“Be Open To A Lot of Things”: A Brandeis Alum’s Advice on the Biochemistry & Biophysics Program
August 22, 2022
Sydney Adams | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Prior to receiving her PhD in Biochemistry & Biophysics from Brandeis, Karina Herlambang PhD’22 studied biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she worked for Brandeis alumnus Michael Cox PhD’79 studying DNA repair mechanisms as a research assistant. She explains, “I was still not sure what biochemistry was really all about, but, as time went on, my fascination towards all these proteins that made up who we are as a living organism only grew stronger. I knew that I wanted to spend more time doing research, so I decided to pursue a PhD.” Cox “spoke nothing but great things about Brandeis,” and after speaking with other alums at UW Madison, Brandeis immediately became one of her top choices. She says Brandeis’ “collaborative environment and top quality research” along with our, “close proximity to Boston, which is the biotech hub in the country” helped to finalize her decision.
Herlambang says, “The Brandeis community is just really wonderful! Everyone is willing to go above and beyond to help each other out.” She went on to say, “Every interaction that I had with the faculty at Brandeis has been really positive.” She singled out Professor Jeff Gelles for particular praise, for playing “a major role in my scientific and personal development.” She partially credits her experience to the “typically small” class size at Brandeis which allowed her to “get to know everyone pretty well.” Her favorite part of the PhD program “was the ability to collaborate with other lab groups from different departments—not just within Brandeis but also in other institutions. That really helped me to get helpful input and learn other techniques that otherwise I would not have been exposed to.”
Herlambang made use of another Brandeis resource to secure her current role at Intellia Therapeutics. Working with the Professional Development team enabled her to receive crucial “feedback on my resume and ask for interview tips.” She also says that the Professional Development team “initiated connections with Brandeis alums that currently work in some of the companies that I was applying for. “That’s how I ended up applying to Intellia Therapeutics,” she says. “Little did I know, one of my interviewers was actually an alum of my lab, so that made the interview less intimidating.”
While Herlambang can’t share any of the projects she is currently working on at Intellia Therapeutics as a scientist in the RNA technologies group, she credits her time at Brandeis for helping her prepare for her role. Her work focuses on “improving mRNA stability to enhance our gene editing platform.” Herlambang says the scientific community at Brandeis “challenged me to think critically and allowed me to be exposed to different areas of research.” She went on to say that her experience at Brandeis, “made me realize how important collaboration is and interdisciplinary research is even more evident in industry.”
As for advice for students interested in pursuing a degree from Brandeis’ Biochemistry & Biophysics program, Herlambang says, “Be open to a lot of things and start networking early. Exposing yourself to different areas of research or career path right from the beginning should help you figure out what you really want to do afterward. Being a Brandeisian itself is already a huge advantage. You might not be aware of this but you have this large network like the Brandeis alumni connection that you should take advantage of. It might be intimidating at first to reach out, but most people are willing to help.”