Dr Sarah Bailey

I seem to have wandered around the last 15 years being at places beginning with the letter S! I started out my career in science right here at the University of Surrey, where I undertook a BSc in Molecular Biology which included a PTY in New York City at Cornell University.

My experience in the lab there sparked my interest in cell signalling and I followed this interest to Brighton, to the University of Sussex, where I undertook a PhD in the lab of Dr Alison Sinclair. My project was on the intracellular interactions of the Epstein-Barr Virus transcription factor Zta (BZLF1) and this quickly led me to the field of DNA Damage response in combination with cellular signalling.

One of the few places left in the south of England with a university and an S to their name was Southampton, so in preparation to leave Sussex, I sought out Dr Paul Townsend who was undertaking some research on STAT-1 and collaborating on a p53 project, which I had found in my PhD research.

While writing up my PhD thesis I co-authored grants (with Dr Townsend and Dr Cragg) to fund my research on p73 and STAT-1 in Lymphoma. The project started in January 2009, just as I handed in my completed PhD thesis. I remained at the University of Southampton while I undertook a further 2 projects which focused more on downstream cell signalling in hormone dependent cancers of the breast (with Mr Ramsey Cutress) and prostate (Dr Simon Crabb) and left the university in April 2014. In my time at the University of Southampton I pursued teaching CPDs, hoping one day that I would make it to be a lecturer.

Following this I had a career break and spent some time teaching swimming (which is how I funded writing my PhD thesis and grants in 2008 and building on my experience as a competitive swimmer when I was at school) and undertaking a part time visiting lecturer post at the University of Westminster, where I focused on small group teaching in Biochemistry, which made a welcome change and allowed me to stretch my brain while also looking after my new daughter.

Finally I returned to where my journey began (and yet another S), joining the University of Surrey teaching staff as a Teaching Fellow in Physiology in January 2017.