EP 46: Fuller W. Bazer Award with Marcella Pecora Milazzotto

In this episode of The Future Conceived, Dr. Fei Zhao, University of Wisconsin-Madison, sits down with Dr. Marcella Pecora Milazzotto, Federal University of ABC. Dr. Pecora Milazzotto is the 2025 Fuller W. Bazer SSR International Scientist Award. Listen in as Dr. Pecora Milazzotto discusses her relationship with SSR, her research and career development stories, and her advice to trainees.

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From that moment on, I decided that understanding the early embryonic development would be my goal as an independent researcher. And that's that's what I have been doing since then. And so it was more a calling like, okay, you have to study this. Uh, hello, everyone. Thank you for attending this podcast. Today I have the opportunity to meet Doctor Marcella mallow, who received, uh, twenty twenty five, followed by other International Scientist Travel Award. Today I will ask doctor about her relationship with the SSR and her background and career story. And finally, in the end, she will share some her mentoring and advice to the trainees. So, um, thank you so much to taking your time to chat with me today. And I wonder, how did you get to know SSR and how long have you been a member in our society? Okay. So first of all, thank you for inviting me for this podcast. It's my pleasure to be here. Uh, something new for me, but let's see if it works. Uh, well, I don't exactly remember how I first knew SSR. In fact, since I was a student a long time ago, I was already aware of the society and the high scientific level of the meetings. Uh, but I think it was from twenty fifteen already as a Pi that I began attending the meetings and bringing my students, as I found that the topics addressed in the meeting and the way that it was discussed were much more closely related to our field of research. And indeed, as as our meetings have always been very inspiring for our work. Yeah. So you have been a member since two thousand, twenty fifteen? That's about ten years. Yes, about ten years. So what's, um. You must have some favorite or memories. So would you like to share some of them? Sure. I have wonderful memories of the meetings I attended, and as I mentioned before, SSR meetings are always full of new insights, insights, and I think my best memories are leaving the talks, especially the plenary sessions full of new ideas with the brain exploding of new ideas and spending a long time discussing new projects with colleagues and especially with my students. I joined seeing seen them. Uh, also that motivated as me and how they become, uh, at each meeting. Because they are they always return to the lab thinking differently about their own projects with fresh perspectives. It's amazing. And other great memories are related to the close contact with leading researchers in our field, of course. And I clearly remember some of these encounters, which were very impactful in my career. And I have to mention the opportunity to know new places. I love traveling, so it's always good to to new these places and share moments with friends. I have very good memories of these occasions as well. The parties and everything. Well, that's the best. Well, well, best answer I have ever heard. Yes, that's exactly what everyone wants to go to SSR. Yeah that's great. Summary. Yeah. So another thing is I'm very interested in your background. Uh, it looks like you're using animals as the experiment model. So. Yeah. So what? At first place, why did you decide to become reproductive biologist? Why? You're using large animals. Yeah, well, I would say that I did not decide it. It was a calling. More a calling. Well, since my master, I work with large animals because these are very important here in Brazil. And so after my my college, I decided to to study genetics in these animals, in bovines. Uh, and during my master, I work with genetic improvement. Improvement? And in my PhD, I joined a project, uh, to generate transgenic cows using lentiviral vectors, which was quite challenging at that time. It was two thousand and two, two thousand and three. So now we have many different kits to do this, but at that time we had to make our own virus. It was quite challenging. Uh, and I think among of these challenges was the fact that, uh, during the development, some Ambrose, uh, they silenced my gene, and that left me unsettled. I think the right word is unsettle. And from that moment on, I decided that understanding the early embryonic development and all related to this, the metabolism, the molecular control, all the dynamics that happens in the first periods of life would be my goal as an independent researcher. And that's that's what I have been doing since then. And so it was more a calling like, okay, you have to study this. You have to understand what's going on. Yeah, yeah. So what's your current projects about? What's your major party right now. You're in your lab. So for for the last fifteen years, our lab has been dedicated to understand this metabolic aspect of of the brain plantation bovine embryos. And more or less ten years ago, we turn our focus to investigating how this metabolism, how this metabolic dynamic coordinate the epigenetic reprogramming during this period. So our current projects explored this line of research by challenging embryos with different supplementations, different culture system, and also by studying how the maternal environment impacts this metabolism and this molecular regulation. And for that, we use both the in vivo model, but also, uh, three dimensional oviduct culture system that we developed at the lab. Uh, and also in parallel, we have also developed a line of research aimed at understanding how epigenetic alterations caused by artificial reproductive technologies affect traits in cattle breeds, especially those raised here in Brazil that are the cattle. Uh, but I think that we always seek to connect basic and applied science in our lab. Right. I know working with cattle sometimes, um, you will, um, have some challenges that some people don't have using small animals. So what's the most difficult challenge you have ever met? How did you overcome it? Overcome. Overcome it. Yeah. Well, of course, uh, get materials is one of the challenges. Uh, as you said, it's. I live in a city close to Sao Paulo. That is a huge city, uh, far from the farms. And so to have this material is always difficult for us. It's a challenge. But, uh, I am a Latin woman doing research in Brazil, so I think that answers your question. I can affirm that we face challenges every single day, and they range from, uh, establishing myself as a researcher, as a recognized researcher, especially, uh, in some fields that are predominantly male fields, uh, but also to secure funding for research. So this letter is particularly sensitive issue in Brazil in recent years, uh, probably most of our public will be aware of it. We have experienced governments with very different views of the importance of education and science, something that other countries are facing now are right on with us. Of course, this requires great resilience for us to adapt to this period to be sometimes we have more or less investment and support, and we always had to be prepared to face this challenge. And this, of course, directly impacts the way we conduct our work. And we work at the lab. So in times of greater investments, we grow stronger and in more difficult times, we come together and develop what Brazilian researchers do best. That is hard work and creativity. So sometimes we create our own equipments. We develop our our own ways to do research, different experiments, because sometimes you just don't have money. And I think that's the way we do it. Yeah. I think you mentioned very critical word characteristic character, the resilience. Is that something you also want to see in your trainees. And do you think that's also what do you think makes a good scientist and a leader in the field? Uh. Yes. I think resilience is, um, at least here in Brazil, resilience is on our top three characteristics for a good researcher. Uh, but I think that for all researchers, uh, the most important characteristic is curiosity. Uh, so when we are curious, we never want to stop discovering and learning about everything and not only isolate ourselves in our own research, but I think a a good scientist is aware of everything that surrounds them. So I am a biologist, but I work in a place that I have contact with, uh, people from physics and philosophy and history and all of the subjects interested me. So everything is on my radar. So we. Science. Scientists are paid to study. This is the greatest job ever. And so I think that a good science must be curious and must like to study. And for being a good leader, I think that you have to inspire trust and respect from others. And so, uh, empathy and integrity. Uh, so I think a good leader, uh, they have to join all these characteristics and have a very strong decision making capability. So we have to make decisions every single day and adapt to challenging situations. And so taking all these characteristics together, I think, uh, people can be a good leader. But I think that's important that it's useless to try to impose ourselves as leaders. Uh, good leader emerges from the recognition of others. And so we have first work on these characteristics. And then this recognition of you as a leader will emerge naturally. Um. It's great. How many, how many people currently do you have in your lab? So how do you know what's your mentoring philosophy to help them to succeed and grow? Right. Yeah. I have eleven students from undergrad to postdocs. Uh, yes, I think we are in eleven right now. Some of them are leaving and some of them are joining the group. So we are in this transition period. Um, and I, I think I have learned how to mentor over the years. Of course, nobody knows it when you become a Pi? You never know how to deal with your students. It's a very difficult thing to to develop. Uh, and I think that the the way I guide my students, it's being a partner of them. I put myself in a position of a true partner of them, understanding the human side, showing them that they are never alone, and that research is not meant to be done alone. So our group is very united. And of course, when one achieves something, it's everyone's achievement. And when someone fails, it becomes a learning opportunity for all of us as well. Um, and so, uh, I always like to encourage creativity and new ideas from the students. And so I think we have a very, a very good place, a very good environment to Meant work. And there's something interesting. Uh, my students, they often say, uh. And I think that it represents my my, my mentor philosophy. They say that during a flight, uh, no matter how turbulent it gets, you should always look at the flight attendant. If they're calm, it means that the plane is not going to crash. So they compare me to a flight attendant. They say that no matter the challenge they are facing. Uh, as long as I remain calm and supportive, they know that everything is going to end well. And so I feel this is my main characteristic of mentoring. Of my mentoring style. Yeah. That's so cool. I think it will be very lucky to be one of your mentors. Mentees? Yeah. You have to ask them. Yeah. Uh, one last question. Last but not least, would you like to share one of the pieces of advice you want to give to the older trainee in SSR society? Sure. Yeah. Uh, and I think that most of them I learned, uh, too late. I learned when I was already a professor. And I think that if they can take these and none of them but some of them. But, uh, I think that the first one is study everything. Study everything. You have the best job possible. You are paid to study. So enjoy. Study. Uh, another thing is to be curious not only about science, but curious about everything and everyone. There's nothing better than a good conversation, a good talk with a colleague, with a professor, a researcher, or anyone you meet. Because everyone has something to teach us. And don't be, don't don't limit yourselves to learn what you have planned to learn. You have a war to learn. Um, another thing that I always tell my students is to take things slowly. This generation is so anxious. They are always anxious and think about thirty years ahead. So everything has its own his own time. Everything is going to happen in its own time. And the most important is to have fun and enjoy what you are doing. We will struggle with many different things in our in our scientific path. And if you are not having fun, if you don't like what you are doing, and if you are not enjoying the time that you are at the lab or studying or with your lab mates, uh, you are doing this path, uh, wrongly. And this will be much more harder for you, but excellent. Actually, this these pieces of advice is not only applied to trainees like junior faculty like me It's also very helpful. And thank you so much and thank you so much, doctor. Thank you. Well that does it for today. Listeners, thank you for joining us on this episode of The Future Conceived. This podcast was sponsored by SSRs Virtual Education Committee, whose mission is to develop virtual programs that aid in education, highlight the lives and careers of society members, and bring updates on the latest scientific advancements in reproductive biology. If you're not a member of SSR, now is the perfect time to join this incredible network of researchers and professionals in shaping the future of reproductive science. For more information, please check out our website at.