PHI

Today marks the first day of me working in Prince Henry Institute of Medical Research as a vacation scholar. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Summer Vacation Research Scholarship by the Cancer Council of Victoria @ $250 per week and will be spending 10 weeks working on the molecular pathogenesis of Granulosa Cell Tumour(GCT), which is a rare form of ovarian cancer under the steroid receptor biology group spearheaded by Prof. Peter Fuller.

I woke up early this morning feeling extremely ecstatic. Took my breakfast (Milk+Cereal, cant afford other than this), and then had a slow walk to the hospital which is situated only 15-20 minutes from my place. Prince Henry's Institute is a non-profit medical research institute situated in Monash Medical Centre(Central Clinical School) together with some other renown tertiary centers such as the MIMR(Monash Institute of Medical Research).

Prince Henry's Institute is renowned for its research in reproductive medicine as well as endocrinology, the study of hormones and it's signalling pathway. The main reason I chose to work under Prof Fuller is because he is one of the few clinicians who are extremely active in research, who will probably be the best person to provide me with valuable insights regarding the future career prospects in academic medicine. I love clinical work a lot that I am certain and definite that I would not dedicate my medical career into pure research, instead I aimed to contribute as much as I can to the advancement and development of medical knowledge by indulging myself in some sort of clinical research somewhere down the line. Instead of being just a consumer, where I am only confined to gaining and leeching knowledge from some other's work, I would want to be acclaimed for my contribution in the medical arena.

Ask any students in Australia who is pursuing a biomedical related degree and they will be happy to name you a few research organisation which have been well established over the years. Names like Burnet, Peter Mac, MIMR, PHI, Baker are well known among the local students. Indeed, I am very fortunate to be part of this leading research institute, no doubt it enables me to have a sneak preview of what research is going to be like.

Throughout this 10 weeks, I will be particularly looking into the role of PPAR (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activator Receptor) in the pathogenesis of GCT. Lots of reading up to be done before the research group meeting that is going to be held tomorrow morning.

This Ligand that Ligand, this kinase that Kinase, P53, BCL-2, Transfection- Had a hard time comprehending all the jargons introduced, but I guess it's still part of learing =)

p/s : As a vacation scholar, you get your own office like the honours and PHD students, you get your own locker ,you get to see what's 2 dimensional gel electrophoresis and also a DNA sequencing machine!

The Ovarian Cancer Felllow.

Dr Simon Chu, on the right end corner who is going to be my main supervisor has returned to PHI as the Loreal Paris Research Fellow after 2 years studying overseas. In his projects, he will be exploring the origins of some of the most serious form of ovarian cancer.

The silver ribbon that they're wearing was introduced by the OCRF(Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation) and the main objective is to raise awareness about Ovarian cancer and also to raise much needed funding support towards finding an early detection test for ovarian cancer.