“… by the end of NYSF I was completely hooked on science”

Seven years ago I was lucky enough to go to NYSF, Session B, 2006. What followed was a two week blur of science, chanting, laughter, confidence building, friendship and that inevitable final day when you realise you have to go back home.

I was in Rutherford, being a chemistry enthusiast at the time, and wore a postcard sized golden-yellow nametag around my neck. The name on my golden-yellow nametag was Nicholas Blackburn and funnily enough that still is the name on the tag around my neck right now, except that it’s an ID and access card attached to a red lanyard that indicates the research institute I study in. I’m a PhD student in Hobart, Tasmania at the Menzies Research Institute. My area is human genetics / bioinformatics and I work on a large blood cancer project where we conduct whole genome sequencing of related blood cancer cases.

Before NYSF, I had been pretty keen on studying music at university but by the end of NYSF I was completely hooked on science. Being in that NYSF environment with all these other young science enthusiasts really showed me how much fun science can be.

So fast forward a few years, I graduated from UTAS with a Bachelor of Science in 2009 with a Biochemistry major and then completed an honours research year in 2010 in Neuroscience. In my undergraduate degree I worked with a research group at Menzies for the second and third years of my degree, which really exposed me to the world of medical research and drove my passion to work in that field. After the end of honours I began a PhD in Cancer Genetics in 2011. My PhD project started off in the lab at the bench but over the last few years it’s transformed into a more computationally based bioinformatics research project as I trawl my way through whole genome sequences to identify inherited mutations contributing to disease. I am working at the ‘cutting edge’ of research in a rapidly expanding genomics field. It’s damn exciting stuff, and a bit overwhelming at times.

So, seven years on from NYSF, what are the key influences I still draw on?

I was a bit of an introvert pre-NYSF. Admittedly I still am and I’m cool with that. But NYSF developed within me a level of comfort in my own skin that enabled me to step forward more, take more opportunities and speak up for myself. It took a number of months for me to grow into this new confidence but I use it every day now as a researcher, be it throwing my hand up to ask a question at a seminar (you’d be surprised at how many PhD students where I’m from don’t), talking for an hour in front of my group about my research, speaking off the cuff to community groups that tour our institute, as well as regularly visiting high schools and primary schools to get my science out there.

I think in many ways, my love of science communication also began at NYSF. Seeing people passionate about science has made me want to inspire that passion in others. And let me tell you, explaining your work to early primary school kids, at their level, and seeing them excited about science is a truly rewarding experience.

Also embedded within me from NYSF is this feeling of whatever I do and wherever I go in science I should be excited and passionate about what I am doing. If I don’t, it’s time to figure out why not and consider that I may need to move into a different area and re-spark my imagination. Thankfully, as a third year PhD student I still get excited about my project, it gets me up and going in the morning and keeps me up late at night.

A final piece of NYSF I still carry with me is the amazing network of fellow NYSFers we all possess. As well as keeping in touch by social media, occasionally you’ll see someone in a crowded room of scientists and think to yourself ‘wow, you look so familiar’ and then it’ll click and you’ll soon be reminiscing and catching up as if no time at all has passed. I look forward to the day when I bump into a fellow NYSFer in my field of research (any other geneticists / bioinformaticians out there?).

For me, right now, I’m past the half way mark of my PhD and heading towards the end of it. My work has recently taken me to San Antonio, Texas to work with colleagues for a month. Then I’ll be thrown into the midst of an American Society of Human Genetics’ conference in Boston alongside thousands of other researchers. After that, sometime next year I’ll finish this PhD and head off into the big wide research world as a postdoctoral researcher. Who knows, maybe I’ll bump into a few NYSFers along the way.