Girls in Physics Breakfast in Geelong
At the breakfast students from Years 10 to 12 share a table with two or three women who are either in a career in physics or engineering, or are at university as an undergraduate or a postgraduate. The students have a chance to ask questions about their careers and what study at university is like. Students are seated with students from other schools.
At each breakfast there is an address by a prominent scientist, who talks about her area of interest at a level appropriate for the audience.
Date: Weds, 2nd August 
Venue: Davidson Room, 2 Fenwick St, GeelongTimes: 7:30am and finish about 10:00am.Speaker: A/Prof Elizabeth Hinde, Melbourne University
Bio: In 2010 Elizabeth completed her PhD in fluorescence spectroscopy at the University of Melbourne and was then recruited to the University of California, Irvine, USA to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Professor Enrico Gratton. In the Gratton lab (2010-2013) Elizabeth developed methods based on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to quantify the interactions of chromatins, which are bundles of DNA in live cells.
With the aim of applying this technology to cell biology, Elizabeth returned to Australia as a UNSW Vice Chancellor Fellow (2013-2015) and a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellow (2015-2016). Under the mentorship of Prof. Katharina Gaus, Elizabeth established a research program at UNSW which investigated nuclear organisation in live cells.
This work was recognised by the US Biophysical Society with the 2014 Young Fluorescence Investigator Award and the Australian Society of Biophysics with the 2016 McAulay-Hope Prize for Original Biophysics.
Topic: Glow in the dark– Using fluorescence to observe DNA in a living cell.
Abstract: Fluorescence microscopy: what it is, how it works, how it is used and what it reveals.
Fluorescence microscopy helps to visualise how molecules move through the three dimensional DNA molecule in a living cell. This relates to how genes produce proteins and why genes sometimes produce the wrong protein, which can lead to cancer.
Fees:
The table below shows the fee structure.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| First Teacher | No Charge |
| Second Teacher | $20 / $5* |
| per Student | $20 / $5* |
* A discount was available for schools with a low ICSEA rank. Discounts could be applied for by emailing Vicphysics with subject ‘Breakfast discount’.
Fees
Two methods to pay are available,
- by credit card or
- by bank transfer, an email is generated with the details of the Vicphysics bank account.
Max number of students per school: To enable more schools to participate, there was an initial maximum of twelve (12) students per school.
Booking:
Program:
There is a 45 min talk, starting about 8:20am followed by questions. After this there are two activities on Careers in STEM i) Quiz and Job Roles Analysis and ii) Case Studies analysis. A Q&A with a panel of guests rounds out the event.
Promoting the event to your students
Sponsors and Supporters
The Girls in Physics Breakfasts are organised by the Vicphysics Teachers’ Network and supported by funding from the Laby Foundation and the Victorian Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics. The program is also supported by the Royal Society of Victoria.
