2004 Scholarship Winner: Melinda Griffiths

My name is Melinda Griffiths and I am doing an honours course in Cell Biology in the Department of Human Biology at UCT. During the first six weeks we do a techniques course during which we learn practical skills such as how to isolate DNA from cells, amplify it by PCR, clone it into bacteria, analyse and sequence it and work with antibodies and gels. After that we will choose five modules from a wide range of options. These are three week mini-courses which run over the whole year and include lectures on human development and embryology, cancer, central nervous system repair and tissue engineering. We can also choose modules from other honours courses, which is great. I am interested in taking forensic biology, immunology, or perhaps learning about the biology behind memory and learning. Concurrent with the modules we do research for our honours project. Options for me include working with stem cells (trying to get them to differentiate into particular types of tissue), studying how to get spinal neurones to regenerate after injury, culturing heart cells in 3D or developing tumour cell markers for the detection of breast cancer. The only problem is to decide between them!

This year promises to be a lot of hard work but very interesting and I am excited to finally be able to put my undergraduate theory into practice doing some novel research! I'd like to thank SAWISE very much for their financial assistance which has allowed me to take this course.