best people like David Attenborough and Barack Obama.
In my experience, practice, as much as you can, does the magic. In this meeting, we had a technical issue right before the start. It was very stressful at that time. So, being prepared and practicing enough helped me to give the talk.
Tell us about your favorite molecule!
Versican! It is an extracellular matrix proteoglycan. Based on our previous studies, we believe that it is very important for the development of fibrosis in the heart. In my project, we are examining the role of this proteoglycan in fibrosis by using mouse models and cell cultures.
What is the dream outcome of your research?
This is a very interesting question. The dream outcome is to understand the mechanistic role of versican in fibrosis development, in order to develop treatment for fibrosis in the future.