A Defining Moment of Collaboration

Ayano Kohlgruber finds collegiality, creativity in the scientific process

Ayano Kohlgruber

This essay was written for the 2018-2019 HMS Dean's Report in answer to the question "What was your most formative or memorable experience in your training at HMS?"

I’ve been extremely lucky to have had many positive research experiences throughout both undergraduate and graduate school that affirmed my decision to pursue science. One of the most memorable and scientifically critical periods during my training occurred in the first year of my doctoral program when I took Immunology 204—the immunology graduate program’s critical reading class.

At the time that my classmates and I were required to take the course, Imm204 was taught by Assistant Professor Florian Winau with an upper-level graduate student, Camilla Engblom, as teaching assistant. Much like a standard critical reading course, we were tasked to look over and critique papers that spanned different topics in immunology. But unlike a standard discussion section, the ways in which we were asked to assess the literature were, at times, unconventional.

Creativity was welcomed, and everyone’s unique perspectives moved the team closer to an answer. It was thrilling.

Througout the course, Florian and Camilla continuously surprised us with active-learning assignments that tested our ability to quickly sift through information and scientifically reason our way to an answer. Made even more exciting, we were often split into small groups and had to discuss and debate with each other in order to find creative solutions to the assignments. One week, we were given only the title and abstract of a paper, along with a list of reagents and mouse strains, and were asked to come up with the best experiments that would substantiate the authors’ claims in the abstract.

Another week, we were given two different manuscripts that arrived at opposing conclusions and were asked to debate each side, using data in the papers to support our arguments.

On a third occasion, we were given strips of paper containing figure titles and were challenged to pair them with their corresponding data figures. Once matched, we had to arrange them in the order we deemed most appropriate to tell a compelleling scientific story and come up with a suitable title for our assembled “paper.”

These surprise assignments filled me with nervousness, anticipation and excitement. Having always been slow and methodical in my scientific approach, I was pushed beyond my comfort level in order to keep up with the rapid-fire brainstorming sessions with my classmates. We would quickly fill whiteboards with ideas and have heated discussions about experimental design. Each assignment posed a new puzzle, testing our ability to hypothesize, extrapolate, defend, collaborate and conclude. During these surprise reading days, Imm204 transformed into a simulated lab space, where creativity was welcomed, and everyone’s unique perspectives moved the team closer to an answer. It was thrilling.

Imm204 made me realize two important things that would affect my decision-making going forward in graduate school. The first was that it made me consider the type of training environment I would benefit most from for my graduate work. Imm204 taught me that that the people you surround yourself with can critically elevate the quality of the science. I loved working with and learning from my classmates to solve problems, and I came away wanting the same intensity and excitement that I experienced in the discussion rooms of Imm204 in my future thesis lab. I made it a priority to find a lab where I would be able to surround myself with colleagues who were passionate about their research and who were ready to troubleshoot problems and engage in scientific discussions.

Secondly, Imm204 made me realize how much I still had to learn about how to think about science. Imm204 was the first time that scientific papers were presented to me in the form of a puzzle. I was forced to approach the data using new strategies, which broadened my conventional methods to reason through immunological problems. I was fascinated by the way the data, without any words, told a story, but it was up to us, as scientists, to communicate that story in its most honest form. I learned that science was a game of mental acrobatics, jumping from specific experimental details back out to placing the research within a broader framework of a scientific field. I found that I enjoyed thinking about science immensely, and through Imm204 I began to appreciate the creative aspects of the scientific process.

Ultimately, Imm204 strongly affirmed my decision to come to Harvard for graduate school and strengthened my desire to be a scientist. I feel unbelievably lucky to have stumbled upon a profession that, at its very essense, includes a payoff for solving fun and interesting biological puzzles and lets me grow as an individual through the process. Being a scientist continuously pushes my limits and I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding and exciting career path.