Ask Me Anything: Cathryn Lewis, PhD
Welcome to this week’s “Ask Me Anything.” The goal of these posts is simple: We want to humanize research and science by creating a platform where people from all backgrounds can come together to learn more about the world of scientific discovery from the people who work in it.
In each post, we’ll hear from scientists who will share their triumphs, disasters, expertise, and advice. We hope these posts will be motivating for those who do science on a day-to-day basis. We also hope these posts will be inspiring for people who are scientists at heart. And the best part of all of this is that YOU have a say in what questions are asked. If you could ask a scientist anything, what would you ask? To submit questions, nominate a researcher, or learn about these posts, engage with us on Twitter @ErinDunnScD.
This week, we sat down with Dr. Cathryn Lewis, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology & Statistics at King’s College London. Cathryn is investigating genetic contributions to depression and how these insights can guide prevention work. Her research is summed up in one question: we know that depression has a substantial genetic component – how can we identify it and use it to prevent, diagnose, or treat depression?
1. What is your favorite part of the research process?
That’s an interesting question and made me realize that the research itself is my favourite. While some researchers excel at coming up with stimulating ideas and others are good at writing compelling research papers, I like the steady progression of the research process. That includes deciding the questions, the data that we’ll use to answer them, the statistical methods, the problem solving when things aren’t as straightforward as we expect, the checks, the further checks, the dead ends (inevitable), the ‘oh, that’s interesting’ moments, and then the decision that when have done enough and it’s time to write a paper. In my research group, we are also starting to embrace reproducible research. RMarkdown has transformed my meetings with students and postdocs, and several of my team have submitted study registration plans through https://osf.io/. I have been doing research for over 30 years and still get that flutter of excitement and anticipation when we start a new project or analysis that may give us important insights into mental health.
2. In terms of work-life balance, how do you find time in your busy schedule to relax?
I have to schedule relaxation into my week and ‘down time’ is a non-negotiable part of my life. When exercise, or dinner with friends is in the calendar, it is much more likely to happen without work encroaching into that time slot. My key priorities are dinner with the family, and eight hours of sleep a night – everything else can fit around that.
3. What is the best piece of advice (life, career, or both) you have ever received?
The best piece of advice is that you have to do what is right for you. You can’t compare yourself to other people, they have other priorities, other skills, weaknesses, opportunities, or limitations. You need to have the confidence to do what is right for you, at the time it’s right for you. I worked part-time for 10 years when my children were younger – which is probably more common in the UK and Europe than in the US. That worked for me and my family. I also try to cultivate a long-term perspective – our working life is about forty years!
4. What is your favorite manuscript ever and why? (Both your own and a manuscript in the wider field)
For a paper in the field, a key highlight is our Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Major Depressive Disorder paper, Wray et al, where we identified 44 loci for depression. The paper was a massive step forward in depression genetics, showing that with large sample sizes we have the power to dissect even a highly polygenic, heterogeneous trait like depression. The study told us about the biology of depression, its connection with other disorders, and the important brain cells involved. More importantly, it showed that difficult studies can succeed provided we collaborate widely to acquire large sample sizes.
For a personal paper, I have chosen one I wrote with Dr Ammar Al-Chalabi, titled Modelling the Effects of Penetrance and Family Size on Rates of Sporadic and Familial Disease. It’s a methodological paper that looked at the effects of penetrance and family size on rates of sporadic and familial disease, which is of particular relevance to Dr. Al-Chalabi’s research area of ALS. We had not previously collaborated, and the paper grew out of sheer curiosity and pleasure in the research process. We then worked on several ALS genetic studies together. The paper has been helpful in designing ALS studies, and reminding researchers that ALS patients without a family history may still carry high risk genetic variants.
5. When do you think your current research work will impact and improve the quality of life of those experiencing major depression?
That’s a really important question, and of course it is why we do research. But it’s also the most difficult to answer. We have made enormous research strides in unpacking the genetics of major depressive disorder, identifying genetic variants, starting to see what the variants do, and understanding more about the biology of depression. But those are still a long way from having a direct impact on the lives of those experiencing major depression. I think much of research is incremental, and benefits accrue from the cumulative effect of many studies and many researchers working to make progress - like chipping away at a rock face with a small chisel. There are very few true ‘eureka’ moments, either in discovery or in impact. The effect of genetics on people’s lives may also be lateral where genetics informs downstream clinical studies. For example, developing new drugs is a difficult and expensive process, particularly for mental health disorders. Genetics can play a role here, as drug development is more likely to be successful when the drug target has evidence of genetic association with disease. But after a successful clinical trial and approval of a new drug for depression, no one would look back and say ‘see what genetics did for us’. So the bottom line is that I am optimistic that with all of the hard work that the research community is doing we will start to turn the corner to make in-roads that will soon help improve the quality of life of people experiencing depression and other mental health issues.
6. Student mentoring/supervision isn’t really taught but seems to be driven by what worked/didn’t work for us. What would your advice be for effective mentoring?
There are many aspects of academic life that we are expected to pick up by osmosis or experience rather than being taught. I think universities are now offering more training for Early Career Researchers and fresh academic staff, and I encourage my research team to take advantage of those. Any skills I have developed come from experience rather than training – and my skills are definitely acquired, not innate, as PhD students I supervised at the beginning of my career would probably tell you. Time is one of the most important things we can give people in mentoring and supervision. Being accessible, with focused attention on a student’s issues, whether academic or personal, is vital.
7. Question from Louise Arseneault: Can we adopt a cat – or two! – at the SGDP Centre?
As part of my new appointment as Head of Department at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London, I have been asking Department members what is important to them. The SGDP Centre cat is a great suggestion, but apparently there are health and safety issues to overcome. Several UK Universities have campus cats, with their own twitter accounts. Warwick University gave their cat Rolf (@RolfatWarwick) freedom of the campus. Essex has an official campus cat, which even has its own ID card (@essex_cat). We know that having pets has a positive effect on mental health – a survey reported that 87% of people who owned a cat felt it had a positive impact on their well being. However, until we can get our own SGDP cat, here’s a picture of my cat, Sherbet, who appears on evening conference calls walking in front of my laptop screen.