Postdoc Appreciation Week: Q&A with Minhao Zhou and Tamara Vasilkovska
As part of our celebration of Postdoc Appreciation Week, we invited two postdocs, Minhao Zhou, PhD, and Tamara Vasilkovska, MD, PhD, to answer a few questions about their work and their time at UCSF.
Zhou works with Galateia Kazakia, PhD, on researching bone quality and health, while Vasilkovska works with Jeremy Gordon, PhD on hyperpolarized MRI.
Minhao Zhou, PhD
Q: What brought you to UCSF?
I have always dreamed about the day when I could see my research and work really touch and help people in the community and even around the world. Where else than UCSF?
Q: What is your favorite aspect of doing research at UCSF?
I value the collaborative spirit.
Q: Tell us about your research.
I use an image-based approach to help understand the effect of chronic conditions on musculoskeletal health, particularly bone quality.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
I enjoy cycling, hiking, and watching old movies.
Tamara Vasilkovska, MD, PhD
Q: What brought you to UCSF?
I was always fascinated by the brain. My past work during my PhD allowed me to appreciate the vast opportunities that MRI holds, however, I wanted to go further and understand what kind of energy metabolism changes underly these big-scale processes. I learned about hyperpolarized (HP) MRI, which sounded like a very fascinating new avenue for my postdoctoral career. There was no better place than UCSF which has the one of the most recognized, world-leading centers for HP MRI research.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of doing research at UCSF?
As someone that has acquired their academic experience across Europe, being at UCSF has been a unique and surprising change of scenery. I truly appreciate how immersive my research stay has been– from having different opportunities to collaborate and share ideas, to weekly seminars with world leaders in science as well as Nobel Prize winners. UCSF also has extensive collaborations with Gladstone Institutes and other universities such as Stanford and UC Berkeley, which makes it inevitable to get excited and motivated to do the best science you can as you are surrounded by amazing scientist all around.
Q: Tell us about your research.
My current work on understanding how neurons in the brain utilize alternative energy sources under increased brain activity is focused on investigating the astrocyte – neuron energy cross talk, using HP MRI. Understanding how specific cell types utilize these alternate brain fuels is critical since this may be the way the brain maintains normal function not only during increased activity but also during pathological conditions. My goal is to utilize this knowledge and try to understand what happens in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which affects around 7 million people in the US.
Q: What impact do you envision your research having on patient care?
My MD degree made me very aware of the pressing need to establish better biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). During my PhD, I worked on biomarker discovery for Huntington’s disease, which demonstrated the important role that translational research plays to both better understand the disease process and develop better biomarkers to help us create more effective therapies. I hope that my research in preclinical AD will uncover a new piece of the complex puzzle that is AD.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
I really enjoy reading – mostly non-fiction, and recently that’s been works by Joan Didion and Rebecca Solnit. I also like to explore – usually on weekends I would learn about and visit different parts of the city or go for a hike at different parks here in California. What I also really appreciate is the incredibly rich music scene in the Bay Area – I could attend concerts of artists that I was a longtime fan of.