Hi, my name is Manisha
I am a PhD student at the Vascular Complications Group. Previously I started as an honours student, and then I loved what I was doing, so I decided to continue with a PhD.
My career in science started off when I was doing biology during my HSC, and I really loved it, which is why I took up a Bachelor of Medical Science at University of Sydney. Over there, I learned about the honours program that was offered at HRI. And it interested me, so I joined it, and I really enjoyed working in the lab.
HRI has supported me through a PhD scholarship, which I was lucky to receive just last year. And with that, it's become much easier to do my research. We have a wide range of facilities that are available and there are a lot of tools that we can use that increases our research capabilities and also our research skills. Each researcher is skilled in some of the expertise. Our supervisors are the ones that guide us through our research, and they're the main support. We have staff that are always helpful, ready to help out, and we have many seminars where we can get the opportunity to collaborate between different researchers.
Science might be a little bit hard, but when I started to work in the research labs, I realised that it was something that I could do as well. The papers that I've read, the experiments that they've performed – I didn't think I was capable of it, but now I am. If you love science, and if you're willing to learn new concepts for the rest of your life, then research is for you because every day you'll be learning something new.