Source: University of Otago
PhD candidate Francesca Hills advises anyone attending university to study what they are passionate about.
PhD candidate Francesca Hills shares her motivation behind attending the University of Otago and how this fuelled her passion for science.
Based in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Hills’ initial pull to Dunedin was the broad nature of the first-year Health Science course.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and I wanted to keep my options open in terms of professional courses as well as undergraduate degrees,” Hills says.
“Dunedin also reminded me of my hometown Nelson quite a bit, and so I felt still at home when I could walk up into the mountains or down to the beautiful beaches in the same city.”
She found the surrounding nature, University community and culture, and the academic reputation of the institution all contributed to her desire to attend.
Having begun her undergraduate studies, Hills thought it best to explore all the options available to her to find the area of scientific study that truly aligned with her passion.
After trying several avenues, she found herself taking mostly papers from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology because she simply “loved them”.
“It’s very important to me to feel the research I’m doing will have clear health benefits.”
Having found her niche, Hills not only completed her undergraduate degree but decided to continue her academic journey by undertaking a PhD in virology.
Her research focuses on the structure and evolution of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein, as well as looking into broad-acting treatments.
“Little is known about the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and so characterising these viruses may prepare us for potential spill-over events,” Hills says.
“This research will not only fill a research gap but could help identify highly conserved regions of the viruses that could be targeted to provide broader-acting and longer-lasting antibody treatments.”
Hills finds emerging infectious disease research fascinating and believes that anticipating potential diseases is more important now than ever, due to the increasing frequency of international travel, overpopulation, and health inequities.
“It’s very important to me to feel the research I’m doing will have clear health benefits either directly or by filling in gaps in research knowledge,” Hills says.
“My main piece of advice to anyone coming into University would be to follow the papers that you love studying.
“If you don’t know what those are then take as many interesting papers as you can because University might be the only place you have access to this extent of varied knowledge and experts and so take advantage of that.”
– Kōrero by the School of Biomedical Sciences Communications Adviser, Kelsey Schutte.
