Synapse - Life Science Connect Odense

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of hosting our first Synapse Odense event of the year: Meet SDU’s Start-up Station – a career event tailored for science students. In collaboration with SDU RIO, we extended invitations to science students eager to explore the realms of entrepreneurship within the life science world.

The event started with a warm welcome from Manuel Kehrer, followed by an insightful introduction to SDU’s Start-up Station by Knud Engbjerg. Attendees were introduced to the various programs available, aimed at empowering students to kickstart their entrepreneurial journeys. Notably, it was revealed that despite the abundance of opportunities, life science students tend to underutilize the resources offered by the Start-up Station, a trend we aim to reverse.

Thøger Jensen Krogh shed light on Life Science Fyn 's mission to foster the growth of the life science sector in Fyn. Life Science Fyn also focuses on establishing an incubator environment in Odense, providing entrepreneurs with local access to laboratory facilities.

Jeppe Olesen presented the audience with the journey of EchoVice ApS, a life science startup, offering a firsthand glimpse into the realities of building a startup in the life science field. One thing worth noting was how it was emphasized that the best time in life to create a startup, is during student life. You have more ownership over your time, than if you worked full time.

The event continued with a tour of Vidensbyen, followed by an ideation session where students collaborated to identify potential problems in life science needing entrepreneurial solutions. This provided not only a platform for networking but also an opportunity to familiarize oneself with the ideation process.

The evening concluded with delicious pizza and a great networking session. A special thank you to Manuel and Knud for their enthusiastic collaboration, making this event a great success.

'To be or not to be, that is the question.' A joke made by Dean Malte Zisco from Alphalyse A/S when he introduced himself at our Synapse - Life Science Connect Odense event, 'To PhD or not to PhD.' Yesterday, on the 10th of October 2023, we held our event at The Winter Garden in the halls of Syddansk Universitet – University of Southern Denmark at Odense Campus in collaboration with Cellebiologisk Forening Odense - CFO.

The central question posed was, 'Is pursuing the academic route and doing a PhD right for me?' To answer this question, we invited four different speakers who all shared their insights on this very topic.

Jakob Møller-Jensen, the Institute leader at BMB at SDU, delivered a speech about his own PhD journey and introduced the attending students to the questions they needed to ask themselves to determine if pursuing a PhD was the right path for them.

Igor Maciel, who has recently submitted his PhD in pharmacy, introduced us to the challenging world of academia. He shared his own experiences as an international student doing his PhD in Denmark and discussed the journey itself. Something particularly interesting he touched upon was 'IMPOSTER SYNDROME' and how prevalent it is in the academic world, especially during a PhD. He emphasized the need to acknowledge the fact that you're worthy of the position you hold and that you wouldn't be where you are if you weren't.

Dean Malte Zisco, a protein chemist at Alphalyse A/S, introduced us to the working life in the industry. He went over the reasons why he didn't pursue a PhD and talked us through his reflections regarding it. One of the key points he raised was, 'Do you need a PhD to achieve your life goals?'

Victor Chrone is currently undertaking an industrial PhD at Alphalyse A/S, and he walked us through his journey of applying for the position and what he's doing in his studies. Victor placed great emphasis on the application process and also highlighted the differences between an industrial PhD and a traditional PhD conducted at the university.

We would like to express our gratitude to all our speakers for attending our event and providing us with valuable insights into their respective fields.