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Viruses
in the Lab
Aileen
Oon & Hep C
by
Jack Wu
'I
absolutely hated biology'. A young woman pioneering in the
field of virology
in the University
of New South Wales had that to say about her experience
with the subject of biology despite having a wide interest
in science. Aileen Oon has just started her PhD this year
studying the hepatitis
C virus, a 'major worldwide pathogen''.
The majority of her time spent in studies involves PCRs,
which is basically a method of amplifying the viral genetic
material so that further investigations can be done. From
the investigations of the viral genetic material (which can
be very time-consuming), Aileen analyzes the results by looking
at the nucleotide sequences to find anything 'unusual and
exciting'.
On April 12th, Aileen tried for the 'nth' time a common procedural
experiment. Her determination and persistence shows throught
her dedication to her work.
During high school, Aileen 'hated' learning about plants;
which pretty much summed up to her what biology was about.
What brought Aileen to be in the field of virology was her
interest in veterinary
science closely followed by her interest in medical
science. She made her decision to study a science subject
in university after an excursion to a hospital in year 12.
Aileen now frequently does cell culturing. That involves going
to the virology research laboratory of the Prince
of Wales Hospital and checking on growth of live
cells. These are the cells subjected to hepatitis C infection
and the ensuing investigations.
With great results from high school and also from university
subjects, Aileen Oon has come to be a PhD student in University
of New South Wales, at the cutting edge of hepatitis C Research
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