Hui Emmanuela Miriam: The Journey to Find the Passion for Science, and Guide Others
It takes a lot of thinking and effort to identify, acknowledge, and realize your passion. For Emma, her current journey started in the year 2018, when she moved from Indonesia to Taiwan to pursue her Bachelor’s in Life Sciences at the National Cheng Kung University.
Becoming a Scientist
Emma started her freshman year with a question about her desire to pursue a career in science. To find her answer, she knew she had to step into a lab and see if the research experience sparks her interest - this eventually led her to join the wet-lab team of iGEM NCKU Tainan 2019.
Although Emma recalls iGEM time as a fun experience, she vividly remembers the challenging aspects of it.
Although she recalls that time as a fun experience, she vividly remembers the challenging aspects of it. For example, she had little background knowledge of synthetic biology and no prior laboratory research and experimentation experience when she first joined the team. But she and her team members were eager to learn and sought out experts who shared their knowledge and offered advice. This led to her learning the project on her own and helping the team win the grand prize that year.
“I was uncertain at that time whether pursuing a career as a scientist was definitely what I wanted, however competing in iGEM served as a confirmation to what I like.”
Passion for Science: Getting a Doctorate Degree
Emma is currently a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Molecular Biophysics at Academia Sinica. After graduating from Bachelor’s in 2022, she immediately continued to pursue a doctorate. Her study, which was inspired by personal interest and introduction to cancer research, is currently focused on how DNA repair mechanisms in cells such as fork reversals can serve as a foundation for the development of cancer drugs.
In spite of the fact that pursuing a PhD student at such a young age was difficult, it also offered learning opportunities beyond what she could have imagined. Emma highlighted some of her first-month experiences with burnout and key takeaways she could convey to Bachelor's graduates who are thinking of straight-up pursuing PhDs after graduation, like she did
Consider mental preparation for a PhD life a priority.
Since knowledge competence would be more difficult to prepare for, having a research background could make choosing a specific topic and PIs to guide your PhD easier.
Keep in mind that you are studying for a doctorate to learn from brilliant individuals rather than to compete. PhD is no longer a battle of intellect or the greatest idea.
PhD requires a lot of dedication and is not for everyone. If you are still undecided of the career you should pursue in-depth, you might find that trying a Master's is preferable.
Beyond a Researcher: From Mentor to Science Content Creator
Coming from a developing nation like Indonesia, a profession in science is not something well-known. She realized that the experiences she had while earning her degrees in Taiwan were not the ones that many people could have. Hence, Emma realized iGEM is not only a place for her to grow her passion in science, but also use this opportunity as a young researcher to mentor, guide and give back to society. Over the years, she helped a number of iGEM teams as an ad-hoc advisor and mentor.
Emma also took a step forward in sharing what she is currently doing through educational content about her time as a PhD student and shared her research interests through her Instagram account, @em.science.diary, in an effort to inspire young generations to develop an interest in science and research. exposing them to the many opportunities available.
To Emma, iGEM is like an adventure.
“The whole experience is an adventure in itself from applying for the school team until you went through the whole bunch of different processes and get there. Even after that, it contributed to many of the decisions I made based on my experience in iGEM.”
