Lots of patients with cancer lose weight and muscle strength due to a condition called cachexia (sounds a bit like ‘Car-kex-ia’). An easy way to think of it is the cancer tells the body to eat all of its own muscle and fat. I’m interested in how our DNA  and proteins in our muscles change if we get cachexia, and if we can stop the body making these changes by eating certain types of food. At the moment, I am looking at an oil that comes from fish and krill, and whether that will slow down, or maybe even stop the disappearing muscle!

I don’t really have a ‘typical’ day, because the things I do change so often! I will usually start by feeding the cancer cells I grow, to make sure they are growing well and getting the nutrients they need. Then I might weigh and feed mice, or do some experiments to look at how proteins and DNA in muscle change during disease. Some days I will go and visit cancer patients, and others I have to go to classes or lectures to learn about the research other people are doing. I usually finish the day reading new journal articles about research other people in my area have done, and writing up research reports about the work I’ve been doing.

My family spent a lot of time in schools in remote areas of the Northern Territory, where, unfortunately, there are often no resources for students to learn about science, other than videos or books. I would love to work together with teachers from those schools to organise a program for visiting scientists to talk to students, and show them the hands-on side of science that they would otherwise be unable to experience.