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Life after graduate research: Dr Jiaheng Xie
Dr Jiaheng Xie’s curiosity about biology has taken him from a child who bred pigeons for their colours to a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University. His University of Melbourne PhD examined gene-environment interactions in short-sightedness. Shared research facilities and travel funding supported the development of his international research networks.
Biology has fascinated University of Melbourne biosciences PhD graduate Dr Jiaheng Xie since he was a child.
“I raised pigeons for a few years. I tried to mix them and breed different colours,” he says.
When he learned about genetics in school, Dr Xie began to understand how that worked. But he always wanted to know more.
“I thought that if I go down this academic path, I might just see how far I can get,” Dr Xie says.
But choosing a PhD wasn’t just about the career path. It was about the new skills Dr Xie would learn: finding information, laboratory techniques, problem-solving and reasoning.
“They’re more important than just getting myself ready for a job or career,” he says.
“It's more about the way you think. It will be beneficial for my whole life.”
Enjoy the Melbourne lifestyle while completing a PhD
Dr Xie grew up in China. But his sister was completing a masters degree at an Australian university when Dr Xie was ready to start applying for graduate degrees.
“She recommended Melbourne to me,” he says.
The Melbourne lifestyle with its beaches and coffee appealed to Dr Xie – as did the weather.
“And, well, the University of Melbourne is the number one university in Australia and it has great reputation. That's why I chose it,” Dr Xie says.
Settling in a new country and city isn’t easy. But the University of Melbourne offers support to international students and graduate researchers to help them with the transition.
“At the very beginning there are free courses for English as a second language,” Dr Xie says.
“It's kind of fun. You can talk to people with a similar background as you. And it's actually not as stressful as I thought it would be.”
The University looks after its graduate researchers, Dr Xie felt.
“I really feel that the university cares about students’ mental health. I got regular email lists of who you can reach out to if you feel mentally unwell or stressed,” he says.
Dr Xie received a Melbourne Research Scholarship to support his research.
It was a tremendous support for me. With tuition fee remission and an allowance, I could just focus on my research. I think that enriched my experience. Dr Jiaheng Xie
How do our genetics and environment interact to cause short-sightedness?
Dr Xie’s PhD research investigated gene-environment interactions in myopia – short-sightedness – development.
Approximately 6.3 million Australians have myopia, according to the Centre for Eye Research Australia.
“Myopia is usually developed when the eye is exposed to abnormal lighting for too long,” Dr Xie says.
“You will then have a very high risk to develop myopia, especially for children, teenagers, or young adults, who are at an age when the eye is undergoing dramatic growth.”
But researchers know that myopia also has a genetic component. Yet they don’t know exactly how a person’s genes interact with environmental factors.
During his PhD, Dr Xie established environmental zebrafish myopia models.
“We made a platform for high-throughput, large-scale assessment of genes that have been increasingly identified to play a role in myopia.”
The platform combined assessment of the zebrafish visual phenotype, environmental induction of myopia and various available genetic tools.
Disrupting a gene called EFEMP-1 in the zebrafish retina altered eye growth that is regulated by visual environment. So did genetically disrupting short wavelength cone photoreceptors – light-sensing neurons in the retina specific to short wavelengths.
Dr Xie’s supervisors, Dr Patricia Jusuf from the School of Biosciences, Professor Bang Bui from the Department of Optometry and Vision Science and Dr Patrick Goodbourn from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, guided him through his PhD.
“Input from supervisors with different backgrounds and expertise really shaped my way of thinking,” Dr Xie says.
“I always considered things from different dimensions and tried to link information from different disciplines when answering scientific questions.”
Meet other researchers through a graduate research degree
Researchers at the University of Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research share zebrafish facilities. The shared fish room helped Dr Xie make connections with other researchers.
“That's the place where we could talk with each other and share some news,” he says.
Zebrafish created travel opportunities for Dr Xie as well. He received a Science Abroad Travelling Scholarship to attend a zebrafish disease model meeting at Sheffield, UK.
That was the first time I had ever been to Europe. It was just fascinating to show people my research and meet incredible scientists on the other side of the world. Dr Jiaheng Xie
“I went with my wife, and we took some time to travel around," he says.
A University of Melbourne PhD can lead to a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship
After a PhD, a postdoctoral fellowship is a common next step for graduates looking to stay in academia.
Dr Xie is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. He is researching the role of astrocytes of the optic nerve in glaucoma.
“In a recent study of our lab, we showed upregulated energy metabolism in the optic nerve head astrocytes in a mouse model of glaucoma. My project is to understand the role of this upregulation,” he says.
Dr Xie says the peer-reviewed publications he produced during his PhD helped him get his postdoctoral fellowship. His supervisor Professor Bang Bui’s international academic network also helped.
“My knowledge, background and skill set in ophthalmology and visual neuroscience were transferable to my current position,” he says.
Dr Xie’s advice to new PhD researchers is to believe in themselves.
“Sometimes I had ideas, and then I would question myself, and stop following up. If I were just starting my PhD today, I would dream bigger and be braver.”
First published on 10 December 2024.
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