At the September Lunch Club Associate Professor Nathalie Bock shared life and career reflections while Dr Lionel Rayward and PhD candidate, Tom Van De Kemp presented their research.
Dr Lionel Rayward’s topic was Towards the perfect mattress: sleep architecture, sleep environment, and sleep posture, and Tom Van de Kemp talked about his study Dissecting tissue-specific endothelial cell dynamics through bioengineered matrices.
We also welcomed Dr Robyn Stokes, CEO and Director at Bionics Gamechangers Australia to talk about the exciting Students Bionics Innovation Challenge prize.
Congratulations to Brooke Lundon, PhD Candidate on receiving the September Outstanding HDR Award nominated by her supervisor Dr Jacqui McGovern with the motivation:
Brooke is an outstanding student who successfully articulated to a PhD in 2024. She is motivated by her goal to combine her clinical experience with her research focus and is passionate about consumer advocacy. This is evident through her work on the TRI Translational Committee, her involvement with the TRI Consumer Engagement Forum, and her ongoing efforts in the community. She has actively built collaborative networks with men’s health organizations, where she has presented her research to the community and made complex scientific concepts accessible to a general audience. Brooke’s research on tumour microenvironment neovascular responses in advanced prostate cancer was recognized with a Poster Award at the ASMR Postgraduate Symposium in 2023. Her emerging leadership and commitment to education and outreach is exemplified through her role as Chair of the OneTRI student committee and her mentoring role in the BIOtech Futures Challenge.
More information about the speakers (left to right):
Dr Lionel Rayward
Lionel is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). On completing his Bachelor of Engineering (Medical) in 2018, he took on PhD studies with the Biomechanics and spine research group working on a collaborative project with Sealy Australia, applying computational modelling to understand the human-mattress interaction during sleep. Upon completing his PhD in 2023, he took on a role as a postdoctoral researcher in the newly established QUT – Sealy centre for sleep and biomechanics research, to continue research in sleep ergonomics.
Associate Professor Nathalie Bock
Nathalie leads the Bone & Tumour Bioengineering research group at the Translational Research Institute (TRI), applying bioengineering strategies to study the bone organ and tumours in this microenvironment. From her PhD in Biomedical Engineering up to becoming an independent Research Leader in her field, now 8 years post PhD, Nathalie will dive into the key elements of what a career in academia has been for her to date. This will include failures, successes, and learnings, taken in the context of raising a family.
PhD candidate, Tom Van De Kemp
Tom van de Kemp completed his masters degree in Biofabrication in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and is now working as a PhD candidate at the Laura Bray Lab at QUT, in collaboration with the Lagendijk Lab at UQ. He studies endothelial cells and their differences across a variety of tissues to explore their role in the cancer microenvironment.
Did you miss the event? Watch this for a quick catch-up!
The CBT Lunch Club events offer our HDR students and early career researchers an opportunity to give practice talks and be inspired by other researchers. We also award outstanding achievements and share success stories. The sessions are arranged by Dr Jacqui McGovern and Associate Professor Nathalie Bock, CBT Internal Engagement Leads. Contact us if you have questions or would like to come as a guest speaker: https://research.qut.edu.au/cbt/