By Katie McQuaid
Associate Director, Communications & Marketing
Interviewer (IN): Congratulations on being one of the 2023 Gairdner Early Career Investigator Competition Award winners! We would love to hear about your day at the Laureate Lectures in Toronto.
Dr. Abiola Olaitan (AO): That day, I woke up excited about the day ahead. Before breakfast, I was introduced to Dr. Bonnie L. Bassler, Dr. E Peter Greenberg, and Dr. Michael R. Silverman, the Gairdner Laureates who selected me for this award. All of them have been great inspirations to me in my career through their research. I have always been fascinated by the concept of bacterial communication or quorum, which they have pioneered.
After breakfast, I met the Gairdner representatives who went through the day with me, and then I got ready for my lecture.
IN: What was your lecture on?
AO: My talk was entitled, “How Clostridioides difficile hijacks heme to mediate metronidazole resistance,” drawing on the research directly related to my award win. Dr’s Bassler, Greenburg, and Silverman also presented on bacteria communication right before me, and I really enjoyed their lectures.
IN: How did your lecture go?
AO: It was great! It was a positive experience, and I was very happy to share my research with those in attendance and the Laureates who chose me for the award.
IN: How did the rest of the day go?
AO: It was a morning full of lectures and learning, but so enjoyable. Interacting with people doing groundbreaking research in their fields throughout the day was amazing. I learned a lot from every talk.
I also had the chance to interact with students from high school and other universities and share my research with them. They were very curious about the life of a professor and researcher, and the path I took to get to where I am today. I saw this as a good opportunity to meet potential students and share what it’s like to be a part of the University of Waterloo.
IN: What were your top takeaways from the day?
AO: I have three:
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Building and maintaining relationships with a good mentor is important. It is also equally important to give back to the community you benefited from by becoming a mentor to mentees. Mentees can be just as beneficial to your career as your mentors, you never know how they might be able to advance your research later down the line through collaboration or by maintaining a positive relationship. This is so evident in Dr. Bassler, who was a former postdoc of Dr. Michael R. Silverman
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Other people with new technologies can offer new ways to look at things that might advance your research that you had never thought of. Always be open to learning about new things and meeting new people.
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The work that we are doing has an impact on people’s health that we might not even think of. You never know who your work will impact in the real world. You might even meet them if you’re lucky!
IN: Did you make any unexpected connections?
AO: I did! Relating to number two above, I met Canada Gairdner International Award winner John Jumper, who is one of the leaders at DeepMind and AlphaFold, an AI system that can predict the structure of a protein at scale and in minutes. There are many exciting possibilities for this technology, and I learned a lot about how I could use this in my lab from talking with John. I’m looking forward to learning more.
IN: How do you feel when you reflect on the day?
AO: Coming away from this experience, I have a brain full of ideas. I met brilliant researchers and so many people with different perspectives that I will bring back to my research group. I want to keep in touch with the people I met because you never know when there might be research collaboration opportunities in the future.
I also feel inspired by the people I met, especially the Laureates. When I look at what the Laureates have accomplished so far and everything they are working on, it motivates me to push myself to the next level and strive for excellence in my work. Hearing about their experiences, challenges and what drives them to keep going encourages me to do the same.
IN: Thank you so much for sharing about your day, and congratulations once again on your award win, Abiola!
AO: Thank you!
Visit Dr. Olaitan’s research page if you’d like to learn more about his work.