SAMANTHA NIXON
PhD student, University of Queensland
Queensland, Australia
Samantha began research during her Biomedical Science degree in wildlife conservation, using 3D modelling and printing to understand the skeletal anatomy of bilbies and wombats to understand key arthritic and dental diseases which hamper captive breeding efforts and to design more effective breeding programs. Despite her arachnophobia, she began studying spider venoms against major sheep parasites, the Sheep Blowfly and blood-feeding Barber’s Pole Worm. She has continued this work in her PhD, overcoming her phobia as she uses spider venoms to create next-generation drugs against neglected tropical diseases and livestock parasites. Samantha is passionate about using leadership to improve access to medicine and education globally.
