Next step: Group leader in the SimTech Cluster of Excellence

Congratulations, Kristyna, to this excellent next step in your career! What are your research plans and goals as junior research group leader in the SimTech Excellence Cluster?

The biological systems I studied at D-BSSE have revealed to me that molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, an in-silico method founded on classical Newtonian dynamics used to describe structures and motions at high spatio-temporal resolution, lag behind the experiments and reality in many aspects. At the SimTech Excellence Cluster I will have the unique opportunity to improve MD simulation techniques in order to achieve a more realistic description of biological systems. In detail, my group will develop membrane models of natural lipid composition, we will prepare and use parameters for post-translational modifications, and we will tackle spontaneous protonation in classical MD. By sharing those parameters and the simulation protocols and tutorials with the scientific community we aim to increase the awareness on the importance of proton exchange, membrane composition, and post-translational modifications in biological processes, and lower the barrier for their usage in typical MD simulations.

Which new tasks does the position come with?

At D-BSSE I already had the opportunity to prove my scientific independence, to establish and maintain transnational collaborations and the ability to acquire computer time on (inter)national high-performance computer clusters. Molecular dynamics simulations are extreme consumers of computational resources. Hence, for each larger project – and believe me: every biological question of interest is computationally very demanding – a grant proposal has to be handed in and the computer time granted after an external evaluation. Adding to this, at SimTech I will carry the sole responsibility for my students and will be in charge for acquiring and handling 3rd party funding and our group budget. It is a very exciting step and I am very happy that I have found a PhD student who wants to support me in gaining all these new competences and experiences and fine-tune my group leader skills in open discussions.
A certain disadvantage of the junior group leader position at SimTech, compared to junior professorships, is its limitation to 4 years. On the other hand, I am not obliged to teach. So, I can first concentrate on establishing my research group, acquiring 3rd party funding and only then I will start preparing a lecture and practical courses on a topic of my choice.

How was the application and assessment process for this position, and what do you think was key to your success in being selected?

The application for this position was very similar to an application for a professorship or another group leader position in academia. Next to an attractive CV including abroad experience at high-end scientific institutions and a list of publications, comprising both first and last authorship publications, the probably most important element in the application is the research plan, which has to be tailored to the specific institution and includes many possible collaborations. I also always invest some time in colourful illustrations that visualize the scientific problem I want to tackle. I believe this helps to awake the interest of the committee and they remember more easily who I am and what I plan to do. The most difficult part of an application for a professorship or a group leader position, is, according to my experience, to get invited for an interview, because at that point you compete on paper with tens if not hundreds of other scientists. The second part, the job interview itself, is much easier for me, probably because I am a lively, talkative person, used to give talks in front of a large audience at international conferences. Although I must admit that the interview in Stuttgart was a new experience for me, because it was the first time I was giving a virtual talk and interview. In fact, I still did not visit my future working place physically or meet any of my future colleagues in person. It feels really weird.

Will you have any open positions to fill?

Yes, I have open positions for Bachelor and Master students that can be started immediately and can be done remotely. This is a real advantage of being a theoretician: you need a computer and an internet connection. The computational work itself is nevertheless done on the high-performance computer clusters, e.g. currently I have computer time on Piz Daint, at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center, CSCS. For every open PhD position, I have to acquire third party funding first. I have already handed in a grant proposal that will cover the position of a PhD student of mine who has already started on 1 January. The next positions are hopefully to come. Therefore, hereby, I invite interested students to drop me an email, in the best case well ahead of the intended start of their PhD.

Finally, we hope you stay in close contact with the D-BSSE! Will there be opportunities for future cooperation with people or groups here at D-BSSE?

Definitely! Within the Müller group, we have built many collaborations over the last years and learnt to profit from each other’s point of view. Moreover, the research performed at D-BSSE has shaped the research direction I am to take in the next years and as is typical for research, more new questions and ideas arise on the search for the answers on the original ones. I am convinced that the current and new collaborations with D-BSSE will be beneficial for the research on both sides, the experimental and the in-silico one.


Many thanks, Kristyna, and all the best for your research and career!