Tahnee Towers, a former CareerTrackers intern in The Brain Cancer Centre, is now pursuing Honours studies focusing on lung cancer and aims to improve patient outcomes.

I knew I wanted to be a scientist… when I was captivated by the illustrations and descriptions of diseases from my dad’s medical and science books. As a First Nations scientist, my Indigenous culture has also influenced my curiosity about the world. The incremental advances in knowledge passed down through generations resonate deeply with me.

I love being a scientist because… I’ve had the opportunity to undertake a CareerTrackers internship, a program which links First Nations students to employers, like WEHI. I had the privilege of being supervised by the brilliant people in The Brain Cancer Centre, something that has really enhanced my skills and reasoning.

What I love about cancer biology is… how it reveals the complexities of life at the cellular level. It’s fascinating to explore how a single malfunction can lead to such profound consequences. Understanding these mechanisms can open doors to innovative treatments that have the potential to save lives.

One of the coolest things I’ve been able to do as a scientist is… be part of the development of a method for identifying cell compartments in mouse brains through flow cytometry, a technique using antibodies to analyse individual cells. We isolated and analysed different brain cell types, allowing us to study individual cell populations. This work has given me invaluable experience in understanding brain cell dynamics at a detailed level.

The thing I’m proudest of is… being the first in my family to complete high school, an undergraduate degree, and having the opportunity to pursue post-graduate studies. Making my family proud has been one of my greatest achievements.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve overcome was… balancing my time as an undergraduate and undertaking an internship while my father was very sick. He had a lung disease, which is what inspired me to move into studying lung cancer under Professor Kate Sutherland.

I hope my team’s research will make an impact by … advancing the understanding of lung cancer and applying that knowledge to improve health outcomes for First Nations people, who are disproportionately affected by this disease. By bridging the gap between research and culturally informed care, we can make a real difference in addressing these disparities.

When I’m not in the lab, I like to… drive my Subaru Brumby out into the bush and photograph all the amazing fungi we have in the Macedon Ranges. Fungi could be the next frontier!