Lewis Murray
Why did you choose the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for your Honours year?
My decision to do honours at the institute came with my selection of project. After being to a number of open days and reading up on various projects, the project I really wanted was at the institute.
What do you see as the benefits of doing Honours at the institute?
The independent course work component of the honours course makes it easy to feel like part of a small cohort of students in the same boat.
We have plenty to do with each other, as well as exposure to frequent seminars and meetings. It is easy to feel involved in real science without it being too overwhelming.
Have there been any highlights?
No big research breakthroughs yet! Its always fun to plan experiments that haven’t been tried before and have a look at your own personal data afterwards.
The student retreat was great fun. It let me meet all the PhD students, as well as get to know my honours mates better, so that there are few more familiar faces around the place during the week. Playing on the institute's student soccer team on Thursday nights is fun too.
What is the subject of your Honours research?
I am studying a molecule called IP-10. It seems that IP-10 promotes a severe immune response to malaria, often resulting in death. Without IP-10, malaria is more survivable and the immune response is much more efficient at killing the parasite. I am studyinghow IP-10 goes about making the infection worse.
What does a typical working day involve?
If I have experiments planned, the day is spent at the bench preparing samples and slides. Otherwise, it is spent at the computer analysing data from previous experiments, reading papers and keeping the lab notebook up to date.
What did you study at uni?
Bachelor of Science, with majors in biochemistry and molecular biology and a minor in genetics.