1.    Tell me in 5 words who is Andrea Majoros?
That is a difficult question. (Ha, 5 words!). In adjectives: communicative, cooperative, curious, openhearted, friendly. In nouns: mum, scientist, hiker, team leader, mentor.

2.    What made you join CeMM?
During my interview I saw a PI with a contagious enthusiasm and a place full of collaborative spirit, creativity, light, and art. (It did lack a piano and a theatre at that time though… ?) I also highly valued that CeMM is a place with entrepreneurship environment that supports many different talents, aiming to improve not just healthcare, but also other aspects such as science communication and outreach for example.

3.    What is it about science that interests you the most?
Since science has moved towards higher specialization in each field, I find it most fascinating and interesting when I get a chance to work in interdisciplinary teams and witness how they come together to create something amazing. It’s like an orchestra. All the instruments can sound lovely on their own as well, but one gets a symphony only when they come together.

4.    What is the best career advice you ever received, or you can give to the CeMM community?
Collaborate. Be kind. Nothing lasts forever, good or bad. Enjoy or endure, but take care of your physical and mental health first. Successful people are not the ones who never quit, but the ones who know where and when to do so if needed.

5.    Tell us what happened to you after you left CeMM?
I left CeMM at the time of the first Corona lockdown that also stopped our next CAT production (CeMM Amateur Theater). It was sad to leave that way, almost with no goodbye, but I didn’t go too far. I joined MyeloPro (one of CeMM’s spin-off companies) as a senior scientist. Soon after I took the role of a project leader which I am temporarily having on hold to adapt to the role of mum to our baby girl.

6.    What book do you have on your night table at the moment?
I’m not a one-book-at-the-time kind of a person…
Man’s search for meaning – Viktor E. Frankl (a book by a great psychiatrist and mountaineer, I read it again from time to time)
Glas gospodara (His Master’s Voice) – Stanisław Lem (reconnecting to reading in Serbian after 15 years of not doing so)
The wonder weeks - Frans X. Plooij and Hetty van de Rijt (tyring to better understand my small human)
Entangled Life - Merlin Sheldrake (just started, so no opinions yet ?)

7.    What is the last song you heard?
Wavering by YXOU, it’s a new ep master from a friend’s band and I have been asked to give feedback.

8.    Any message you would like to give to the CeMMies or a former colleague?
Never stop playing. Play with your curiosity, your ideas, your creativity. Play with children, with strangers, with people as different from you as possible. Play with your body, mind and soul.

Andrea Majoros completed her master’s degree in molecular biology and physiology at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. She performed her PhD studies under the supervision of Prof Dr. Thomas Decker at Max Perutz Laboratories, in a framework of PhD program Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Signaling, University of Vienna, Austria. Upon completion of her PhD studies, Andrea joined Origimm as a junior scientist in R&D working on the development of a vaccine against the bacteria P. acnes. As she got interested in immuno-oncology, she joined the lab of Dr. Robert Kralovics at CeMM and soon moved to MyeloPro, a spinoff company from Robert’s research, as a senior scientist. At the moment she is still employed by MyeloPro as a project leader while taking a maternity leave break.