Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a very painful disease, and there are no good treatments to stop or slow the bone formation which occurs. I’m trying to increase our understanding of how this disease works, and come up with targets for new treatments. I do this through the study of the intermediate message between DNA and proteins, known as RNA. If you haven’t learnt about DNA or RNA in school yet, ask me some questions about it and I’ll be happy to tell you more.

I don’t spend all my time in the lab doing experiments.
While these are an important part of my job, an equally important part is analysing all the data that I generate. So I spend part of each day working on the computer to make sense of my experiments.
I also think tea is essential for conducting good science; you have to fuel the brain!

I love speaking to students about what I do, and science in general. I would love to do a roadtrip through schools in remote Queensland, engaging students in science. I could perform experiments, give lectures and interactive presentations. I did this for a week in North Queensland last year, and I’d love to be able to do it again.