1. What is your area of research and what is significant about it?
Vaccines- vaccines are the most effective public health measure we have for protecting us against disease. We have many great vaccines, but there are many more infectious diseases for which we have no effective means of prevention.

2. Why did you decide to follow a career in science?
I liked taking things to bits to see how they worked – science is all about how things work and why.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
That’s a good question, but lets talk about what you do first! I usually say I look after a research institute these days.

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
As much as possible! I enjoy ski-ing, scuba, bushwalking, time with my family, music and opera. I’d like to have time to read more for pleasure but that always seems to fall off the list.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I’d be a ski-instructor.

6. What are you most proud of?
My family. They have always been the support for my career. Science is a demanding master and my family through their support allow me to do what I think is important even though its not particularly a family friendly career.

What area do you research?
Viruses and cancer.

What made you decide to work in this field?
Viruses are exceptionally cool. Almost everything we know today about our cells, how they work and how they go wrong, such as when cancer occurs, we have learnt from viruses.

What is the significance of your research?
We want to cure cancer!

If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I am working on curing cancer using an awesome new genetic technolgy that can turn off cancer-causing genes.

What do you like to do when you're not in the lab fighting cancer?
I coach representative basketball as well as a number of club teams, I still play basketball competitively, I love to paint, play my guitar and double-bass.

What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I'd be an artist (but a poor and hungry one).

1.  What area do you research and what is significant about it?
I work at understanding how the immune system regulates its responses to normal body tissues.  This is important because when these mechanisms break down the body develops diseases like multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

2.   What made you decide to work in this field?
I was always interested in what made the body function in the way it does and the immune system in particular as it is a very complex interplay of cells and molecules.

3.  If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I’m a scientist and I look for cures for diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

4.  What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Spend time with my family, go to the beach and restore old motorcycles.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
Own a business – probably a café.

6. What are you most proud of?
The fact that my kids are growing up happy.

1.  What area do you research and what is significant about it?
My area of interest is bone and joint research, specifically osteoporosis and ankylosing spondylitis. These are diseases that are often poorly diagnosed and inadequately treated. Moreover, their impact on both quality of life and mortality for the sufferers are underappreciated.

2.   What made you decide to work in this field?
Playing contact sports for 30 years has given me a keen appreciation for the importance of bone and joint research! Other than that, my research career started with an undergraduate research project and I continued from there.

3.  If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
A research scientist – what else would you say? I could try male model but I’m not sure they’d believe me!

4.  What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Swim, ride my bike and drink wine – but not always together!

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I think being a winemaker could be fun – and the bonus you can drink your experiments!

6. What are you most proud of?
Persuading Janelle to marry me!

1.  What area do you research and what is significant about it?
Fat tissue, how it develops and why too much is bad for you. Obesity is one of the greatest health problems in the world today and is directly associated with development of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and many cancers. My research aims to understand the mechanisms regulating excess development of fat cells and to use this knowledge to develop effective anti-obesity therapies.

2.  What made you decide to work in this field?
I’ve always been interested in how the body functions in health and disease. I came to medical research a ‘little’ later in life than most after working in the fields of veterinary medicine and science education at a secondary level. My earlier careers were always in the general field of science and I eventually decided to go back to study and ultimately found myself working in the field of type 2 diabetes. The close association between this disease and obesity was very apparent and I decided to undertake a PhD to determine the molecular mechanisms governing excessive development of fat tissue in the human body and why this excessive adiposity leads to serious chronic diseases.

3.  If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I generally say I’m involved in medical research which often leads to conversations about my area of research – which I’m always happy to talk about. If I say I’m a scientist people often want you on their trivial pursuit team – which is very scary because it’s assumed you’ll know the answer to everything – even the literature questions (and, of course, I don’t)!

4.  What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Spending time with my family. We love the outdoors with camping and exploring being favourite activities. I also play guitar and mandolin and enjoy entertaining the birds and lizards around our campsite – it’s quite amazing that they’ll come close and sit and listen while you play.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I would probably be more involved in music.

6. What are you most proud of?
I’m very proud of my family – as all my colleagues know. With regards to my research, my identification of a key regulatory factor in development of human fat cells and demonstration that targeting this factor may be a method to limit excessive growth of fat tissue in the body is very exciting.

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
My research is primarily into breast cancer and other cancers that are regulated by hormones. Researching breast cancer is important because in Australia, breast cancer is the most common diagnosed cancer in women – affecting one in every 11 women under the age of 75 years.

2. What made you decide to work in research?
As I was growing up, I was always interested in science, particularly biology. I just seemed to gravitate into doing science at university and decided to make it my career.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I usually say that I am a molecular biologist and my research involves trying to understand how hormones like oestrogen control the way cancer cells grow and multiply.

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
When I am not in the lab, which is not often, I try to relax by going windsurfing or snorkelling and spending time with family & friends.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
That is a tough question… probably teaching or running a small business.

6. What are you most proud of?
In terms of my research, the identification that proteins called CAPER’s are involved in steroid hormone signalling and control the alternative splicing of RNA, the process in which several different proteins can be produced from a single gene.

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
I am studying the very early stages of the autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes. I am certain that our work, as well as those of others, will one day pave the way for preventing this dreadful disease.

2. What are you most passionate about in your work?
Exploring the unknown. When I am researching I feel like a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond (the Sean Connery variety)!

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I fool around with other people’s genes.

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Nothing much...this and that...I like to keep it that way.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I love interior decoration. It would have been a very satisfying profession.

6. What are you most proud of?
My family- my parents, my husband who makes me laugh, and my two year old who is an armful.

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
I research the energy metabolism in obese adults. I investigate how much fat is used for energy at rest and during exercise; and if obese people can use intramyocellular lipids (fat inside muscle cells) for energy. Also, I investigate how exercise and dietary restriction improve these conditions that are usually impaired in obesity.

2. What made you decide to work in this field (or science in general)?
I think it’s amazing how many questions still need to be answered about obesity and its associated diseases to be able to better fight this world epidemic. By getting involved in this research, I am doing my little bit for the world while becoming an expert in the field.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I research how we can better understand how weight loss can improve health.

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
I play “ultimate frisbee” in social leagues and at a national competitive level.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
I’d be fighting obesity on a community or government level – or organising major sports events – or volunteering in third world countries.

6. What are you most proud of?
I've just handed in my  PhD thesis!

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
My research examines the immune response to cancer proteins expressed in the skin. In particular, we believe that one component of the immune response, killer T cells, will be very important in attacking cutaneous tumours. The goal is to understand the activation and regulation of the killer T cells such that therapies can promote their anti-tumour action.

2. What made you decide to work in this field?
As a kid, I was always interested in the world around me and conducting experiments on backyard insects. My interest in immunology evolved during my undergrad years at The University of Queensland after visiting several excellent research seminars at QIMR. I was always fascinated that the body provided such an elaborate system to help prevent infection with bacteria, parasites and viruses. Since those early days I’ve been fortunate enough to work on the immune response to all three types of infection.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
Being in the Frazer group, I enjoy nothing better than discussing the finer points of cervical cancer over dinner. For those left at the table, I then try to explain that I am research scientist at UQ. This usually draws the response, “oh, so you’re a lecturer”. If all else fails, I remove my white coat and leap into Monty Python jokes or other random bits of insanity!

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Most of my time outside the lab is spent with my son. Apart from that, I enjoy listening to music, watching/attending Brisbane Roar football games and the occasional game of golf.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
Probably complaining that I should be in research.

6. What are you most proud of?
My son Alex and the fact that I’ve survived in research this long.

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
I am the Coordinator for SPARQ-ed (Students performing Advanced Research Queensland) - a unique educational facility which puts Queensland schools students in touch with the world-class researchers at the Diamantina Institute.

2. What made you decide to work in this field?
It was a natural progression from being a classroom science teacher. I've always loved the field of science communication and what better place to communicate great science than the Diamantina Institute.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I have the best job in the world. Don't worry about that bloke up at Hamilton Island - nothing beats the SPARQ-ed coordinator's position!

4. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
One or both of my cats.

5. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Support my wife's Roller Derby League - I sell T-shirts and other merchandise at the bouts.

6. What would you be doing if you weren't in this field?
Slaving away in a classroom.

7. What are you most proud of?
The first three SPARQ-ed Research Immersion Programs. I've come a long way since January in understanding what happens in a modern biomedical lab - it's changed a lot since I was a scientist in the mid-nineties - and to be able to translate this work into something students can understand and achieve at is a wonderful thing.

1. What area do you research and what is significant about it?
My area is AML (Acute Myeloid Leukaemia). It is a common leukaemia affecting adults, with a lifetime risk of one in 274 and 0.1% if between the ages of 50 and 70 years. While significant advances in treatment outcomes and overall survival have been made in some sub-types of leukaemia, most adults stricken with AML continue to do poorly. There is a need to research the reasons for this and to discover novel therapies.

2. What made you decide to work in this field?
Cancer research is quite fascinating. It is easy to be driven when you're trying to understand how and why some genetic mutations and changes that occur in a cell can transform it into a malignancy. The possibility that understanding the disease may lead to better treatments is very rewarding.

3. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you what you do for a living, what would you say?
I'm a Haematologist and a scientist. I am privileged to be trusted and to have an impact on peoples' lives at a time when they feel most vulnerable.

4. What do you like to do when you're not in the lab?
Work can occupy a huge amount of my time, which fortunately I enjoy. I do try to balance my social life and spend time with my daughters, who are growing up faster than I can keep up with.

5. What would you be doing if you weren't in research?
That is very hard to imagine. I would probably fly jets.

6. What are you most proud of?
My two daughters. I am also proud of good science and well designed and executed experiments. Even small discoveries advance our knowledge and contribute to the breakthrough we all search for. I am proud when patients ask to see me again in the clinic.