"Hungary has a favorable research environment"

Interview with Judit Tóth

Judit Tóth's talent was already noticed during her student years. She pursued her PhD studies at the Eötvös Loránd University and at the National Institute of Health, and after that, she became the fellow of the HAS Biological Research Center Institute of Enzimology. In 2010 she was awarded the Junior Prima Prize. We asked her about her international experiences and her research field.

How did your interest turn towards biochemistry and your narrower research filed?

Biochemistry first came into my scope during the third year at the Eötvös University, where I attended an extensive practical course tutored by Drs. László Nyitray and Mihály Kovács. At that time biochemistry and molecular biology in general seemed to me as the trendiest and most advanced fields of science available at the university. Following an adventurous detour into organic chemistry, which offered my first foreign lab experience, I returned to work with the above mentioned biochemists and enrolled in the Structural Biochemistry PhD program. The field of research focusing on the mechanisms of nucleotide hydrolyzing enzymes found me through my supervisors and mentors in Hungary, France and the United States. Moving from one lab to another via personal recommendations provided me a consistent research track with a broad research interest.

Your wrote your PhD thesis on motor proteins. What are these and why are they important?

Motor proteins are a large and diverse family of enzymes that perform directed movements within the cell. These are important molecules, as dynamic spatial organization is indispensable for life. They govern DNA replication, intracellular transport, cell motion and muscle contraction. These little machines convert the chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis into directional movement with remarkable efficiency beating any man-made motor. The specific molecular motors I worked with transport vesicles and other intracellular organelles along a dense network of tracks. We investigated the mechanism by which they "walk" along the tracks and carry their cargo.

You have spent five years in foreign research institutes and you were lecturer in several international courses. What do you think are the strengths of Hungarian research institutes and what works better abroad?

Biomedical research is entirely international. This means that the scientific results generated in any laboratory are published in international journals gauged by an international community of experts. A large part of financial support also comes from international funds. National flavors are added mainly via the particular academic system in which a research laboratory functions, nevertheless, productivity and excellence ultimately depend on the people doing research and not on the location of the laboratory.

Hungarian biomedical research still has the advantage of a reasonable pool of highly skilled students provided by the Hungarian higher education system, whereas recruiting motivated and skilled students is a real problem in the United States and in Western Europe. Western countries are obviously spending much more money on science than Hungary does. On the other hand, young Hungarian scientists have numerous opportunities to apply for international research grants, probably more than other young scientists in Western Europe. A significant advantage of many foreign research sites is their size: a large university campus or research institute offers such a large arsenal of expertise and instrumentation that it can bring science to a whole new level. This is the case at renowned American universities or prominent UK or German institutes. Because the Hungarian research community is relatively small and atomized, we cannot benefit from this advantageous "size effect".

In conclusion, I believe that Hungary has a favorable research environment in which first-class science can be performed under reasonable conditions.

Last year you got the Junior Prima Prize. What does it mean for you?

The Junior Prima Prize is special in that it captures the attention of not only the above mentioned small scientific community but a much wider audience as well. It plays an important role in raising awareness of science and of successful young Hungarian scientists. I am honored to be one of the awardees and have the possibility to advertise research as an attractive career option.