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Degree: PhD
Year completed: 2003
Thesis title: Applications of a novel X-ray phase retrieval technique
Job 1: 2003-2005 Australian Synchrotron Research Program Fellow - “Synchrotron radiation studies of malignant brain tumours”, based at Monash University,
Job 2 : 2005+ Lecturer, Monash University, Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences and School of Physics (joint appointment)
Details: Since crystals are highly regular in structure, it is possible to characterise them at atomic level resolution using X-ray diffraction techniques. My thesis work extended the applicability of an X-ray phase retrieval method from crystals to amorphous materials, using a synchrotron based technique that was very sensitive to the small scattering angles arising from non-crystalline materials.
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Work
Job 1: My PhD completion timing was very serendipitous - about 6 months before I finished, the Victorian Government announced it would build the Australian Synchrotron across the road from Monash University, and Rob Lewis arrived at Monash from the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source in the UK to head the Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science. Also around this time, the Australian Synchrotron Research Program offered postdoctoral fellowships in synchrotron sciences, in part to train young scientists in synchrotron techniques. I, in collaboration with Rob and others, proposed using Small Angle X-ray Scattering, a diffraction technique, to look at cancers and see if it could form a better diagnostic technique than conventional methods. Since cancer growth and metastasis changes the structure of tissues, we aimed to probe these changes in the tissue matrix directly with SAXS, in contrast to conventional pathology, which looks at abnormalities in cell morphology. To date we have looked at brain tumours and breast cancer.
Job 2: Currently I am a Lecturer in both the Department of Radiography and Medical Imaging, and the School of Physics. I teach mainly units in the undergraduate radiography course, as well as some units in the
undergraduate physics stream. This ties in well with my research interests, which are increasingly cross-disciplinary, looking at various medical applications of synchrotron radiation. As well as the SAXS studies that were started during my fellowship, I'm interested in exploiting X-ray phase contrast for soft tissue imaging. I also co-supervise 2 PhD students working on projects in these two areas. My job is a bit of a juggling act, as I still travel overseas a lot to do experiments at synchrotrons in the UK and Japan, and have to fit these in around the teaching semesters.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working in synchrotron research, particularly in medical applications, is that the relatively small community is very generous with sharing ideas and knowledge. Physics skills cross international (and discipline) boundaries very easily. I manage to catch up with most of my overseas friends and colleagues at least once a year at international conferences, at which the social program is at least as important (if not more so) as the official conference program!
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My life
Although I spend a lot of time on planes getting to and from synchrotrons, I still haven't tired of travel nor run out of destinations on my “must see” list. This year it's the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which should give me a good opportunity to dedicate some time to two of my hobbies, photography and architecture. I've just gone fully digital, so this is a new challenge for me.
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