Meet Carmela Mascio,
Senior Research Associate II
From cake decorating to microbiologist, Carmela Mascio believes her choices — good and bad — have led her to the best place to work that she could imagine. Recently she discussed the choices that helped her form her view of an ideal employer.
Q: Growing up, at what point did you decide to focus on science?
Carmela: I was very lucky as a child because the elementary school I attended had a lot of enrichment programs. It was a small public school in New Hampshire, but they had the resources to help students explore areas that you normally don't have time to dig into in the regular curriculum. The program that got me interested in science was called the Light Bulb project. If you had an idea or a question (thus the light bulb), you were allowed one-on-one time with a teacher before or after school to explore your idea. In third grade my first 'Light Bulb', in all its originality, was on electricity. Each year after that I chose different topics, mostly relating to animals. Science and the scientific method really made sense to me in terms of asking a question and then pursuing the answer. It was more concrete than writing a poem and receiving subjective feedback.
Oftentimes a question leads to more questions, but that is part of the fun science provides for me. Also in third grade, one of my teachers came up with an assignment to teach the concept of genetics and recessive and dominant traits. This was a difficult concept for third graders to grasp. She developed a really neat idea, whereby she took pictures of animals and divided them into pieces. Then we would start picking pieces from a hat to come up with a new animal. I recall one of mine being part cat and part fish (Get it? A cat-fish.), which didn't seem really satisfying at the time when others got crazy combinations like dog-snakes and frog-horses. My teacher was always teaching us how things come together in a very basic sense. I was really lucky to be somewhere that embraced asking questions and my inquisitiveness just sort of carried on throughout my life.
Q: Are there any scientists in your family?
Carmela: No, not even a little — I am an anomaly in my family. My dad is in construction and my mom is a restaurant manager. They are both Italian immigrants, and they were kind of learning along with me when I was in elementary school. My parents were very good about instilling how important education is because growing up in Italy they did not have an opportunity to go far in school.
They came to America to fulfill the American Dream, and they wanted to make sure their kids took school seriously. They were firm in letting us know that having an education is important and that doing well in school is important.
Q: What attracted you to microbiology?
Carmela: I attended the University of New Hampshire, planning on a career as a pediatric dentist. I was drawn to the field because in high school I had a part-time job as the care giver for children of a pediatric dentist. I also worked in his office. I loved the idea of working with children, especially after seeing how he made visits fun for the kids.
So I enrolled in the pre-dental program at UNH, but soon realized dentistry wasn't for me. I was fortunate to have a fabulous teacher for freshman biology. He was gregarious, and literally rolled into class on rollerblades, wearing jean shorts and a tie-dye shirt. He was very excited about this area of microbiology, which was completely foreign to me. I found myself literally at the edge of my seat saying 'I don't want to be a dentist. I don't want to be doing the same thing everyday. I want to do what he does!' I set up a meeting with him to talk about a career in microbiology, and he pointed out a UNH publication that discussed scientific research going on within the Microbiology, Genetic and Biochemistry departments. The booklet also listed the professors that would be willing to take on undergraduates. I ended up in a microbiology lab doing research studying the bacteriostatic effect of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-a) on Legionella pneumophila. So began my introduction to bacteria.
After graduation I was contemplating entering the work force when one of the professors in the department came to me and urged me to stay on as a Master's degree candidate and finish a project I started. My husband and I discussed the financial ramifications and came to the same decision — two more years now would be easier than going back later.
Q: What led you to your current position at Cubist?
Carmela: The path has not been very long. When I graduated from UNH, I went to a very small biotech company. Small means there were 12 employees. It was essentially a contract manufacturing company that companies like Cubist could call on to aseptically manufacture their drug product. I became their microbiology department and did all the QC microbiology testing. Because I had a microbiology background and understood the importance of aseptic technique and working in a sterile manner, I ended up having to work in their sterile fill rooms, which was not what I signed up for. Being a microbiologist I wanted to work with bacteria.
I am a firm believer that you have to go through some negative experiences in life to really appreciate the good ones. And so after about two years there, I decided I had made a horrible decision in my career path and I thought, 'Had I wasted all that time getting a Master's degree? I don't like my job and I don't like what I am doing. I am going to cut my losses and go back to professional cake decorating.' In a more sane moment I realized that this was only my first job out of school. I needed to try again, and so the next time I changed my strategy when looking for a job.
When starting my job search, instead of looking for the perfect job description, I looked for the perfect company description and I came upon Cubist. Based on what I read on the website, I felt I had found the culture I was looking for. When I came for my interview, I fell in love with the people and the culture during my visit. One of the main reasons I got into the sciences was because I love the pursuit of learning and at Cubist we embrace that. How many companies out there have embracing a culture of learning as part of their core values?
Q: You mentioned cake decorating — what was that about?
Carmela: It came about from needing a job. When my husband was working at Sam's Club part time while in school, he noticed they had an opening for a cake decorator and he said, 'My wife is artistic — she could do that.' I knew how to mix colors, but nothing about how to put them on a cake, but I went in and we talked. I was willing to learn and they were willing to train me. I was there for about a year, and then I started at UNH, where a local grocery store was looking for a cake decorator. Between classes I needed something closer to school, so I took the job there. Eventually I landed a job as a cake decorator at a professional bakery, which helped pay my way through school.
Q: What do you find is the most satisfying part of your job?
Carmela: It's a combination of working with a great group of people and the actual work we do. I love that what I am doing will help people — being a microbiologist is just a small piece of the puzzle. But it is pretty powerful to think that what you do may save lives some day.
Q: What is the greatest challenge you face in your job?
Carmela: Most immediately, writing tech reports and learning how to use ISIWriter (chuckling). I am currently working as part of the CDAD project team, and that has been a very big learning experience. We had no anaerobic bacteria testing capability in house before 2007. In March (2007) we started talking about getting anaerobe testing capability up and running and now, here we are 16 months later pushing toward filing an IND — it has been a very fast pace.
Additionally, I'm challenged with adjusting to and learning how to practice science differently. I love problem solving and my training and experience is how to do problem solving in the lab. As my career has progressed, I have started to get pulled out of the lab more. At first, I saw this as being pulled away from that which I love, but my challenge has been learning how to apply that same love for problem solving to a different scope of responsibilities.
Q: As a scientist, which is more satisfying, the search for a solution or finding the solution?
Carmela: Don't get me wrong, finding the solution is great, but it's really about the chase because you come upon solutions so rarely. The people who know me well know that my favorite quote is from one of my professors at UNH. I remember banging my head against a wall when I was trying to purify a protein during my graduate work and saying, 'It just doesn't work.' He looked at me and said, 'Carmela, if it worked first time, every time, we wouldn't call it research, we'd just call it search.' You should not enter the sciences if it is quick gratification you are seeking.
Q: What do you do for fun?
Carmela: Anything I can do to spend time with my husband and our two dogs. We love outdoor activities like hiking, camping, canoeing and rock climbing. I also have a bit of a beading habit and enjoy making jewelry. Additionally, we love to entertain. There is something special about bringing people together over food for lighter moments. To make entertaining easier, we remodeled our kitchen to include a professional 48 inch, duel fuel stove.
Carmela's favorite book(s): I've just recently gotten back into reading for fun and have really enjoyed books by Gregory Maguire (Wicked, Son of a Witch, Confessions of the Ugly Step Sister) and because I love cooking I really liked The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone.
Carmela's favorite movie(s): I'm going to have to cop out of picking a single favorite and break this up into categories.
Favorite animated films: The Lion King and The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know it's a weird combination).
Favorite romantic comedy: Sweet Home Alabama and Pretty Woman.
Favorite super hero movie: I can't pick one — but I prefer movies based on the Marvel characters rather than DC Comics.