Dendi Krisna Nugraha (Postdoc)Department of Molecular Bacteriology

I am now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Yasuhiko Horiguchi’s laboratory in the Department of Molecular Bacteriology. I was first a PhD student in his lab.

The respiratory pathogenic bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica is known to persist in terrestrial and aquatic environments. My research focuses on elucidating the molecular basis for how this bacterium survives in the natural environments. Expecting repeated encounters of the bacteria with environmental protists, I explored the interaction between B. bronchiseptica and environmental amoebae. Through this work, I found that B. bronchiseptica needs to ‘hide’ its adhesins in order to survive predation by amoebae. My current work continues to search for the amoeba ligands for these adhesins, which may provide insight into how amoebae discriminate between prey bacteria.

It all started when I received a scholarship from RIMD to pursue my master's and Ph.D. degrees. As time goes by, I have come to realize that RIMD is a great place to do cutting-edge research and I do not want to lose this great opportunity to do more exciting research.

Absolutely. RIMD provides complete facilities and instrumentation to advance your research. In addition, RIMD is a place where prominent scientists from different fields gather. So there is a lot to learn. The staff is also very supportive.

When I have the ‘eureka’ moment during the experiment.

On weekdays, I mainly do experiments, read some articles, discuss the results with lab members, etc. Outside of experiments, I play badminton on the weekends.

Best:
Cleanliness and punctuality.

Worst:
Summer.

The pursuit of graduate studies can be challenging, as it requires a great deal of effort and perseverance, but it is well worth the effort. If you have an interest in basic research and are thinking about working as a research scientist in the future, bring that spirit with you to RIMD and see how far you can advance.