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Janette Berglez
My life as a scientist
I work on drug resistance to malaria. Malaria kills millions of
people every year and if the type of malaria is resistant to the
common sulphur antibiotics, the people have to take more expensive
ones. In poor countries, this isn't possible. I found out that some
of the older drugs, which are a lot cheaper, can be used for some
types of resistant malaria.
I love working in health sciences because I want to help people.
The work I am doing now is a good opportunity to help the less fortunate
people in developing countries and it is a challenging project to
be involved in. Also, the skills I have developed can be used for
understanding a whole lot of other diseases.
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"I think you have to be a 'but why?' type
of person in science and to not get disheartened by negative results.
The best thing is that in science you learn even from the mistakes." |
How I got here
I had a curious nature as a child and like the environment, nature
and animals. As I grew older, I became interested in how things
work - particularly from a medical perspective. I am not very good
with blood and guts so thought I'd better go into research, rather
than become a doctor.
I studied Biology and Biotechnology at the Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology then started my PhD with CSIRO and RMIT on malaria.
Fave music: Alternative
Fave food: Indian
Fave movie:
The English Patient
Fave book: A Brave
New World |
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What I think of science as a career
The best thing about working in health sciences is how diverse your
career could be. I work on malaria now but the biology skills I
have could be used to understand a whole lot of diseases. And the
general science skills I have could be used in understanding how
diseases like SARS moves through the community. I am really excited
about my future - I could end up anywhere!
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