To become a principal investigator (PI) is one of the toughest challenges in your scientific career. As a new PI, you need to acquire research grants, build your research team and develop your research projects. All these are completely new challenges and difficult to achieve without support. Therefore, for your success, it is vital to find a host institution that will help you settle in and tackle all these challenges. When I was looking for a PI position in 2001, I found that GRE in the School of Life Sciences was an outstanding institute in which to set up a research group. On joining GRE, my expectations have been perfectly met. It is an excellent collaborative environment that has helped my group develop our research projects both intellectually and technologically. Senior PIs, and all colleagues, have been generous with valuable discussion and advice about writing grant applications and group management. Exceptional research facilities allow us to access cutting-edge equipment and expert advice; in particular, high-end microscopy, proteomics and computation are world class. We are also assisted by outstanding research support: laboratory managers, media service, IT and administrative support. I have been very lucky to enjoy all these advantages of working in GRE.
