|
Interested
in Everything -- Liking the Lab
Matthew
Martin
Senior Research Assistant
Brisbane, Australia
Background
As a child, I was always interested in
everything. At five, I decided that I wanted to learn
violin. I loved playing with magnets, mirrors, magnifying
glasses, and machines and pulling things
apart to see how they worked
(not that I could always get them back together).
I loved watching plants grow and the natural world. I also
had access to a lot of bushland that was overrun with Lantana
(a woody weed). I ran my own "experiments"
on methods to use to remove lantana from the land and replace
it with native plants.
In high school, I studied a range of science
topics and found that I was most interested in the area of
genetics and molecular biology.
I was fascinated by the concepts of Mendelian genetics and
natural selection and the complexity of genes and chromosomes.
When it came to the end of high school, I had to make the
decision between music and science, and I
am still glad that I chose science.
After high school, I didn't feel that I was
ready for university. So I deferred and went
into the Australian Army for a year. That
was definitely a change in scenery. My time in the Army made
me appreciate university when I got there the next year.
I studied molecular genetics, biotechnology, microbiology,
bioinformatics, and biochemistry at university. Since I graduated
six years ago, I have been employed in a range of
science jobs. The one I am in at the moment
is very enjoyable because I have a degree of independence
and the people I work with are great.
My day in science
On the 12th of April, I did an experiment in animal
tissue culture. I work in a university, but I am
actually employed by a private company to help them set up
and eventually help run clinical trials.
The product we are working on is a protein complex that promotes
rapid wound healing. One of the key parts
of wound healing is where cells from around the wound migrate
into the wound site and replace the cells that have been damaged.
On the 12th of april, the experiment that I was doing involved
testing the amount of migration caused by our protein complex.
My day started at 5am when I got
up in the dark! (I wasn't happy to have to be up so early).
I took the CityCat (ferry) to work, and I got to the lab by
6:45 to set up my cells for the
day (not my usual starting time thankfully!).
While my cells were growing, I ran some gels to see that what
I was working with was still actually there and had not disappeared
overnight. Science is a lot about being cautious
sometimes and being able to back up and repeat your results
at every stage.
A lot of my day was waiting, and I actually went home
in the afternoon for a couple of hours (you
have to love the flexibility of science jobs).
Finally, around seven that night, I took the cells out of
their growth tray, and they had migrated!
It was a relief not to have done all that work and have no
results to show for it. The results I got helped us to make
some very important decisions about what protein complex would
be used for the clinical trials. It was great to be involved
in answering important questions for my project.
Even though it was a very long day, it was
a very satisfying end to the day. I knew
that I could go in late the next day if I wanted to.
|
|
