Lab coats and heels
by Mariska Spijker
I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I was in high school. Even though I harboured a profound love for writing, history and foreign languages, I was also a scientist at heart. It was my chemistry teacher that inspired me to pursue science. Wise, witty, and unweariedly kind, he quickly became a role model to me. I decided to follow the bachelor Molecular Life Sciences at the Radboud University because it offered lots of chemistry courses whilst still being a broad programme with many different topics. This way I could try all kinds of things and figure out what precisely I wanted to do. However, during my bachelor program, I quickly realized that the chemistry courses weren’t the same without my favourite teacher teaching me and I steadily drifted off to the biology side. Here the intracellular world of DNA, proteins and all the signalling and regulatory pathways fascinated me.
At the end of my bachelor program, I decided to move to England for six months to follow courses at the University of Staffordshire. Little did I know this trip would become a huge turning point for me. I had always been a strong and determined student, but slightly shy and hesitant outside of the university. My time abroad gave me the courage to do the things I wanted to do, but that scared me a little. I picked up Olympic fencing which then slowly materialized into a long-lost dream of mine… ballroom dancing.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve rewatched the dancing scenes of Cinderella or Sissi. I was bewitched by the gorgeous gowns, beautiful melodies, and breathtaking venues. I started taking ballroom dance classes during my master program at the student dance association Dance Fever. It was at the same time that I started my internship at the Urology department in Nijmegen with Victoria Luna Velez as my supervisor. Here, we researched prostate epithelial and mesenchymal cell-to-cell interactions, often deregulated in cancer. I am still grateful for the great enthusiasm the Urology team has given me during lunchbreaks when I talked about my old, newly-found passion.
There is nothing as enchanting as swaying to a slow waltz, nor something as uplifting as the cheerful tones of a jive and I am not the only scientist with this opinion. Curiously enough, the vast majority of my fellow dancers… are scientists! This is rather remarkable considering the dance association is open to all kinds of Radboud students: also those studying Law, Language, or Arts. Surely one would expect artistic people to be more into dancing than us stiff scientists? Yet, here I dance amidst lab technicians, mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and data scientists. Is it perhaps the abundance of rules and structure characterising ballroom dancing that appeals to logical minds like ours?
In about half a year I will obtain my master’s degree and start on a PhD trajectory. In about half a year I will also be taught the Viennese Waltz. Both are bright prospects that I greatly look forward to. Looking back, it’s funny to see how much I’ve learned and changed over the last few years, both in the lab and on the dancefloor. And how much delight both bring me! I would truly recommend ballroom dancing to my fellow scientists out there. To unwind after a full day working in the biosafety cabinet. Exchange your lab coat for a dress/suit, and trade the pipette in your hand for the hand of a dance partner. Great joy awaits when we face the music and dance!
February 2, 2025
