Profile
Liz Murchison
My CV
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Education:
1985-6 St Oswald’s Infant School, 1986-9 Applecross Primary School, 1990-1991 Taroona Primary School, 1992-1998 St Michael’s Collegiate School, Hobart, Tasmania
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Qualifications:
University of Melbourne, Australia 1999-2002, Genetics; PhD at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, USA
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Work History:
I worked for a few months at the Australian National University before I came to the Sanger Institute
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Current Job:
Tasmanian devil cancer
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Read more
Tasmanian devils are in danger of going extict because of an infectious cancer that is spreading through their population. The cancer is spread by biting and causes tumours to grow on the face and inside the mouth of affected devils. The disease is always fatal and usually kills affected devils within a few months. I am sequencing the DNA from the devils’ cancer to find the mutations that caused the disease. Ultimately I hope that my work will lead to a cure or vaccine for the disease.
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My Typical Day:
I spend my time staring at mutations in devil DNA.
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Read more
On a typical day I might extract some DNA from devil tumours, prepare the DNA for sequencing, analyse my results on the computer, read some papers describing recent findings from other scientists and prepare some slides for an upcoming talk.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Genome sequencing allows me to find all of the mutations in the devil cancer in one go.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Busy. Busy. Busy.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I remember one time getting in trouble for chasing people with nettles.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Lady Gaga, Irish folk music, Gypsy Kings
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Search the Tasmanian bush for devils (I’m a workaholic…)
Tell us a joke.
I bought a box of animal biscuits and it said on it “Do not eat if seal is broken.” So I opened up the box, and sure enough…
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