Tag: research

Beneath the Waves: Journeying into the Secrets of Marine Microbiology with Jadranka

By Yongxin Lyu

In the vast world of science, there are extraordinary people who dedicate their lives to unravelling the mysteries of our planet. One such amazing scientist is Jadranka Nappi, a marine microbiologist with an insatiable curiosity and a deep love for the ocean. Originally from Italy, Jadranka’s journey led her to the shore of Australia, where she embarked on a path that combines studying and working with marine creatures, uncovering the fascinating world of marine microbiology. Let’s dive into Jadranka’s story and explore the wonders she encounters every day. 

Jadranka freediving at Montague Island, Narooma, NSW, Australia (photo by Victoria Gray).

Immersed in Passion: Jadranka’s Journey into Marine Microbiology

Jadranka, also known as Jadi, comes from a diverse background with Italian and Serbian roots. Her connection to the sea is embodied in her Serbian name “Jadranka”, which echoes the Adriatic Sea, a part of the Mediterranean Sea separating Italy and Croatia. Growing up, Jadi has been captivated by the enchanting wonders of marine life. Driven by an insatiable curiosity, she set her sights on becoming a marine biologist from an early age.

As she delved deeper into her undergraduate studies in marine biology in Italy, her fascination with the ocean only grew stronger. “I always had the dream to study humpback whales, and to be in the ocean all the time. It is under the waves where I am at my happiest”. When it came to her final project, an exciting opportunity came to explore the world of marine microbiology overseas. Jadi packed her bags and set off on a life-changing adventure to Australia.

Stepping into the new field of marine microbiology was a challenge for Jadi, but she enjoys the excitement of exploring new things. Several months as an exchange student in Sydney eventually led to 11 years of an academic journey dedicated to studying bacteria in the ocean. After completing a PhD in biotechnology at UNSW, Jadi secured a postdoctoral fellowship in the Centre of Marine Science and Innovation, collaborating with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. 

Uniting Academia and Industry: Jadranka’s Exciting Collaborations

Jadi’s academic journey took an exciting turn when she entered her postdoctoral research which involves collaboration with an industry partner under the SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM + Business Fellowship with CSIRO. This unique collaboration allows Jadi to blend her knowledge of microbiology with insights from the business world. “I bring my knowledge about microbiology and bacteria, but I am also constantly learning about aquaculture, absorbing knowledge from every single person who works at the facility. I share successes and challenges with everybody, and I see how every day we all work towards the same goal. I am part of an incredible team”. 

Jadi finds great fulfilment in collaborating with the industry, appreciating the diverse knowledge and different approach it brings. The exchange of expertise creates a rich learning experience, where she constantly learns something new every single day.

A Life between Waves and Lab Coats: Jadranka’s Daily Pursuits

Jadranka on her field trip at the aquaculture facility (left), back in Sydney working at UNSW (middle), and with her dog Argo (right).

Jadi’s typical day is a dynamic mix of exciting fieldwork, laboratory analysis and academic responsibilities, depending on whether she is on field trips or back in Sydney. During field trips, she wakes up super early to embark on her marine research adventure. Working with marine animals in an aquaculture facility, Jadi takes care of them, does treatments, and collects samples. These samples are quickly processed in the on-site laboratory before being taken back to Sydney for further analysis.

Back in Sydney, Jadi’s day is quite different. The morning starts with walking her lovely dog, Argo. During the day, Jadi immense herself in office work, engaging in data analysis and writing research papers. Apart from doing research, Jadi also enjoys assisting PhD and honours students with their experiments and data analysis. 

Diving into Discovery: Jadranka’s Dual Life as a Researcher and Diver

Jadranka teaching scuba diving.

Jadi’s love for the ocean goes beyond her scientific work. Scuba diving and freediving are her greatest passions. Being in the water allows her to escape and find balance in her academic life, recharging her spirit. During her PhD studies, she worked as a scuba diving instructor on weekends, feeding her passion for underwater exploration. 

Inspiring the Next Generation: Jadranka’s Advice to Young Science Enthusiasts

With a strong desire to encourage young girls to pursue careers in STEM, Jadi has some valuable advice. She emphasizes the importance of curiosity and the courage to explore different fields. Jadi believes that by following their passions and being driven by patience and curiosity, young scientists can find fulfilment in their chosen paths. “Don’t be afraid of looking for something new, different from everything you know already. If you follow what makes you excited and a little scared at the same time, and if you do it with passion and eager to learn new things, it will take you somewhere incredible”. She encourages them to fearlessly pursue their interests, knowing that it is through curiosity and persistence that ground-breaking discoveries are made. 

Jadi’s journey into marine microbiology is an inspiring tale of passion, exploration, and the deep connection between science and the ocean. Her story reminds us that by following our curiosity and embracing the wonders of the natural world, we can unravel the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. Jadi’s work continues to shed light on the hidden world of marine microbes, inspiring future generations of scientists to dive into the thrilling realm of marine biology.

Follow Jadranka on Twitter: @JadrankaNappi

Email: j.nappi@unsw.edu.au

The brain activities in goal-directed learning: Meet Sophia Liang

By Vina Putra

Sophia is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology, UNSW. Her research looks into how the brain learns to perform specific actions in order to produce certain outcomes, otherwise known as goal-directed behaviour. In particular, she studies the activity of different parts of the brain to understand their role in the action-outcome learning process. Understanding the communication within the brain during this process could be the first step towards improving learning ability and addressing the learning challenges commonly seen in our aging population, especially those with dementia.

Sophia is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology, where she studies the brain activities in learning

Throughout life, we continuously learn new things that help us achieve our goals or simply to just get things done. For example, learning to drive a car, opening a push/pull door, or operating a machine. These are known as goal-directed behaviour – when we perform action that results in desired outcome, the action-outcome relationship. While much is known about how our brain understands the action-outcome relationship after long periods of time (Matamales et al., 2020), Sophia’s work focuses on the very early stages of this learning and the areas of the brain that receives this action-outcome relationship way before it is retrieved by other regions of the brain. 

Without realising, humans learn action-outcome relationships every day. This learning consists of three main stages: 1) acquisition when we first learn the information, 2) consolidation when we remember that learning, and 3) retrieval, when we retrieve that memory so that we can perform the learned behaviour. In her research, Sophia has shown that early in the acquisition stage, the prelimbic cortex is the region responsible for how we learn that action produces an outcome. Later on, she explores another region called the dorsal hippocampus which is important in acquiring contextual information – that is, the dorsal hippocampus helps us know where it is appropriate to perform or apply those relationships. While the two regions are responsible for similar functions, they are, however, not connected at all directly in the brain. Sophia’s work investigates the possible pathways or how communication occurs between the two regions in mediating learning.

Unfortunately, in the aging population, the ability to learn action-outcome relationships deteriorate. This can become very distressing, especially for people with dementia who begin to lose their ability to learn and retain new learning memories in every aspect of life. “Understanding how the two involved regions talk to each other means that we can then start to figure out what biological components are involved, which could be important targets in the development of therapeutic or pharmaceutical alternatives for dementia patients.”, Sophia shares the excitement for the future possibility of applying her research to clinics. This is how her research becomes the first step to improving learning in aging populations.

Sophia demonstrates how our brain might work during learning in certain situations, such as when we learn to push or pull a door. The cortex is highlighted in blue and the hippocampus is highlighted in green.

Working as an allied health professional to help others heal and improve their health has always been Sophia’s purpose. This led her into pursuing science in high school, although she admitted that she disliked biology and chemistry. For her high school exam, Sophia recalled that chemistry ended up being the subject that she performed the worst at and how it affected her overall score. The surprising twist was that among the range of allied health subjects that she wanted to do after high school such as physiotherapy, speech pathology, and occupational therapy, she also listed psychology without realising that it is a science subject. Soon in her psychology degree, she found herself enjoying the research work in behavioural neuroscience, studying various drugs’ effects on nervous systems, the modulation of pathways and behaviour – being immersed in more biology and chemistry than ever before.

In her second-year undergraduate study, Sophia received the UNSW Summer Science Vacation Scholarship which allowed her to experience research in social psychology early on. Under the mentorship of Professor Lisa Williams, Sophia worked on a collaborative project with the Red Cross Blood Donation Centre where she investigated how emotions shape the experience of first-time blood donors and influence their return rate for future donation (Williams et al., 2018).

Sophia’s journey to her current research started from her fascination with the possibility in manipulating the brain. When she joined Prof. Bernard Balleine’s lab as an honour’s student, Sophia learned the techniques of turning on/off specific regions in the brain. This process typically involves injecting a virus that causes the brain to express certain receptor proteins that can later be activated by a specific drug. When the virus is injected into specific brain regions, the virus makes receptors multiply, and the receptors will only be activated with a certain drug – clozapine (commonly used) – injected at a certain timepoint, resulting in brain regions turning on/off. This then translates to changes in behaviour that can be monitored to support the relevant hypothesis.

Sophia (second from left) and her team working with an animal model in the lab

Going back to her honour’s year, Sophia was looking to turning on the region called the orbitofrontal cortex, hypothesised to be involved in learning some actions that produce no outcome. The increased activity of this region is shown in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) where they compulsively perform actions even though they learn no outcomes would appear (Ursu & Carter, 2009). Sophia used animal models and train them on action-outcome relationships for a period of time before removing the outcome. She then observed whether animals with increased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex would still perform the actions, even if they get no reward. Sophia then continued working as a research assistant in Prof. Bailleine’s lab, working on a project that closely links to her now PhD research. Using the same virus-mediated brain manipulation technique in rats, she turned off the dorsal hippocampus region and trained those rats on action-outcome relationships to study the pathways in goal-directed learning.

Sophia (top row, second from left) enjoys playing OzTag with her team

Sophia enjoys many things that come with being a PhD candidate such as teaching undergraduate psychology courses, mentoring honours students, and seeing new findings emerge from her experiments. Apart from science, Sophia also loves history, and she always finds the chance to visit museums and historical sites wherever she travels, to learn about the different stories and the people of that area. She also enjoys watching movies and playing OzTag – her favourite ways to have a break and have fun.

As a champion, Sophia’s advice to young women who would like to pursue science is, “Don’t doubt yourself! Even if you don’t do well in science in school, it should not stop you from having career goals in science. The important thing is if you are passionate about something, go for it because you will adapt, learn, and grow.”

Follow Sophia on Twitter @SophiaLiang_