Following her inaugural lecture as a new professor, we caught 5 minutes out of Professor Katrin Ottersbach’s busy schedule to chat about her career so far and her goals for the future. Tell us a bit about your career so far. Where did you start and how did you come to be at the IRR/CRM?I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, but left afterwards, not thinking I would be back! I went to Glasgow (Beatson Institute) for my PhD and then to Rotterdam for my postdoc. I was kind of on my way back to Germany, but then had the opportunity to start my lab at the University of Cambridge. In 2015 I was recruited back to Edinburgh and haven’t looked back! What’s a highlight or favourite memory of your path to be where you are now? There are many of those! It was special when my first PhD student passed her viva. It was also very special to see my first paper with me as the last author out on print. Having a grant awarded or a paper accepted never ceases to be a special feeling and meeting people at international conferences and discuss science with them is always inspiring. What do you hope to do next? My biggest ambition and greatest hope would be to see one of our discoveries make it into the clinic! What do you like about working at IRR? IRR is a very collegial, friendly, supportive and collaborative environment where people also seem to be having fun! What do you enjoy doing in your free time? I love playing my violin in an orchestra and going on outings with the family. Katrin’s work focuses on how blood stem cells are first generated during foetal development, how they can be maintained and what their unique properties are. Her research group is also interested in how these early blood cells are targeted by mutations that can lead to cancer development in infant patients. Ottersbach Research Group About Katrin's Inaugural Lecture Tags CRM This article was published on 2025-12-08
