Introducing Behind the Lab Coat, a new series by the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute!

The series has two main aims: first, to help you to get to get to know the people who are doing amazing science at the Institute and, secondly, to introduce you to the breadth of “behind the scenes” roles required to make that discovery research happen.

Dr Ania Piskorz has an infectious enthusiasm for her career. At the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, she has grown from research assistant through postdoc and senior research associate to Head of Genomics.

In her own words, this is her dream job. Although she first developed a curiosity about DNA and its role in human disease in her teens, there wasn’t a clear route mapped out ahead of her to a scientific career. Instead, at every stage she says, “I was always listening to myself, somehow. My next step has always been decided by how I feel about it and if I really want it”.

After you’ve watched Ania’s video, read on below to find out more about the curiosity and commitment that has shaped those decisions over the years. You’ll also hear about her other great passion in life: motorbiking!


Dr Ania Piskorz, Head of Genomics 


In your video, Ania, you mention that you completed your postgraduate studies in Poland. What first brought you to the UK?

I knew early on that I wanted to go and do a postdoc outside of Poland. I think that’s quite natural, that the majority of people who do a PhD know that they will need to go and do a postdoc somewhere else.

I thought the USA was too far, so the UK, especially Cambridge, was the obvious choice at that time.

I came [to the Institute] straight after my PhD. This was the very first position that I got. I absolutely loved the Institute: the whole culture, the research, the Core Facilities.

At that time, I thought I wasn’t good enough to go for a postdoc position straightaway. [I thought] that I would need to know more techniques, and have better papers as proof of this, and therefore that a research assistant role would be a good way in.

As it turned out, my background and what I could offer meant I was promoted quite quickly. I really enjoyed the time I spent facilitating and contributing to cancer research as a research assistant prior to becoming a postdoc.


Is there anything that you wish you could go back and tell yourself then?

You can kind of block yourself. If you don’t have someone to catch you or to say, “This isn’t the right way to be thinking about things”.

I wish someone had told me that everything is about your attitude, and not necessarily the technique you have. How you think, rather than all the skills you possess. You can learn very quickly.

But I’m very happy to have done it that way, I gained very valuable experience.


Are you able to single out a career highlight since you joined the Institute in 2010?

There are many instances over the years of experiments and methods development to understand the complexity of the cancer genome using samples from local and international clinical studies and trials.

However, for me personally, achieving the position of Head of Genomics was obviously a major highlight.

I remember when I started [at the Institute] and I saw the position. At that time, I never dreamed that I would get there. It wasn’t even on my agenda. When I got the position, it really was an “Oh wow” moment for me, “I got here!”

I also felt that, having spent 12 years at the Institute and Cancer Research UK having put lots of effort and resources into training me, now was my chance to pay it back. It was a natural next step to share everything I’d learned.


And when you receive fantastic work news like that, who are you most excited to tell?

My husband and my daughter. Two of the most important people in my life.

My daughter is only four, but she knows quite a lot about where I work as she comes along to Institute social events! She feels like she is a part of the family already.


Our Core Facilities are there to enable our research groups to have access to specialist equipment and knowledge whenever they need it. Can you share what good scientific collaboration looks like for you?

You need to be willing to share, and to understand the benefit of doing so. And, at the end of a project, celebrate and appreciate the team effort and take your share of the credit.

Because of how much multidisciplinary work I do, I’m a very big fan of equal contribution authorship on a research paper. There can be lots of first authors; it really doesn’t matter what position you have on a paper, rather what you have contributed and what you have achieved together! When “first, second, third” goes away, then you’re left with pure science.


What would you say is your superpower?

I like working with people. I’m patient. And I’m relentless – I don’t give up very easily! If something doesn’t work, I will always try to find another solution.


Finally, can you tell me about a hobby or a pastime that has nothing to do with work?

I’m a motorbiker. I really enjoy touring around Europe. Before my daughter was born, I went to different places on the bike every single summer holiday. I also used to ride my motorbike to work every day and I look forward to getting back to that, summer or winter, sun or snow.

I practice yoga too. And I swim. In my first couple of years at the Institute there was a swimming club, where I learned proper racing technique (in between pipetting).



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