Erin Tranfield (VIB Bioimaging Core, Ghent)

Episode Transcript
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Intro/Outro (00:02):
Welcome to The Microscopists, a bite sized bio
podcast hosted by Peter O'Toole,sponsored

Peter O'Toole (00:12):
Microscopists Today on the Microscopists, Erin
Tranfield from BIB in Ghentgives us her advice on what it
takes to become a greatmicroscopist.

Erin Tranfield (00:22):
Chemistry wasn't super exciting for me either.
The irony is, I would say, to bea good microscopist, you need to
understand the physics of yourmicroscope, the chemistry of
your sample prep, and thebiology of your questions. So I
haven't escaped those two fieldsyet.

She shares her personal story of incredible
determination.

I went horseback riding with a few friends and I,
it didn't go well. We'll put itthat way. And I fell from the
horse and crushed 3 areas of myspine. And as a consequence, I
have a pretty serious spinalcord injury.

And proves that you can excel despite enormous
setbacks.

It was partially challenging, but it was really
fun to build a core facilityfrom 0. And that's what I did in
Portugal. I really broughttogether equipment and teams and
people and did a lot oftraining.

All in this episode of The Microscopist. Hi.
Welcome to the My Crostophists.I'm Peter O'Toole. And today,
I'm joined by Amy Tranfield fromVIB in Ghent, which is a new new
job for you just, Amy.

Yeah. Today is Friday number 2, and the first
full week number 1. So, yeah,it's been quite the change.
Country number 5. I'm collectingthem.

Wow. Country number one minute. So this is
country number 5 in your jobs.So

Well, in my life, I count where I was born
as well.

Which is where? Canada. So you got Canada, US,
Portugal.

Germany, then Portugal.

Yeah. And then Belgium. Belgium. 5. Do you know
how it's going to be in trouble?
I've got some questions aroundthose 5 countries.

Yeah. And you can also add Costa Rica and
China in there if you want, butI was only in those for less
than 6 months, so they don'tcount.

That's quite a long time, though. How come they
were so short?

I was in Costa Rica in, I need to think about
it. After undergrad, I was doinga volunteer program. So this was
very cool. And in China, I wasthere as part of the
International Space University,and I was teaching in Beijing in
2007.

In China? Mhmm. That sounds rather cool.

It was. We got to watch them build the bird's
nest, just before the Olympics,so that was quite exciting.

That that that does sound really cool. Now
then, so there's there's 2things actually. To all, she
just started a job at the VIB inGhent. And by coincidence,
today, I think, is InternationalWomen's Day.

It is. Yes.

And you sent me this image today, which is of
you. And if I open this up, itshould pop up on my screen if my
computer starts playing ballagain.

We'll see. Oh, this is Saskia and I. Yes.

So I I like the fact that I get between both of
you.

Yeah. You are well positioned. Sais might not
be happy with you as you'reblocking their microscope, but
that's okay.

Come on. I'm better looking than their
microscope. That's

true. That's true.

So so Saskia, was obviously leading the VIB core.

And she has stepped up to deputy director of
all technologies now, leavingthis beautiful position for me
to step into. I'm very lucky,but I have first the shoes of
Chris Guerin and now the shoesof Saskia to fill. It's slightly
intimidating. My imposter ishaving a fit.

So so interesting. You say you meant
you mentioned Chris as well.Actually, so actually,
interesting, my time with VIB,my influence at VIB, maybe
that's a good way to word it,goes way back to 2003 Whoo.
Before Chris.

Really?

Before Chris. And the only the person looking
after their confocals was Eve.

Yes. And she's still here. She's a master.
She's been babysitting me allweek. That woman is a rock star.

So and she came over on one of actually, she
came over on my very firstconfocal microscopy course I
ever ran.

Wow. Well, I hope to come and visit one of
yours in the future too as I'mtrying to go from the world of
electrons to photons and soundintelligent. So I have a
journey.

So I well, yeah. You have a journey in
microscopy. You've had a journeyon a personal scale as well.

I collect them, apparently, like countries.

So take I can tell you let's take you back. We
just heard a bit about going tothe China and the space side of
things. When you were a child,going way back, what was the
first job that you ever aspiredtowards?

I think I wanted to be a veterinarian, and this
is because I grew up on a farm.I am a farm girl from the West
Coast of Canada or WesternProvince of Canada. And, I
thought that was a great ideauntil, admittedly, we had this
lovely vet come up, and she wasquite short. And she had to get
in and turn the calf because thecalf was breached, And she stuck

(05:20):
her hand way up, and her noselanded in a very unfortunate
place, and then the cow pooed.And I was like, oh, maybe I
don't want

to be a child.

Oh, so that was the end of my aspirations to be
a vet. Then for a while I wantedto be a doctor, that stuck for
even longer and I always swore Iwould be the 1st woman on the
moon. So there was the spacefrom the very beginning. But
when you grow up with the milkyway over your head and northern
lights all throughout your life,you know, you can't help but

(05:51):
love the stars above you.

Wow. Now you just made me really envious.

Yeah. You can come visit. It's a great
location. My mom still has thefarm, and it's, it's my hiding
place. When I need to think, thebest place is the farm.
Your nearest neighbor is a 15minute walk, so you have
ultimate silence.

So you have chose a very different career to your
parents. How how do your parentsfeel about your career? How how
how do they comprehend yourcareer?

I was really fortunate with my with my
parents. So my mom, was thefirst person in her family to do
a master's, I think. She endedup being the vice principal of a
high school long before womenwere considered normal to be
leaders, in the teachingprofession, I would say. And she
had the attitude and she alwaysshe would drive me nuts with

(06:40):
this, but she would say to meyou can't get what you don't
apply for so you have to applyfor everything. And I I realized
how lucky that was because Ithink many women are intimidated
to apply where I had my momchasing me constantly.
Apply and try and do and so theyshe really supported me. My dad

(07:01):
was never quite sure what I did.He was a carpenter by trades,
and then went on to become aninstructor of carpentry at the
local college. And so this wholebusiness of medicine, he wasn't
sure about. He wanted me to be anurse so I could take care of
him when he got old.
And, actually, I did. I tookcare of him until he passed
away. But, my mom was really thechampion and she still is. If I

(07:26):
if I write something, she editsit. She edited my PhD thesis,
and she found the best mistakethat a scientist could ever
make, which was I wasn't imagingmy results.
I was imagining them. Two extraletters that means so much.

Yeah. So that

was that was a good typo she found for me.

Well, I don't know if you ever noticed if you
run someone's experiments thatthe u and the I are next to each
other on a keyboard. So you justgot a slight error and you ruin
someone's experiments. Exactly.I've often offered to to to ruin
people's experiments on theirbehalf completely by accident.
Oops.
So from from that, what so howdid you fall into what was your

(08:10):
first degree?

I did an undergrad at the University of
Victoria in Victoria, BritishColumbia, Canada, on biology.

Why biology?

Because I hated physics. I could do it, but I
hated it. And chemistry, I don'tknow. I I I just chemistry
wasn't super exciting for meeither. The irony is I would say
to be a good microscopist, youneed to understand the physics
of your microscope, thechemistry of your sample prep,
and the biology of yourquestions.

(08:41):
So I haven't escaped those twofields yet, But biology just
seemed like the right callingfor me. And at that point, I was
still chasing the idea ofbecoming a a medical doctor. So
it was the it was the firststep.

So so when did that desire to chase being a
medical doctor stop?

I applied to the p MD PhD program at the
University of British Columbia,and I was accepted into both,
but not the combined program,and they made me pick. And when
I had applied, I told my PhDsupervisor or my at that point,
he was actually my mastersupervisor that if I had to, I
wasn't going to abandon mydegree. So by necessity, I I

(09:26):
stuck with the PhD. And in manyin many ways, I'm glad I did
because I wouldn't be where I amtoday. I never would have
traveled.
I wouldn't be on country 5. Iwouldn't be married to a Swiss
husband for sure. You know? Thethe world is very different. I
call my my my PhD certificate,my international passport.
It takes you around the world.

So from Canada, from your degree, your PhD was
covered within that, but thenyour postdoc. Where was your
postdoc? And what was that?

So stepping back, my PhD was looking at how
air pollution affects the heart,and this is something that then
was very rare. I I've I'm quiteentertained actually right now
because there's so manynewspaper articles about how
people are dying from airpollution. I'm going, yeah. Hi.
20 years ago, people.
Good thing you've caught up now.But when I did my PhD, it was a

(10:24):
very rare field. So I was wasrelatively unknown. In the
middle of my PhD, I found outabout the International Space
University, and I asked my PhDsupervisor if I could take 3
months off and go to Francebecause that's where it was that
summer and attends, the summerprogram, which was a 12 week

(10:45):
program all about space. And thereason I wanted to do this was
just because I'm a nerd, and Ithought it would be super cool.
And when I went to ISU and thethe SSP, the the summer studies
program, that was that's what itwas called then. I found out
that NASA was very interested inhow dust of any kind affects the

(11:08):
human body. So my researchtrajectory, what I was doing in
my PhD was exactly what theywanted to do with lunar dust.
Dust is a much more, exoticsample than air pollution, but
the methodology is identical. SoI went from doing my PhD at the
University of British Columbiain Canada to doing my first

(11:31):
postdoc at NASA Ames ResearchCenter in California.
And I spent 2 years therestudying how lunar dust and
actual lunar dust, not just thesimulants, affects the lungs,
the eyes, and the skin.

So you you sent me some pictures of it and very
envious pictures. None of themlooking at dust.

No. Sorry. Because, I mean, you're at NASA.
You're doing some really coolstuff.

Yes. So I take it this is a a simulator of some
sort?

Yeah. So at NASA Ames, they have one of the only
vertical motion simulators, andthis was one of the times I got
to sit in it. And I actually gotto fly it in the vertical motion
setting. So this is where itmoves in all directions. Yep.
And it's just damn cool. There'sno other words for it. So this

(12:21):
this simulation was just apicture. I was just in the seat.
I think this is the first time Isaw it.
When I did the simulation, I waslanding on the lunar surface.
And I can tell you the firsttime I crashed it so badly they
had to reset the computer.

They literally crashed the computer as well.

I crashed it. Simulation. I crashed the whole
thing. But the second time, Ilanded actually quite well,
apparently. I think they werejust being nice that they didn't
have to restart the computeragain.
But

And and, actually, I think my favorite
picture is is 1, which is you. Ipresumably actually, is it the
space shuttle?

Yeah. It's the space shuttle. This was again,
it was being prepared forlaunch.

You mean? I wanna be there.

Yeah. It was super cool. And we got to walk
all around it. And if you if yougo to the other side quickly
you'll see that I don't have anyjewelry on and if you know me
you know that there's alwayssomething. Even the nose ring is
gone there because you could notgo anywhere near the space
shuttle with any metal even ifit's attached to you.

(13:25):
So they made us stripeverything. My PhD supervisor,
doctor David Loftus, he had totie his glasses on his head so
they couldn't possibly fall off.It was very interesting to do a
visit there and to see theshuttle.

I'm intrigued. Why why is it so important to
remove all metal?

Because it could fall somewhere that's innocuous,
that doesn't make a differenceat that moment. But when you go
into space, you're dealing withmicrogravity. Everything can
float around, and it could endup somewhere that's quite
dangerous. And so at least thatwas that's my interpretation of
why you don't want it to to bethere. So

Okay. And and you also looked at some of the some
of the robot landing orpotential landing.

Yeah. So this is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and we were there. So this is,the cousin of spirit and
opportunity, and they had a 3rdrover here, and you can see this
is in their Mars, simulant room.This is with a special simulant
that's supposed to mimic aMartian, soil. And anytime,

(14:28):
spirit, or opportunity would getstuck, the teams would come to
this room and try and practicegetting them moving or or
unstuck, deal with whateverproblem they were.
So what I love about thispicture is you realize how big
Spirit and Opportunity bothwere. They were actually quite
large rovers, on the lunarsurface. And we were working

(14:50):
with Jet, the Jet PropulsionLaboratory, because we were
putting towards together aproposal for a small instrument
that would go to the lunarsurface and sample, lunar dust
and bring it back so we couldstudy it.

So you'd be bringing so and that's then the
microscopy of the dust itself.And would you then be using the
dust for inhalation

well, well, the challenge with the whole lunar
environment is you have noweathering properties. You have
no wind. You have no rain. Youhave a lot of micrometeorite
bombardment. So as a consequencewhat you get is fracturing of
the material that's on the lunarsurface it becomes quite sharp
quite jagged it never getsrounded So how this will impact

(15:40):
the lungs is an interestingquestion.
There's also something calledcalled, nanophase iron which is
iron to a zero charge And thisis only found on earth in
industry. Humans are nottypically exposed to this kind
of material. So there was also aquestion on how nanophase iron
would affect health and if itcould become dangerous when

(16:01):
inhaled. The good news of all ofthe studies we did is that it
seems as if it's not adramatically toxic material,
which is very good for lunarlunar exploration. The biggest
challenge of lunar dust isactually that sharp, jagged
texture that I talked about,because it tends to destroy the
seals of space suits andspacecrafts and habitats.

(16:25):
And that's why we were lookingagain to to resample lunar
material was because thematerial that was brought back
to earth, all of the containersleaked. So it was exposed to
oxygen, which changed thesurface chemistry, which made it
so that it's not like theauthentic dust. So you couldn't
study it from a reactive oxygenspecies and toxicity standpoint.

Yes. Yeah. You don't think of all these
difficulties straight off. It'squite complex when you think
about just getting samples backand then working with the
samples. So you'd have to haveyour anaerobic chambers, I
guess, to be operating withinthem, like, which of anaerobic
bacteria Mhmm.
Similar sort of chambers and andthen get them into the
microscope at that point. Somicroscopes, where, what, where,

(17:09):
where, what was your firstmicroscope? When did you fall in
love with microscopy?

I love microscopy. I think microscopy
and space exploration are notthat different. It's just that
one looks out to the big and onelooks down to the small, but the
concept of exploring isidentical. So, if I couldn't go
out, then I can go little. I'mnot it's perfect.
My first microscope. I have noidea. I'm really terrible. I did

(17:37):
my PhD using I think it by thatpoint, it was owned by FEI, a
Technei 12 when they were firstfirst released.

Yeah.

Brand new, hot off the press, you know, really
early models. We used to have anold Philips in the mic in the
lab, but it had died. Allelectron microscopes in this
case. I do remember when thefirst confocal was installed in
the lab, but only approvedpeople were allowed near it, and
I was not one of them. So Idon't even know what to fuck it

(18:09):
was.

Good grief. And yeah. So we are the 1st team
that I responsible for wasactually a tech guy.

Very nice.

I say and we we had it up until just and and
then it actually got floodedfrom the inside, but don't go
there because that's quite adifficult job to work out how
that happens. But it did. But,we thank you for helping me
confirm that. Oh, it

causes me pain to see these lovely instruments
damaged or even retired. They'rethey're amazing.

Yeah. But it happens.

It does.

It does happen. So from NASA and your postdoc
and all that space side ofthings, what happened next?

So I was really fortunate in that, I mean, I
missed microscopes. I wasn'tdoing a ton of microscopy at
NASA. I was doing all kinds ofcool stuff, but not microscopy.
And one of the ladies who workedwith me at NASA Ames, Sigrid
Ghani, she had done her postdocat EMBL high in m at EMBL in

(19:11):
Heidelberg, and she said, youknow, you should look at this.
And I thought, okay.
And then I looked online, andthey had a position posted for
someone to do electronmicroscopy, at EMBL Heidelberg
studying the, 3 d architectureof the miotic spindle, and I
thought, oh, that sounds cool. Iknow EM. And so I applied, and I

(19:37):
applied to the laboratory ofClaude Anthony. Unfortunately,
Claude lost my application,which was quite funny and was a
precursor of many adventureswith Claude in the future.
Sigrid eventually emailed himand said, oi Claude, you should
check out this applicationbecause the posting never went
down, so they hadn't filled it.
And very urgently, I was invitedto come to EMBL to do an to have

(20:00):
an interview and it went verywell. And then I made the move
across the ocean. That was adaunting move. I had 2 suitcases
and I packed up all my stuff andI thought, good grief, what have
I done? And here we go.
And I flew across the ocean andlanded in Germany, thought, oh
my.

So you were by yourself? Still you're still
single at that point?

Completely. Yeah.

So you've done Canada, US, now to Germany. How
how daunting was it coming intofrom Canada, US, and if you
there will be culturaldifferences, but maybe isn't as
massive as coming into aEuropean culture.

I came as a North American with all of the
silly things that you think of,you know, the biases. We I
didn't understand the nuances ofEurope. I didn't understand
that, you know, Belgium and andthe Netherlands can be closer
than 2 provinces in Canada andyet there can be a cultural
world between the 2. This didn'tmake sense to me because Canada

(21:02):
from east to west, there's somethings. We make fun of the
Newfoundlanders on the WestCoast because they say funny
things, but generally we havethe same culture, the same
attitude, so there were so manylittle differences I didn't
expect.
I was younger and more foolishor more more brave maybe then,

(21:24):
and it was easier. Now as I getolder, this this transition from
Portugal to Belgium hasn't beenan easy one. It's, you know, you
get settled as you get older.You get happy with where you
are. It's not as easy to pack upand start again.
But

Okay. Well, you've only you've only been
there 2 weeks over in Belgium.What what have you found most
challenging so far then?

It's a really good question. I am we're
struggling at this point to findan apartment, or a place to
rent. I think that that's quitenormal in the post COVID housing
market anywhere in the world,but it's it's a lot harder to
find apartments and places,like, to call home. And this has
the added challenge. We'll cometo this at some point, but now
with my injury and mydisability, you know, I looked

(22:11):
at a house today that had what Icall the death stairs, these
spiral staircases that there'sno way I can function with
stairs like this with my injury.
So I think finding a house willbe the biggest challenge for us
here. The the team is fantasticand incredibly welcoming. The
lab is amazing in terms oftechnology, so I have little

(22:32):
complaints. Yes. Today, they allare.
Today, you can see I same greenshirt. This is a Yes. So you're
saying pink shirt.

Your team. So those listening, this is this is
the team that Erin hasinherited?

Yes. And I am so fortunate to work with such an
amazing group of professionalsand experts. I I don't wanna be
their boss because they arethey're they they're phenomenal.
I'm just happy to be theircolleague in their in their
midst.

So so

we did this today for International Women's
Day and, yes, the men are in thepicture because I think it's
important to recognize that menare also part of pushing women
forward. So we did both. Thegirls only picture and then the
whole team.

Is that everyone on the team?

That's everyone. We are a group of 10 now. This
is because the core used to bebigger, but there's been a new a
new core created recently, forspatial imaging. And so several
of the old members had left thecore because they're taking on
the spatial challenge.

Which is why I'm looking for Evelyn and can't
find

a new And she runs the spatial core. That's
why. You haven't lost her. She'sstill with us.

Was thinking I'm gonna have to ask after what's
happened to Evelyn. Yeah.Evelyn. Why? Why split the call?
Why did they I've got I calledher special.

Well, we're gonna we're gonna collaborate
and work together, of course.But I think it's just to sort of
compartmentalize tasks and rolesand help users understand who to
talk to and where to go. So

Yeah.

We'll see, Pete. We'll see.

I'll wait till I talk to Saskia.

Yeah. Talk to Saskia.

Though, so you mentioned, your accident and
your disabilities now thatyou're getting stronger, I would
say, still. So, obviously, forthe audience, many may not know
the backstory to this.

So So what happened? Yeah. In 2017, I went
for what was supposed to be arestful weekend adventure. I
went horseback riding with a fewfriends, and I, it didn't go
well. We'll put it that way.
And I fell from the horse andcrushed 3 areas of my spine. And
as a consequence, I have apretty serious spinal cord

(24:46):
injury. When I had the accident,the the doctors told me I would
not walk again. I I walk. I callit turtling.
It's maybe appropriate. I havegreen on today, because I'm
quite slow, but I still getaround, and I'm still able to
cause quite a bit of mischief.So I manage.

And so so as you said, I missed this was a very
serious this was you know,you've you've said it quite
differently. You know? So it'shappened, and yet, you know, you
sent a picture and there's youwith you can't even see anyone
because a number of cables tubecoming out of you were were were

(25:25):
were were your huge number. So,actually, I wouldn't know that
was you. I I believe that meshIt

is me.

Heavily. And and I I think you can never be in
good X-ray, can you?

No. But that's

expertise. Here you are.

So you can see the they've done a fusion around
l one. This is the first of the3 vertebrae I crushed. Thank
goodness. I I don't haveneurological damage at that
level because I probably wouldnot be walking.

That's so difficult to your spine?

Yeah. That's my spine and that

screams that all got You all. That is nuts. Yeah.
Credit to the surgeons actuallymanaged to do this.

Oh, my surgeon is a rock star. Doctor Naud, I
I, he's this amazing humanbeing. I felt so very fortunate
to have met him on the day of myinjury. And to this day, he's,
he almost becomes a friend.Really quite an amazing soul.
And so he put that fixation in,and it's still in there. I call
it my art installation piecejust to try and put a positive

(26:26):
spin on this whole mess. Butyeah. So, you know, at times, if
I want to be cheeky, I can tellusers, don't fight with me. I
have a spine of steel, and therewe go.

So is this the only bridging you have, or do
you have other bridgingselsewhere?

No. It's the only bridging. The other damage
is in the sacrum, the lower,like, the tailbone area, and the
lower parts of the spine inthere. They didn't put in a
bridge, so they made me lay flatfor 10 days to try and get some
of the bones to fuse. And thatwas exciting because I had to
learn how to eat flat.
And in Portuguese hospitals,they bring you things like a

(27:05):
whole entire fish. How do youdissect a fish or eat a fish
when you're flat on your backand you're just kind of peering
over the over the tray at yourmeal? But, yeah, I had to lay
flat for 10 days and then Ispent in total about 6 weeks in
the hospital, and then I spent,4 straight months in the

(27:27):
rehabilitation center where theytaught me how to walk. And I
recognize how lucky I wasbecause I was one of the few
people who rolled into thatrehabilitation center in a
wheelchair and it ultimatelywalked out badly, admittedly. I
didn't walk very well when Ileft, but I was walking.
So

I I'm actually saying, yeah, we we've got a
joint friend, which is ChrisGaring, who who's

Suffering a challenge himself.

He has a challenge himself at the moment.
And, actually so so you weresending emails via me to read
out to Chris, and so I I learnedeven more about your time. And
the fact that you're you'reliving proof that, you know, you
can get lucky, but to remaindetermined to to make sure that
luck comes to fruition, to speedup that recovery. And and Chris

(28:15):
is is is getting there. Yeah.
We will back Chris afterwardsand stuff. But I think that's
really motivational for Chris tokeep that in mind. So some of
the words you were saying to himwere very motivational to him. I
I should probably go back andreread those because I think his
short term memory then wasn't sogreat. So you may forget bits.
But we do keep saying, don'tforget this, don't forget that

(28:36):
within it.

But it's really important. It was one of the
challenges I had was to becauseas you can imagine, with all the
things I've done in all thecountries I've been to and
traveled, I'm not used tositting still and suddenly here
I was at the mercy of every, youknow, the medical system around
me and a body that didn't work.And so you first have to really
accept the situation you're in.There's no point in fighting it,

(29:00):
but there is a point of fightingto get better. And so, you know,
following the instructions,doing the physio, showing up
every morning even when youdon't want to.
So to this day, which is morethan so it's 2017 coming up to 7
years since my injury, I stilldo physio almost every single
day. It was one of the keythings with moving here. How do

(29:20):
I move as little stuff aspossible and yet still have in
place a mechanism that I can doenough physio that I don't go
backwards?

Was it in those early days? Was there ever a
moment where you thought you youwouldn't walk again? You were
told you wouldn't. Did youaccept that at any point or
start thinking they're right?Well, I'm gonna try.
What

So this comes back to the lovely doctor Naud,
my surgeon. He said to me hesaid to me, I see potential in
you. You have the right signs.It's possible. Fight for it.
It was essentially the messagehe gave me, and I I really did.
I I thought, okay. He seessomething I don't. And same with
several of the nurses, theysaid, you know, you have the

(30:04):
right attitude. You have theright mental approach.
Fight for what you can get back,and you'll be fine. And I
remember thinking, I don't knowhow that's gonna happen. I
remember it being a huge dealwhen I could lay in bed and just
pull up my legs so that my kneeswere like a v. Before that they
would just slide back downbecause I had no control over my
legs. And I remember my mom andmy husband, Eva, we were there.

(30:26):
We were all celebrating that Icould tense my knees. Oh, big
deal. But you gotta celebrateeach little step. And, yeah, I
guess I guess I never I never Inever listened to the negative
comments because they would justpull you down. I just fought for
what I wanted and then acceptedwhat I couldn't overcome some

(30:48):
days.
I say this very courageously.Don't think I don't have little
temper tantrums sometimes wheneverything goes wrong because it
does, and then I'm grumpy. But

I've, during that time of the recovery, I I I sort
of having this keening test atthe moment. How many plateaus
did you get to? And when you hitthose plateaus, did the seeds of
doubt think, actually, that's asfar as I'm gonna get? Did that
ever occur to you?

Yes. I don't know how many plateaus I had.
One thing that was very goodabout the physiotherapists I
worked with is they wereconstantly changing the
exercises. And And it's justlike when I used to train to
hike or to run or to do halfmarathons. Just when you get to
a point where you're stable, youchange your whole routine and
it's hard again, and then youyou kinda get past that plateau

(31:38):
where you shift in a differentdirection.
So they helped me do this. Ithink because I've done so many
sports before my accident, I wasa runner and a hiker, and, I was
never sitting still. I was neverfast. I was never good. I would
never win a race, but I wasnever on the couch.
That attitude, I think, alsoreally helps because they would
tell me, okay. Do do 10 weights,and I do 20, just because I was

(32:03):
used to you're not gonna getbetter if you just sit there
waiting for someone to fix you.You have to do the hard work.

I love that competitive edge to it as well.
Yeah. Yeah.

But it was against myself. It wasn't
against anyone else. It was justpush the envelope.

Yeah. But also, yeah, train harder Mhmm. And
work hard as it did did you feelfor your career?

The accident definitely impacted my career
initially. I couldn't travel.It's still very hard at times to
go to conferences. There's dayslike you oh, you didn't see me.
When we did the Gordonconference for volume EM, 11
hours on a flight to, the WestCoast of the US.
I could barely stand up by thetime I got there. And then to do

(32:49):
the whole Gordon conference, Icouldn't sit. I could not sit. I
could not really lay down. Itwas horrible.
So this definitely affects mywork, but I I think by being
open about the situation andtransparent, most people are
extremely understanding. And thethe microscopy community has

(33:09):
proven a 100 times over howincredibly supportive they were.
I mean, when I had the accident,I received so many flowers from
colleagues. I had to ask peopleto stop sending them because the
nurses were annoyed I had somany flowers in my room. I mean,
what an amazing problem to have.
So it just goes to show that Ithink we are we are very

(33:31):
fortunate with who we work with,that they they rally and they
support us in amazing ways.

So, yeah, it was interesting. You sent one
picture on show.

With me in a wheelchair at the microscope.
Yeah.

Yeah. And how how? So this is actually a
slightly different questionthere. How how accessible were
the micros the microscopesthemselves, microscopy labs?
Were they already prettyaccessible?

Microscope was good because you were meant to
sit there at a wheelchair or ata chair. It doesn't matter if it
rolls or not. Actually, most ofour chairs roll anyway, but in a
different way. Processingbenches, too high. Changing the
filament on the gun would be achallenge for me because I
wouldn't be able to open it.
Oil pump changes, all of thesethings would probably be a

(34:22):
challenge. So I would needsomeone to help me more with the
technical stuff. In Portugal,because we were such a small
lab, I really did a lot of thebasic maintenance on equipment
and and that I went back todoing that, but I had to figure
out ways of doing it, that wassafe. Because as you can
imagine, I can't lift quite asmuch as I did, and I can't move

(34:43):
in quite the way I did. And Istill I I lost both calf
muscles, so I can't go on mytoes, which is really irritating
when you're trying to get to thetop of the microscope or you're
trying to

go say. How do you do the filaments and get the
I

know giants. Pete, there's advantages of
being almost, oh, a meter 90tall. So, you know or for the
North American listeners, 6 3, 64. So I'm so tall that I could
still open the gun without goingon my toes. I can still take out
the screws at the top of the FEImicroscope without having to
climb on the desk.

(35:17):
But, yeah, it's, it's achallenge. I'd say the things
that were less accessible are,you know, the the conferences
are sort of accessible, but notin a super friendly way. They're
they actually work for people inwheelchairs, but they're harder,
I think, for people like me whoare slow walkers, who don't
wanna walk kilometers from oneend of the conference center to

(35:39):
the other and back again to getmy coat at the reception and,
you know, these kinds of thingsI had to figure out how to
manage my energy.

Yep. And so so actually think of the
conferences. What is yourfavorite conference?

I know what you want me to tell you. This is a
loaded question.

No. Stop.

MMC is a very good conference, Pete. I do
enjoy it.

Very good.

Very good. Yes.

But what's your favorite conference?

It's a great question. I don't know. I really
enjoy an extremely small EMmeeting in Germany called Panos.
It's really just the societymembers getting together and
it's great because it's allabout community, it's all about
idea sharing and it's a one daymeeting. That's a great meeting.

(36:30):
The Dreilander meeting or MCmeeting that is often between
Austria, Germany, andSwitzerland, this also is a very
good meeting. Yeah. I I don'tknow. To be very honest, I love
conferences. You're not gonnaget a favorite out of me
because, really, being togetherwith a bunch of other microscopy
people is just a joy.

So on that note, other microscopy people, part of
your new job actually isn't justrunning the electron microscopy
side, but also the lightmicroscopy side.

Yes.

That so it's a whole new world.

Exactly. I need to learn photons. Oh, dear.

So how daunting is that?

Well, I have a secret weapon, which is my
husband who's a lightmicroscopist. And so he can
translate for me when I'm tooembarrassed to ask anyone else,
and this is a very nice luxuryto have. It was more daunting
actually before I arrived. Nowthat I'm here and I realize the
level of expertise that isalready within the VIB core,

(37:30):
it's much less intimidating.Amanda and Ef, they're
phenomenal, and they'reextremely welcoming and
forgiving when I make reallydumb suggestions.
I think I'm going to besurrounded by amazing
supporters, and I'm I'm lookingforward to actually breaking
into the light microscopy worlda bit. I'll be at Elmi, this

(37:51):
year. So, you know, I'll get tosee the other side.

That's why you don't have a favorite conference
yet.

I haven't been

to it. You see? That that's why.

It could be. It could be. Yeah.

This will be interesting for you actually
because I I I went through asimilar I I had the LM but not
the EM to start with, and I wentinto the EM. But I had no shame.
I had a, again, excellent team.Meg Stark back then, and Kevin
Hodgkinson joined after, and Icould ask any dumb question. And
I think that actually empoweredthem a bit more to realize it
was a more mutual relationship,and it wasn't on the boss.

(38:23):
You know? It was, you know, I II relied on their expertise. And
I I still I still rely on ontheir expertise. And even my
light microscopies in some areashave expertise beyond my
expertise in certain areas. Notmany, but certain areas.
And I'll lean on them, which isgood. So and you have to get on
our confocal course becausethat'll teach you loads about

(38:44):
the generals of light microscopyas well. So you have to get on
our course.

I would love to. It would be a pleasure.

Come on. Gotta get get September. Look how far
it's

When is it in September?

Oh, I

You're gonna have to tell me because I I
haven't I think.

2nd full week of September, I think, this coming
year. But it's every everyMarch, April, and September. So
it's around Easter. It's not inEaster weeks either side of it
and one of the first two weeksin September every year.

I asked because I also have my other adventure,
which is to do the coaching, andI always am part of the Gerby
course, for core facilitymanagement, and that's also in
September. So September oftenbecomes a busy month. Nah. We
also do really cool managementcourses. Okay.

(39:33):
I can help. I can help.

No. That actually, that's yes. Thank you.
That's useful. Who's been yourinspirations?

Who has been my inspirations? You're, you know,
you're always inspired by yourcolleagues and your peers. I
think I always learn from thepeople I worked with at EMBL,
like Rachel Melwig. She wasalways phenomenal, to learn
from. My PhD supervisor, ofcourse, doctor David Walker.

(40:10):
Inspirations. I have manybroader ones too, you know,
interesting people in the publicand in the community who I think
are doing really cool things.So, I don't know. I think I
absorb from everywhere. I'm alittle bit of a sponge, to be
very honest in this.
I always think that we are areflection or a so we as

(40:32):
individuals are a combination ofall the interesting people we've
met and taken the time tounderstand. And so I try and
absorb wherever I can to hearand to listen, from other
people.

So I'm gonna I I've I've got a few other areas
I want to explore. I'm gonna asksome quick fire questions. Okay.

I'm gonna disappoint you with these
because I think I know they'reall gonna be fun, and I'm not.

Are you an early bird or night owl?

Yeah. Probably more a night owl.

Did that change after the accident?

Yes. So I used to do much better in the
morning, but because of myinjury, I don't sleep very well.
So mornings are a struggle. I amI I tend to wake up, I would
say, between 5 to 8 times anight, which is really
disruptive to sleep. So morningsare like it it's it's not easy.

Okay. PC or Mac?

Oh, Mac. That one's easy.

Oh, okay. McDonald's or Burger King?

Neither. Rubbish.

So if you had a fast fast food choice, what
would it be?

I don't do fast food. I don't really like quick
stuff. What I loved in Portugalwas they would have fast food,
which was a roasted chicken andrice, and I would and and a
salad, and I'm like, perfect.There, we're talking.

K. So are you a cook or someone who prefers to
be cooked for?

Oh, I love to cook. I wouldn't say no to being
cooked for, but I I really enjoyMacGyvering in the kitchen. It's
really just like playing in thelab, except at the end, you
hopefully get to eat it if it'sgone well.

And loaded question. Have you ever cooked a
full Christmas dinner?

Yes. I did this year.

For the first time?

For the first time. And you know that because
you read the email to Chris.That was cheeky.

I know it's cheeky. I've seen pictures.

I know. Pictures.

I have. Tea or coffee?

I like both, but I usually thrive on coffee.

Okay. Beer or wine?

I just moved to Belgium, so that's also a loaded
question. From Portugal. Iactually do like both. And for a
while, I wondered if I shouldbecome a sommelier. And for a
while, I had threatened to runaway and plant grapes all over
our farm in Canada when I wasthreatening to quit science.
So I guess I would have to pickmore wine if I pick the 2, but I

(43:02):
do love a very good beer. I willnot suffer in Belgium.

No. No. You definitely no. No. Because you
don't even get hangovers on someof the bell the the finest
Belgian beers.
They are awesome. Red or whitewine?

I drink more white now, but that's because my
my injury doesn't I I don't dowell with tannins and red wine
anymore. So

Okay. Chocolate or cheese?

I'm Swiss by marriage. That's not a fair
question, Pete.

It is. Good. You got you are. Come on. They're
famous for the corn.
You gotta do Swiss cheese orSwiss chocolate. Come on. I know
you're in Belgium.

I know I'm in Belgium. Oh, yeah. So if I had
to give up one, I can't. Icouldn't do it. I don't think.
I love both. I I used to say Iwould run to justify my cheese,
chocolate, and wine habits. Sothere you go.

What what would you say is your favorite food?
If if you if you if you weretaken out, you know, you're an
invited speaker, they take youout for dinner, what would you
be hoping will be put in frontof you?

You're gonna hate this answer, but I would
actually hope for somethinglocal because I would love to
eat food from the place I'm into learn more about the
specialty or the, you know, thedifferent meals of the place. If
I was home in Canada, so wedon't really have specialty food
because I'm not gonna countpoutine. I'm on the other side

(44:27):
of the country. I would do sushior probably Indian food.

Okay. Is there anything you don't like to eat?

Mushrooms. My god. I hate mushrooms.

Like mushrooms also? All kinds?

Yeah. Pretty much. I I have this saying that,
I don't eat anything that growsin I'm not allowed to say that
word because we're not allowedto swear in this podcast, but
you can extrapolate. So nomushrooms. Thank you

very much. Okay. And you you say you like
cooking. What would you say isyour signature dish?

I'm known for making a lot of soups. I I think
it's just you take freshvegetables in season and make,
you know, really nice pumpkinsoup or after Christmas, I
turned the turkey into a turkeysoup or in Portugal, we used to
get this, they called it theugly fruit box or ugly vegetable
box. And this was really funbecause mysteries vegetables

(45:22):
would show up, and I'd have tofigure out what to do with them.
And when all else failed, soup.I could hide them.
TV or book? Oh, book. Okay.

And are you reading anything for the
Maddens?

I'm reading a few books for the career
coaching I do, about,leadership, and personality. And
I have a stack. If there's aprize for book hoarder, that
might I might win this book. SoI have many books that I will
read someday. I'm not sure whenthat will happen.

But Okay. Do you have a favorite film?

No. I don't really watch TV that much.

Oh, wow. So if I ask you what your favorite
you've got no favorite film. Nofavorite Christmas film?

For Christmas, I would probably pick Scrooge only
because my mom and I used toalways watch Scrooge on
Christmas morning after weopened all of our presents. So
it's more of a family tradition.

Yeah. That yeah. But that's as good a reason as
any, isn't it? That's whatChristmas movies are about.
They're about memories quiteoften.
Star Trek or Star Wars?

Star Wars.

I see. And then you say you don't watch films.
They're all films.

That's okay. Okay. That's true. But I don't
know if it's a favorite. Iwouldn't put down I wouldn't not
go outside to stay inside andwatch star wars.
I mean, I've watched Lord of theRings. Love these books. Movies
are very good too. But if I hadto choose, I'd go outside any
day of the week.

So next quick fire, Canada or US? Canada.
Mhmm. Okay. US or Portugal?

Portugal.

Portugal or Belgium?

Don't know. I haven't been here long enough.
But so far, the beer is prettygood here, so I'm happy.

Okay. So Belgium or Canada?

I don't know. It's a good question. Home is
Canada, so I always have todefault. But Belgium's treating
me well, so let's see. You know,I'll have to come back in a year
and ask.

That was very diplomatic.

I'm Canadian. What can I say, Pete?

And, Jack, what's your favorite color?

Purple.

Really? And you work in black and white images?

That's true. But that's why we need color around
us. You know? I mean, I pickedgreen because I know green looks
nice against black and whitebehind me. It's all strategy.

Favorite EM technique?

I think clem because you get to put all of
them together. I know. I'mcheating. But

No. No. So you got your clem, your collated
light, electron microscopy. Youcan do that technique. Are you
hosting the volume EM meeting?

Yes.

And put CLEM's your favorite technique. You're
gonna be so popular when theyfind that ad.

Don't tell them. Air this afterwards. Okay? And,
actually, we're doing Clam involume EM. So it's Yeah.

Of course. You can do 3 d.

Yeah. It's okay.

Actually, why is the meeting called now?

It's the 3 d volume EMI. Actually, you know
what? I don't think I know thename off the top of my head. Oh,
I'm gonna get fired.

Roger, Robbie. I I remember the very first one of
those. That that was dauntingbecause there were some big
names around that table. Yeah.Very big names.
So Howard Hess was there. JeffLickman was there. Mark
Hellisman was there. Tom Derick,I think, was there. Jennifer

Was there. Yeah. I think I was at the first one.
I the month? Yeah.

Was there? Oh, that was cool. That was I don't
know how many years ago thatwas.

This is and I I was gonna tell you this is it's
more than 10, I think, thatthey've editions of this
conference. So

Which which is just amazing. So of all those
techniques, I the next questionI have for you, cryo EM or cryo
EM. How cross are you that thecryo the structural biologists
nicked the word cryo EM when youcan do cryo EM with an SEM? And
that cryo EM is all aboutstructural biology rather than

(49:26):
cryo EM when it comes tofreezing our samples and using
it in an EM.

I don't really like the title cryo EM because
where every time I type it, itautocorrects cryEM, and I think
that that's sort of indicativeof how much of a pain that
technique is. I'm I find it it'sgot it's a beautiful technique,
and it has its time and place.But sometimes it's a fight. So
they can have cry or cryo EM ifthey want. We'll give we'll find

(49:56):
new fancy titles.

And and I I actually said cryo EM side of
things is maybe not yeah.Actually, do they have that at
VIB again?

Give us a month, and the answer will be yes.

Never. Mhmm. Okay. I'd imagine the plant
biologists on the other side ofthe floor would be.

Yeah. And I so I I'm really looking forward to
exploring the portfolio of whatkind of microscopy is done and
bringing in some new stuff. Wedid a ton of plant microscopy in
Portugal, and I think maybe wecan, help serve the community
here a bit better. Once the PIsknow what we can do, maybe. So I
I am it's gonna be a fun coupleyears where we're exploring new

(50:39):
territories.

And do you think you'll miss your team in
Portugal?

Oh, I don't think. I know. I I I mean, they
were great. One of the ladies,Anna, I worked with her for 10
years. You don't work withsomeone for 10 years without
wanting, you know, withoutbuilding a relationship and a
friendship.
I was the boss, and she was partof the lab, admittedly. So it
was a you know, this thischallenge of leadership at
times, but she was she's anexceptional human being, and

(51:05):
it's a privilege that she'sactually taken over to head the
facility after I left. So I knowthe facility is in very good
hands, but still, yeah, I missthem daily. They're a great
group.

Yeah. And did that when you were choosing to
leave, did that actually makethe choice harder knowing that
your team couldn't go with you?

Exactly. Hugely hard. And that I don't know what
the future is there because theinstitute where I was is closing
or now merging with anotherinstitute. The future is very
unknown, and it felt very muchlike I was abandoning them to
the unknown. It wasn't easy.
Definitely not. Still wasn't.And the the the months of saying

(51:45):
goodbye, of winding down were achallenge as well, but I hope I
can only hope it was a gooddecision for many.

I I you won't regret going to Belgium. That
that's for sure. Theopportunity's there. It's a it's
a nice absolute location. You'vegot some of the best techniques
and the team.

It's great.

Great and lovely.

Yes. You know, they don't I would and extremely
confident. Yeah. It's a nicecombination that the the people
I work with are extremelywelcoming and friendly, but also
very good at their jobs. They'renot just great people.
They're also great scientists,and I think that's really
important.

Yeah. A a couple of times you already alluded to
the future, and you don't knowwhat the future's gonna bring.
What what are your future goals?

I really love being in a core facility. I
really like supporting scienceand research, and I'd like to
really catalyze the the corehere to do more of this and to
do more as much as we possiblycan for the community here that
needs it. So, is it just VIB orcan we support, you know, other
scientists in the area evenindustry? How can we help in all

(52:55):
ways? I really think Accor'srole is to catalyze the research
around them in in any possibleway.
So that's my professional goal.It's also to really help find
excellent roles for the membersof my team. You know, they're
they're really goodprofessionals. They deserve to
be recognized and they alsodeserve to be seen on an

(53:17):
international stage. So how canI promote them as individuals?
We're gonna go as a little packto Elmi, and I'm looking forward
to this. So, you know, it's notjust the heads. We're gonna go
as a a team. I'm really lookingforward to the future
collaboration with Leuven, aswell because the 2 cores have
been a bit separate, and we'regonna really bring this

(53:38):
together. So another gentlemanwho you should interview, Pete,
Pablo is going to join the corpsin Leuven in May as the new head
and he's phenomenal.
So we're gonna have a great timeworking towards this.

Now where was Pablo before? I know Pablo.
Stockholm. Thank you.

No. I just lied to you. Copenhagen. Sorry

about that. Yeah. Because he's out of the
Copenhagen group. No. No.
No. I know Pablo already. So

He should we should put him on your list.
He's great.

How many of you coming to Almy?

I think 5. 2 from no. 6. 3 from Ghent and 3
from Leuven.

Cool. So that would really help that it's you
must make sure you have sometime. Do you know what? A really
good thing I've done with myteam in the past is have free
drinks.

Oh, yes.

And just bring them together, maybe invite 1 or
2 guests to join us Mhmm. Andhave a drink, and then join
everyone else. So you just getthe team together because once
you're in a big event,everything

It's a jungle.

You know what it's like, and you're you're
gonna be in high demand. Peopleare going actually, this is
interesting. Elmi's a verydifferent community to your
normal community. There'll be afew electron microscopy there,
but not so many. You know,usually, you'll go to a
conference and everyone willknow you.

Yeah. Because of my seminars.

It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be different for
you. It's gonna be, you knowhave you thought about what
that's gonna be like whereactually, suddenly, you'll know
a few people, but not tons ofpeople?

I know. But it's it's really cool, actually. I
can all ask all the dumbquestions I want, and no one
will know who I am.

It's perfect.

Well, don't tell them. Okay, Peach?

They they were super I mean, just like the EM
community, they're superwelcoming. So it's a great
meeting to to come and networkwith people in itself. Most fun
time in your career? You know,you've had some challenging
times, but and maybe they arealso difficult. Challenging and
difficult can be 2 differentthings, but what about the most

(55:38):
fun time in your career?

I think it was very it it was partially
challenging, but it was reallyfun to build a core of the
community, and I was building. Iwas constantly building in the
10 years I was in Portugal, andthat was a lot of fun. It was it

(56:01):
was part of the reason it washard to say goodbye. It was my
baby. But it was it was it wasgood.
It was cool.

I I, you know, I I I go getter maybe not the
right term. You know? So if youdon't ask, you don't get. You
don't get anywhere. If you don'tgo for you know, you don't get
what you don't apply for, Ithink was your phrase earlier
on.
And, interestingly, I don'tthink you stopped at building
your own core. You also helpedthen on the national network in

(56:30):
the international, starting topolitics or funding nationally
if I'm right.

Yep. And this was interesting. You know, we've
really pushed the envelope ofwhat could be done in Portugal.
I would have loved to have donemore. Portugal has a deficit of
investment in science and sothis is the real challenge
there.
The scientists in Portugal doreally amazing things without
much. They have this fabuloussaying of making eggs without an

(56:55):
omelet, and unfortunately, thePortuguese are good at this.
They they do amazing sciencewith very few resources. But we
still managed to get a cryo EMinstalled. The one and only one,
is installed in the north ofPortugal.
That was a 6 year fight, at alllevels.

That's a structural

Yes. I know. Even though I mock cryo EM, I
negotiated the microscope. So,you know, I I may say cheeky
things, but I will always help.

So that there's some fun times.

Mhmm. Definitely fun times.

Any regrets in your case?

No. And well, I wouldn't go horseback riding on
September 23, 2017 if I could,redo that day. But, otherwise,
you know, even though thisaccident was a nightmare, even
that, I think I'm a betterversion of me. I'm a kinder
human, a more aware person, andI hope to say even a better
leader because I understandstruggle at a whole different

(57:53):
level. So no no regrets.

This is a bizarre question. Do you think it's
helped your career in a longway?

I think people respected me before I had my
accident, but when they saw howI managed my accident and how I
refused to give up, they see mein a different light. They see
me not just as a microscopist,but as someone who is really
stubborn in probably a positiveway. So some could say yes. I
think the thing that probablygave me the most notoriety was

(58:23):
the tech EM seminars that Istarted where now these seminars
are quite famous and many manyEM people come. And for that
reason, I'm fairly well known inthe community, and those were
just an accident as well.

But you, again, you created the opportunity. You
created the initiative, andyou've pushed it forward on that
side. So the so you'veinfluenced by having your own
core, developing your core.You're then influenced more
nationally on getting funding,being the core OEM. You then
start to those meeting, whichagain gives more impact in
bringing communities togetherand everything else.

And then I won a fancy prize for it, which was
really nice.

So what was the prize?

It was the, RMS award for electron microscopy,
and it was fantastic. It wassuch an honor to win this award,
and what a privilege. I know youwere part of this process, so
thank you very much.

That's I I I I'm for fortunate to be present the
World Wide Scotland Society. Butyou know what? They this is this
is people who nominate Mhmm.From outside and and come in. So
this is nominations that comein.
So I I I think that shows ifyou're nominated, it's a real
credit from the community thatsomeone's, you know, taken time,
lifting it up, put the case, putit forward, as judged against

(59:40):
others, and awarded. So reallybig congratulations.

Thank you very much. That meant a lot to me.
And, you know, these sorry. Thatthat award also meant a lot
because I think a lot of therecognition I had received was
for things I had done after myaccident. And somehow this
validated to me that even thoughI now have a disability and I'm
a turtle, I can still do reallygood stuff and it's seen and, I

(01:00:06):
would say, respected andappreciated by the community,
and that meant a lot.

Peter O'Toole (01:00:11):
Yeah. Because this was for your community,
your EM expertise. It wasn'tanything to do with your
inquiries and and going through.But, you know, I've heard you
talk. I I I missed the MMC talkbecause I I couldn't attend the
MMC talk, for reasons I'll gointo later.
But I had so many people say howinspiring it was after my team

(01:00:33):
some of my team were in thatmeeting. They were talking, oh
my god. That was so inspiring.It was possibly one of the most
memorable talks at MMC for along, long time.

Erin Tranfield (01:00:42):
Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you.

I know. And and so again I

was very proud because I don't think I cried.
Very often when I talk about myaccident, I cry at some point,
and I thought, oh gosh. Don'tcry in front of 200 people. But
I managed to hold it together.

But but I I I think close to 400 actually in
getting that. Oh. Yeah.

Wow. Okay.

They do not. Big at that point. But you say that,
but, again, one of the flipsides is you've been able to use
that to inspire other people andto influence other people.

That's a gift in a way. And I think that that's
just attitude. I refuse to letthis get in my way. I'm gonna
make I'm gonna find the silverlining. So if I can make other
people's journeys easier, let'sdo it.

But, again, positive attitude to adver well,
what what many would seediversity and maybe feel very
down and negative and negativespiral. You you've taken the
opposite approach, which iswhich itself is inspirational.
Through all this, the one thingI haven't asked you, and this
may now have changed. You know,you talked about running. You
talked about hiking, before theaccident.

(01:01:48):
There's still lots of stresses.You're gonna have lots of
stresses at work. You've gotlots of strong characters,
strong lots of academics. You'regonna have to get the Luvs and
Ghent relationship with Pabloworking well and everything.
You've got you're gonna have todeal with Gert up at the top,
you know, and, oh, wow.
He's no. No. He's great.

But He's great.

You you're gonna have all these prob you're gonna
have problems going forward.What hobbies do you now have
that you you know, you're notrunning now. No. I know you have
gone for hikes, small hikes, butit's difficult. So what are your
hobbies to relieve the stressesat the end of the day?

So if there's a contest who dies with the most
craft supplies, I'm already astrong contender in this
contest. I do a lot, and this iswhy I don't watch TV. TV is not
the hobby. I'm doing something.So I love to garden.
During the pandemic, I startedgardening like crazy. And at
some point I had about a 100kilograms of tomatoes because I

(01:02:46):
was quite successful in mygardening. So then I learned how
to do canning and I do a lot ofcooking. I like baking. I do I
wouldn't call it a hobby, but Istill find the release and the
relaxation of physio, so, youknow, doing sports, lifting
weights.
Yesterday, I was doing my legexercises, and I have to admit

(01:03:06):
it was something like oneexercise, small nap, another
exercise. So it was a very longphysio session because I kept
just kinda chilling outlistening to music in the
middle. I enjoy wine tasting andgoing out and exploring food at
restaurants, traveling,photography. I will try again

(01:03:27):
and get out my big camera. It'sheavy, so I'm not sure how I can
do with my balance, but that'sone of the things I'd like try
and start again here in Belgium.

Okay.

I don't sit still, Pete.

No. Not me. No. As I'm twitching. Everybody's
like, oh, yeah.
Yeah. Always. Erin, we are up tothe hour. So

It doesn't take long, does it?

No. And thank you very much for joining me today.
Thank you for being aninspiration to Benny. Thank you
for your influence in themarket. I wish you the very best
of luck, and Ghent has some ofthe best microscopy resources
globally.
That that facility is to beenvied. And you've walked into a
amazing resource. Mhmm. And theynow have an inspirational leader

Oh, thank you.

Following in the footsteps, to really, again,
take it forward. You know? Everyleader has to take it forward,
and I'm sure you'll succeed inthat. And I think the team will
love having you around. Everyonewho's listened, watched, there's
lots of people we refer to init, but, yeah, go back.
Look at the back catalog. Don'tforget to subscribe to the
channel itself. I have to saythat, whichever one would this

(01:04:34):
is probably worth looking at acouple of the photos. If you've
been listening, go look at theYouTube and have a look at some
of the NASA pictures, which areawesome. But, Erind, I I cannot
wait to see you soon.
I'm sorry I cannot be at thenext meeting, but you'll be at
Elmi. So we'll catch up at Elmi,and we'll be catching up a lot
anyway.

Sounds fabulous. Thank you so much, Pete.
Pleasure.

Intro/Outro (01:04:59):
Thank you for listening to The Microscopists,
a Bite Size Bio podcastsponsored by Zeiss Microscopy.
To view all audio and videorecordings from this series,
please visitbitesizebio.comforward/thedashmicroscopists.

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