Malin Suurkuusk, Product Manager and Application Scientist at TA Instruments, grew up in Virginia with a calorimeter lab in her house, so it is no surprise that she became a scientist. Her father, Jaak Suurkuusk, was a thermochemist who designed calorimeters that would be able to measure heat capacities of biological systems. He started out by designing calorimeters during his postdoc, in order to be able to determine some of the thermodynamic parameters needed for their study. Following his postdoc, he became more focused on calorimeter design and less involved in experimentation, eventually opening his own business.
Over time, the business became a family affair; Suurkuusk began assisting her father in his lab at age thirteen, and her mother, sister, and brother became involved in administration, marketing, and programming. When she started high school, she was already familiar with a scientific setting and many of the tools therein. She had also developed a great interest in science, inspired by her father’s work. She says of her father, “He is a visionary when it comes to calorimetry and thermodynamics.” Following in his footsteps, she chose to study math, chemistry, and physics in high school.
When Suurkuusk began her undergraduate degree at Stockholm University, she was unsure about which STEM subject she would pursue. “I could not choose between math and natural science with a major in chemistry,” she says, “I applied to both, but the natural science courses started a day before the math courses.” Suurkuusk took the timing as a sign, and decided to focus on biochemistry. She took classes in physical chemistry and neurochemistry during this time as well, and graduated with her master’s degree in biochemistry. She says, “When I was looking for a graduate position, I wanted to learn more about physical methods for the study of biological and biochemical systems, even if I did not call it biophysics at the time.”
Suurkuusk earned her PhD conducting research in the thermochemistry department at Lund University and in an industrial setting at Pharmacia. Working in industry at this point in her career brought a particularly difficult set of challenges. In her first two years, she worked on several projects that were subsequently closed by the company. She came away with nothing to publish. After the first few years, she began working on a project was very promising, but then was sold to another company, which served a real blow to her progress. She had now spend more than half of her time as a PhD student working on projects that she could not finish. Suurkuusk spoke with her superiors at Pharmacia, and they agreed that the company was responsible for providing her with an opportunity to finish her PhD. She was allowed to continue the project that had been sold, and was even able to publish her findings. Suurkuusk explains, “I was very relieved that I was allowed to continue with this, as there was no time to start over again.” Additionally, because she was now the only scientist in the company working on the project, she was able to explore new aspects of the project that the company had not originally intended to pursue. Suurkuusk completed her PhD in 1999, and then worked as a Product Manager at Thermometric AB, where she stayed for several years, eventually moving into a position as a Marketing Manager. In her current dual position as Product Manager and Application Scientist at TA Instruments Sweden, Suurkuusk spends half of her time on each job. As an application scientist, she helps with proof of concept for new users of calorimetry and gives theoretical and practical training. In addition, she travels to universities to teach short graduate courses in calorimetry. In her capacity as a product manager, she is part of the team making decisions about the company’s microcalorimeter product line. This team explores what new features and instrumentation are needed, what new accessories could be produced, and how new software features could enhance the product. Suurkuusk also works on pairing microcalorimetric techniques with other biophysical characterization techniques to get more information from a studied system.
Suurkuusk finds fulfillment in introducing people to what calorimetry can do. She says, “As a calorimetrist, studying interactions between biological molecules, it is fascinating how much information you can get from the measurement of heat if you combine it with structural data from other techniques…The most rewarding part is when I manage to show someone what a fantastic tool calorimetry is. I was once on a courtesy visit in a lab with one of our users. Before I left I was invited for a glass of champagne to make a toast for the inventor of the fantastic instrument, our calorimeter.”
The only downside to her dual position is that she is unable to explore new ideas in the lab or delve deeply into a project. When she struggles with this, Suurkuusk finds inspiration in the lives of pioneering women scientists, such as Marie Curie. She elaborates, “I am really impressed by earlier scientists when so much was still unknown and they did not have the tools we have today. Also being a woman in research [in] those days, when all of society was very male-dominated. I admire those who did this pioneering work.”
Though science, and especially calorimetry, have been deeply ingrained in Suurkuusk since childhood, if she were not a scientist, she would have pursued a career in fashion design. She loves to sew and knit as a hobby now, and says, “I have always had a dream to design and make clothes. This was something I did when I was younger. I took several courses related to textile work. Today I have hardly any time for these kinds of activities, but it is something I still like to do.” Suurkuusk also enjoys hiking and swimming in her spare time, and working in her garden outside. Most of all, she loves spending time with her sons, who are10 and 12 years old.
For those who are currently starting out in biophysics, Suurkuusk advocates an openness to unexpected twists and turns. She says, “Have fun, stay curious, and be open minded. Maybe it is from the sidetracks that you learn the most.”