Project: Assessing the role of SMAD signalling in pluripotency and differentiation of stem cells
The first thing I do when I arrive at the lab is talk to colleagues while checking emails. I will then prepare for my daily change of cell media by putting the media in a water bath to warm up and preparing solutions before changing the media just before lunch. After lunch, I then do any further experiments I have as there can often be a few one-off things that need doing. After that, I would go back to my desk and read and research literature on my project for an hour or two before going home. Although this may sound boring to the average person, one can’t illustrate in words the feeling of accomplishment one gets at being able to go to a place every day to work on cutting edge science. I hope that we will advance the understanding of SMAD-signalling as it is an area that is not well understood.
The scholarship is more than helpful! It means that I don’t have to get a second part time job over the holiday break in order to survive. All I have to do is go into the lab every day to work on my passion.
I think that the techniques I learn in the lab will help me long into the future as a scientist and the experience of working in a cutting-edge laboratory will give me the confidence and experience to continue on to other equally as good or better laboratories throughout the world.
I enjoy what Brisbane has to offer, however I would love to travel overseas, both for work and for a break from study. When I finish honours I am planning to go and teach English in Vietnam for a semester or two. After that, I would love to study and work at an internationally competitive university somewhere in either North America or Europe.
My career aspirations are either medicine, research or both combined, but if that doesn’t hold my interest I will continue my long loved passion for brewing and work full time in a craft brewery somewhere in the world.
I'd tell other students to just do it – you never know what new experience will bring to your life.