Siobhan McCarthy

Siobhan’s career ambition has always been to be a scientist. She completed a BSc at Sydney University majoring in Biochemistry and Physiology.

As a member of the Visual Sciences in RSB, Siobhan has made the transition from mosquitoes to eyes. Her PhD project focuses on myopia (short sightedness).

Sam Inverso

Sam's PhD topic brings science fiction into reality. It follows from his Master's thesis on Brain-Computer Interfaces - a mechanism that solely relies on brain activity to directly control a computer. His current research is a combination of his interests in cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence. It will produce a new method for face and object recognition with applications in areas such as medicine, manufacturing, biorobotics, and security.

Kate Kearney

Kate commenced her PhD in 2004. “I’m trying to establish whether a particular domain of a particular gene has a role in the development of Drosophila melanogaster (vinegar fly) embryos. I’m using targeted homologous recombination to replace a copy of that gene, with one that is missing the domain of interest. I’ll be able to then look at homozygous mutant embryos and determine what, if any, processes in development are disrupted.

Iain McConnell

Project: Substrate interactions with the catalytic for oxygen evolution in photosystem II

Iain says, “The whole of humanity is dependent on this process for its continued existence yet we do not fully understand how it works, my goal is to explain this process”.

Iain chose ANU for his PhD on the basis of people and facilities in the Photobioenergetics lab in RSB. Iain says, “My supervisors are well known in their field, incredibly able and great people. It is a constant challenge to measure up to their expectations.”

Hannah Bender

Long before graduating from Veterinary Science, at the University of Sydney, Hannah suspected that she didn’t really want to be a practising veterinarian. Her interest had always been in wildlife and wildlife research - so when the opportunity came up at to work on a PhD that might save a species from extinction she jumped at the opportunity!

Danielle Medek

Danielle chose ANU for her PhD after discovering the supervisors she really wanted to work with were in RSBS. Also, the rare opportunity to visit subantarctic Macquarie Island certainly did not dissuade her! Danielle says, “My group is very supportive and scientifically stimulating. With a long history of work in plant physiology, there is plenty of expertise to draw on for help and feedback.”