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Mehmet Ali Döke has recently joined ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht as a lecturer in the field of Biology. Mehmet Ali holds a PhD in Entomology at the Pennsylvania State ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. We had a chat with Mehmet Ali to talk about the origins of his interest in genetics and biology, the importance of academic inspiration, honey bees and living and studying abroad.

How did become interested in biology and genetics?
“I grew up in Mersin as the child of a working class family, and naturally they wanted me to study. I went to an English language high school and took the university exam. The first year my results, although good, didn’t get me where I wanted to go, and my family was very understanding about these matters. On my second time around I was admitted to the Molecular Biology and Genetics programme at Middle East Technical ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. I had wanted to study genetics since I was 11, some children dream of being police officers or astronauts, but I always wanted to be a scientist. My interest in genetics came about when the first sheep was cloned in 1995, just when I finished primary school and was thinking about what to study. As I said my family was very supportive and wanted me to study, so they found a friend of a friend who was about to finish her PhD in genetics in the USA. I remember late one night with an international phone call, I managed to speak with this person. She was also very surprised to find an 11 year old interested in genetics, but that’s where my interest piqued. Later on I became determined to make this my area of study and it was my only choice of programme when I took the entrance examinations. Again with the support of my family, I managed to get into the top 500 students in the country and achieved my goal.”

What was it like studying genetics?
I can’t say that I was a great student, I had a lot of fun during my university years, I joined the rowing team and was in a band playing some shows at bars downtown. There were some aspects of my programme that I didn’t get along with. Especially deep end of molecular biology  was not all that interesting to me. I’m not really a competitive person and felt disconnected from the courses and the school, so I ended up not attending classes and failing some courses. During the third year of studies I felt really depressed and thought I would drop out. I still wanted to study further and do a Ph.D. because I wanted to become a researcher but was unsure about how to get there. Later on something very interesting happened. I was taking a lab course and noticed that the teaching assistant, who was a Ph.D. student, was having a very difficult time trying to finish her studies and teach at the same time,  so I offered to help in the lab. I started attending the lab sessions, doing mundane things like washing the beakers and cleaning up after the sessions. After a while the teacher asked me what I was interested in studying further. For me, a mixture of behavioural science and molecular biology was the goal. I thought I would never be a psychologist, but I could take some aspect of psychology and combine it with my own discipline, to look into the determinants of animal behaviour at the molecular level. I never considered that this kind of study could be done with bees, as I was quite ignorant about the details of apine behaviour. She then recommended that I talk to a visiting professor, Dr Tugrul Giray, who was working at the ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� of Puerto Rico but on a sabbatical at my university. One day, she pushed me into Tugrul’s office and introduced me to him, which was quite unexpected and even rude as I didn’t have an appointment. After explaining my interests, Tugrul spent the next 2 hours convincing me that I should be working with bees, that I could do my studies in this area and this is what I should be focusing on. At this point I was ready to drop out, but having found someone to mentor and encourage me, I was able to refocus and eventually graduate, having published an article together with Tugrul before completing the programme.

What did you do after graduating?
After graduating I was unsure what to do next, and Tugrul had returned to his post at the ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� of Puerto Rico, so I called him and asked him if there were any opportunities for me there. I was a little discouraged when he said no, but he told me to stay where I was and do a master’s there. So that’s what I did. I took the courses that really interested me and got a really high GPA. My thesis was on the seasonal changes of enzymes that bees produce, focusing on how the bees can know when the seasons change. We set up some manipulative experiments with the beehives and I found that bees can understand when the seasons change according to whether they can leave the hive or not. After that I applied to Ph.D. programmes abroad. Once again Tugrul really helped me, he was my academic hero. He gave me a great academic reference and gave me suggestions about where to apply. I was accepted at Penn State, where research was being conducted about overwintering beehives, which was in line with my previous research. In 2013 I moved to the US for a 4 year Ph.D., I did my research, published and wrote my dissertation. After finishing, I was again unsure what to do, I needed to find a post-doc position, which is necessary in our area, so I called up Tugrul once more. This time Tugrul invited me to come over to Puerto Rico and work with him. I went over for the interview, and during that trip I got caught up in the tropical storm Maria. Normally I was going to stay 3 days but ended up staying 3 weeks and had to postpone moving there for 6 months as the country was really torn apart by the disaster. In any case I was able to start up some of my projects from a distance with the grad students. I liked working with Tugrul as he was academically very open to different ideas, and I really enjoyed the academic freedom he gave me. I did a lot of experiments, some of which yielded really great results and published high quality articles.

How were you affected by the pandemic?
When the global pandemic started, which meant that teaching shifted online. A lot of the older generation of professors decided to retire in that time, and there was a need for someone to pick up and teach the courses to the undergrads. I was primarily a researcher, but was asked by the department head to teach, so I said `why not`. After 5 years I thought I needed to move on, but didn’t want to stay in the US, and this experience in teaching was also very beneficial. I applied for the job at ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht, and the rest is history.

How has it been to move to the Netherlands?
Settling in a new country is an adaptation process, after the US and Puerto Rico, the Netherlands is the third country outside of Turkey that I lived in. We moved over here in September 2022, so I have only been here a few months. I feel that if you blindfolded me and dropped me in a random country, I now have the skills to settle and find my way. I’m more adaptable, open to change, and not the same as I was when I left Turkey for the first time. I tend to judge less and tolerate more. It’s interesting being a Turk here, as there are not so many Turks in the US, a lot less than in the Netherlands. When you are part of an established minority, people assume that your personality traits are part of a national identity rather than something individual.

So what does the future hold for you?
In future I am looking forward to see if I can also become a tutor, but also we are developing a course related to Biodiversity and Human Health, together with the fellows in the fields of medicine, chemistry, biology, and earth and environment, which I am quite excited about. I’d never designed a course before and it’s been a great experience, especially considering that you have a small number of students in the class and can pay attention to each and every one. I also am looking forward to continuing my research. I found out that there is an apiary at the botanical gardens, and I am considering making a proposal. I would also like to involve the students in my research.