I have loved the research environment and the research community here. There are fantastic facilities, buildings and laboratories, and there is a lot of interesting research going on here. At UNSW you see innovative ideas actually put into action. Doing my Honours in biotechnology has been such an amazing journey. I was extremely lucky to have had a great supervisor who mentored and guided me throughout my year. The people here are very welcoming; they show you around and make sure you are comfortable.
My project was carrying out whole genome analysis of a stromatolite archaeon, a novel micro-organism which comes from Shark Bay in Western Australia. I was conducting comparative genomics to try and see how it survives in its extremely hostile environment. By sequencing and annotating its entire genome we can further bring light to certain unknown characteristics of this novel organism.
What I love about bio informatics is that every day you learn something – different programming languages, new discoveries about the organism itself. By the time we’d finished we’d increased by tenfold the data that had previously existed about this organism.
The good thing about doing my Honours here was it trained me to work independently. You are carrying out a lot of research by yourself and making decisions. As the project grows, you meet people from other labs and help each other out, creating a close research family.
I liked the student activities on offer at UNSW. I decided I absolutely loved the university the first time I saw it.
Now I’m working as a research assistant in Sydney and one day would like to do a PhD. Completing my Honours at UNSW has been a great help, it means I’m used to meeting deadlines and I can think for myself.
