Dr Sarah Pickett

Research career break

At this point, I was newly married, and my husband had a career that required him to re-locate every few years. This was very difficult to combine with an academic career and so I decided to re-train as a secondary school science teacher to give me more flexibility on work location. I completed my PGCE in 2005, just as we moved to the North East, and I took up a teaching position in County Durham.

Many of the skills I developed as a teacher are transferrable. To maintain the attention of teenagers for a whole lesson, it’s important to be enthusiastic and engaging but also to be able to explain difficult concepts by building them up in a logical step-wise progression. My teaching skills have definitely helped me to present my own science at conferences and seminars in an engaging way.

Returning to science

My experiences away from the research environment intensified my passion and motivation for science. By 2015 we had three young children and were permanently based in Newcastle, so this gave me the opportunity to return to research science. I had been away from the bench for a decade at this point and after a couple of failed job interviews realised that I needed some more recent laboratory experience. My decision to contact Professor Rob Taylor who leads the Highly Specialised NHS Mitochondrial Diagnostic laboratory for help was instrumental in my return to academia. Without his support I would not have had the chance to reacquaint myself with some basic molecular techniques which led to my first research position for 11 years.

In 2016 I joined the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research which exposed me to the big questions in the field of mitochondrial disease research and led me to identify an area of research that could utilise my skills in complex disease genetics. My current Wellcome Career Re-entry Fellowship focuses on discovering why patients who carry inherited mitochondrial DNA mutations can be affected so differently.

Support and collaboration

Getting back to science after such a long break was daunting. I would say that the financial support and academic mentorship that I gained from Professors Taylor, Turnbull and Cordell was critical for my success. I work on a rare disease, which limits the availability of samples, but these collaborations have allowed me to gather a large clinical cohort, which is the foundation for the majority of my research. To this day, I am very fortunate to be surrounded by such an excellent group of scientists.

What next?

First and foremost, my ambition is to discover why people who carry inherited mitochondrial DNA mutations can be affected so differently. This will transform research into mtDNA-related mitochondrial diseases; identifying fundamental cellular pathways and opening-up new avenues of research which I will be able to explore further.

I can’t do this alone though! I lead a small team of highly talented researchers which I plan to grow and nurture. Building an independent scientific career is hard. Finding the right balance between carrying out research, teaching, writing manuscripts and developing grant applications is a constant challenge particularly when you work part time hours and have a busy family life.