We sometimes overlook the importance of beauty products and dietary supplements, though the reality is that they have become a part of almost everyone’s routine life.
Anjali Gupta, our next pathbreaker, works as scientist at Oddity Labs (Massachusetts, United States), the biotechnology R&D arm of ODDITY, that develops novel products to address problems relevant to beauty and wellness by using AI-based approaches and intense biological drug discovery pipelines for molecular discovery
Anjali talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about deciding to take up a career in research instead of a conventional medical or engineering route though both her parents are medical doctors.
For students, always keep an open mind and have clarity about your own strengths and weaknesses, because that attitude can take you places !
Anjali, Your background?
I was born and brought up in Delhi and Delhi-NCR. I did my entire schooling in Delhi. Both my parents are medical doctors. My father worked for the government of India until his retirement and is now doing his medical practice. My mother does private practice and runs her own hospital. I come from a highly educated family. My parents had humble beginnings, and I have seen my parents and grandparents work extremely hard to serve the society around them while earning a livelihood for our family in an honest way. I have been a meritorious student and was very active in extracurricular activities such as public speaking and cultural activities.
My parents are passionate doctors who instilled that passion for biology and healthcare in me. While growing up, I saw my parents brainstorm over several problems of medical science as healthcare providers, and how they didn’t have empirical solutions to many of the things they dealt with. That got me inspired to do something so that I could find answers to the questions we had about various health conditions. Always excited by these questions, I decided to join a research institute instead of a conventional medical or engineering school for my undergraduate studies. I was awarded the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana fellowship in class 11th, which was a huge boost to my confidence at that stage and motivated me to join Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali (IISER Mohali) for my undergraduate studies. IISERs are premium institutes of national importance for teaching and research in natural science.
What did you do for graduation/post graduation?
After finishing my schooling in Delhi, I joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, Punjab, to pursue a BS-MS Dual Degree in Biological Sciences. We had a very interdisciplinary coursework. For the first two years at IISER Mohali, we studied all four science areas: mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. We had to choose a specialization for the next three years, and Biology was the organic choice for me. The fifth-year was focused on a master’s thesis project. The KVPY fellowship fully supported my undergraduate studies. During my undergraduate studies, I interned in various reputed laboratories with diverse research areas. KVPY and the Indian Academy of Sciences supported my research internships. These research stints helped narrow my research interests and equipped me with the skills desired for a research career. I feel blessed to have attended IISER as it trained me well for taking up any research projects, and wherever I went from there, I never felt that I lagged in any way.
Can you share with us some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional and unique career in research?
Coming from a family of doctors, I have always been interested in biomedical science. Since I was familiar with my parents’ journey as a medical doctor, I wanted to explore the other side of biomedical science, where I could find answers to unexplored but relevant questions. Initially, many of my family/friends questioned my career choice; however, I never regretted my decision to pursue a research career. I had always considered a career in academia, but my plans changed during my postdoc. I realized that being trained as a basic scientist, I wanted to use my skills to recognize basic science concepts with translational potential and turn that knowledge into solutions for real-world problems. With this mindset, I joined Oddity Labs, where we develop basic science concepts into novel products for the beauty and wellness industry.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path.
I have always been interested in a research career, and my parent’s journey as doctors got me interested in biomedical research. My undergraduate studies at IISER helped me realize the potential of the interdisciplinary nature of research and how crucial it is for pushing the limits of biomedical research.
I did various summer research internships in IISER Mohali and a few CSIR labs during my undergraduate studies. My first research internship was in developmental biology, where I developed genetic tools to study heart development in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). Based on the quality of my research during this internship, I was selected to attend Benny Shilo course on developmental biology. It is a prestigious course on developmental biology organized by the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, and Weizmann Institute, Israel. I was awarded scholarships for summer research internships from the Indian Academy of Sciences for the next two years. During these research stints, I worked in two CSIR labs. In one of the labs, I worked in the field of immunology, and my research project focused on evaluating the therapeutic potential of short RNA in a mouse model of asthma. The following summer, I gained experience in protein biochemistry and molecular biophysics. These research internships helped me learn several research areas of biomedical science and were invaluable in grooming me as a scientist.
After my undergraduate studies, I applied to various schools in India and abroad for my doctoral studies. I was particularly interested in graduate programs that offered training in both research and teaching. While programs in Europe offered a three-year-long PhD but no teaching experience, I focused on the US and Singapore as both countries offered experience in research and teaching. Out of all the offers that I received, I chose the National University of Singapore (NUS). With its four-year-long PhD, teaching experience, and world-class reputation (ranked number 1 in Asia and comparable to good R1 universities in the US), NUS was a perfect fit for my academic goals. Additionally, I was offered a full scholarship by the university for my doctoral studies. At NUS, I pursued a PhD in Molecular Biophysics. I was in a very interdisciplinary research group that had people with diverse backgrounds. My dissertation research focused on lipids’ role in governing cell membrane biology. After my PhD, I did a postdoc at Harvard Medical School in vascular biology. This research stint allowed me to apply my biophysics skills and knowledge of lipids in a very applied field of neurovascular biology and diseases associated with the brain.
At this point, I was looking for opportunities where I could best use my knowledge and skills in biomedical research and see the real-world impact of my work. Up until this point, I was working towards having an academic career. However, rich industry research in Boston forced me to look beyond a traditional academic career path and consider industrial research positions. My desire to contribute to real-world problems motivated me to consider opportunities in the industry. The most straightforward path for me was to explore the biopharma industry. However, somewhere along the way, I felt that my research experience could also be well suited for the consumer product industry. The consumer product industry is considered less critical compared to the biopharma industry. However, the reality is consumer products have become a routine part of almost everyone’s life, and thus, this industry offers an excellent opportunity to work on real-world problems. So, I focused on finding the right opportunity in the biopharma and consumer product industries. Luckily, I found myself in the right position at Oddity Labs, which harnesses AI-based molecule discovery and drug discovery approaches to develop next-generation products for the beauty and wellness industry.
How did you get your first break?
During my postdoc at Harvard Medical School, I was awarded research funding from the American Heart Association and the American Federation of Aging Research to pursue a project on vascular aging. While working on these projects, I learned a lot about the effect of aging on health and always wondered if the anti-aging products in the consumer product market could actually impede aging. It has always baffled me how the consumer product industry needs more quality standards, and the market is flooded with anti-aging personal care products that do not have any scientific basis. With these thoughts, I stumbled upon a recently acquired company called Oddity Labs. I immediately wrote to the founders to learn more about the company, and surprisingly, I completely resonated with their goal of pursuing science-backed research for the beauty and wellness industry. This seemed like the right opportunity for me to transition from academia and start my career in industry. Oddity Labs allowed me to launch my own research direction and is highly supportive in helping me pursue it.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
The most challenging part of my career transition journey was narrowing down the type of roles and industries that best fit my profile and interests. Before my current job, I had no industry exposure and little understanding of the type of roles/opportunities that existed. I used my postdoc to learn about potential career options beyond academia. I started contacting people to know if I was interested in their journey. This networking process and arranging informational interviews were beneficial for me in deciding my career direction. Overall, it was a positive experience, and I am sure some people I found during this time will stay with me for life.
One of the significant challenges I encountered during my career transition was the need for visa sponsorship from an industry employer. This is a primary concern for immigrants when searching for jobs in a foreign land. The post-COVID market has been particularly challenging, with numerous layoffs and companies closing. Moreover, many experienced individuals without visa requirements were already available and looking for new positions. I went through interviews for a few positions, but I couldn’t convert them into offers due to visa issues. The only way to address this challenge is to cast a wide net and apply for as many jobs as possible, increasing the chances of finding a suitable opportunity.
Another challenge while transitioning from academia to industry is strategizing how to present yourself in industry interviews. Along with the technical skills, it is essential to showcase your soft skills. Moreover, one must understand and articulate the translational aspect of their prior work/skills. These skills are often overlooked in academia. For a position like mine where I am expected to generate new ideas and develop them creatively, it is essential that one has a broader sense of the ongoing translational efforts in their field. This can be achieved by regularly following social media platforms that are dedicated to the industry of your interest. In my view, this process of preparing oneself for a career transition brings out a better version of oneself and is highly enriching.
Where do you work now? What problems do you solve?
At present, I am a scientist at Oddity Labs, the biotechnology R&D arm of ODDITY. Our unique role is to discover and develop new molecules, fueling product innovation for the future of the industry. ODDITY, a consumer tech company, disrupts the offline-dominated beauty and wellness industries by building and scaling digital-first brands. Among its portfolio are IL MAKIAGE and SpoiledChild, with new brands on the horizon.
Here, we work towards developing novel products to address problems relevant to beauty and wellness. This industry needs to catch up in innovation and novel science-backed solutions while biopharma has been utilizing biotech approaches and has come very far. ODDITY LABS intends to fill this gap by using AI-based approaches and intense biological drug discovery pipelines for molecular discovery.
What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
As a scientist, my responsibilities include conceiving a project, designing the study and experiments, high-throughput screening of AI-generated molecules, and validating those molecules as solutions for given contexts. Since this is a young team, I get to do the full-spectrum work of a scientist, which is often missing when you work in a big-size pharma company as the duties of a scientist are very narrow. This job requires excellent technical skills, the ability to synthesize scientific literature into potential questions/approaches, laboratory skills, scientific writing, and presentation. I acquired all these skills during my PhD and postdoc stints.
What’s a typical day like?
A typical day in my current job involves planning and performing experiments, always catching up with new developments in the field and market and discussing science with my colleagues. The part that I love about this job is it lets me pursue research problems that I am passionate about and offers me generous support so that I can convert my own ideas into actual products and see the real-world impact of my work. It gives me a perfect combination of academic, creative freedom, and industry-type translational infrastructure. I couldn’t have asked for anything better at this stage.
How does your work benefit society?
My current work of developing novel solutions for the beauty and wellness industry directly benefits society. We sometimes overlook the importance of these products in our lives. However, the reality is beauty products and dietary supplements have become a part of almost everyone’s routine life. People use several topicals and nutritional supplements daily, which makes it essential that these products are tested for their scientific basis and that knowledge is clearly provided to the consumers so that they can decide what they should really use. The use of the wrong products not only causes health problems but also wastes money and causes depression.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
My PhD dissertation focused on understanding membrane lipid composition’s role in cell membrane dynamics. In one of my papers, I found that structurally similar sphingolipids show distinct biophysical properties in cell membranes. These sphingolipids are altered during various disease conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s, to name a few. Thus, the biophysical status of cell membranes upon treatment with these sphingolipids informs us about the biophysical properties of cell membranes during the associated diseases. Sphingolipids are one of the significant components of cell membranes and are emerging as active signaling molecules. However, our understanding of their biological and physical properties is poor. This is an important work as it directly contributes towards the better diagnosis of diseased cells based on their altered membrane dynamics. Membrane fluidity measures are used to diagnose cancer cells but not for other diseases. This work shows that membrane fluidity as a diagnostic tool can also be extended to other diseases. This was a serendipitous discovery and influenced the course of my career.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
My advice to students is always to keep an open mind and have clarity about their own strengths and weaknesses. There are various career paths available nowadays, and based on one’s strengths and weaknesses, one can decide what works best for them. It is crucial to stop comparing yourself with others and focus on what you want to do as an individual. Defining personal goals would help streamline this process. Awareness of our personal goals allows aligning our career paths accordingly. This keeps the journey sustainable and fulfilling.
Future Plans?
I am passionate about research and plan to contribute to novel product development for the foreseeable future. However, I am always willing to learn and experiment with any new opportunities that come my way. One thing that I will learn is translating a concept/technique from bench to market. I will continue to work on my abilities and try to be a better version of myself.