Valuable experience for Chris
UniSA pharmacy honours student Chris Lau is a step closer to his dream career, thanks to the experience he’s gaining at a placement at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science.
As part of his degree, Chris is spending three months within the Veterinary Service Division of the IMVS, where he’s working on a project which could ultimately lead to better ways of producing antivenoms against a whole range of snakes.
His main task is to analyse serum samples taken from sheep which have been immunised with different amounts and types of venoms and at different intervals.
Chris, originally from Hong Kong, says the experience has so far been invaluable. “This is the first time I’ve worked in a laboratory setting in Australia. It’s fantastic because I’ve learnt a lot of new skills that I haven’t touched on before,” he says.
“My aim when I finish my studies is to work on developing new medicines so this experience should stand me in good stead in the future.”
And there’s every chance Chris will achieve his goal, if feedback from IMVS’ head of veterinary services, Dr Tim Kuchel, is anything to go by.
“It’s great for us to have access to bright students like Chris,” says Dr Kuchel. “It’s often the students who are the first to ask the difficult questions about the lab and our research methods – and it is these students who have the capacity to become invaluable contributors to our scientific research efforts.”