Karen Chapman is Emeritus Professor of Molecular Endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia.
Before her retirement a little over two years ago, Karen led research into glucocorticoid action in the University of Edinburgh/British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Science. She was also active in other areas, including lead roles in equality, diversity and inclusion for the University, as well as for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and was involved in several Society for Endocrinology activities. She is married to Stephen Chapman and they have three children.
MY EARLY CAREER
My journey was perhaps a bit unusual for someone in the Society for Endocrinology. I did my PhD in the field of bacterial DNA recombination and repair at Newcastle University. Part of my research consisted of using Sanger sequencing, in its infancy in the early 1980s, to sequence just two genes in E. coli, something that would easily be accomplished in a few hours now!
After my PhD, I was lucky to obtain a fellowship from the Royal Society, and later one from the European Molecular Biology Organisation to pursue a post-doc in the USA with Mark Ptashne at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, working on the E. coli cAMP receptor protein, a ligand-activated transcription factor. This was a hugely formative experience that taught me how to think as a scientist. It was also very insightful – I reflected on how, as a new post-doc in the UK, I would have feared the competition from the Ptashne lab, yet that competition was now me! It was an important lesson and one I’ve shared with trainees suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’.
In the 1980s, ground-breaking molecular biology research was happening all around me in Cambridge/Boston and it was a tremendously exciting time to be there. It instilled in me the importance of sharing (and debating) new research findings, not necessarily just in my own particular area. Especially memorable were the afternoon (4pm) lab tea breaks, which were rigorously observed, when everyone in the group gathered to discuss anything from the latest research news from neighbouring labs or recently published papers, to the Celtics basketball results. It’s easy to lose sight of how important these social occasions can be, when now it often feels like research is ‘too busy’ or pressured to take time out to chill with labmates. It was a lot of fun too. James (Jim) Watson visited the lab when I was there, and I was also introduced to the cellist Yo Yo Ma in the corridor one day!
A MOVE TO STEROID HORMONE RESEARCH
'As a new post-doc in the UK, I would have feared the competition from the Ptashne lab, yet that competition was now me! It was an important lesson and one I’ve shared with trainees suffering from ‘imposter syndrome’.'
Whilst at Harvard, I heard a talk by Keith Yamamoto, whose lab had just cloned the glucocorticoid receptor. The story he presented of how the glucocorticoid receptor regulates gene networks sounded just like the E. coli system I was working on at the time. When an opportunity came up to work on steroid regulation of gene expression with George Fink and colleagues at the Brain Metabolism Unit in Edinburgh, I jumped at it, and began exploring what determined the specificity of steroid hormone action. It was during my time there that I was introduced by Chris Edwards to a young clinician scientist, Jonathan Seckl, fresh from his PhD research and newly recruited to Edinburgh. He was going to work on mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid actions in the brain. We started working together almost immediately and, not long after that, I moved across to the University of Edinburgh to join Jonathan and Chris in the (then) Department of Medicine.
I was intrigued by the idea of an enzyme determining specificity of action of steroid hormones, and began working on the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases at the start of the 1990s. All these years later, there is still so much to discover about the 11β-HSDs, especially their effects on cellular redox and metabolism, as well as what they might do in metabolism of other oxysterols, like bile acids. Stay curious! My collaboration and research partnership with Jonathan – funded by a series of joint grants and supported by the many fantastic research students and post-docs that we jointly supervised and worked with – lasted well over three decades and resulted in the publication of over 70 co-authored papers and reviews.
BECOMING AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST
Of course, an interest in glucocorticoids takes you down many paths. I often felt like a ‘Jack of all trades’ (and wishing I was able to master at least some of them!). The 11β-HSDs took me from placental biology and early-life programming of adult disease risk to inflammation and immunity, and even touched on cellular metabolism. I kept an interest in the glucocorticoid receptor itself as well, which ultimately brought me, in recent years, to the fetal cardiovascular system, and back to the early-life origins of adult cardiovascular disease risk.
Because my interest in steroid hormone action arose from the role of the receptors as transcription factors, it took me some time to realise that I was becoming an endocrinologist! I don’t think I was even aware of endocrinology as a discipline when I moved to Edinburgh. It was when I joined the Hormone Group (a joint committee between the Biochemical Society and the Society for Endocrinology, which was responsible for organising conference symposia) that I first became aware of the Society for Endocrinology and realised how pervasive endocrinology is. Ten years later, as a member of the Society’s Science Committee, I most definitely identified as an endocrinologist!
THE ROLE OF THE SOCIETY
The Society has been a companion to me on my career journey as an endocrinologist. It’s provided a welcoming and supportive community and the opportunity to meet and engage with so many people, with hugely diverse backgrounds and career paths. On the Science Committee and Programme Organising Committee, I loved being able to suggest symposia on my favourite topics with speakers that I wanted to meet (my alternative career would have been in scientific publishing). As a member of Council and, later, as General Secretary, it was very rewarding (and insightful) to work closely with the executive team and other Society staff.
Council, in particular, exposed me to a diverse range of perspectives of endocrinologists from different fields and career paths, which broadened my views and deepened my appreciation of what the Society offers to its members – so much more than simply an annual conference. I was also tremendously privileged to contribute to shaping the future of the Society, as part of a Journals Review working group, which led to the merger of the editorial boards of the Journal of Endocrinology and Journal of Molecular Endocrinology and, more recently, through a governance review of the Society. All I can say to people who are new to the field (and especially those who may not yet consider themselves endocrinologists) is to get involved – nothing ventured, nothing gained!
AND THE BEST PART OF THE JOB?
Without a doubt it’s the people. It’s been incredibly stimulating and refreshing working with so many of the brightest and best young people, especially the trainees I’ve been involved with. I’ve had so many amazing colleagues and students in Edinburgh over the years. I’ve benefited from a fantastic network of peer mentors, who have supported me along the way and encouraged me to put myself forward when opportunities have arisen.
Two in particular deserve mention: Val Kelly, a research technician who came with me from the MRC Unit to the University, we worked closely together for almost 40 years, and Megan Holmes, with whom I shared an office for many years, and who has been a long-standing collaborator as well as a close friend. Indeed, it is the many friendships and collaborative relationships – from research students to senior colleagues and members/staff at the Society – that have made a career in endocrine research so rewarding and fulfilling.
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