Thank you from Tom

Posted by Tom on 22 February 2024

Tags: Thank you

Hope Foundation Scholarship for Research on Ageing 2024

Dear Hope Foundation,

I’d like to thank you for awarding me the Scholarship for Research on Ageing, as well as introduce myself and my project a bit. I’m a third-year PhD student in Dr. Davide Comoletti’s lab at Victoria University of Wellington where I am researching the structure and function of the FAM171 family of neuronal receptors. Along with our collaborator Dr. Joris de Wit (VIB, Leuven, Belgium) we hope to increase our understanding of these proteins and their roles in Alzheimer’s Disease. As this is a very understudied family of proteins, nearly all of the experiments I have been carrying out have yielded new information about the FAM171 proteins. This has made it a challenging but very exciting project to work on and I feel like I have already learnt so much.

I am very grateful to be chosen to receive this award for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is reassuring to receive an award for my research and know that someone else also thinks that what I spend the majority of my time researching is a worthwhile investment. And also, I guess more obviously given the high cost of living at the moment, this extra money will also relieve a lot of stress financially and allow me to be fully focussed on my research and completing my PhD this year.

I hope to be able to continue in biochemical research once I have finished my studies, whether that be as a post-doc academically or in industry. The world of biomedical science has always excited me, and I am so happy to be able to contribute to it, as well as be recognised for my efforts by receiving this award.

Thank you,

Tom Bird