Vinci Au

Jack of all trades, but master of none. Life's an adventure, so I dabble with everything life has to offer! Although I have a wide-range of interests, the life sciences has kept me enchanted with its wonders and mysteries from a very young age.

I am approaching my fourth year at UBC in the General Life-Sciences program. Being open-minded and taking interest in new opportunities allowed me to grow as a person. In high-school I was an active member of Air Cadets and First Responders. I also participated in the Sanofi-Aventis Biotech Challenge as well as programs similar to Geneskool. Taking the same sense of curiosity into university allowed me to work intimately with the very impressive equipment at UBC such as the inverted confocal microscope equipped with a femto-second pulse laser. Now I get to work with Dr. Anderson and an enthusiastic team to educate others about science and ethics!

Geneskool is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who would like to engage in a fun and exciting program to learn about forensics & medical genetics. This is definitely a course catered to keen students with a passion for science.

Justin Murphy

The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences. I like to ask "Why?" and trying to answer this one question leads to the majority of the new experiences in my life. I consider my self very lucky to have the opportunity to come to British Columbia, which is truly beautiful, from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario where I completed a science degree in chemistry and physics. I am a very "from the ground up" kind of person and that's why I love to explore the natural sciences, you learn all about the most basic laws of the world and then in your day to day life you get so see them carried out all around you. While out on long runs, bike rides or open water swims, I like to think about how nature is a product of all the different areas of science integrated together. Geneskool will certainly provide me with plenty of occasions to ask "Why?" and I look forward to sharing these experiences with you.

Dr. Catherine Anderson

I received my PhD in Medical Genetics in 2002. I studied how genes know to stay 'off' – often for our whole life! I finished a PostDoc position in reproductive health – researching if the wrong number of chromosomes in the placenta causes pre-eclampsia. I currently teach at the UBC medical and dental schools, mainly in the Foundations of Medicine courses and I also work as a science education consultant for Genome BC. I live for the "AHA" moment – when suddenly it all makes sense! We see it in the lab but for me, it is even better to share it with someone after I've explained something. So teaching has always been important to me, even before graduate school. I was a counsellor for children with special needs, first aid instructor, trainer, and ran recreational programs in several communities. Away from academia, I enjoy travelling to exotic places and am an adventure sports junkie - one of my goals is to kayak/raft the top ten white-water rivers.

Genetic technologies play an increasingly significant role in our lives and I believe people should have opportunities to explore genetics in a fun and supportive way. Only by considering all aspects of the science can we decide how, if at all, we want to incorporate these new technologies into our own lives. This is how Geneskool started, and I look forward to many discussions and experiments with our young scientists!