Girls in Science 2023 @ Scitech

From growing phage in the labs to treat cystic fibrosis to improving the health outcomes of remote aboriginal communities – working in science can look very different to different people. Join us at our Girls in Science event and hear from five Telethon Kids Institute scientists and researchers as they discuss their personal and career journeys that led them to where they are today.

Make sure to bring along your burning questions and enjoy the opportunity to pick their brains about what a career in science really looks like – no topic is off limits.

Speakers

Professor Catherine Elliott – from Curtin University and Telethon Kids Institute – invests her time in two main areas of research: supporting clinicians working in hospital and community settings to use the latest science in their clinical practice to improve outcomes for children and their families; and developing new evidence-based treatments impact to improve the functioning of children with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions. Professor Elliott supervises and mentors a large number of doctoral students, post-doctoral staff and researchers.

Associate Professor Asha C. Bowen is a clinician scientist working across the Perth Children’s Hospital as a paediatric infectious disease specialist and the Telethon Kids Institute as Head of the Healthy Skin and ARF Prevention Team and the END RHD Program. Asha has more than 10 years’ experience leading infectious diseases research and investigator-initiated clinical trials focused on issues significant to Aboriginal child health.

Dr Sarah Whalan is currently the Acting Data Manager on The ORIGINS Project, Telethon Kids Institute. Sarah holds over five years of experience working with The ORIGINS Project in a range of roles including Data Coordinator and Research Assistant. Prior to The ORIGINS Project, Sarah worked on the Aboriginal Birth Cohort and Top End Cohort studies in Darwin, Northern Territory, through Menzies School of Health Research. It was with this project that she undertook her Post Doctorate Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics through Charles Darwin University. In addition to her background in research, Sarah has also worked in private practice and clinical nutrition and dietetics.

Renee is a final year PhD student at The University of Western Australia and Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre at the Telethon Kids Institute. Previously a Medical Laboratory Scientist in Singapore, her passion in microbiology, a study of tiny bugs, has led her to Perth to embark on a project to tackle against multidrug resistant bacteria, or “superbugs”. In her project, she is exploring the potential of bacteriophages or “phages”, which are viruses that targets and “eats” bacteria. Pseudomonas aeruginosa are bacteria that are commonly found in the lungs of individuals with cystic fibrosis, gaining resistance against antimicrobials, making treatment difficult. Her project aims to identify phages that can kill these bacteria as well as reduce the inflammation caused by infection. Overall, her work will test the feasibility of phage therapy and provide an alternative treatment for those living with antimicrobial resistant lung infections.