A source of inspiration: Aebersold
Her move from Padua to Zurich in January 2007 reflected her commitment to proteomics. Ruedi Aebersold, co-founder of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich, is a pioneer in the field of proteomics. Picotti was convinced that there she would have the tools to further her research career in protein analytics. Aebersold answered her request by inviting her to join his lab as a visiting researcher, although “without pay and with the caveat that he would not be able to spare much time to act as mentor,” she says. The recently retired professor emeritus was responsible for dozens of employees in laboratories in Zurich and Seattle at the time. Picotti accepted, moved into a hall of residence on ETH’s Hönggerberg campus for nine months and scraped by on a fellowship from Italy.
“My English was still pretty poor in those days,” she recalls. “After the first group meeting, I thought, well, that’s the end of that, I’ll never be able to prove myself here.” But things turned out very differently. After nine months, Aebersold offered Picotti a postdoc position. “Ruedi was a tremendous source of inspiration. He was always ready to listen to colleagues’ ideas, encouraging and motivating them to go that one step further,” she says.
During her four years at the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology, the young researcher developed a new method of analysing proteins based on mass spectrometry. She spent months in the basement lab at the institute, which houses the group’s instruments, fine-tuning measurement parameters and new data analysis techniques. The result was selected reaction monitoring (SRM), a proteome analysis that reliably identifies a precisely defined selection of proteins in complex samples in record time.
In 2013, SRM was named method of the year by the respected journal
Nature
Methods
. Today, it is used by biotechnologists all over the world and specialised companies sell customised hardware and software for it. “That was a major achievement,” says Picotti. “It brought me international acclaim – and the necessary self-confidence to boot.”
The latter is particularly important in the male-dominated research landscape. Picotti has experienced the ignorance of colleagues more than once, as they dismissed her successful application for research funding or her awards as all down to her gender. That is why supporting young female researchers is so important to Picotti. When she participates in panel discussions, she emphasises improving the work-life balance. With two sons of her own and a husband who works full-time as a professor at the University of Zurich, she knows just how difficult it is. Spurred on by her experiences, she launched a pilot project in her group that enables parents to request childcare support in the event of illness or if the nursery is closed.
