Dr Isobel Ronai
Where curiosity meets opportunity
Isobel, a Sydney grad turned Harvard researcher, highlights the value of undergraduate research experiences as a stepping stone to future opportunities.
Isobel's passion for biology began in high school and continued throughout her time at the University of Sydney, where she completed a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) and a PhD.
Her journey showcases the potential of research opportunities at Sydney.
A pivotal moment was attending the University’s Open Day and speaking with an academic in the Faculty of Science, who informed me I could do a degree that combined my two favourite subjects in high school (Biology and History).
I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Biology Department at Harvard University.
I was awarded funding for my research project with a Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
My research addresses the global health threat of tick-associated diseases like Lyme disease. I investigate the biology of ticks to enable the development of novel tick control strategies that will reduce disease risk.
The research experiences I had during my Bachelor's degree.
These opportunities included a project tracking locust behaviour in a laboratory arena and a group project where we designed an experiment colloquially called ‘slater racing’.
To this day I am working with invertebrate animals in a laboratory context.
I am very passionate about raising awareness for the global health impact of tick-associated diseases.
Last year I was invited to give a webinar for the Harvard Medical School on ‘How understanding tick biology can help you avoid Lyme disease’ .
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Dr. Ronai describes the biological characteristics that make ticks a particularly daunting threat and explains how we can use what we know about tick biology to protect ourselves against ticks and the diseases they cause.
