Meet the preLighters: Vibha Singh

Together with the Node and FocalPlane, preLights organised SciCommConnect in June, an event dedicated to science communication that aimed to help researchers develop new skills and network with others who share their passion for scicomm. As part of the event, we held a three-minute research talk competition, featuring twelve outstanding presentations on diverse topics. In this post, we highlight one of the speakers (as well as a preLighter), Vibha Singh, a postdoctoral researcher working in the lab of Christophe Lamaze at the Institut Curie in Paris. We delve into her career journey and current research and gain valuable tips from her on crafting an impactful science communication presentation. Be sure to watch her three-minute research talk below!

How has your career journey evolved over the last few years?

I completed my PhD in India at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune. For my research, I focused on the role of integrin-mediated adhesion in Golgi structure and function. The findings of my work were published in Journal of Cell Science, and I really appreciated the entire publishing process. I was even featured in their “First Person” interview series. Additionally, when the article was still at the preprint stage, it was highlighted by preLights, which is how I first came across the platform. I was one of the first people from my institute to post a preprint on bioRxiv actually.

For my PhD, I delved deeply into integrins, adhesion, and the biology of organelles, with a particular focus on the Golgi. While I enjoyed this area of research, for my postdoc, I wanted to explore something slightly different. I was drawn to the emerging field of mechanobiology and hoped to combine it with the study of cell migration.

With these specific interest in mind, I began looking for postdoc labs. My current lab, hosted by Christophe Lamaze at the Institut Curie, seemed like a perfect match. The lab focuses on caveolae—small invaginations in the cell membrane that function as mechanosensors involved in mechanotransduction. Christophe was looking for a postdoc to investigate the connection between caveolae and cell migration, which aligned perfectly with my research interests.

On a personal note, my husband was already living in Paris, so I was particularly keen to find a role in the city, making this opportunity even more ideal.

Looking at the future, what aspects of your research are you most excited about?

Like most research projects, my postdoc project has opened up many intriguing questions that could be explored further, either in our lab or by other teams. Our primary focus has been on understanding how caveolae, these fascinating cellular structures, and their mechanosensing properties regulate and guide cell migration. A particularly interesting area for future exploration would be to learn how cells behave in different microenvironments, especially under pathophysiological conditions like cancer, where the mechanical properties of the microenvironment change significantly.

When a tissue transitions from a normal state to a tumor state, for example, the mechanical microenvironment that the cells experience changes. It would be fascinating to explore how cancer cells either use (or don’t use) caveolae in this context. One of the key challenges in cancer research is understanding how to prevent tumor cells from migrating to incorrect destinations in the body. Caveolae could potentially play a role in suppressing tumors by influencing cell migration through their mechanosensing abilities.

In our lab, we’ve been working with breast cancer cell lines, and we’re beginning to get a clearer picture of potential future projects as our current study approaches completion and publication. Since we work at the Curie Institute, which is part of a cancer hospital, we have ample opportunities for collaboration making it easier to take this research forward.

How did you manage to distill your research into a 3-minute presentation?

Delivering a short, three-minute talk may seem easy at first, but it’s actually quite a challenge to clearly convey your message in such a short amount of time. I’ve always been interested in watching these types of presentations and seeing how people simplify complex research findings into an accessible format. It inspired me to try my hand at it.

When preparing for my presentation, I focused on structuring it around three key points: identifying the problem, explaining the scientific basis, and proposing a potential solution or future direction. By organizing my talk in this way, I hope I made it easier for people outside my field to understand it, breaking down a complex topic into more digestible parts.

Your slide was very effective in conveying your key messages – do you have any tips for other researchers on how to create impactful slides?

One tip I would give others is to include at least one slide that explains the problem in the simplest way possible. Include only the key questions like: What is the problem? Where are the gaps in our understanding? And what approach is being taken to address it? Framing your research in terms of these kind of basic questions makes it much easier for the audience to follow your story, even if they’re not experts in the field.

What was one of the takeaways from SciCommConnect you took the heart?

Keep things simple. This applies not only to the content of your presentation, but also your choice of words. People sometimes think that using complicated sentences or difficult terms makes their work sound more important, but that shouldn’t be the goal. It’s much better to keep things clear and straightforward.

It’s also helpful to focus on the basics. You don’t always need to dive into intricate signaling pathways or complex protein interactions. Instead, use analogies from everyday life that people can relate to—whether it’s human behaviour or common tasks. This makes it much easier for the audience to understand and engage with the topic.