AIBN Student Story: Opportunities from organoids

Written by AIBN PhD Student Zoe Hunter

The use of human-derived organoid models to study development and disease is an exciting, rapidly evolving field, and we are fortunate at AIBN to work with these technologies.

I am a second-year PhD student in the Wolvetang Group at AIBN. After doing an honours project with the group, I continued on to start my PhD with them, studying epilepsy using patient-specific organoid models.

With the support of my wonderful supervisors, Professor Ernst Wolvetang and Associate Professor Lata Vadlamudi, I have now had the privilege of being accepted as one of 15 laureates of the Nicolas Baudin Internships in France Initiative.

Through this initiative, I have the opportunity to undertake a 6-month research internship with the financial support to travel to and live in Paris. The internship is hosted by the Paris Brain Institute, part of the Sorbonne University, where I will be able to further my understanding of epilepsy and the application of organoids in this field under the supervision of renowned epilepsy researcher, Dr Stéphanie Baulac.

This collaboration will be incredibly beneficial for my development as a scientist and researcher.

I am keen to participate in work being done by the international research community and learn from their experiences.

I am very grateful for the support that I have had from my lab group, particularly Dr. Hannah Leeson, and Ernst and Lata, as well as from UQ, in order to be awarded this opportunity. I will also be forever grateful to my family for their encouragement, humour and support. I look forward to representing my group, my supervisors, and UQ with professionalism and enthusiasm, and to positively contributing to collaborative science between Australia and France.

To learn more about how AIBN is preparing high-performing and, job-ready students visit the?AIBN website