How I Became a Biochemist… and Beyond…

I felt extremely honored and a little worried when Dr. William Whelan invited me to write an essay on “How I Became a Biochemist.” I thought of many before me who shared their scientific career milestones and their significant contributions to biochemistry. However, then I felt that I could provide a slightly different view of my scientific journey as a biochemist who traveled half the world to become a toxicologist via cellular biologist. I was born in the crowded, noisy, and colorful Bucharest, capital of Romania. After 4 years of high school with a major in Biology and Chemistry, in 1992, I was admitted to The University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Department of Biochemistry. Five years later, I graduated and enrolled in the Master of Molecular Biology Program for another year. My Professor of Biochemistry, Dr. Dana Iordachescu, once said that the main thing one acquires during the 5-year training period at the University is only the “ABC of Biochemistry.” At the time, that seemed an understatement for such a period of hard work, but looking back, I realize that she was right. Having reached that point, I thought I was ready to use that ABC and I decided to apply for a job as scientist. I was hired as research assistant at the Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy in 1998, the year when I met Professor Frank Vella then at University of Saskatchewan, Canada, who was to become a dear friend over the years, although mostly via e-mail since then. Known as a personality in education, he was invited to chair the second Workshop on Biochemical Education, cohosted by the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Biochemistry. Watching him explain how students should present their work, talking with passion about the love of his life, Biochemistry, made me think that he could make anyone love Science and anyone with a slight interest in Biological Sciences to love Biochemistry well and to remain faithful to that field. That actually happened to me too. My journey began with the recently appointed Dr. Stefana Petrescu, the young and ambitious Director of The Institute of Biochemistry, herself a graduate of the same Department, who set me to study the glycosylation pathways in B16 mouse melanoma cells. Coworkers in that laboratory, for whose time, help, and patience I owe deep gratitude, include Drs. Mihaela Trif, Gabriela Negroiu, and Norica Nichita. They smoothly transitioned me from the theoretical concepts acquired during the classes at the University into the reality of acquiring results at the bench and, most importantly, to their interpretation. The team in the Glycobiology Laboratory had already shown at that time that the glycosylation inhibitor N-butyldeoxynojirimycin (NB-DNJ) interfered with the folding and maturation of tyrosinase, the enzyme that regulates the melanogenesis in mammals. The compound had been shown to completely abolish the enzymatic activity of tyrosinase and to result in complete loss of pigmentation in B16 mouse melanoma cells (1). My Ph.D. project showed that pH-sensitive liposomes were efficient carriers for the delivery of iminosugars such as NB-DNJ to the endoplasmic reticulum of mammalian cells (2) and later became the basis for a patent application. That is how I became interested more in the modulation of melanin production than in the use of melanogenesis as an indirect end point for the efficiency of liposomes to deliver glycosylation inhibitors into cells. In 2001, I earned my Ph.D. in Biology (Cum Laude) from the Institute of Biochemistry and I became the first in my family to hold a Ph.D. That was the time I felt I had become a biochemist. I have always believed that basic research is an amazing endeavor that will remain confined within the binders of dusty workbooks unless otherwise used for a variety of applications (pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or other). Toward the end of my Ph.D. training, Dr. Petrescu asked me if I would be willing to travel to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States on a postdoctoral fellowship. Leaving aside my minimal traveling and experience of the English language at the time, the prospective of working at the NIH was very tempting. The position was at the National Cancer Institute, in the Laboratory of Pigment Cell Research led by Dr. Vincent Hearing who had always kindly provided the team I worked with with antibodies for tyrosinase and other melanogenic proteins needed for our research. I did not need much thought before accepting Dr. Hearing's invitation with a very strong feeling that my NIH experience was to be unique. That is how 10 days after my Ph.D. defense, I landed at Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, since then the dearest airport I have been in. Dr. Hearing was a wonderful Principal Investigator who motivated those in his laboratory to learn and to publish a lot, and to build and nurture a wide network of collaborators. My time there resulted not only in research collaborations but also solid relationships and friendships with many investigators around the world. It was only when I moved from the NIH that I came to understand that, through his seemingly effortless work focused on cultivating team work and fairness in his laboratory, through taking care of his internationalized group as of a second family, Dr. Hearing was actually our mentor, without our knowing or realizing it at the time. In that highly specialized laboratory, one of my projects was to investigate oculocutaneous albinism, a newly identified human autosomal recessive hypopigmentary disorder of skin, hair, and eyes. Our results showed that tyrosinase was abnormally secreted within immature melanosomes from primary melanocytes I had derived from mice that carry the underwhite mutation which affects the membrane-associated transporter protein (3). Having learned the secrets of melanocyte cell culture from Mr. Wilfred Vieira, who became a good friend, I have raised and immortalized several melanocyte lines, which became available worldwide through Dr. Hearing's kindness in donating them to various research laboratories (4). Another project was based on melanocytes that carry the slaty and slaty light mutations in the gene for Dopachrome tautomerase, an enzyme that is pivotal in biosynthesis of melanin and in rapid metabolism of its toxic intermediates. Our results showed that these mutations affect eumelanin/pheomelanin synthesis but not the intracellular trafficking of the mutant protein (5). That was how I became a pigment cell biologist. Dr. Hearing also encouraged travel and presentation of our work at meetings, thus helping us to become known in the pigmentation community. On one such occasion, I became acquainted with Dr. Gopinathan Menon (currently at ISP Corporation) who, after five prolific years at the NIH, introduced me to Global R&D at Avon Products where I have been a senior research scientist. Coming from an academic background, this contact with industry had a strong impact on me, given that most of what was discussed during meetings was new to me. Attendance at those meetings helped me gain the basics of working in industry where I have met exceptional people who became my mentors, peers, collaborators, and supervisors and helped me transition smoothly from academia to industry. One big accomplishment at Avon was the publication of the review entitled “Human skin pigmentation: melanocytes modulate skin color in response to stress” in the FASEB Journal which still ranks high (sixth) in the list of the most frequently read papers (6). At Avon, I was exposed to a totally different culture, one that focused on the type of questions I left Bucharest with years before: how can basic knowledge be applied to create products on the basis of the novelty and efficacy of their ingredients? Unfortunately, reasons beyond professional scope moved me and my family back to Maryland and I am seeking more answers to my questions. This was how I as a scientist came face to face with industry. It seems that I was destined to work in institutes of all kinds. Having started at the Institute of Biochemistry in Bucharest and proceeding to the National Cancer Institute, Avon was an important change that prepared me for what was yet to come. The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) is focused on research, educational, and outreach work in the field of in vitro alternative methods used to replace animal testing. In my 3 years there as Study Director, I supervised studies based on various in vitro systems for the safety testing of cosmetic, personal care, or household products. IIVS has closed an interesting loop in my professional life: starting as a researcher to gain a basic knowledge of science, applying it to discover new active substances/compounds to be used for products designed for human use, and finally moving into a field where the safety of those products is tested. That is how I became a toxicologist. On a cold December day last year, the milestones of this journey came to be shared with fourth graders at the K.W. Barrett Elementary School in Arlington, VA because of the invitation by Ms. Laurie Sullivan to talk there about how I became a scientist. As I told those students, I have been fortunate to come across great supervisors, mentors, and collaborators during my career. I have been lucky to have my family support me at all times and help me to make the right choices when key moments came my way. In a few words, my recipe for success consists of a little bit of luck, some talent, a lot of determination, and constant hard work. Science is an international language through which the barriers of space, time, and knowledge disappear and make room for discovery, for questions and answers, and for finding solutions for many so far unsolved problems. The basic concept of “color” and of the rainbow that arises from our genes is fascinating. The field of pigment cell biology remains of high interest to me although my time at the bench has become rather limited. I continue to stay close to the pigmentation community. In 2008, I became Editor of The PanAmerican Society for Pigment Cell Research Newsletters, having taken over from Dr. William Oetting who served in that position for 9 years. I work with Associate Editor, Dr. Prashiela Manga (New York University School of Medicine), in a very rewarding and fruitful collaboration that keeps the membership up-to-date with the field and also helps me to stay close to the newest discoveries in the field of pigmentation. I have recently graduated with an M.B.A. from Aspen University, CO. I keep my doors open to whatever the future has reserved for me, including the possibility of a business career in science. Exposure to different cultures and workplaces, from academia to government to industry has given me the good fortune as a biochemist to have explored various facets of science, business, and education which overlap. Only arbitrarily and unfortunately are they very often seen and considered to be separate entities of our society. This has been my very rewarding personal experience.

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