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Gregory
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Principal Research Biotechnologist
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Who do you work for?
CSIRO Livestock Industries.
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What does your job involve?
Research into the effect of genes and the environment on the variation in meat quality traits, like toughness and marbling.
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What do you like most about your job?
I get to work with some creative and really committed people, and I can add my energy to some worthwhile projects.
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What are the perks of your job?
I get to travel to interesting places to pursue my passion for science.
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What is the most unusual or fun thing you’ve done in your job?
I once co-wrote a book chapter with a colleague while sitting on a porch of a fishing cottage in Norway. Also in Scandinavia, I attended a Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in 1987.
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What inspired you to choose a career in this area?
A neighbour of mine taught me about the allowable mathematical differences in measurements, exactitude and experimentation. I thought I would enjoy doing that sort of work.
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How did you get to where you are now?
I started as a Laboratory Cadet at the University of Queensland in 1978, while studying for a Bachelor of Science. After completing this degree, I studied to complete a Masters Qualifying Examination, while working full-time. I successfully competed for a postgraduate scholarship at Monash University to study Biochemistry. After four years I completed a PhD in the field of molecular biophysics. Contacts I had made during my postgraduate studies prompted my move to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where I was a Fogarty International Fellow. I worked with William Gahl, on metabolic disorders in children. After three years at the NIH, I had a year in Uppsala, Sweden and worked with Torvard Laurent, again on metabolism. Finally back to Australia in 1988, and to the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital, as a researcher. After four years, I decided to join CSIRO in order to apply my work to industrial problems and return to Queensland. I have now been in CSIRO for ten years.
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Who or what has been an inspiration to you?
My scientific colleagues have been an inspiration to me. I admire the foresight and commitment of researchers like William Gahl, Michael Zasloff, Masaki Yanagishita, and Phil Jennings. None of these people are well known outside the scientific community but they should be given the contributions they have made to society.
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What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
One of my colleagues told me that it was “invaluable” for an Australian scientist to spend time working overseas. This helped me focus when I was undecided about direction, immediately after my PhD.
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What training/qualifications do you have/need?
Bachelor of Science, University of Queensland
Passed a Masters Qualifying examination, University of Queensland
PhD, Biochemistry, Monash University
Graduate Diploma of Technology Management, Deakin University.
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What subjects did you study at school?
Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Modern History, Japanese and English.
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What are your career goals/plans for the future?
I plan to continue doing good science, but I foresee a bigger role for me in encouraging others to do good science. Also, I would like to learn more mathematics.
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What career opportunities are there for people in your field?
Many – limited only by one’s imagination and flexibility. People speak about this being the “Biotechnology Century”. Biological scientists are actively paving the way and making the discoveries, and governments have rarely been as supportive as they are now.
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What is the average starting salary for a graduate?
BSc, with or without Honours, $35-45K
PhD, with some postdoctoral experience, $45-55K
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