In this exclusive IMPACTT interview, Dr. Paul Kubes shares personal and professional insights, from the start of his career to what inspires him. Read more for insights on how he became a leader in his field.
Where are you from and what brought you to U of C?
I trained at Queen’s University (PhD) and then did a postdoc at LSU Medical Centre. The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research was a truly innovative foundation bringing young scholars to Alberta and I applied and was accepted.
How would you define your main topic of research and why do you cherish this topic in particular?
Imaging the innate immune response and how it is signalled to help fight infection but also help repair. Currently, we are using the germ free facility to image mice that have no microbiome. We are studying 1) the ontogeny of Kupffer cells and how they seed the liver and the importance of the microbiome, and 2) the role of the liver macrophages during fibrosis, and are finding a dominant role for microbiome in that arena. It seems to be an amazingly delicate process ensuring that you eradicate bacteria with bombs while trying to repair the damage. Watching immunity in action is amazing and always surprising.
What is your life motto and how does it help you in research?
Just do it! All too often people will talk about research and why an experiment won’t work and why it’s not worth doing etc, etc, etc. Unless you do it you will never find out whether you were right. As such, I have always encouraged my trainees to “just do it.”
If we asked people who know you to give us two of your most striking personality traits what would they be?
Direct and committed. If you are going to do something then do it!
You are a leader for the Infections, Inflammation and Chronic Diseases strategy at the University of Calgary, you hopped on the fight against SARS-CoV-2 at the beginning of the pandemic, and you made breakthrough advances while enabling the re-opening of the BSL3 lab at the University of Calgary. In addition to that, you are a dad and husband. How do you keep your balance?
You have to pick your fights and you have to be able to say no. Everyone needs something, and it is sometimes tough to say no but you have to. I decline trips in order to be with my family, and I do not get involved in things that can be done by others and done well. I try to pick my battles carefully. The BSL-3 was an example of something that was worth fighting for. UCalgary was not able to do SARS-CoV-2 research without a Level 3 lab, and that required significant dollars. Having said that, I knew that with our ability to visualize how immune cells function in the lungs, we would be able to do something no one else in the world could do. Moreover, I thought this would generate successful grants and philanthropic interest and it was something I should do. However, delegation of duty and trusting others is important and as such, I asked others to oversee the building of the facility, purchasing the necessary equipment, and overseeing user groups and users. I have learned that I cannot do everything and that others can do things better than me.
As exciting as the research field can be, it has its frustrations. Would you agree with that? What is your biggest frustration to-date, and how did you manage it?
If you are going to build something then you must be single minded about it.
– A KEY TO SUCCESS –
I am frustrated by the lack of commitment and focus that occurs at every level. If you are going to build something then you must be single minded about it. While appealing opportunities that are unrelated will always present themselves, they take away from your main goal. This starts with governments having an interest in a particular area but then totally changing their priorities a year later. Priorities for universities, faculties, and even departments constantly change depending on what is “hot”. However, when you look at the great success stories, they were successful because they stuck to it and did not deviate to other priorities.
You are an expert in intravital microscopy, an extraordinary and powerful tool. As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Nevertheless, with power comes responsibility. What advice would you give to researchers new to the field?
Be careful! Seeing a cell is not enough. You must do all the hard molecule experiments to ensure that what you think that cell is doing is actually occurring. All too often people come to my lab, see something, and make up a whole story with zero data. Imaging is just the beginning!
Do you have a favourite discovery? Which one and why?
Presently, my favourite discovery is that peritoneal macrophages engage in healing visceral organs. We have billions of macrophages in the peritoneum and their role in biology is completely unknown. Our paper in Cell suggesting these cells are situated strategically to help heal injured organs may be relevant to infection, inflammation, and cancer. We have now found these cells in every cavity and they seem to prevent fibrosis.
Scientifically, my favourite discovery remains the discovery of H. pylori by Barry Marshall. No one would believe him and all the gastroenterologists at the AGA were skeptical and demeaning of the work until Barry drank an H. pylori concoction and got huge ulcers. The next year, the AGA was full of gastroenterologists that were world experts suddenly on H. pylori. A wonderful story.
What is your favourite book or film and why?
My favourite film is Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation…takes my mind off science. My whole family comes together to watch it and its so damn accurate!!!
Did you want to be a scientist when you were a child and if yes, do you have a fun childhood story related to wanting to be a scientist?
Well not me, but my 10 year old at a science fair had a poster on leukocyte trafficking to sites of inflammation. The other two hundred kids had build a volcano.
How has your interest been drawn to the microbiome?
I saw that people all around me were talking about the microbiome. I saw that the literature was increasing in the number of microbiome publications. I thought Canada and certainly Calgary were not at the cutting edge and yet we wanted to be a leader in chronic disease. I decided to build a microbiome facility. I personally had no experience or publications in the field. So my first microbiome experience was to try to generate funds to recruit people who knew what they were doing and who could build infrastructure so people could study the microbiome. Our own first study in the area had to prove that the microbiome was involved in the development of natural antibodies that were protecting females. It turned out that the microbiome was not playing a role but proving that was not trivial when everyone thinks the microbiome is responsible for everything.
What is your favorite hidden talent?
Cooking steaks… really well, i.e. rare.
What do you like to do outside of research?
Soccer – watching it, playing it, coaching it, and talking about it over a beer.
More than a field, research is a state-of-mind. Would you say research has changed your way to approach life and how?
I do not believe everything I hear and see.
– THE RESEARCH EFFECT –
I do not believe everything I hear and see. I am much more analytical about stories I get told. I am also really fascinated by how things work.
Which question do you like to debate in your field right now?
How relevant is the SPF (specific pathogen-free) inbred mouse to biology? For example, there is no turnover of macrophages in the liver of an SPF mouse. That mouse has never seen a pathogen, has no endemic viruses, has never had a drink of alcohol or a big dose of ibuprofen. All of these insults kill liver macrophages, so the question is, how much turnover of macrophages is there in human liver biology?
Which researchers inspire you and why?
I get inspired by scientists that do their own thing regardless of what the prevailing views are.
– IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR RESEARCH, STAND BY IT –
I think there are a number of researchers that have inspired me. Dr. Ralph Steinman and his story of the discovery of dendritic cells and the fact that he was belittled and attacked by some of the great immunologists at various major institutions but stuck with it. Similarly, Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi and his persistence to study a T suppressor cell that was totally discredited by immunologists and yet he believed his data and identified all the molecular markers that made a Treg a Treg (regulatory T cell). It is fascinating to watch many immunologists try to take credit for the work and claim they too discovered Tregs. I get inspired by scientists that do their own thing regardless of what the prevailing views are.
