Nikoloz Sirmpilatze | Rising Stars

Published on October 26, 2022

"When you stray away from well-defined career paths, it’s natural to feel alone and anxious. But that’s a feature, not a bug. You cannot discover new lands by following trodden paths." - Nikoloz Sirmpilatze

EIT Health Rising Stars

Interview with Nikoloz Sirmpilatze [View profile]

🎨 Interests

Neuroscience | Neuroimaging | Anesthesia | Open-science | Software

📚 Education

- PhD in Neuroimaging, May 2017 - Sep 2021 @ German Primate Center

- MSc in Neuroscience, Sep 2015 - Apr 2017 @ University of Göttingen

- Medical Degree, Sep 2009 - Jul 2015 @ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

⭐️ Bio

I’m a medical doctor turned neuroscientist and image analyst. I recently completed my Ph.D. at the German Primate Center in Göttingen, where I studied the effects of anesthesia on brain function using neuroimaging techniques. Through my research, I gained experience in processing large imaging datasets and I especially came to enjoy coding and data visualization tasks. I now strive to use these skills to promote open and collaborative ways of doing science. When I am not looking at brain images, I enjoy playing the saxophone and dancing to swing music.

I initially studied medicine in Thessaloniki, Greece, after which I took a rather unconventional career turn. Instead of directly going into clinical practice, I decided to try my hands at basic research. I was given the chance to do so at the International Max Planck Research School in Göttingen, Germany, where I completed an MSc in Neuroscience. As I found myself increasingly enjoying scientific research, I decided to make a longer-term commitment by pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroimaging.

My fascination with the brain began in medical school, while I worked as a Teaching Assistant for neuroanatomy. Initially, I was taken by the brain’s beautiful structure and puzzled by our limited understanding of its functions. As I got more into neuroscience, I came to love the field’s inherent multidisciplinary nature. Neuroscientists approach the brain from various angles and at multiple levels of analysis—ranging for biochemistry and physiology, all the way up to psychology, philosophy and linguistics. As an unapologetic generalist, I love the freedom of traversing fields of study and the privilege of working with colleagues bringing diverse perspectives.

What I have found most rewarding is seeing other people use the outputs of my research. In science, we often get caught up in our everyday struggles and fail to see the impact of our work. Sometimes, all it takes to change is a notification about someone across the world citing your paper, using your code, or repurposing your data. I especially love it when people build upon my work in ways I could have never imagined, tackling problems I didn’t even know existed.

I would not yet call myself a healthcare innovator. Nevertheless, I would like to give a more general piece of advice to people navigating complex career decisions. Don’t be afraid of choosing a path you feel excited about, even if people around you consider it unusual or unconventional. When you stray away from well-defined career paths, it’s natural to feel alone and anxious. But that’s a feature, not a bug. You cannot discover new lands by following trodden paths. Strive to explore a lot and gradually carve out your own career niche.

I recently accepted a job offer for an exciting role at UCL in London. I will be working as a Research Software Engineer, tasked with developing open-source software that will enable neuroscientists to streamline the analysis of large 3D brain imaging datasets. Given that science is increasingly dependent on software, I think that developing free, validated, and easy-to-use software tools can have a multiplicative effect on both research productivity and reproducibility. Long-term, I see myself working at the intersection of neuroscience, medicine, and software engineering. Time will tell in what precise capacity I can do that.

I look forward to networking with people from different walks of life and getting inspired by their ideas. So far, I haven’t really thought about creating my own startup, or joined one. That said, I do understand that entrepreneurship can be one of the most powerful ways to bring about change in the world. The EIT Health network hosts many successful innovators with backgrounds in science and healthcare. I would like to learn about the concrete ways they have achieved their success, and hopefully, get fired up by their examples.

I would like to connect with people with similar interests. If you are interested in chatting about neuroimaging, image processing, and open-source software, or if you are already innovating within these areas, feel free to reach out.