From left, Botany postgraduate students Sajini Dissanayake, Finn Dobbie and Jessica Paull are delighted about the new thermocycler.
Two postgraduate students have won the Department of Botany “a very fancy incubator” after entering an Australia and New-Zealand-wide competition.
Jessica Paull and Sajini Dissanayake’s entry into the Thermo Fisher Scientific competition has secured the Department a $13,000 thermal cycler – a small but mighty machine that helps researchers unlock and amplify DNA and RNA.
Fellow postgraduate student Finn Dobbie was first to spot the competition and describes the machine as “a very fancy incubator”.
Jessica and Sajini took up the challenge after hearing about the competition from Finn, and their winning entry detailed Sajini’s research and how beneficial a new thermal cycler would be.
And they say, the benefits are plentiful.
Sajini currently shares two thermocyclers, each with their own quirks, with the many students in the department. The new thermocycler will enhance her research into plankton and make a world of difference for the research lab – reducing stress and increasing the accuracy of the results.
Meanwhile, Jessica’s area of research is the microbiomes of moss, which are made up of fungi and bacteria.
“When you study the microcosms of a microcosm, like I do, precision and accuracy are key. It will be amazingly helpful to have access to a top-of-the-line machine.”
And Finn is looking forward to using the machine to investigate truffle morphology.
"Some say that it’s not the tool, but rather the person who wields it. While this is true, it is helpful to have a good tool, and I am grateful to Thermo Fisher,” he says.
Associate Professor Janice Lord is proud of the students’ initiative.
“It only takes someone to say, ‘let’s give it a go’, for fabulous things to happen.”
The new machine is scheduled to be delivered on 16 July.
Kōrero by Sally Knox, Communications Adviser, Division of Sciences