• Question: If you completed a PhD, what was your topic about and why did you choose that topic?

    Asked by Aisha on 17 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Alice Carstairs

      Alice Carstairs answered on 17 Mar 2025:

      I did my PhD on bone marrow stem cells, looking to see if I could make them behave as if they came from someone with a genetic bone disease so we could study that disease without needing to use mice. I have always loved learning about stem cells because they can turn into all sorts of other types of cells, the stem cells I worked on could become bone, cartilage or fat cells!

Comments

  • Photo: Andrew M

    Andrew M commented on :

    Mine was on unusual bonding and structures in molydenum-containing compounds. As for how I ended up doing it, it was maybe not for the best of reasons. I’d spent the last year of my degree studying hard and looking no further than the final exams. I had no idea what I wanted to do and had applied for no jobs, so when the group I’d done my final year project with said “We have funding for a PhD, you get to be a student for another 4 years and we’ll even pay you to be so” I signed up. It was the path of least resistance. Not the best of reasons. More a fear of boredom and idleness than a great interest or burning desire.