Industrial Postdoc perspective: Antonia Bass – Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Merck.

Dr. Antonia Bass is a postdoctoral research fellow at Merck since October 2020. Her project involves investigating innate immune responses to adjuvants. She conducted her doctoral research in Dr. Sunny Shin’s laboratory on the role of interferon-gamma in human immune responses to gram-negative bacteria and graduated from the CAMB (MVP) program in September 2020.

1. Can you tell us about the Postdoctoral program at Merck?

The postdoc program at Merck is a great program for PhD’s looking to transition into industry. It is an inclusive, community-oriented program that provides various opportunities for the postdocs including conducting innovative research projects. There is not a set number of postdocs that Merck accepts, it all depends on the available postdoc research proposals that are written by mentors within MRL, the mentors are typically scientists that are more senior.

2. What opportunities does the program offer for professional development?

There are many opportunities for postdocs to get involved such as the Merck Research Laboratory (MRL) Postdoc Association which is a team of postdocs who can be from any of the different MRL sites, and their goal is to support the postdoc program. It’s a great opportunity for professional development and networking. There’s an annual postdoc symposium where all the postdocs and their mentors working within MRL come together to listen to talks and poster presentations of all the research conducted by postdocs. We also have monthly postdoc lunches which have been virtual during the pandemic but hopefully will be in person soon! We have a career development series called Meet the Merck Experts seminar where pharmaceutical industry experts from various functional areas within Merck share their career path and advice for attaining that position.

3. How long is the program for?

The program is for a maximum of three years, and it is renewed annually depending upon your performance. You also get a pay raise each year!

4. Are you expected to publish your work at the end of the postdoc or present it at conferences?

Since the research that postdocs perform is non-proprietary, they are expected to publish their work. Merck funds postdocs to attend one conference each year, where the postdoc should be presenting their research.

5. What does your day-to-day look like?

My day schedule looks different every day, much like how it was in grad school. I have various department or lab meetings each month and weekly meetings with my research mentor. I attend postdoc seminars and other internal Merck seminars, most of my time is spent conducting experiments and analysis, keeping up to date with the literature. Planning is essential to making sure that your experiments don’t overlap with important meetings and seminars.

6. How is conducting a research project at Merck different from your PhD at Penn? Do you have the flexibility to shape the course of your project (like we have during PhD.)?

At Merck, the postdoc research project is already provided since these projects need to get approval and support by the department. However, it is highly encouraged to bring your own ideas and come up with experiments to achieve the project goal.

7. How’s the work-play environment at Merck? Does your role allow you to maintain a good work-life balance?

During my postdoc at Merck, I have had a healthy work-life balance. I plan my experiments ahead to make sure they don’t fall on weekends or late hours of the day. You are not expected to work “extra hours” or on weekends.

8. How are the growth opportunities from your current role at Merck? Do you think you will have an edge over other applicants at Merck for a full-time scientist after your post-doctoral program?

There are many opportunities for professional and career development at Merck. I mentioned the MTME seminar series where you can learn different roles within Merck, but there are also many organizations within Merck that you can join to meet others outside of your field. Also, if you are interested in pursuing a career outside of bench science, you can easily find people within Merck and send an email to someone to ask for an informational interview. About 30% of the postdocs stay at Merck and get a full-time position as a Senior Scientist or other internal role. Interacting with colleagues and showcasing your research abilities helps to achieve a full-time scientist position at Merck.

9. Were you looking at medium-small size biotech or big pharma companies as well? What made you choose an industrial postdoc over full-time scientist positions?

I was looking for industry postdocs at big pharma companies. I thought that doing a postdoc was better for me as opposed to doing a full-time scientist position because a postdoc position allows you to learn a different research field and new techniques as well as develop more independence, while a scientist position felt more senior to me and required more experience. For me, it felt like a better transition into industry.

10. What as per you might be the key benefits and perks of doing an industrial postdoc?

Key benefits/perks of doing an industry postdoc are that you’re not really limited in the resources you need to do your experiments. Also, when doing animal work, you don’t need to do the husbandry and you have help with performing the experiments from the animal resource department. You always have people to help you, you are not alone.

11. How was the transition for you from being a grad student to a postdoc at Merck? Can you share a little about your journey with us?

As a grad student, I was independently working on a project that involved learning new techniques that the lab hasn’t done before. As a postdoc at Merck, I’m still independent, however I am working with many different cross-functional teams to conduct the experiments. For instance, I’m working with an imaging group separately from the animal resource group as well as others. It’s definitely a collaborative research environment where I would not be able to conduct the work on my own. Like I said, it takes a lot of planning to make sure all the people involved in the experiments know what needs to be done and when.

12. Any networking advice to current grad students? What were your key platforms to apply when you were looking for positions?

It’s never too early to start networking, attend career fairs, send emails, or message alumni on LinkedIn and ask for an informational interview. This is how you can figure out what career path you are most interested in. When you’re ready to apply to jobs, you can potentially use these networks to directly send your resume to the hiring manager.

13. Did you apply for postdoc programs at other pharma companies as well? Any recommendations?

I didn’t apply to other postdoc programs since I applied at the height of the pandemic and postdoc opportunities were limited.

14. What was your timeline like with submitting your paper, writing your thesis, defending, and applying for the postdoc?

I slowly began writing my thesis when the pandemic hit in March 2020, had my committee meeting in April where I asked for permission to defend my thesis, a couple of months later I applied to the Merck postdoc position and submitted my paper. I received a phone interview a week or so after applying and had the formal interview a couple weeks later and received an offer two weeks after my interview. My thesis defense was in September, and I started my postdoc in October. My advice for everyone is to look for industry positions 3-5 months in advance and to make sure that you will have defended your thesis by the job start deadline.

15. Did it matter where you published your PhD thesis paper while interviewing for industrial postdoc positions?

No, it doesn’t matter where you submit your paper when applying to industry positions. I recommend submitting your paper to Biorxiv.org at the same time you submit your paper, that way the interviewers are able to look at your paper at least.

16. Can you tell us about the application and interview process for the postdoctoral program at Merck? How did you prepare for the interviews?

Merck lists openings for postdoctoral positions on their website along with listings for full-time positions. The details of the project are mentioned in the job description, and you apply to it directly. Attach your cv and a cover letter when applying.

My interview was virtual and took over the course of two days. I gave my one-hour research seminar that included questions at the end, followed by eight one-on-one interviews with different scientists within the department and an HR representative. To prepare for my interviews, I did multiple mock interviews with my thesis advisor - Dr. Sunny Shin, and with career services. I recommend looking up all the people you are set to interview with on LinkedIn beforehand and have a couple of questions to ask each person about the position, or their expectations from you. Also, have an answer ready for questions like ‘Why do you want to do an industrial postdoc over an academic postdoc’?

17. Are there any other resources that you recommend to prepare for the interviews?

Penn’s career services are very helpful with mock interviews. I highly recommend them.

18. What are the key skills that Merck looked for during the hiring process?

Merck looked for someone who can explain their research clearly, can think critically and answer challenging questions, and who is interested in the research that the postdoc position is for. I made sure to include a slide at the end of my research presentation that explained how my PhD work and skills could be applied to the postdoc research and what I would contribute to the project.

19. If you get to go back in time and do one thing differently during the whole defending and applying for jobs phase, what would it be?

Start preparing for interviews much earlier and thinking about the questions that they might ask.

20. Any anecdotes from this time that you want to share with us?

It can be difficult to write your thesis, apply for jobs, and do experiments all at the same time so I would recommend that you plan days where you only focus on writing your thesis and job applications and other days where you are focused on experiments if that is manageable. If possible, just take a month or so to only focus on writing your thesis. Writing takes a lot of focus and energy and is equally as important as the physical lab work.

21. What’s the biggest myth about doing an industrial post-doc?

That you will be conducting research focused on pipeline products. This is not true, as an industry postdoc, you can only work on non-proprietary research so that you are able to present your work to external conferences and publish.

22. How inclusive is your program towards applicants with diverse backgrounds (international, diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds)?

The Merck postdoc program is very inclusive to applicants of various backgrounds. The MRL postdoc program even has sites all around the world including Singapore and London!

23. What do you miss the most about your grad school life?

I miss my lab peers from grad school the most.

24. Any other advice for current grad students who are in the early years of their PhD and for those who are ready to defend and want to pursue a career in industrial research like you?

To those in their first few years of grad school, grow your network and learn about different careers in industry, participate in organizations at Penn, such as SACNAS and Penn Biotech Group, and take on leadership roles. If you are ready to apply to an industry position, I recommend communicating with someone in the company and department you are interested in so that they can forward your resume/CV and cover letter directly to the hiring manager.

Dr. Antonia Bass