Wendy Dietrich

Medical Research Scientist
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Bachelor of Applied Science

My major study area was biochemistry and microbiology but I also undertook some applied chemistry units in my third year. My third year project was a biomonitoring project that involved measuring the induction of an enzyme in fish in response to polluted waterways. I was awarded the Gippsland Project Award for Third Year Project GAS 3062 (1995) by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (Gippsland Section). I was also awarded the Top Third Year Student for Applied Microbiology (1995) by the Australian Society for Microbiology (Victorian Branch).

I enjoyed studying at Monash University Gippsland Campus as I found it a very stimulating environment. Smaller lecture sizes also made it easy to network with other students as well as to access lecturers, making this a really friendly learning atmosphere. I also enjoyed being able to remain living in the country whilst I was obtaining my degree. I chose not to conduct Honours at Monash University Gippsland Campus as I had gained collaborative links with a research group at RMIT during my third year project.

The third year Research project conducted as part of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree at Monash University Gippsland Campus influenced my career path as I chose to continue with further study and research instead of an analytical analysis/chemical laboratory career. In 1996, I undertook an Honours year in the Key Centre for Applied and Nutritional Toxicology at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT, City Campus). My project involved isolating novel detoxification enzymes in two species of termites. From 1997-1999 I worked as a Research Assistant in a plant genetics laboratory in the Department of Genetics at The University of Melbourne.

I learnt and performed molecular biology techniques that were used to help locate the gene for cad-1 on chromosome five in Arabidopsis thaliana, which is responsible for the detoxification of heavy metals from the plant. More recently I have changed my focus from environmental research to medical research.

For the last three years I have worked as a Research Technician in the Immunology Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). My research focuses on two genes, oct-2 and bob-1, which are transcriptional regulators important in the late maturation of B cells. We use a mouse model to aid in learning the regulation of these transcription factors to ultimately help understand what controls the humoral immune response. I thoroughly enjoy my current role at WEHI as I have learnt many new research techniques (protein engineering, tissue culture, fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS), microarrays, sequencing etc).