There’s links here to all the scientists in all the zones we’ve run since March 2010.
Use CTRL-F to search for a particular scientist, topic or zone.
| Name | Institute | About me and my work | Zone name | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Todd | The University of Sydney in the School of Chemistry | We make molecules to fight diseases, but we’re trying to get everyone to work together online to make them better and faster | Hydrogen Zone | June 2011 |
| Magdeline Lum | I write for Science Network WA and Australasian Science as well as blog for Nature’s Student Voices. | I write science news articles in all sorts of areas of science. | Hydrogen Zone | June 2011 |
| Krystal Evans | The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, VIC (WEHI) | I am creating a new malaria vaccine – cause there isn’t one! | Health Zone | June 2011 |
| Lee Walsh | Neuroscience Research Australia | Designing and performing experiments on humans to look at how the brain, nerves and muscle work when we move around. | Health Zone | June 2011 |
| Tara Fernandez | Queensland University of Technology | Growing human skin in a test tube… | Health Zone | June 2011 |
| Upulie Divisekera | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre | I’m working on new treatments for breast and other cancers. | Health Zone | June 2011 |
| Bev Muhlhausler | Yes | I look at how being exposed to high fat or high sugar diets before birth or very early in infancy can change an individual’s risk of becoming obese later in life | Food Zone | June 2011 |
| Edward Shin | Victorian Department of Business and Innovation (2010-) | I work for the Victorian Government to help people develop “real, everyday uses” for scientific discoveries. BUT when I was an astronomer… (click ‘read more’ for PRETTY PICTURES!) | Food Zone | June 2011 |
| Kate Patterson | Garvan Institute of Medical Research and MediPics and Prose (Visual Science Communications) | We do cancer research and we are trying to work out why the genetics and ‘epi’genetics of cells goes wrong to form cancer. | Food Zone | June 2011 |
| Nathan O'Callaghan | CSIRO | Understanding how foods make us healthy | Food Zone | June 2011 |
| David Post | CSIRO | I look at how climate change might impact water availability in the future. | Food Zone | June 2011 |
| Darren Saunders | Garvan Institue of Medical Research | We’re trying to figure out what makes tumour cells different from normal ones, so we can design better ways to treat cancer. | Health Zone | June 2011 |
| Kieran Lim | Deakin University | I try to find safer fingerprinting reagents and ways of bring back deleted serial numbers. I also find out how students might learn science better, and use computers and maths to learn about chemical properties and change. | Hydrogen Zone | June 2011 |
| Bridget Murphy | University of Sydney, TAFE NSW | I want to find out why some lizards lay eggs while other lizards give birth to live young | Hydrogen Zone | June 2011 |
| Aimee Parker | Monash University | I study a protein that is part of our immune system. Hardly anything is known about it so I’m trying to find out what it does and where in the cell you would find it. | Hydrogen Zone | June 2011 |
| James Byrne | Royal Institution of Australia | I was a microbiologist working to understand how bacteria make you sick and now I’m a science communicator who talks and writes about science everyday. | Helium Zone | May 2012 |
| Elise Pelzer | The Women’s Health Lab at the Wesley Research Institute | I grow and identify bugs (microorganisms) from the upper reproductive tract… the text books would have you believe that if you do not have an infection, then these sites are sterile…not true! | Lithium Zone | May 2012 |
| Dustin Welbourne | Canberra Reptile Sanctuary, University of New South Wales | As a biogeographer, my work is focused on trying to understand why animals live where they do, and why they do not live in areas that they potentially could; then in my other job, I talk to the public about the great reptiles we have in Australia. | Helium Zone | May 2012 |
| Chris Scarlett | University of Newcastle | I lecture biochemistry, microbiology and research methods to 2nd and 3rd year university students, and I conduct research into novel therapeutic agents against pancreatic cancer. | Helium Zone | May 2012 |
| Arti Singh | The University of Queensland | I study the chemistry of enzymes called the cytochromes P450, which there are many different types of and which are found in nearly all living things, to find out what sort of chemical reactions they can mediate and how they do this. | Helium Zone | May 2012 |
| Yusuf Pisan | University of Technology, Sydney http://uts.edu.au/ | Creating tools to make the next generation of games | Lithium Zone | May 2012 |
| Renee Webster | Defence Science and Technology Organisation | I research fuels and lubricants used by the Australian Defence Forces. | Lithium Zone | May 2012 |
| Janette Edson | Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) The University of Adelaide | I’m developing new methods for forensic identification of people from degraded sources of DNA. | Lithium Zone | May 2012 |
| Kate Trinajstic | Chemistry Department Curtin University | I’m a paleontologist who is trying to understand how we evolved an internal skeleton. I am using the synchrotron in France to examine different types of mineralised tissues such as bone, cartilage and dentine, and why different groups of vertebrate animals have different types of mineralised tissues. I am also looking at how bone grows and as the bone grows how muscles remain attached. | Beryllium Zone | May 2012 |
| Dirk Slawinski | CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, in Floreat (Perth) Western Australia. | I mainly work with ocean models, “feeding” them data, analysing the results and making plots to help understand the results. | Lithium Zone | May 2012 |
| Herbert Chiou | 3M Consumer Health Care (USA, 2010 – present) | I passionately help create and develop relevant consumer health care solutions in an ever evolving environment. | Beryllium Zone | May 2012 |
| Goli Samimi | Garvan Institute, NSW | Our group works towards improving treatment and survival in ovarian cancer patients. | Beryllium Zone | May 2012 |
| Chris Slape | Monash University (1 year) | I’m a molecular biologist trying to understand what causes leukemia, and how we might prevent it. | Beryllium Zone | May 2012 |
| Brad Tucker | Mt. Stromlo Observatory, The Australian National University | I use supernovae, which are stars that have exploded, to figure out what the Universe is made out of, how it was formed, and what will happen to it. | Beryllium Zone | May 2012 |
| Steven Tingay | Curtin University in Perth, since 2007. | I build and use radio telescopes in order to figure out how the Universe originated and has evolved over the last 13.7 billion years. | Helium Zone | May 2012 |
| Kym Pyke | St John of God Pathology – Geraldton Laboratory | I work in a pathology lab, testing blood and other pathology samples for diseases so that doctors can treat patients with the proper medications/treatment. | Disease Zone | August 2012 |
| Simon O'Toole | I currently work at the Australian Astronomical Observatory. | I look for planets orbiting other stars, help other astronomers use big telescopes, and speak to as many people as possible about astronomy. | Boron Zone | August 2012 |
| James Smith | South Australian Museum | Working in the Information Centre of the South Australian Museum, we engage and educate the public in relation to natural and cultural history, using real artefacts. | Boron Zone | August 2012 |
| Mark Hamann | James Cook University | I am a marine biologist who works with marine animals – such as turtles, dugongs, dolphins and sea snakes | Boron Zone | August 2012 |
| Natasha Langley | Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney (next to St Vincents Hospital) | I’m working on some drug that can prevent you from getting fat, and can make someone who is already fat loose weight! | Disease Zone | August 2012 |
| Melina Ellis | Department of Physiology, Melbourne University | I make video recordings of wiggling pieces of gut and analyse them to find out how our digestive system is controlled by its own nervous system ‘the mini-brain’ | Organs Zone | August 2012 |
| Heather Sheldon | CSIRO, Perth | Iām a geologist researching geothermal energy in Western Australia | Boron Zone | August 2012 |
| Haeng Soon Park | Medical School, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Nepal | I teach biochemistry in a medical school in Nepal. I am very much interested in stimulating young people for scientific mind. | Disease Zone | August 2012 |
| Yashar Razavi | Monash University | I’m looking at how immune cells (white blood cells) in your eye work in protecting against inflammation and infections from nasty bugs | Organs Zone | August 2012 |
| Vanessa Vaughan | Deakin University | I’m a molecular nutritionist, and my research looks at a muscle wasting syndrome in cancer patients, known as cancer cachexia, and how nutrition may help prevent and treat this condition. | Disease Zone | August 2012 |
| Hannah Brown | Robinson Institute, University of Adelaide, SA. (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/robinson-institute/) | I use a mouse model to try and work out the reasons that some women have more trouble trying to get pregnant than others. The reason we use mice is because they are cheap and have lots and lots of babies really quickly!! š | Organs Zone | August 2012 |
| Carina Marshall | The University of Western Australia, The Raine Study | Right now, I’m looking at a big study of kids for clues about vitamin D and how it relates to their health. | Organs Zone | August 2012 |
| Steven Hamblin | I study questions about viruses, like how they evolve and why they do weird things to their hosts like turn them into ‘zombies’ (not the undead, but how they control the host against their will). | Disease Zone | August 2012 | |
| Matthew Davis | School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queenland in Brisbane. | I carry out research in theoretical quantum physics, and teach physics to uni students. | Boron Zone | August 2012 |
| Emma Burrows | Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health. | I am a neuroscientist who studies mouse behaviour and brains to understand schizophrenia and autism. | Organs Zone | August 2012 |
| Dominique Cotterill | I do so much work at Uni š | I like plants and I study Agricultural Science at the University of Tasmania | Agriculture Zone | March 2013 |
| Yagiz "Biohacker" Alp Aksoy | Macquarie University, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Enli Mining Pty Ltd | I am shedding “light” onto the blackbox of the cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory diseases taking synthetic biology and optogenetics approaches | Disease Zone | March 2013 |
| Miranda Ween | University of Adelaide | How do superbugs recognise essential nutrients (metals) in their environment, and how can we use this against them? | Disease Zone | March 2013 |
| Rebecca Doyle | Charles Sturt University | I feel very lucky because I have a job that combines my favourite things – animals and travel. | Agriculture Zone | March 2013 |
| Kim Ritman | I work for the Australian Government in the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry in the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) | I lead and provide information to non-scientists in a form that they can understand. | Agriculture Zone | March 2013 |
| Harjeet Khanna | 2002-onwards at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld | I am a research scientist in agricultural biotechnology | Agriculture Zone | March 2013 |
| Katelin Haynes | University of Queensland Diamantina Institute | I’m trying to learn more about ankylosing spondylitis, a disease where all the bones in your spine fuse together. | Disease Zone | March 2013 |
| Brent Kaiser | University of Adelaide | I’m a teacher and research scientist in the plant sciences. | Agriculture Zone | March 2013 |
| Kate Skulte | University of Western Sydney | Iām working on a project that looks at the on and off switches for our genes in our DNA and their role in complex diseases like cancer and allergy. | Disease Zone | March 2013 |
| Cindy Lin | Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University | My research is in Multiple Myeloma, a type of blood cancer. I’m trying to find out what makes this disease worse in some patients than in others. | Disease Zone | March 2013 |
| Shona Marks | I collect and identify invertebrates (animals without a back-bone) from aqautic habitats to see how healthy or polluted an ecosystem is. I specialise in marine habitats (oceans, beaches and mudflats) and freshwater habitats (creeks, rivers and dams). | Wet & Wild Zone | March 2013 | |
| Jennifer L. A. Shaw | University of Adelaide February 2012 – 2015 | I ensure our rivers and drinking waters are healthy and clean for us to enjoy by looking at the bacteria and microscopic animals in the water by sequencing their DNA! | Wet & Wild Zone | March 2013 |
| Elizabeth Stark | I work at (and partly own) a company called Symbolix. | I use statistics to describe how the environment changes over time and to test whether it’s being impacted by us humans. | Wet & Wild Zone | March 2013 |
| Blaire Dobiecki | TechNyou | I travel around Australia, talking to people about emerging technologies (e.g. genetically modified foods, nanotechnology, etc…) and getting them to think critically about the consequences of that technology. | Wet & Wild Zone | March 2013 |
| Simon Allen | CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship | Leading a team of scientists dedicated to understanding Australia’s coastal environment | Wet & Wild Zone | March 2013 |