Meet Sienna Casolin who is a Researcher Assistant in the Genome Integrity Unit.

What is your background?

I finished a Bachelor of Medical Biotechnology (Hons) at the University of Wollongong in 2020. Prior to moving to Sydney for work, I lived on an acreage with my family in Jamberoo (2 hours south of Sydney).

What attracted you to science?

I always loved science and biology at school, but I became particularly interested in medical research when a family member was diagnosed with an understudied and poorly understood medical condition. It made me realise that there’s a lot that we’re yet to understand about health and disease, and I wanted to be a part of the learning/research journey towards a better understanding.

What does your typical day look like?

More often than not, my day will start with some work in tissue culture where I’ll use cells to set up an experiment. Then I’ll start working on other experiments that I have in progress, which often include chromosome drops, flow cytometry, or western blotting. I also spend time imaging and/or analysing fixed and live cell microscopy experiments.

What is your favourite part of the job?

I like that there’s always something new to do, whether it be tweaking an experiment to answer a different question or learning an entirely new technique to answer a question in a different way. I really enjoy the variability and always being able to try something new.

Learn more about our Genome Integrity Unit here.