Helen Arthur

BHF Senior Basic Science Research Fellow Senior Lecturer in Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine

Balancing Work and Family as a Research Scientist

Institute of Genetic Medicine Centre for Life

There are many different ways to find the right balance- for example “Mothers in Science 64 ways to have it all” a Rosalind Franklin Award Project

25/9/1920 – 16/4/1958

Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award This award aims to support the promotion of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution to any area of STEM. The recipient spends a proportion of the award on implementing a project to raise the profile of women in STEM.

X-ray diffraction of DNA

Professor Ottoline Leyser FRS, winner of the 2007 Rosalind Franklin Award, prepared this book- Mothers in Science; 64 ways to have it all.

The selection of women is based on differences in their science career paths and the aim of this book is to illustrate that it is perfectly possible to combine a successful and fulfilling career in research with motherhood, and that there are absolutely no rules about how to do this. Copy available as a pdf on the Royal Society website, or email me helen.arthur@ncl.ac.uk if you want a copy

“Sixty per cent of undergraduate biology students are female, and at PhD and post-doctoral level this figure is 50 per cent – which is fantastic. However, there are far fewer women at lecturer level (25 per cent) and only 10 per cent at professorial level.” Julia Goodfellow CBE, Chief Executive of BBSRC

Why are fewer women present at higher levels? 1. Is it the highly competitive atmosphere of research science? 2. Is it difficulty in combining a demanding job with family commitments? 3. It is definitely not due to lack of ability.

Science is competitive – it has to be- there is not enough money to fund all the best ideas. Should we compete? Or play safe and opt out? It is difficult to combine family and work commitments, and everyone needs help and support.

Pre-Career Break 1973-1976 BSc Genetics, University of Liverpool

1976-1979 PhD Molecular Genetics, University of Nottingham

1980-1983 Demonstrator & MRC grant holder, Newcastle University 1983-1984 Lecturer, resigned when my first child was born

1984-1986 MRC Postdoctoral Research Associate (half-time)

1986-1996 Career Break

What happens when you give up work to raise a family?

• Little intellectual stimulation. • Isolated from science. • Confidence gradually ebbs away. • Prospects of returning to science seem

remote. • If you do want to return…..What to do?

Who to ask? Where to go?

Funding Schemes to Support a Return to a Scientific Career after

a Career Break • BHF Career Re-entry Research Fellowship

• Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship

• Wellcome Trust Research Career Re-entry

Fellowship

• Also, Dorothy Hodgkins Fellowship (for flexible work)

Key Factors for a Successful Career in Science

1. Determination to succeed and maintain focus 2. Know your strengths and your weaknesses 3. Need help and support at home. 4. Establish research niche/Clear goals in an

important field of research 5. Need help and support at work: mentors/advisors collaborators research group 6. Funders 7. Host Institute/Working Environment

Advantages of returning to work after a career break

• Fresh start, renewed energy • Opportunity to change direction • Greater appreciation of working in

science & enjoyment of the opportunities • More mature so easier to see the bigger

picture

Disadvantages

• Age ! • Missed time – peers are well up the

career ladder. • Things have changed- a lot of catching

up needed after 10 years

• For me ………..it was PCR!!!

Kary Mullis : Nobel Prize 1993 for inventing PCR - polymerase chain reaction

Peter ten Dijke

Leiden

Sponsor

Caroline Hill

CRUK, London

John Burn

Newcastle

Christine Mummery

Leiden

Mentors

Wellcome Trust Research Career Re-entry Fellowship

Post-Career Break 1997 Postdoctoral Research Associate

1998 Wellcome Trust Research Career Re-entry Fellow

2002 Senior Research Associate

2003 BHF Jacob Walton Johnson Lecturer

2007 Senior Lecturer in Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine

2008 Senior BHF Basic Science Research Fellowship

Research Group 2002

Evelyn Torsney Leon Jonker

Kath Allinson Mehdi Amirrasouli Gill Borthwick Ben Davison Bertrand Gopal Robert Jackson Sarah Johnson Leon Jonker Marwa Mahmoud Rachael Oakenfull Rachael Redgrave Andy Robson Honey Thomas Evelyn Torsney Simon Tual Chalot Sarah Watkins Jason Zhai

Research Group 2012

Role of TGFbeta Receptors in Cardiovascular Development and

Disease

My work began in 1996 investigating a rare human disease…

Research Niche

Austin Diamond

Mary Porteous

John Burn

Helen Arthur

Funder: Dame Catherine Cookson

Newcastle University Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) Research Group 1996

27/6/1906 – 11/6/1998 Dame Catherine wrote almost 100 books, which sold more than 123 million copies. She also suffered from HHT.

Clinical Features of HHT Patients

Angiogram of pulmonary AVM

MRI of Cerebral AVM Nasal Septum

Telangiectases and bleeding

Skin

Arteriovenous Malformations

Oral Mucosa

Smad4

HHT is caused by defects in the TGFβ Signalling Pathway

Gene Expression

TGFβ

15min

60min

0 min

SMAD

TGF beta 5ng/ml

Plasma-membrane

Nuclear-membrane

ALK1

Smad1/5 Smad1/5 p

TGFBR2

Endoglin

TGFbeta regulates cell responses

Migration

Single cell

Proliferation

Cell death

Differentiation

The Mouse as a Model Organism •Shares 99% of genes with human •Very similar tissues and organs to human •Life cycle is 3 months

Animal Models In Scientific Research

• Used to understand human diseases including genetic disorders • Used to develop new treatments

30% bleeding lesions AVMs very rare

Bleeding ear lesions

-/- WT Eng

100% embryos die angiogenesis defect

Eng+/- Mouse: Model of HHT

Eng +/- Eng-/-

Arthur et al Dev Biol, 2000; Torsney et al, Circulation, 2003.

Reduced Smooth Muscle Coverage in Eng+/- Mice

Vascular smooth muscle cell staining is reduced in Eng+/- dermal venules (p< 0.001)

WT Eng +/-

Torsney et al, Circulation 2003

0.72 +/- 0.1 (N=10) 0.31 +/- 0.1 (N=12)

asma

Thalidomide Normalizes SMC Coverage in Eng+/− Mice.

Lebrin et al Nat Med 2010

Lebrin et al, Nat Med 2010

Reduced nosebleeds in HHT patients after daily treatment with 100 mg of thalidomide

Why is this work important? •Better understanding of the causes of HHT; development of new therapies. •Developing vascular regeneration therapies for ischaemic heart disease based on the ability of endoglin to promote new blood vessel formation. •Role of Tgfbr2 during development in integrity of cerebral vasculature : model of cerebral haemorrhage of prematurity. • •Role of Endoglin in regulating the endothelial barrier and effect on cancer metastases.

Institute of Genetic Medicine Centre for Life

17 Professors: 10 male & 7 female. Cardiovascular PIs: Bernard Keavney, Deb Henderson, Bob Anderson, Simon

Bamforth, Bill Chaudhry, Kim Spyridopoulus, Judith Goodship, Helen Phillips, Andrew Owens, Annette Meeson, Helen Arthur.

Host Institute/Working Environment

Funders/Building up Research Grant Support: BHF Senior Fellowship, Wellcome Trust Project Grant, 3 BHF project Grants CRUK project grant BHF programme Grant.

Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Charitable Funds for Research

Science is competitive, but is also very stimulating and can be great fun.

The Daphne Jackson Trust Flexible, part-time, paid fellowships to scientists, engineers and technologists who have taken a career break of two or more years for family, caring or health reasons. Fellowships are normally two years in length and based at universities and industrial laboratories throughout the UK. Fellows undertake a challenging research project and a retraining programme.

BHF Career Re-entry Research Fellowship "CRERF"

• Purpose: To provide an opportunity to re-establish a research career in cardiovascular science, after a break of more than two years.

• Entry requirement: Successful post-doc returning after a 2 year (or more) career break

• Duration of grant: 3 years with the possibility of a 1 year extension

http://www.bhf.org.uk/research_health_professionals/apply_for_research_grants/grant_types__guidelines/crerf.aspx

Wellcome Trust Re-entry Fellowship Types of award

1. Two-year scheme for people who took their career break early

eg after two years working as a postdoc, should have one or two publications.

2. Up to four years for those who had established their careers

before leaving science. Need evidence of publication, grant awards, etc.

• Will cover the costs of training in new skills, • Can work part time on a pro-rata basis. • Open to anyone who has had at least two years off • No cap on the amount of time you had off – up to 16 years off! • Salaries –very generous

Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship

• Funded by the Royal Society

• First step into an independent research career for excellent scientists and engineers who need flexible support at the time of application.

• Can be part-time or combination of full-time and part-time as needed.

• Applicants must have no more than 6 years' postdoctoral research experience.

• Up to 5 years' funding. • Approximately 10 awards each year.