In conversation with Prof. Rosa Lozano-Durán

What motivated you to do research? Why did you choose to work on plant viruses?

I was extremely curious since a very early age and fascinated by nature—so when I discovered that a job existed in which your task was to systematically look for answers to better understand the world around us, I immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. I had absolutely no idea what a scientific career would look like (understandable, since I was five at the time), but the premise sounded simply perfect. Luckily, I had the opportunity to be involved in research later during my studies and therefore to make an informed decision to make it my profession.

Viruses are absolutely enthralling—just think about this: they are ridiculously small, not even living, strictly speaking, and yet they take control of incredibly complex organisms, with proteomes that are several orders of magnitude larger than theirs, and turn them into viral replication factories without breaking a sweat! However, I have to confess that when I started my degree in biology at the University of Málaga, my goal was to become a marine biologist, since I had grown up on the Mediterranean shore and was captivated by marine life. My second-year genetics teacher, Eduardo R Bejarano, is to blame for this twist of fate. His lectures were incredibly engaging, and through them I became very intrigued by molecular biology and genetics; it was only natural that, when he announced they were looking for undergraduates to join his research group, I applied. He happened to be working on the molecular interactions between a family of plant viruses called geminiviruses, causal agents of devastating crop diseases worldwide and plants; I ended up doing my PhD thesis under his supervision—and I got hooked. Too many questions we don't yet have answers for!

How has been your experience living in different countries? What would you highlight about each country you have lived in?

To me, one additional perk of the scientific career is that it gives you the opportunity to travel and live in different places, which widens your horizons like nothing else. Since I started my PhD in Spain, I have lived and worked in the United States, the UK, China and Germany. I cherish all these experiences, and they have shaped me into the person I am today. Living abroad opens your mind and, in my opinion, makes you more understanding and tolerant—which will also have a positive impact on your performance as a PI at several different levels.

How was your transition to becoming a PI? Any advice for young PIS?

When I had been a post-doctoral researcher for almost 4 years, I was really looking forward to becoming independent and leading my own group. I had enjoyed my post-doc time investigating plant innate immunity with Silke Robatzek and Cyril Zipfel at The Sainsbury Laboratory, and I had learnt a lot, but I was eager to go back to the research topic I was truly passionate about (plant viruses) and continue trying to find answers to the questions I had. Luckily for me, I was given the opportunity to do so at the Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where I started my research group in 2015 as a junior PI. The conditions at the institute were excellent, I could focus on my research, and I was fortunate to welcome a terrific bunch of people as my first laboratory members; together, we built a team and made the laboratory take-off. Since 2021, my group is based at the Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) of the University of Tübingen, a dream place for plant science with a superb environment and fantastic colleagues.

Starting one's independent research group is not devoid of challenges, but it is also a unique, very exciting time, and can be extremely rewarding. Getting advice from more experienced colleagues, or simply sharing the doubts and tribulations that may initially come with the territory, can help navigate these waters—and reassure you in that you are not alone in your qualms! If I had to offer only three pieces of advice to somebody starting their laboratories, they would be the following:

How many people are working in your laboratory? How do you manage such number of people? What non-scientific qualities do you consider important for a member of your group?

At the moment, my group includes four PhD students, eight post-doctoral researchers, two technical assistants and a variable number of MSc, BSc and helper students. In my experience, something crucial to ensure that the group runs—projects advance, people develop—is communication. In our team, we have weekly seminars, journal club discussions and bi-weekly one-on-one meetings; we also have a group chat channel to enable real-time communication, where all kinds of topics are discussed—from misplaced pipettes to exciting new publications. For each specific project, we try to work on outlines so that we always have a ‘road map’, and we share exciting new results, feedback or developments as soon as we have the chance.

Perhaps the most important non-scientific qualities, from my point of view, would be curiosity and enthusiasm, and the capacity to marvel—again, enjoying what we do makes all the difference. However, especially at the beginning, this enthusiasm can come in the form of keen interest and intellectual stimulation, not necessarily enjoyment at the bench—experiments can be extremely frustrating, and feeling unfulfilled for some time does not mean one is not cut out for this.

Another feature that I deem essential is generosity. Nowadays, science is a team effort, and any scientist should be aware that they are part of a bigger community and be willing to share, contribute, and help and promote others.

How would you summarise the current research topics of your group?

We are trying to understand how viruses, despite their very limited armoury, manage to manipulate complex organisms to multiply and spread; for this, we are using plants as relevant study organisms. Plants offer a number of experimental advantages over other systems; but, in addition, virus-caused diseases have a devastating effect in crops globally and threaten food security, so our work may contribute to solving real-world problems.

The core of our research focuses on plant DNA viruses called geminiviruses, aetiological agents of multiple severe crop diseases. Our team is actively investigating different aspects of the viral infection: how these viruses manipulate cell cycle and hijack the plant DNA replication machinery in order to replicate; how the plant recognises the viral invasion and deploys defence mechanisms and how the virus counters them, and generally speaking, which strategies are used by the virus to tailor the cellular environment to favour infection.

Where do you see your research going in the future?

Research on plant viruses has flourished in the past few years: we now know, for example, that viruses have a larger proteome than previously thought, and that viral proteins can interact with one another to acquire new functions. We need to continue investigating the molecular interface between virus and host if we want to understand how the infection takes place. Given that viruses are master manipulators of the cells they infect, they provide an excellent means to gain insight into key plant processes along the way, offering an unparalleled opportunity to understand fundamental processes essential for the infection—such as DNA replication and repair, in the case of geminiviruses. My dream would be to reach a point of understanding from where we can outline the sequence of molecular events that leads to a successful viral infection.

In the future, I would like to expand our research to other virus/host interactions. Whether viruses infecting different kingdoms of life follow similar invasion strategies, how such strategies are shaped by the host lifestyle, and whether common anti-viral defence mechanisms exist, are fascinating questions that I would love to explore.

Which parts of your job do you like the most and which ones the least?

Understanding something for the first time, or even coming up with a plan that may get you there, is a feeling like no other, exhilarating and addictive. I love the fact that this job entails problem-solving, is creative, and that no 2 days are the same.

Probably, the part of my job I enjoy the most on a daily basis is the interaction with my team: sharing the enthusiasm, the passion, the joy of learning new things or of joining forces to find solutions to problems. Another amazing aspect of this line of work is that we get to travel, make friends and converse with like-minded people from all over the world. Discussing with scientists with diverse backgrounds, expertise and interests is incredibly enriching—and so much fun.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have to deal with contracts, reports, requests, invoices, quotations, reimbursements, etc. I understand paperwork is a necessary part of our job, but I am not going to lie: this gives me no joy. It would be important, in my view, that we all work for bureaucracy to serve its purpose, but not let it acquire a life of its own that ends up standing in the way of scientific advance.

Is there any important lesson you have learnt throughout your career that you would like to share with younger scientist and students?

Time pressure is relative. We have all been there believed that starting or finishing our PhD thesis 1 year earlier or later would define the rest of our career—but in the end, it is actually rather irrelevant. Our lives would be much more enjoyable if we could learn this earlier.

Also, most decisions are reversible. Did you choose a laboratory you don't fit in, or a research line you don't feel passionate about? Not the end of the world: just change it. Really, it is not such a big deal.

And a last, very important one: in science, effort pays off, but it may take its sweet time—so be patient and try to enjoy the way!

Is there anything that helps you cope with difficult times?

Connections with friends, family, colleagues and all those little and not so little things in life that bring me joy—and making a conscious effort to remember why I am in this amazing, unmatched line of work.