Careers In Science
Research – Get into it: Why these young scientists reckon that a career in research is a buzz
Growing up, kids are more likely to have ‘famous soccer player’ or ‘international rock star’ on their career wish list. But, according to this group of passionate young scientists, research is where it’s at when it comes to a great job.
1. THE FOODIE
Vanessa Shrewsbury got into her ‘creative’ career after an opportunity to do work experience at high school led her to decide she wanted to become a dietitian.
“It seemed to be an ideal way of combining my desire to help others and pursuing my interest in food and nutrition,” she explains. “After graduating from The University of Newcastle in 2001, one of my first jobs was as a research assistant on a study of early- and mid-childhood influences, including body composition and metabolic risk in Australian adolescents. This was a fascinating role that opened my eyes to how much we still have to learn about how humans interact with their environment and how this influences health.”
“Reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity, particularly in children and adolescents, is one of the major challenges in health in the new millennium. Without effective solutions many individuals will go on to develop various chronic health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease and as a result will have a reduced life expectancy or quality of life. It is predicted that current levels of overweight and obesity will have an overwhelming impact on health services in the future if action is not taken now. As part of my PhD, I’m contributing to a community-based, healthy lifestyle program for overweight and obese adolescents. If I had a headline for what I hope we can achieve it would be, ‘teenfriendly help for weight management – now one less step away’!”
“Science is not all about white lab coats and test tubes. I work in research that involves looking at the association between factors in our lives, such as diet, and how this impacts on health. People often find it hard to get a good grasp of what I am doing because over the years, research evolves and takes new paths, as do my day-to-day tasks. People I meet are always intrigued and interested in my work.
“A research career is unique. It enables you to develop a diverse range of skills that can take you anywhere around the world and have a real impact on people’s lives when good quality research is translated into practice. There is actually a lot of scope for using your creativity in science; it’s all about finding new and better ways of doing things.
“Much of the research that I have been involved in has been about identifying ways to enhance the health and wellbeing of young people and putting this into action. However, with climate change becoming a more prominent issue, greater consideration needs to be given to the ways we go about enhancing human health to ensure it’s more equitable and environmentally sustainable.”
2. THE CANCER FIGHT
Andrew Kassianos is a PhD Student at the Mater Medical Research Institute (MMRI) in Brisbane and works in the field of dendritic cell (DC) research. Describing himself as a “rather normal guy who just enjoys catching a movie with friends or watching live music, taking his dog for a walk and playing touch football”, he’s also involved day-to-day in cutting-edge science.
“I moved straight from high school into a science undergraduate course at the University of Queensland. I enjoyed science subjects in high school and thought it would be a natural progression to continue scientific studies at a tertiary level. Once at university, I became fascinated with cellular biology and genetics and how our knowledge base has evolved so rapidly in recent years. This has led to my desire to work in research and contribute to future scientific discoveries. These early science days shaped my career and I’m now working on a cutting-edge PhD project investigating the function of human DC subsets.”
“Science is everywhere – it would be impossible to exist without it. Advances in technology and science are transforming our world at an incredible pace and now is a fantastic time to enter the profession. To high school students who have a talent and are interested in different facets of science, I would definitely recommend they pursue it as a career. The next generation of scientists will be involved in discoveries and developing technologies that we can only imagine. For myself, working in medical research at the MMRI, I know that the outcomes of my research have the potential to prevent and cure diseases and actually transform people’s lives. Science is a real career with very real work-based outcomes that are matched with the personal satisfaction of supporting those in need. What can be better than that?”
“I really thrive on the buzz of a discovery, be that small or large, after weeks and months in the laboratory… it makes all the hard work worthwhile! And I have learnt the importance of perseverance; if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Most of all I have gained an appreciation for the amount of work required to translate basic scientific research from ‘bench to bedside’. I hope that my work will accelerate the development of efficacious DC-based cancer vaccines, providing a therapeutic alternative to cancer patients and a practical solution to a significant health and economic burden on Australia’s population.”
3. THE ACTIVIST
Naor Bar-Zeev is a paediatrician training in infectious diseases with an interest in child public health, particularly child health in underserved populations. In his spare time he studies statistics, philosophy and spends as much time as he can with his two young boys and his wife Sarah. For Naor, finding out how the world really works is fascinating and rewarding, plus he hopes it can “make a difference, maybe even make the world a little bit better”.
“I’m examining the causes of respiratory infections among Aboriginal infants in the Top End of the Northern Territory,” he says. “Aboriginal children suffer very high rates of respiratory disease, comparable to developing countries. Much of this is associated with overcrowding and poor nutrition and these issues must be addressed. There may also be benefit in the choice and timing of immunisations we use and this is what I’m studying. My focus is on the burden of influenza virus and modelling what benefits might occur if we used the influenza vaccine in young infants.
“I hope that this work will lead to an improved understanding of the causes of respiratory infections among infants and allow for more informed public health decisions about the use of immunisations, both among Indigenous infants and among all other Australian children. The type of work we are doing is also relevant to many developing countries in which children suffer and die from acute respiratory infections.”
“I moved to the Northern Territory from Melbourne to commence this research. The Territory is rugged and beautiful, and the natural presence feels more threatening and at the same time more vulnerable than urban environments in the southern states. It feels like human presence is just on the surface and that nature, not human beings, holds the dominion. This is humbling and inspiring. It’s a fascinating environment in which to conduct research. The ability to work in Indigenous health has been a tremendous privilege for me.”
“Science, particularly epidemiology, deepens our understanding of why and how things happen in populations. The interactions between infectious disease, individuals, communities, and society at large are so important to understand if we are to improve health. As a clinician one can make a difference to people at a personal level one-on-one. As a scientist one might be able to make a difference more broadly but also more indirectly. I hope to be able to balance the clinical and the scientific in my career. Also seeing patterns emerge from dry numbers is a more exciting revelation than I had expected. It’s harder work than I expected, often frustrating, but at times highly rewarding.”
“I’ve learned how important it is to be part of a fantastic team of colleagues, who support, assist, criticise and generally improve the quality of my own work and my ability to think. I’ve had a very close and fruitful collaboration with Dr Thomas Snelling, a friend, research colleague, and a paediatric infectious diseases physician. I’ve also learned the importance of working in an institution with a culture of encouraging research excellence combined with work that fulfils important social justice imperatives of our community. Menzies School of Health Research is one such enabling environment. Finally I’ve learned that patient persistence and dedicated diligence is more important than inspired idealised ends.”
4. THE PASSIONATE EXPLORER
Tony Golschlager is a neurosurgical registrar who enjoys kicking back with his family in his spare time. Passionate about his work as a doctor and his current research at Monash University, Tony also knows how challenging scientific discovery can be. While he’s learned how much he enjoys the intellectual challenge that research provides, he’s also learnt that there’s always more work to be done!
“I initially began my research because it was a requirement of my neurosurgical training. However, I didn’t realise how much I would actually enjoy it. I set out to concentrate on an area that has direct application to my clinical work and having done so, it has complemented my clinical work and helped make my research extremely exciting and rewarding.
“I think it’s important to choose an area of research that really excites you but you need to be prepared for some hurdles and setbacks as that’s the nature of research. When things go well it’s very rewarding but to succeed, you must be passionate about your work; it’s certainly not a 9-5 job!”
“My area of research involves the use of stem cells and their potential application to spine surgery. In particular, I’m exploring how mesenchymal stem cells and amnion-derived epithelial cells are able to enhance cervical spinal fusion. In this clinical setting, there’s a subgroup of patients who have a low fusion rate following surgical fusion intervention and there are currently limited fusion-enhancing options available to these patients. Our studies using adult stem cells, particularly mesenchymal progenitor cells, are showing promise in safely providing such an option to these patients.”
“I hope that clinical trials assessing this novel technology will commence in the near future using the techniques that we have been working on and that stem cells in this, and other applications, will be of benefit to many patients. Research being undertaken in the field of stem cells and osteogenesis in Australia is fantastic – actually, it’s world class. Australia is very highly regarded for the quality and standard of its research around the world, which is an impressive record for such a small country.”
This article was originally published in Australian Health and Medical Research – Working to Build a Healthy Australia.