问答：粉碎玻璃天花板需要很多人

最早的项目之一费德里卡·迪·帕尔玛（Federica di Palma）参与她职业生涯中最负盛名的人之一。在2000年代初期，Di Palma参加了人类基因组项目，并确定了多种耳聋综合征背后的基因。

迪·帕尔玛（Di Palma）对遗传学的迷恋使她在英国获得了免疫遗传学博士学位。她赢得了英国国家聋和沟通障碍研究所的Fogarty奖学金。

她还是Broad Institute的脊椎动物基因组生物学主任，该研究所是一个基因组研究中心Cambridge,马萨诸塞州。

Now di Palma is director of science at the Earlham Institute, a biological science research centre in Norwich, UK. She also leads BRIDGE Colombia, a network of scientists aiming to build long term research links between the south American country and the UK. Di Palma tellsSciDev.Netabout the importance of生物多样性for development and gives some tips to women starting out in science.

What part of your research has been the most exciting?

我的小组研究了卵形，稀有的深海鱼被认为灭绝了，但随后在20世纪初期重新发现。它首先出现在数亿年前，鳍有类似于马的小跑腿。他们交替移动。这些被认为是人类和四足脊椎动物的四肢的前体。在调查过程中，我们将一部分鱼类的基因植入了小鼠。因此，鼠标生长了肢体。这引起了很大的轰动！

Why does genetic diversity matter in conservation?

Knowing about diversity within species helps us to manage biodiversity. Usually, when species are threatened, there is less diversity in their genome and they are less likely to survive. If that’s the case, you can introduce some management strategies. This is important because气候变化and human activity are destroying the diverse ecosystems that are the foundation for human existence.

您的研究在发展中国家使用吗？

最肯定的是。例如，在南美，可可含有很大比例的有毒元素镉。它被土壤中的植物吸收，这威胁到可可出口。使用DNA测序技术，我们正在描述土壤，以查看可以在哪里找到对镉的耐药性，那里的镉含量更少，或者您可以更可持续地种植可可。

您现在正在做什么？

我最近在哥伦比亚的项目有650万英镑（830万美元）的资金从英国政府那里获得了资金。通过我的领导，团队不仅会分析DNA，还将分析人们如何与生物多样性互动，以及为什么它对热带地区的一个国家很重要。热带地区的生物多样性水平最高，哥伦比亚包含许多未被发现的物种。自2016年政府与游击队签署停火协议以来，哥伦比亚更多的哥伦比亚已经开放。政府正在资助对未知领土的探索。该研究将有助于发展该国的生物经济，例如通过刺激innovationin coffee agriculture.

What do you do to attract more women to your field?

我的小组定期与当地学校互动，展示我们的科学，我的个人故事和我走的曲折道路。这个想法是鼓励男孩和女孩。目前，女科学家需要努力工作两倍，才能获得相同的认可。因此，我们需要更好gender balanceat all levels, including among conference speakers, in faculty jobs, on boards and so on. Women also need support from men. I’ve got this far and had four children, but not made a big deal of it. It’s good that a woman can be successful and have a family, and I’ve done that because of my passion for what I do.

What gender-based obstacles have you encountered and how have you overcome them?

When I reflect on this I often think about the recent movieThe Post, which follows the female owner of a newspaper in the patriarchal world of the 1970s. I truly related to the main character entering a boardroom full of men. The glass ceiling is only part of the problem and we demonstrated it can be broken.

But once you break it, there is the issue of staying where you’ve gotten. As the movie highlighted, women’s voices are heard but not really listened to – they are often quickly dismissed.

您会给刚起步的女性研究人员提供什么样的建议？

跟随你的激情；不要让任何人或任何事物分散您的注意力。并学会接受，珍惜和庆祝您的才能。作为我上面说的直接结果，女性比冒名顶替综合征的男性遭受的痛苦要多得多。为了解决这个问题，请与良好和值得信赖的合作者和赞助商包围。我也得到了丈夫，朋友和家人的大力支持。确保女人可以打破玻璃天花板需要一个村庄！