What inspired you to embark on a career in academic research?
Before I went to university, I worked as a basic grade lab technician at a pharmaceutical company, which gave me an excellent grounding in how to work as a professional scientist, my first insights into internal politics and also really made me appreciate how little I knew. That meant that I arrived at university with good lab skills and a real determination to learn.
I studied biochemistry at Liverpool University, where I spent every summer working in my tutor’s research lab – I had a great time and this convinced me that a PhD was the right next step. I went on to study RNA splicing at Leicester University. However, I did not enjoy my PhD – for reasons beyond my control, the project never had any chance of working - and by the end, I could not get away from academia fast enough.
What was your path to join HAIM in Leeds?
I moved to Leeds in 1997 to train as an NHS Clinical Scientist. Unfortunately, there was no funding to keep me on once I qualified so I moved to a new role in the ICRF Leeds Centre, working in the newly formed Mutation Detection core facility. Initially I was responsible for carrying out mutation screening projects, working with scientists throughout ICRF and after a few years, I took over management of the facility. The early 2000s was an exciting time to be working in genetic technology. One career highlight was carrying out an evaluation of High Resolution Melting – for a time I was among the world experts in this technology and I spent a glorious year being invited to give talks at international meetings.
I joined Leeds University in 2009 to do essentially the same job but now working specifically with groups in Leeds. During this time I ran a cell line authentication service and started to do work using microfluidics and early single cell technologies.
Fixed term funding has been a driving influence on my career path – essentially, every change of course has been necessitated by the ending of the previous source of funding.
What does your daily role entail?
My job is very varied! I work for Prof. Gordon Cook and essentially, my role is to make the translational research component of myeloma clinical trials work in practice. We’re interested in the relationship between myeloma and frailty, with one important aim being to identify biomarkers of frailty that could be used to personalise treatment.
I deal with patient samples and run a database to manage our patient and sample data. I look after students and lab staff in the group. I design and carry out experimental work, mainly looking at T cell biology using flow cytometry and blood biomarkers using multiplex ELISA techniques. I keep track of our finances, manage stocks of lab consumables and provide costings for grant applications. I look after one of the tissue culture labs on level 6. I’ve even taken my first steps into grant writing.
These days, I also spend quite a lot of time writing code using R, mainly for data wrangling, analysis and visualisation. One big attraction is that, unlike biology, if you get your code right, it works and it works every time!
What aspects of your role do you most enjoy?
Durning my PhD, I realised that I am far more interested in solving technical problems than academic questions. Over the years, I’ve learned that what I want in my job is that I get to work with both hands and brain and that I am trusted and allowed to use my judgement.
What I enjoy most about my role is the variety of different types of problem that I get to solve. I enjoy optimising experiments and developing protocols that are easily followed. I like devising work practices that mean that we can work in a systematic way and easily capture all the information that we need. I enjoy the challenge of keeping a tissue culture lab operating smoothly and inspiring everyone who works in there to participate in maintaining a safe and functional working environment.
I enjoy teaching practical skills to students and seeing them grow in confidence and competence and become capable independent practitioners.
I enjoy working as part of a large multidisciplinary team and contributing to improving outcomes for patients.
What advice would you give to someone starting their career?
After my degree, the only areas that I didn’t really fancy working in were genetics, cancer or immunology. I’ve gone on to spend about 20 years working in cancer genetics and then the last 10 years in immunology, so I’m not sure how qualified I am to give people career advice.
My working life has had ups and downs. I originally took my current job because it was the only suitable one to come up while I was on redeployment. Enjoy the situations in which you have choices but don’t worry about the times when you just have to make do with what’s available – it might work out very well.
I’ve ended up in a few working situations that have made me extremely miserable and while they have contributed to making me resilient, I don’t recommend them. You spend too much of your life at work to waste it being unhappy.
For anyone contemplating a career in academia, I would suggest that you think long and hard about whether it is truly a viable option for you. Funding is tight, short-term contracts are the norm. If it’s a path you choose to take, go in with your eyes open.
