Talila Volk

Talila Volk was born and raised in Kibbutz Gevulot in Israel. Talila gained a BSc in Biology at Tel Aviv University. She continued her scientific training at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, where she completed her MSc and PhD degrees in the laboratory of Benjamin Geiger. She then moved to the laboratory of John Fessler at UCLA for her postdoctoral studies. In 1990, Talila returned to Israel and, during the years that followed, she became a faculty member in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute, where she currently works.Talila's PhD studies focused on a search for the receptors mediating adherens-junction formation. Her work led to the identification of A-CAM, which later turned out to be identical to N-cadherin. Pursuing her interest in cell-cell interactions, she moved on to study the role of integrins inDrosophila melanogasterembryonic development while she was a postdoc. Since then, her main research interest has been the molecular basis for tissue formation during embryonic development, focusing on muscle-tendon interactions in theDrosophilaembryo. Her findings suggest that continuous cross-talk between these two cell types is required for muscle migration, adhesion to the tendon cell, and terminal differentiation of both muscle and tendon cells.In the interview that follows, Fiona Watt, Editor-in-Chief of JCS, asks Talila about her experiences as a woman in science.FMW:How has your research career impacted on your personal life and vice versa?TV: I was born and raised in Kibbutz Gevulot, a small socialist agricultural community in the southern part of Israel. There were only a few children on the kibbutz, and I was the oldest. This meant that I had to commute to various educational institutions through to the end of high school. I think that having to find my place amongst different communities of children made me ambitious and target-oriented.After I gained my BSc, I was required to contribute several years to the kibbutz as a biology teacher, before continuing my scientific training. The kibbutz community expects young people who grow up in the kibbutz to contribute some time for the benefit of the society before they fulfil their personal ambitions. However, this did not release me from the obligation to serve in the army. Following my decision to embark on a career in biological research, I left the kibbutz, together with my husband and my first daughter, who was then 18 months old, and resumed my studies of biology at the Weizmann Institute. Naturally, the kibbutz community and my parents would have preferred that I carry on my life in the kibbutz.I initiated my research career with one child and pursued it while raising my second daughter. This is not a simple task and, like most women in science, I felt continuously torn between my family and my research career. Since I could not see myself giving up on either science or family, I have had to live with this decision, for better and for worse.Now that my children are grown up, I see things in perspective. I feel that being a scientist has made me a happier person and therefore overall a better mother, despite the obvious limitations and time pressures of combining these roles. I enjoy doing science every single day, and even when I am at the bench I love thinking through experiments to elucidate processes in cellular development.FMW:What changes for women in science have you observed during the course of your career?TV: Actually, very little has changed, because of two special obstacles for women scientists in Israel: age and geography. The typical Israeli graduate student is generally older than her European/American counterpart because of compulsory army service. As a result, a great percentage of Israeli scientists start their families at the early stages of their careers. Many female graduate students must already juggle professional and family responsibilities. On the positive side, in Israel most women work outside the home because of economic necessity, and so there is no inherent bias against women scientists. Even at the time that I started my PhD, there were several women professors at the Weizmann Institute in the various research departments.FIG1Unfortunately, the percentage of women faculty at the Weizmann Institute, as well as in other universities in Israel, has not significantly increased in recent years. A main obstacle is the postdoctoral training period. Since Israel is such a small country, it is necessary to go abroad for postdoctoral research, in order to complete a well-rounded training program. Despite the fact that more and more women are choosing a full-time career in parallel to raising children, and despite greatly improved daycare facilities, many women are hesitant to begin postdoctoral studies, because it entails taking the entire family abroad. My own decision to embark on postdoctoral training was highly encouraged and supported by my husband, who was willing to temporarily relocate to the United States, and who took care of our two small daughters during this period. I believe that the problem of pursuing postdoctoral training abroad might be solved by providing financial incentives for women at this stage of their career.FMW:Do you feel that being a woman is an inherent advantage/disadvantage for a career in science? Why?TV: I do not see any difference between men and women in choosing a scientific career, and I cannot imagine myself as anything other than a scientist. However, I think that there is an inherent difficulty in maintaining a demanding career (not only science) while raising small children. When choosing to do both, I believe that we have to acknowledge that this choice entails continuous compromise.FMW:What are your remaining career ambitions?TV: Embryonic development has always fascinated me. Understanding the development of organs and complex tissues from individual distinct cell types remains a major challenge in developmental biology, and I hope to contribute more in this field of research. I would like to extend my research to additional tissues in Drosophila, as well as to human development. My hope is that such research will lead to an understanding of how cells communicate with each other during tissue formation, differentiation and maturation.